Have you read a really satisfying novel lately?
- Thread starter Santino
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Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
Crime and Punishment, Dostovesky (which is properly spelt using many of those letters)
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
It's possibly the best book I've read this year
It's possibly the best book I've read this year
vauxhallmum
had to scrap the cheap car
This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson
Loved it
Loved it
If it is about the county cricket team and the highs and lows of their glorious Twenty20 cup this is in the lead already.
This is only disqualified because I re-read it in May.
Idaho
blah blah blah
Just finished the Poisonwood Bible the other day. Pretty good that. (Southern US 1950s christians take the word of Jebus to the middle of the Congo and it all gets rather messy)
Also I may as well insert my default reccomendation of Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami (surreal Jap war time to present day ghost saga)
Also I may as well insert my default reccomendation of Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami (surreal Jap war time to present day ghost saga)
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
I would recommend the Kite Runner, except that I haven't read it as to many people whose literary tastes are shit have gushed about it
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg has proven very intriguing and absorbing so far, a slightly obtuse tale of someone who can hear the musical resonance of other people, who is sucked into a Kafkaesque world of child abductions, tax evasion and clowning.
lots,
if you fancy something a bit spooky but perfect to curl up with in front of the fire, you could try The Séance by John Harwood. Victorian setting, London, spiritualists, mesmerism, an inheritance, creepy rambling pile in Suffolk, all very Wilkie Collins, really enjoyed it.
if you fancy something a bit spooky but perfect to curl up with in front of the fire, you could try The Séance by John Harwood. Victorian setting, London, spiritualists, mesmerism, an inheritance, creepy rambling pile in Suffolk, all very Wilkie Collins, really enjoyed it.
Sounds interesting. I read 'The Quincunx' and thought it was shit, though. Hopefully this won't be so up its own arse. The Independent review makes it look ok.lots,
if you fancy something a bit spooky but perfect to curl up with in front of the fire, you could try The Séance by John Harwood. Victorian setting, London, spiritualists, mesmerism, an inheritance, creepy rambling pile in Suffolk, all very Wilkie Collins, really enjoyed it.
5t3IIa
Registered User
I always like to recommend English Passengers by Matthew Kneale.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Passengers-Matthew-Kneale/dp/0140285210
http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Passengers-Matthew-Kneale/dp/0140285210
The Quincunx was waaay too long, this is much neater.
Another cracker, although not historical fiction and a couple of years old, is Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. Fiction, but based on actual DEA involvement in Mexican drug trade, it's a very cruel book. Gripping stuff though.
And then there's The Road, but enough threads on that one already...
Another cracker, although not historical fiction and a couple of years old, is Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. Fiction, but based on actual DEA involvement in Mexican drug trade, it's a very cruel book. Gripping stuff though.
And then there's The Road, but enough threads on that one already...
Oh - and this is what I said about it
Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje. A novel about human rights/forensic anthropology investigation into government-sanctioned mass murder in Sri Lanka in late 80s/early 90s
Fucking brilliant, such a great writer. Read half of it last night - he slips massive amounts of research so easily into the story with not so much as a tiny clunk, and manages to write about war atrocities and the contradictory mess of that civil war without a hint of sensationalism or overdoing the pathos.
Idris2002
Stay Alive in '25
Italo Calvino's The Path to The Nest of the Spiders.
vauxhallmum
had to scrap the cheap car
Me too. In that case, you might like This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson. It's about Robert Fitzroy, the Captain of the Beagle and his voyages with Charles Darwin. That makes it sound quite dry but it is a belter.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I'd second this. I'm reading it atm and it's the kind of deeply involving book that has had me unwisely reading till 5am the last two nights thereby reintroducing me to all the consequences of insomnia. But the fatigue is worth it because the book is good.
In terms of recent others I would go with The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. Mad devilry visits Stalinist Russia with hilarious results.
Ian McEwan's Saturday was rather good too, although I felt he kind of copped out on the ending. Cheshil Beach is probably better. They're both very satisfying novels though.
On the cricket front Netherland by Joseph O'Neill is all about cricket in New York City post 9/11. Haven't read it myself but it's supposed to be ace.
If you're looking for a good bit of historical fiction The March by E.L. Doctorow was really good too. It's about Sherman's march to the sea in 1864 during the Civil War. The one event that supposedly did more to damage North-South relations in the years that followed than anything else. Yeah, it's a while since I read that one but thinking back that was a brilliant novel.
Finally, Murakami's new one After Dark was a typically good read. It's a bit lightweight though so probably isn't the one to go for if you want a doorstop of a book to get really involved with.
Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I've just finished the Dice Man and enjoyed it loads, but realize I'm years late with that one.
Idaho
blah blah blah
My missus really rated this. Personally I thought it was a bit lukewarm.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I hated it.
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