I like Carver, Tartt, Proulx, Byatt, Amis. Tell me what to read next.

[franch]

I think I'm on novels rather than short stories at the moment. Thanks ...

Unquiet

I feel like I've done something weird, calling authors by their surnames - has this never been done before ...

Oh - I should've mentioned GRAHAM Greene and VIRGINIA Woolf among my favourites

Try Marisha Pessl's "Special topics in Calamity Physics".

@UD

Message withdrawn

If you like Raymond Carver - I would think you would like Cormac MacCarthy. All the pretty horses. Is amazing.

Peter Carey - Oscar and Lucinda?

Amis. Shudder.

UQD. spot on.

Try Richard Ford - The Sportswriter, Independence Day and the other one.

lol at unquiet! You're right!

I like all those writers too.
Have you read Siri Hustvedt? Absolutely brilliant- she's Paul Auster's wife- he's great too.

I always recommend William Boyd- Restless, The Blue Afternoon, Any Human heart-- I think he's one of the great writers.

Jonathan Franzen- The Corrections, I read after Donna Tartt because I wanted more US stuff.

And then Alice Hoffman- who reminded me a bit of Donna Tarrt, although her plots aren't quite as strong.

Amis makes me ... shudder too Miyazaki- he gives me the creeps. I read his stuff when I was younger though... maybe just getting too old..

Many thanks all! Have added these to my list. Excellent suggestions. I have read one Siri Hustvedt plum, but would def read more.

And I know what you mean about Amis, definitely. I just like the way he writes - and sometimes I like to read outside my comfort zone. Everything I've read lately has been way too comfy - probably because people keep lending me books and I never get the chance to choose anything myself!

Ooh, your taste sounds similar to mine! (I know you are off short stories, but have you read The little black book of stories by AS Byatt? I thought it was amazing.)

How about Alan Warner? Morvern Callar and These Demented Lands are pretty special. I found the later stuff hard to read though.

Ann Enright? The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch - or any of them in fact...

Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson is good, and Helen Dunmore writes some haunting novels (so much so that I haven't been able to even begin reading some of the latest ones she's written!

If you like Carver you might like Updike. Not the same sort of writing, but lots of women don't seem to have the stomach for him. The Rabbit series is one of my all time faves.

Yes I think we are on the same wavelength broken! Have read Morvern Callar (have you seen the film too? v good) but none of the others - many thanks

Have you read any Michael Chabon? I've just started The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and am enjoying it, and thought The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was fabulous.

John Irving? The Hotel New Hampshire or A Prayer for Owen Meany
Philip Roth?
Jonathan Frantzen (but wouldn't bother with him apart from The Corrections)
If you like short stories, AL Kennedy is good - I'd recommend Original Bliss

Try Kurt Vonnegut (any novel could do, but "slaughterhouse n. 5" is one of the most popular).

I have just started to read "Easter Parade" by Richard Yates, who also wrote Revolutionary Road.

Assuming you've done:

Heart of Darkness

Anna Karenina

Madame Bovary?

I liked the look of the film of Morvern Callar, but thought it might not live up to the book for me.

I read some Siri Hustvedt but it didn't really do it for me. She is in the camp for me of people who want to be a writer, rather than want to write IFYSWIM.

Early Ian Banks - The Crow Road especially is very good. Avoid later stuff like the plague, though.

More great ideas! The only one I've read out of that lot is Heart of Darkness. Thanks so much.

Anna Karenina is probably my all-time favourite book. I tried once and couldn't get started, but non-stop breastfeeding dd1 meant that I had run out of all other options. It seemed to me it could have been written yesterday, and all the characters were just like people I knew.

Another one you might like is Restoration by Rose Tremain, and also the one by her about Hamlet's parents whose title I've forgotten.

Will def give Anna K a go. And yes Rose Tremain's pretty good - haven't read Restoration or the other one you mention, sounds interesting

I can't recommend Mating by Norman Rush highly enough.
It's not that easy to get hold of, but well worth it to anyone who likes these authors. I would put Mating up there with Anna K.

ha ha ha ha "OI! Atwood! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

How about Julian Barnes, Barbara Kingsolver and Carol Shields. Pretty much anything by any of them. Barbara Kingsolver tends to slightly purple prose in her opening chapter (IMO) but persevere.

I second the suggestion of trying Behind the Scenes at the Museum; it is far far better than anything else she's written, though it does have some thematic similarities to Case Histories, which may put you off.

after a quick glance at title i thought this was a baby name thread!