I'm unemployed and my time is now endless baby. Looking for something to love! I like character-driven literary fiction but I will read any genre if the quality is there.
My favorite books in no particular order are:
- Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
- Fathers and Children by Ivan Turgenev
- A Visit From The Goon Squad & The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
- Look at Me by Jennifer Egan
- The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Thanks and much appreciated! xx
by rajathegullible
12 Comments
Saramago
Dan Simmons
Murakami
Peter Heller – the dog stars
Check out those authors
Since you’re laid off, offering some suggestions from the library (we have many books in common!):
J. Courtney Sullivan
Curtis Sittenfeld
Maggie Shipstead
Ann Patchett
Tana French
These have been my fave recents reads:
My Brilliant Friend – Elena Ferrante (whole series is great)
Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
the road – Cormac McCarthy
Pachinko (tho I will say her characters felt distanced to me emotionally but there’s an argument that this served the generational trauma and I felt connected to the family as a whole)
Other ones I’ve loved but not read recently:
The goldfinch (great characters!! Donna Tartt is amazing)
Lonesome dove
Jane eyre
Demon copperhead
I feel like you have to read *My Year of Rest and Relaxation.* I read it during an extended vacation while backpacking, and I feel like it goes really well with periods of one’s life where they’re doing nothing.
Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann
Confederacy of Dunces
I’m halfway through Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart and it’s all I can think about.
The Pesthouse by Jim Crace
A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan
Still Life with Monkey by Katharine Weber
Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd
Restless by William Boyd
My House in Umbria by William Trevor
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Property by Valerie Martin
Capital by John Lanchester
The Living by Annie Dillard
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
Instruments of Darkness by Robert Wilson
Corrigan by Caroline Blackwood
I just finished Shogun. The first few chapters are a slog, but I’m telling you, it really is a masterpiece.
Just finished A Gentleman in Moscow, and think you might enjoy it.
Boy’s Life by Robert Mccammon is very character driven. Big adventure with some magical elements. Not my type of book at all but now one of my favorites!
Pat Conroy does excellent character driven novels.
(My Brilliant Friend is very meh in my opinion)
“Station Eleven”, “Sea of Tranquility” and “The Glass Hotel” Emily St. John Mandel
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” Gabrielle Zevin
“I Who Have Never Known Men” Jacqueline Harpman
“Death of the Author” Nnedi Okorafor
“My Real Children” Jo Walton
“The Bone Clocks” David Mitchell