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'm afraid I haven't read some of the books you've read and liked CoteDAzur so I don't know how appropriate a recomendation it is exactly, but have you read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy?

(Apologies if its too mainstream for you to have missed)

In a similar teen-vein, I also enjoyed Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books starting with The Amulet of Samarkand - a wicked sense of humour. I'm also a huge Potter fan so feel I ought to mention it when recommending books, though most people already have strong opinions one way or another.

I clearly need to tuck into my DH's sci-fi collection, as some have been mentioned here and I've never got around to reading them. Imagine that, great free books that I don't need to pay for or order and I haven't read them. Will remedy that once I've got through my current to-read pile.

sgs you have reminded me about iris Murdoch - I loved the sea the sea years ago. Off to add some to goodreads.

Re IQ84, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I did. Really like his earlier stuff though. It just felt too drawn out, characters weren't as intriguing as in his other books. Just didn't do it for me.

I found Cell was a little pulpy but enjoyable and I wasn't expecting much from Duma Key given some of the recent stuff but was blown away.

There is a snobby backlash against him in some quarters.

I highly recommend (if I haven't already) anything by Vonnegut.

anyone read "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch? Absolutely brilliant!

@MNHubbie The Song of Ice and Fire are currently my favourite books in the history of ......reading. 9 months after reading them. Will they stand the test of time? Maybe. Who can say. I still completely adore them right now though. That's how I felt after ravening throu The Dark Tower series too, and the Gap series. Literary crack, all. The Gap I know has stood the test of time since alive re-read it 5 or 6 times since the last volume was published. The others - bit early to say. I know I like good reads though and I know they aren't literary fiction. I do like literary fiction too, but apart from David Mitchell (who might just squeak in) my all time favourite books are either classics or good reads. Unless we are calling the dance to the music of time sequence modern literary fiction rather than classic. Same with Waugh too, I suppose - although for me, his books are so gripping I feel about them the same way as I feel about good reads.

The person who asked about Ghostwritten? It's my favourite single book. Tied in first place with Jane Eyre. Although its not completely a single book of course, since Mitchell is doing the same thing as SK in making all his books .......something. There are strong links between every single thing he has written so far, common characters etc - so we shall see what we see (and perhaps we shall 'see this very well' ;) )

Goodness but the autocorrect function on this iPad can be annoying. Hope that last post wasn't too unintelligible.

The thousand autumns of Jacob de by David Mitchell is absolutely brilliant and I strongly recommend it.

I guess you have already read the 'other' Neal Stephenson books like cryptonomicon and the Baroque cycle? They are also well worth a read but kindle would be best as they are very thick.

I'm not getting in with it very well, but you might also like 2666 by Roberts bolano.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I've read first two books of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy and I really enjoyed them, is that something you might be interested in?

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is truly brilliant. It is fairly dystopian but based on the Great Depression so based on real life. Great characters; great family; great road trip.

Have you read Salman Rushdie? Although fantasy/ satire and not sci-fi, I think many of his books may offer you what you are looking for.

I read all three books of the Millennium saga. 1st was my favorite but the others were quite OK, as well.

Re Neal Stephenson - I read everything he has ever written, except 2nd & 3rd of Baroque cycle books. The 1st one (Quicksilver) was a big disappointment, with the pirate antiques etc. I'm a big fan, though. Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, and Anathem are all brilliant. His latest ReamDe was good but not his best imho.

I think you would like Ian McDonald - try Brasyl or The Dervish House. He is a fantastic writer, has won loads of awards but for some reason is much better known in places like Japan than he is in UK.

Also loved (along with Jajas) Never Let me go - it's so beautiful and sad and contains one of the most chilling lines I have ever read. You've read The Stand which is awesome - did you read Lisey's Story? It's a really unexpected Stephen King and I enjoyed it a lot - a real love story with a spooky twist. I just finished Girl with Dragon Tattoo this morning and rushed out to buy the next two so hope they are at least good :)

The Dervish House looks really interesting, thanks for the recommendation. I love cyberpunk (early William Gibson, Neal Stephenson etc) and cyberpunk in future Istanbul sounds too good a plot to be true And it is published by Gollancz, the publishers of Richard K Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels - a good sign.

I'll PM it so I don't spoil the plot for anyone who doesn't know it Jajas :) Have to dig it out first though to quote it :o

You'll enjoy it Cote. He has real cult following in Japan :)

I'm curious about the quote, too. I read Never Let Me Go and thought it was a bit unrealistic because of the docility of all the characters re their fate.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

I promise you will love this (if you haven't read it already)

Apologies, havne't read full thread...
For Whom The Bell Tolls is a literary masterpiece IMO
Room by Emma Donoghue is an amazing book
CoteDazur I thought Never let me Go was unrealistic too and boring. One of my best and v well read friends raved about it but I didn't get on with it at all. Struggled to finish it

Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy
Ahdaf Soueif'd The Map of Love
Slaughterhouse 5, Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials...

NOT the ghastly Sense of An Ending which for some strange reason won the Booker prize but is not only dull and about a very annoying main character, but also suggests that having a SN child is almost inevitable for older mums and is a reason for all kinds of dire reactions, including (gasp) a sister becoming less than perfectly groomed! It is a beautifully designed object though so perhaps none of the judges actually read it.

Also recommended - Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops - fantastic and chortlesome on every page! Not literature but still entertaining!