Page 2 | long, challenging novels not many people have heard of - recommendations please?

PoppyCup · 14/12/2023 22:12

Terpsichore · 14/12/2023 12:52

He seems to be interested in historical/political/social issues as a background and also quite densely written stuff

I know it doesn’t fit your 'not many people have heard of them' definition but if the above is the case, he definitely needs to get cracking on À la recherche du temps perdu. Has he read Proust, OP?

If he likes densely written stuff, has he tried Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace?

HomburgandTrilby · 14/12/2023 13:47

Terpsichore · 14/12/2023 12:52

He seems to be interested in historical/political/social issues as a background and also quite densely written stuff

I know it doesn’t fit your 'not many people have heard of them' definition but if the above is the case, he definitely needs to get cracking on À la recherche du temps perdu. Has he read Proust, OP?

I was assuming he had! But absolutely, a total delight if not.

Terpsichore · 14/12/2023 12:52

He seems to be interested in historical/political/social issues as a background and also quite densely written stuff

I know it doesn’t fit your 'not many people have heard of them' definition but if the above is the case, he definitely needs to get cracking on À la recherche du temps perdu. Has he read Proust, OP?

MariaLuna · 14/12/2023 01:14

Shantaram.

Brilliant and fascinating.

See it's been recommended up thread.

Original poster

highlandcoo · 14/12/2023 01:10

@JaninaDuszejko he's late 30s and has been reading obscure books for probably the last 20 years. And he reads a lot! Basically, most big chunky demanding books most people have heard of, he will have read. He's a challenge.

My own kids are more like their dad and are not massive readers so it's good fun to have this tradition going with my nephew.

Our tastes do overlap in some areas eg Zola, George Eliot, Tolstoy, and I've read Tin Drum and The Magic Mountain but not really loved either. I enjoyed A Suitable Boy myself but family relationships/sagas are less his thing I think.

He seems to be interested in historical/political/social issues as a background and also quite densely written stuff. Last time I sent him three books he replied saying I'd hit the nail on the head with my choices, so much so that he'd read them all already ..

So it's brilliant to have these ideas to trawl through. I've made a list of 22 possibilities and looking forward to exploring them in the next day or two.

Many thanks to all 😊

OP posts:

EwwSprouts · 13/12/2023 22:38

The Water Margin - Chinese classic

reallyalurker · 13/12/2023 21:44

Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage series, republished by Virago.

Stayeduptoolateagain · 13/12/2023 21:07

Presumably he's already read everything by Dostoyevsky and Nabokov?

JaninaDuszejko · 13/12/2023 20:55

How old is the nephew? If he's 50 then the older but not yet classic books that he's read will be very different to if he's 25.

Delpf · 13/12/2023 19:19

Squiblet · 13/12/2023 11:23

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon? Challenging, but rewarding if you can work out what the hell is going on.

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is not especially long, but it's challenging in a different way and absolutely fantastic.

Ridley Walker is indeed a fantastic book.

If we're doing shorter ones, then The Waves by Virginia Woolf is just absolutely beautiful.

Ohthere · 13/12/2023 18:26

ComfyBoobs · 12/12/2023 19:21

This Thing of Darkness

Second that!

Slidingsocks · 13/12/2023 18:25

Came on to suggest A Fine Balance, but I see you're already a fan. Totally absorbing isn't it? How about the A Dance to the Music of Time series by Anthony Powell?

JaneyGee · 13/12/2023 18:16

Lawrence Durrell and Ford Madox Ford have both been recommended, so I'll just add my vote.

George Eliot's Middlemarch is a biggie. Martin Amis thought it was the best novel in English. Eliot was a serious intellectual as well as a great artist. She translated books from German and Latin. She also knew Spanish, French and Italian, and had read widely in philosophy and science. Amazing woman.

Henry Fielding: Tom Jones (possibly the first great novel in English).

Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain

Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game

Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

Anthony Burgess: Earthly Powers

Borka · 13/12/2023 13:30

JaninaDuszejko · 12/12/2023 21:17

I was going to suggest this but make sure you buy the more recent translation by Tiina Nunnally rather than the atrocious 'ye olde worlde' style one from the 30s.

Staying in Norway what about Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel? Recently reissued.

Or Childhood, Youth, Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen

What about Leïla Slimani's trilogy based on her family history. I adored The Country of Others which is the first.

And I've now realised I've just suggested nothing but trilogies!

Show quote history

I'm so glad you mentioned Alberta and Jacob , my old copies are disintegrating so badly that I hardly dare read them. I didn't know they'd been reissued - definitely on my wishlist now!

Squiblet · 13/12/2023 11:23

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon? Challenging, but rewarding if you can work out what the hell is going on.

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is not especially long, but it's challenging in a different way and absolutely fantastic.

Tarahumara · 13/12/2023 11:07

Cloud Atlas or The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

GooseClues · 13/12/2023 07:31

S. by Doug Dorst and J. J. Abrams

It’s quite gimmicky but an interesting and challenging read. The actual story happens in margin notes and you probably need to read it more than once to get it all.

Moglet4 · 13/12/2023 07:25

highlandcoo · 12/12/2023 17:54

I have a tradition going with my nephew .. he's very well-read and every year I take on the challenge of sending him something he hasn't already come across. I've often chosen English translations of books set in Eastern Europe or Russia but I don't always succeed in finding a book he hasn't read.

In recent years I've sent:

Second Hand Time
The Pear Field
The Tsar of Love and Techno
Angel Maker
The Gone-Away World
The Story of a Life

I wondered about Prophet Song this year but would like one or two other novels to add to it. Any suggestions gratefully received.

TIA 😊

What a great tradition! I would be tempted to go straight for an Orhan Pamuk novel - My Name is Red, maybe? Or Snow?
For something a bit more mainstream but still great, what about Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy’? Or maybe Susannah Clarke ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’. You said he likes Russian texts- has he read Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov?

DoverWight · 13/12/2023 07:10

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell

Delpf · 13/12/2023 06:57

The Journal Of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen. Not super long, but by nature of its format does take quite a while to read. I think it's pretty niche.

Funderthighs · 13/12/2023 06:49

Is the Shadow of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon too lightweight? It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Rozbos · 13/12/2023 06:46

How about Ayn Rand. Quite a slog but I enjoyed Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead.

Kittensat36 · 13/12/2023 06:30

Let me recommend the Rougon-Macquart series by Emile Zola. 20 books about a family originating in the town of Plassans and covering a wide range of issues: miners and working conditions (Germinal), life in a department store (The Ladies Paradise), a glorious description of the food markets of Paris (The Fat And The Thin).... Currently reading The Human Beast about a man who wants to commit a murder (only 2 chapters in, so don't know how that will pan out). That would give op's nephew plenty to chew on. Obv best on kindle, as 20books is quite a stack.

Wronginformation · 13/12/2023 06:22

Was also going to mention Sigrid Undset. Nobel prize winner.

FestiveFruitloop · 13/12/2023 06:17

Lanark by Alasdair Gray, but only if he likes weird/surreal.