everytime i see people recommend books with good prose theyre all very old books, does anyone know of contemporary authors with particularly beautiful and effective prose? extra plus if its a mystery, thriller, scifi or speculative fiction (ive enjoyed han kang and ryu murakami’s work but the prose was mediocre) but ill take anything
by chaaamchiiiii
12 Comments
I like Anthony Doerr’s prose
How contemporary? I’d consider Cormac McCarthy’s works. Try to ease into them with The Road and No Country for Old Men. Graduate to Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy which are considered his best works. IMHO he is the best author the US has produced in the past 50 years.
Other authors to consider: Don DeLillo, Franzen, Michael Chabon, Zadie Smith, Roth.
Anything by Helen MacDonald—*H is for Hawk*, *Vesper Flights*.
Lauren Groff’s *Matrix* (which is a teensy bit speculative, you could say).
Ocean Vuong’s *On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous*.
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Piranesi.
I’ve really enjoyed Maggie O’Farrell – *Hamnet* (literary fiction inspired by Shakespeare’s life), beautifully written.
If you love sci-fi, I cannot recommend Ursula LeGuin enough – *The Left Hand of Darkness* (exquisite prose), *The Dispossesed* (she has many others, worth to check out). *Earthsea* – fantasy series
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Marilynne Robinson
**The Books of Babel** series by Josiah Bancroft
I’m really enjoying the prose in the **Sun Eater** series, by Christopher Ruocchio. Its sort of a “Science-fantasy” series.
You will love Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s dreams. The prose reads like a caramel spread. Though the next one is a popular title, I don’t know if it falls under the old category that you speak of. It’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera. Good prose, magical realism. Save Alan De Button’s books for dessert (eg. The Course of Love, to name one). They read like expensive chocolates👌 Honorable authors mentions: Pico Iyer (incredible visual writer), Vikram Seth.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt — it’s a thriller/mystery and she’s just an unbelievably good writer
Her Body and other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado — creepy, weird, speculative short stories that are breathtakingly written
Jeanette Winterson – gorgeous prose. I recommend The Passion or Written on the Body
The Death of Vivek Oji was one of the best books I’ve read in recent years — achingly beautiful