August 2025
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    I'm looking for recent (past 10 years) books like Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay or A.S. Byatt's Possession — books that have a literary style but tell a good story with a satisfying (and hopeful) ending.

    I'm NOT in the mood for poverty or trauma porn where a series of horrible things happen to the protagonist, alternate or "decolonized" spins on familiar stories (e.g. "it's the story of Don Quixote told from the perspective of the women"), navel-gazing about bad marriages, or stories about addiction or abusive childhoods (although those can be elements in a larger story). Not really looking for thrillers, either. I want something that qualifies as a good yarn. Think of a modern version of The Count of Monte Cristo or a really satisfying love story.

    Other books I liked: most Jonathan Lethem, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, a bunch of classics (Austen, Dickens).

    by Formal-Register-1557

    1 Comment

    1. Latter_Wait3155 on

      White Teeth by Zadie Smith

      The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

      Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

      The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

      The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin

      The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (problematic person, great writer)

      The Princess Bride by William Goldman (the book came first!)

      North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

      The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

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