Literary fiction - any good reads lately?

[JulieBilly]

I have just worked my was through last year's Orange Prize nominees (have a baby, so have been starved of reading time) and have ordered this year's nominees, too.

What else can I read? Any books you have read lately you can recommend?

I don't like chick lit, misery memoirs. Fantasy/scif fi and historical fiction need to be really, very good for me to bother.

tia

Have just finished The Philanthropist's Danse and enjoyed that :)

Just finished Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle - is he literary? - great read anyway. His novel about Frank Lloyd Wright, The Women, is also brilliant.

My favourite margaret atwood would also be The Robber Bride.

Alice Munro is good for short stories....just read one today in between starting a new book. I have a copy of The Lost Lady here - glad someone upthread mentioned it, I may dig it out.

Looking forward to Bring up the Bodies.

If you haven't already read it, I think Colm Toibin's Brooklyn is a perfect novel.

Loved The Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore.

The one on shortlists I've got my eye on at the moment is The Lifeboat - has anyone read that?

Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

can i add,,Anne Michaels..The Winter Vault,Elizabeth.H.Winthrop..December,and Lionel Schriver..So Much For That..come back and tell me they are not great!!!

oh and this years orange nominee..Anne Enwright..The Forgotten Waltz..lovely

I've just finished Mr Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers, which I picked up in a charity shop. It is light reading, but curiously charming, funny in a quiet way.

If you want something thoughtful, erudite and beautifully crafted, any of the trilogies by Robertson Davies.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

Memoirs of Hadrian by Margerite Yourcenar.

None of these are recent, though.

Other authors are Andrea Levy, Ariana Franklin, Karen Maitland, C.J. Sansom, oh my mind's gone blank! I'll come back!

Capital - John Lanchester
Waterline - Ross Raisin
This isn't the sort of thing that happens to someone like you - Jon McGregor
The Whole Wide Beauty - Emily Woof
Red Plenty - Francis Spufford
Care of Wooden Floors - Will Wiles
The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach
The Champion - Tim Binding
Beautiful Children - Charles Bock (upsetting subject matter but worth it)
Open City - Teju Cole
All Is Song - Samantha Harvey
Saraswati Park - Anjali Joseph
Jack Holmes and His Friend - Edmund White

Non-fiction but as good as literature imvho:
A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain - Owen Hatherley
People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman - Richard Parry
Black Gold of the Sun - Ekow Eshun

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch is a good rollicking read, and at moment I'm enjoying Gillespie and I by Jane Harris,it's a Gothic pageturner full of twists.

Thanks OP....loads of stuff to read x

Oscalito,,I loved The Gate At The Stairs

Anyone read Mark Haddon's new one The Red House?

what is missing from this kind of discussion (apart from the fact that I never get instant news feed) is the "Like" button that Facebook has..I see so many comments that I would simply like to like,without having to comment

come on,lots of you must agree!

Since we live in gloomy times, I'd like to put in a plug for The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield. God knows how many times I've read it but it still makes me laugh.

I've been meaning to read Barbara Pym for years but have only just got round to it with Excellent Women. I wasn't disappointed. Subtly amusing.

Thinking of rather more amusing but still good books, I should add Barbara Trapido. Any of her stuff will do, but my personal favourite is The Travelling Hornplayer.

And yes, softpaw, I want an MN 'like' button too!

Hurray Lady Clarice! Can I also put my suggestions for anything that E.Annie Proulx has ever written?

Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of Londonderry, Moon Over Soho, and I've just seen There's a third out but can't remember what it's called.

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair and all those that follow.... Very surreal and very funny.

I always feel a little wary of recommending sci fi, but any Charles Stross except The Merchant Prince crap which is boring as hell.

It's not Rivers of Londonderry it's Rivers of LONDON - shouting for the benefit of my bloody autocorrect as it hasn't heard me so far....

i've never read any sci fi..jux. Any recommendations for a scared novice?

Try Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon, a Persephone Book. Completely absorbing page turner. Ditto Bel Canto by Anne Patchett.

Also love - anything by Helen Dunmore; William Boyd; David Lodge; John Lanchester.

Sci fi does not float my boat, but Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro was haunting because it seemed almost science fact.

Sorry,that was for JulieBilly and then softpaw.

with you on Helen Dunmore ,lashings. still pleading for the "like button" please vote!

lady clarice..have messaged you..how do i know if you have replied?
oh,just read the Ian Fleming books..and the early Anita Schreve novels.

I've just finished Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada - really impressive.

Have you read anything by Colm Toibin? I love his style of writing.

Is Patrick Gale too light weight for you? Notes from an Exhibition was a lovely read.