Books with the best dialogue

[Kai1977]

I write as a hobby but am struggling with dialogue. I need to some new reads to my list so thought I could go for books with really good dialogue. Which writers/novels would you recommend? I mainly read literary and thrillers but happy to try other things too. Thanks!

I thought the Jonathon Stroud Bartemaeus books with the djinns internal dialogue was hilarious.

Got to admit to not really knowing what you mean (bit of a thickie!!) but I really enjoyed to dialogue in Skippy Dies.

Sorry for using writing terms! Literally I mean how characters talk to each other in a two way/multi way conversation! Which books have the wittiest, sparkiest dialogues?

Ah ok - then yes I'm still going with Skippy Dies

Jilly Cooper's Riders, Rivals and Polo - although not to everyone's taste and somewhat dated now, but definitely witty.

I think Nora Roberts' books have really good, natural dialogue. She's written a lot, so plenty to choose from!

What about reading some plays or screenplays instead?

You might like Nora Ephron. She was a screenwriter (When Harry Met Sally, etc). But she also wrote books, with her typical witty style.

I've read the scripts of When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You Got Mail (all Nora Ephron) - she's great for dialogue. They're all on IMSDB, the script site.

George V Higgins, who is very out of fashion, sadly rather overlooked wrote brilliant dialogue, often almost whole novels in speech.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is his most famous book, because it was made into a classic film. American from Boston, a professor of creative writing, and a master of the blue collar tough guy and politician talk. However, I am not sure where you would find print copies outside the US.

Literary thrillers was what he did best, and he does non toe-curlingly erotic rather well too.