I’m in the mood to be awed and get really really lost and fall in love with someone’s writing, but something modern please.
It can even be a romantasy. It could be anything really. I’d love to have a list.
The only genre I’m bad at is horror. So please no horror books.
Thanks so much in advance!
by The9thReindeer
14 Comments
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders
Crossroads – Jonathan Franzen
David Sedaris’ books are pretty great imo
Anything by Lily King will treat you well.
The Book Thief was very prosy and played a few games with it in between. Well regarded book and very good imagery.
Is 1992 modern enough for you?
If so, Cormac McCarthy’s *All the Pretty Horses* (or pretty much all of McCarthy, but that’s the one I’d recommended as a starting point)
Modern writers whose prose I love:
Leif Enger (just finished his latest – I Cheerfully Refuse – now rereading Peace Like a River
Emily St John Mandel – recently reread Station Eleven, but loved all her books
Ocean Vuong – they bring their poetry to their novels
Donna Tartt – Little Friend is overlooked compared to her other books, but the writing is just as good
Annie Proulx – The Shipping News is her best, but like her others too
David Guterson – Snow Falling on Cedars is his most famous
The Tree of Man by Patrick White.
Flashlight by Susan Choi
There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Rumer Godden. Her writing is exquisite across all her books.
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
Deathless by Catherine Valenti
any novel by Olga Tokarczuk (maybe start with “drive my plow”), Patricia Lockwood’s book “Priestdaddy”, George Saunders short stories, Jon Fosse if you’re down for something more experimental, David Grossman, Claire Keegan….
The Shepherd King Duology by Rachel Gillig or The Knight and the Moth by the same author (it’s another duology and the second book is out in September). They’re beautifully written fantasy/romantasy. The gargoyle in the knight and the moth quickly became my favourite side kick of all time.