trying to find well-written challenging fiction that isn't widely known

57 replies

highlandcoo · 29/04/2021 09:27

I have a very well-read young friend, who lives abroad, and traditionally I always send her books on her birthday.
It's getting harder and harder to find something she hasn't read, but sending her a book token just wouldn't be the same.
She has read many of the classics, as well as a huge amount of contemporary literary fiction. I know ahe has enjoyed Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Zola, Gunter Grass, Herman Hesse, Murakami, Paul Auster, David Mitchell ...
I wondered about books in translation that she's less likely to have come across. Open to any suggestions though.
TIA

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DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 29/04/2021 13:41

Perhaps some antipodean authors?

Janet Frame; Keri Hulme (The Bone people is a wonderful book); Katherine Mansfield; Elizabeth Jolley; Thea Astley; Gerald Murnane; Patrick White; David Malouf (if she likes the Europeans White or Malouf might appeal); Randolph Stow (a personal favourite);

mstrotwood · 29/04/2021 11:54

correction:

Anne Carson - Autobiography of Red
Christina Stead - The Man who Loved Children

mstrotwood · 29/04/2021 11:47

have a look at these:

classics:

Cora Sandel - Alberta and Jacob

Laxness - Independent People
Christina Stead - The Man Who Loves his Children
Doris Lessing - Martha Quest (or The Golden Notebook)
Dorothy B. Hughes - In a Lonely Place
Grace Paley - The Collected Stories

contemporary:

Sofi Oksanen - Purge
Herta Muller - The Land of Green Plums
Hanna Ørstavik - Love
Han Kang - Human Acts
Ilya Kaminsky - Deaf Republic (poems that read as a play)
Anne Carson - Autobiography in Red (poem)

HollowTalk · 29/04/2021 11:30

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. Shades of King Lear in there.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

(There's a theme emerging here!)

PepeLePew · 29/04/2021 11:29

I’d take a look at books that Backlisted have focused on. They aren’t generally contemporary as they focus on “bringing new life to old books”. Almost all of them are excellent reads.
Or a book subscription via someone like Heywood, who will talk to her then post her a book regularly based on what she likes?

Cornishblues · 29/04/2021 11:23

What about Daunt Books - they are beautiful editions for gifts. I enjoyed Cassandra at the Wedding which isn’t challenging to read but reads like a classic.

Original poster

highlandcoo · 29/04/2021 10:13

Sorry have totally messed up the title

Hopefully you get the gist though

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