Coming off a literary high - please help

[CoteDAzur]

I just read Cloud Atlas and This Thing Of Darkness in quick succession, both epic, fantastic books of great scope and vision.

Now I don't now what to do with myself. Read another book, but what? What can I read now that won't be a huge disappointment after these two wonderful books that I have just finished?

I loved A Week In December, thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd and think that Helen Dunmore's The Siege.

Quite liked 'Engleby' though I think it was yet another book with a disappointing ending iirc. Toiled through about 250 pages of, 'Human traces' before giving up in disgust. Failed with, 'Birdsong.' Probably won't bother with another.

Just remembered, 'The English Patient' - how can such a beautifully written book have so very little ultimately to say?

human traces was dollops of undigested research imo...engleby was the digested version and better...green dolphin street was twaddle

human traces was dollops of undigested research imo...engleby was the digested version and better...green dolphin street was twaddle

suspects I may have walked into the wrong literary thread.

Never heard of her !

Finding This Thing Of Darkness delectable; cannot WAIT to get further into it. Not sure I would have gone for it based on the cover alone; makes it look far too dry. As it is it currently feels like a book that has somehow always been written...

The picture on the cover is an actual oil painting of the Beagle from 1830s, iirc.

For the record, Ian McEwan is a brilliant author and if you don't appreciate his books in general, that is hardly his fault. What sets him apart is not the plot but the incredibly detailed and brutally honest observations of the characters' inner worlds - even in Saturday, an obviously less ambitious book than Atonement.

I hope this thread won't now descend into "Ooh, which other widely acclaimed authors do we not get hate now?"

DamnDe - Please come back I was just surprised to see you call Dorothy Dunnett (who?) the best author ever, over and beyond so many literary widely acclaimed literary geniuses. I will check her out, though, if you think she is so good.

I think the fact that lots of people don't appreciate Ian M IS at least in part his fault actually - he is a very self-conscious writer imho and it gets in the way of him telling a good story in a well-written way, with strong characterisation. He allows himself as author to intrude into his novels and get in the way of his characters and thus fails to successfully establish the 'connection' that is needed (for me anyway) between readers and characters.

Now stop being sniffy because some of us don't like him! This thread has been so good BECAUSE people have different views. I adore Jane Austen - you don't. It doesn't mean that I am inferior or superior to you and I won't get sulky because other people don't like her.

Fiction works or doesn't work because it is a result of a partnership between a writer and a reader and, just like love, some partnerships will 'connect' and some won't. It doesn't mean it's personal.

Please to read the comments above re The Book Thief. I have failed to get past the first chapter three times now, and won't bother trying again.

Remus - I'm not taking your hatred of Ian McEwan personally at all. We all love/hate/like/dislike different authors and that is perfectly normal. And he is not my favorite author. His plots are not much, but his description of characters' inner worlds borders on magic.

What I've been trying to say is:
"I hated his books which I've read" -- perfectly normal. to each their own.
"His books are rubbish & atrocious" -- err... no they are not, as you might understand by the number of honors they have received

Ex: I wouldn't read Jane Austin, but I would never say she writes garbage, is a bad author, because that would be (factually) wrong.

Phew. :)

The silly library didn't have Dune or Slaughterhouse Five or The Master And M. I have been reduced to reading Georgette Heyer - now there's a writer you'd REALLY hate. :)

No Slaughter House 5!!!!!!!!

That is wrong. Burn it to the ground!

OK don't but do go read this:

io9.com/5828986/school-bans-vonneguts-slaughterhouse+5-so-vonnegut-library-gives-copies-to-students-for-free

Have to second the recommendation for Perec's Life:A Users Manual, it really is a brilliant & very unique novel.
Also would recommend Master and Margerita, Any Murakami but esp Kafka on the Shore and IQ84. Ive just spent the last 3 days attached to IQ84, could not put it down. Marquez, esp Love in the time of cholera and One hundred years of Solitude - words cannot express how good those books are.
Also love Milan Kundera. Immortality and The Unbearable Lightness of Being are both beautifully written
Oh and also agree with other posters who recommend Peter Carey

Also, if you liked Cloud Atlas try Mitchell's Ghostwritten. For me it was a superior novel to Cloud Atlas.

A relevant but disturbing link:

leasthelpful.com/post/19952361954/fahrenheit-four-fifty-dumb

Oh, I don't know why but, Simone, your post has just reminded me of this which I think is a fantastic book.

Some v intelligent people on that link, MNHubbie.

Ive not read that one Remus, ill add it to my list.