Can anyone recommend a book or writer not mentioned recenty in Adult Fiction?

[mmack]

I'm an avid reader and I've read a lot of the books that have been recommended on threads here recently. I've read most of the old and modern classics too. Would anyone like to recommend something obscure or forgotten? Any genre.

Franca, all suggestions are very welcome. I've never read any Russell Banks but I really liked the film version of The Sweet Hereafter. I didn't even know it was based on a novel until I looked up Russell Banks on Wikipedia just now. Cloudsplitter sounds vaguely familiar too.

I am currently reading The museum of extraordinary things by Alice Hoffman for my book club and thoroughly enjoying it

Mmack, yes, I started reading Banks after watching The Sweet Hereafter (wonderful movie, imo).
Continental drift has been my favourite so far.

I thought I'd let you know how I was doing with your recommendations. First up was Beth Gutcheon's Domestic Pleasures. Very enjoyable-easy to read and likable characters. Second was Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil. I never saw the movie and didn't know the story and I have to say I absolutely loved it. I read it in a day. It has everything-great plot, great pacing, evil genius baddie and sympathetic hero. So thanks to the people who suggested these authors. Minismum, I just got the Museum of Extraordinary Things from the library. Next on my list.

Great thread mmack and love your update.

As I also love lit fiction and crime, I'm going to pinch some ideas.

Here's a few less obvious ones I've adored:

Massive vote for Roberstson Davies. I would suggest starting with Cornish trilogy or Deptford trilogy

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twang Eng
A bit more obvious but recently Adored Erin Morgensten's Night Circus

Finally, it's highly likely you had not missed these, but I have only just read a John Irving for the first time (A Prayer for Owen Meany) and I'm so excited to have his whole oeuvre ahead of me. I haven't found such an exciting author in a long time.

Happy reading

Sorry, I'm new to the forum but John Connolly. I utterly love his Charlie Parker books. It's crime fiction with a strong dash of the supernatural and they're superb.

Charlie Parker is a former NYPD officer whose wife and child are murdered by a serial killer. He sets out to hunt the killer down but there turns out to be a lot more to it. There are 12 books in the series and the story behind both Parker and the things he's hunting grows throughout the series. They are pretty violent but they're beautifully written and Parker is a very engaging protagonist.

Some of Connolly's short stories and novellas are excellent as well - The Wanderer in Unknown Realms is fabulously scary and he also does some excellent YA books (Chronicles of the Invaders and Samuel Johnson).

www.johnconnollybooks.com/charlie-parker-books.php

I love the Charlie Parker books too, Holly. I read Every Dead Thing when it came out first and it's still the only book that freaked me out so much that I couldn't sleep. The Black Angel and The Unquiet are brilliant too. I haven't read The Wolf in Winter yet but The Wrath of Angels was very good. It's unusual to read such a long series that has remained so consistent. I haven't read his other books yet-must look out for them.

haruki murakami. Norwegian wood or kafka on the shore

Dorothy Dunnett, she was a wonderful writer.

mmack They're so well written, aren't they? I actually think it's hard to do supernatural well but Connolly manages it perfectly. The Wolf in Winter is a bit of a shocker - I don't want to spoil it for you so I won't explain any further. Thing is, I utterly love the books but when you read them in order you start seeing that sooner or later there's an end in sight for Parker. Part of me is desperate to see what happens and part of me doesn't want it to end.

I would second Alice Hoffman - especially The Dovekeepers.

Also - We Are Called to Rise - Laura McBride. It's a stunning first novel and was on Simon Mayo's book club last night! Thoroughly recommend it.

I agree, The Dovekeepers was an amazing book. It would be one of my top 5 for this decade and I think it deserved to win a Pulitzer Prize. My other favourite of hers in Here on Earth. It's a loose updating of Wuthering Heights. I got it from the library when it came out first and I bought it a few years later to re-read and keep for my daughter.

I hadn't heard of We Are Called to Rise before, DaddyorChips, but it looks really good. I think my next book order will have to be this, the new Charlie Parker, a Robertson Davies book and a Russell Banks book.

Thanks I will try the Dovekeepers. I am currently reading Dissolution by cm Sansom and then have the 4th game of Thrones book to read.

Mitch Albom
The Five People you meet in heaven.

Amazing book.

Yy to Alice Hoffman.

God I loathed that 5 People you meet in heaven!

Badly written, schmaltzy & simplistic. Had I not been on a plane, I would've lobbed it out of the window.

Wallace Stegner, an American great. (1903-93) Writes so beautifully that I want to weep. Tackles being human - relationships, growing older, the rise and fall of life...

Try:

Crossing to Safety
The Angle of Repose (Pulitzer winner)

His nonfiction is supposed to be amazing too, but haven't tackled any of that.

I will check out your favourite authors, OP. I also love Wally Lamb and Lionel Shriver but don't know the others.

I read The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman last weekend and it was so enjoyable. It's very funny and well written. I couldn't compare it to anything I've read before-the thing it is closest to is probably a good Woody Allen movie. Thank you to the people who recommended her.

I think I'm with Capitola on the subject of Mitch Albom. I read Tuesdays with Morrie and I thought it was very shallow and clichéd. But I'm probably cynical from reading too much Lionel Shriver.

Shooter McGavin, I had never heard of Wallace Stegner before but he looks like my kind of writer. Who are your other favourites?

shooter I had never heard of Wallace Stegner but Justin Webb (who I love) chose one of his on R4's A Good Read (which I also love). It sounded v compelling so am going to look out for it now.

Leon uris and agree with wally lamb.

Oh Wallace Stegner is AMAZING. Such powerful writing while being an amazing read. Every sentence so beautifully constructed. I also recommend The Spectator Bird.

Agree with Haruki Murakami, too. Norwegian Wood is one of my favourite ever books. So weird and cool.

mmack That's a hard question. I have really enjoyed Rose Tremain, The Colour and Restoration - actually, Restoration is great and I would venture to say a must read. An engagingly complex protagonist and very funny and unexpectedly moving story set in the Restoration period.

Others...

Donna Tartt
Haruki Murukami
Steinbeck (esp East of Eden)
Jonathan Franzen
Toni Morrison

I could probably list 50 more to be honest!

I have googled your other authors, can you recommend one specific novel each from Alice McD and Jane Urquhart?

Restoration is wonderful, as is its sequel Merivel. Definitely must reads. Sir Robert Merivel is incredible - at times bawdy, downright filthy, and at others wise, funny, clever. And absolutely unforgettable. They were books I just didn't want to end.

I read quite a few contemporary Irish novels, and particularly liked John Banville's The Sea. The writing is exquisite. Also recommend Donal Ryan - The Spinning Heart, and The Thing About December, Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture (sad, but beautiful), Colm Toibin - any of his books really but Brooklyn is good one to start with, The Blackwater Lightship for a more serious subject - very sad but was unputdownable.

I've just read Someone at a distance by Dorothy Whipple, which I loved. It's a fairly simple story but her characterisation was wonderful ( I thought!).

Shooter, Child of My Heart for Alice McDermott and Sanctuary by Jane Urquhart. East of Eden is one of my favourite books ever. Also, have you read Ann-Marie MacDonald The Way the Crow Flies? I think you would love it.
Duchess, I like contemporary Irish fiction too. Sebastian Barry would be my favourite of the ones you mention. I liked The Blackwater Lightship much more than Brooklyn. I don't think that Brooklyn would have been as critically acclaimed if someone other than Colm Toibin had written it. I also enjoyed the first few Benjamin Black books-John Banville's crime novels. My favourite Irish novel of the last few years would be City of Bohane by Kevin Barry. I've never met anyone else who has read it though.

I know what you mean about Brooklyn, mmack. Lovely story, but quite lightweight. Wondering whether his next one will be like - due out in Autumn I believe.

Quite liked The Story of Before by Susan Stairs also. Another sad tale. Bit of a pattern forming here :o