O - what a problem!!

[Molivan]

My latest 'thing' to keep me reading books by authors I'm not familiar with is to work my way through the alphabet by author's surname. I'm up to O and stuck.
It ideally has to be someone I haven't read before, so Maggie O'Farrell, George Orwell and Michael Ondaatje are out. Any ideas?
The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Ben Okri, The Famished Road. Would anyone recommend it?

[DuchessofMalfi]

Edna O'Brien? Can recommend The Country Girls - it's very good.

[Molivan]

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten about Edna O'Brien. I've never read any of hers. Thanks DuchessofMalfi

[OneHolyCow]

I was bored beyond ooooooh no more!! with the famished road.. wouldn't go there.

I just read A talefor the time being by Ruth Ozeki. Not great but definitely interesting!

Some Japanese Kenzaburo Oe?
Netherland by Joseph O'Neill? Flannery O'Connor?

[WhiskyTangoFoxtrot]

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy?

[magimedi]

Michael Ondaathe - The English Patient or Divisadero.


I'd love to hear what else you have read by this alaphabetical theme.

[Molivan]

Thanks OneHolyCow I will avoid it. Plenty of other good suggestions from you and others.

[maillotjaune]

I had a real Ben Okri phase a few years ago and loved The Famished Road but I am less inclined to read magical realism these days (I think he disagrees with that description but can't think of a better term). Dangerous Love is the book I'm planning to re-read as iirc it isn't about a spirit child and I think I liked it best.

[Molivan]

I have read The English Patient Magimedi but thanks. I'm at work at the moment and my list is at home, but I'll try to post it later. It's a great way of finding books you wouldn't normally have tried - but it's also sometimes a reminder of why you didn't bother before

[hackmum]

Alice Oswald is good if you like poetry.

[hackmum]

Also - how could I forget? - Joseph O'Connor. The one about the immigrants sailing to America. Can't remember what it's called.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Joseph o Connor's is, 'The Star if the Sea' - a decent and fairly easy read. I found the follow up interminably dull though.

[highlandcoo]

Star of the Sea I think you mean hackmum. I remember enjoying this book. Lots of different narrators if I recall correctly but he handles them really well.

[magimedi]

Hackmum - Is it The Star of the Sea? Very good indeed.

When you get to 'Z' - can I hugely recommend La Bete Humaine by Zola, if you have not already read it.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

What Was Lost by Catherine o' Flynn is okay. Not ground breaking and would have made a better novella than it did novel, but I've read a lot worse!

[Molivan]

Thanks everyone, really helpful. lots to choose from

[TheNunsOfGavarone]

Margaret Oliphant came to mind - just as a name I'm afraid, I haven't read any of her novels so can't recommend her personally but having checked her out on Amazon I'm intrigued. She was a prolific Victorian novelist and writer of ghost stories. Here's a link:

www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Margaret%20Oliphant&search-alias=books-uk&sort=relevancerank&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[Molivan]

My list so far for anyone who's interested:
The Song House, Trezza Azzopardi
She's Leaving Home, Joan Bakewell
All In The Mind, Alistair Campbell
The Art of Disappearance, Anita Desai
The Good Thiefs Guide To Paris, Chris Ewan
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
Brighton Rock, Graham Greene
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseni
In One Person, John Irving
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson
Mutton, India Knight
Various Pets Alive and Dead, Monica Lewycka
Me Before You, JoJo Moyes
Lolita, Nabokov

[Ohwhatfuckeryisthis]

Flann O 'Brien, Third Policeman. Weird and funny

[DuchessofMalfi]

I did an A to Z challenge last year, Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London was my O.

Have you got an X lined up yet? I read a book by Xinran.

[Molivan]

Thanks Duchess I'm sure that will come in handy

[Molivan]

Footle, ha ha

[hackmum]

Yes, it is Star of the Sea - thanks.

Remus: I loved What Was Lost by Catherine O'FLynn - thought it was a fantastic debut. The two books she published after that weren't nearly as good.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Hack - I hated her second, and didn't bother with the third.

A shame. I think she'd probably be v good at short stories.

[bibliomania]

I like a bit of Patrick O'Brian, though he's not going to be everybody's cup of tea. I suggest Post Captain as a good starting place.