Bonus points for any books you believe are classics from that time period. Any language, but only fiction please.
I’m really excited to see what Lemmy has.
This isn’t a perfect example but Cormac McCarthy has been my favourite author for years now, and his first major work Suttree was from '79.
My all time favourites novel is Blood Meridian from 1985. If you’re familiar with metamodernism, which is basically very modern works that have their cake and eat it when it comes to modernist ideals and postmodern critique, you’d clock that practically every western is either a modernist white hat western or a metamodern “the west is grim and hard, but also fucking cool” western. The only straight postmodern takes on the west that I know of are either Blood Meridian or pieces of work that take direct notes from it, such as the films Dead Man from ‘95 (except maybe the Oregon Trail video game from. 85’). Blood Meridian otherwise is a fantastic novel which meditates on madness and cruelty, religion and fate, race, war and conquest and so many other themes. It also has one of the best antagonists ever written in Judge Holden, a character who I would have called a direct insert of Satan if not for the fact that his deeds and the novel as a whole are closely inspired by true events. I feel the novel takes inspiration from Apocalypse Now, specifically the '79 film and not Conrad’s 1899 novel Heart of Darkness. If you enjoy that film, you’re likely to enjoy this book. The opening and closing chapters are fantastic, but I often find myself re-reading chapter 14. It has some of the best prose and monologues of the entire novel, and encompasses in my opinion the main turning point of the novel.
His other legendary work is The Road, a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel. I’ll talk on this one less but as our climate crisis grows and our cultural zeitgeist swings more towards this being the critical issue of our time, the novel fantastically paints itself as both a fantastic warning to our 21st century apocalypse and the unresolved 20th century shadow of nuclear winter. Despite this, it hones in on a meditation of parenthood and could be considered solely about that, with other themes of death, trauma, survival and mortality being explored through parenthood. Of course the unsalvageable deatg of the world that make the setting also makes this theme extra tragic. There is an adaptation into a film from 2008 but it isn’t anywhere near as potent as the novel and I’d suggest should only be seen in tandem with reading the novel. The prize of this novel has really evolved to fit the novel too. McCarthy is renowned for his punctuation lacking prose, but where Blood Meridian is practically biblical in its dramatic and beautiful prose which juxtaposes the plain and brutal violence, The Road sacrifices no beauty in it’s language but is so somber and meanders from mostly terse to so florid, while also always perfectly feels like how the protagonists are seeing their world.
I was looking for McCarthy ITT. I’m going to read Blood Meridian this year after listening to the audiobook years ago. I read The Road around the same time and struggled to get through it because it was so absolutely dreary. I get it obviously I just wanted to say that.
I would recommend also No Country For Old Men as I thought it was all the things McCarthy is amazing at but isn’t so violent as the Judge’s gang or as consistently hopeless as the world of The Road. It’s paced like a thriller while still having an amazing villain. Talking about CM makes me think I should reread these books. I was just out of college when I read/listened to them.
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The Road is perhaps my favourite novel I’ve read. Absolutely haunting
No Country for Old Men was great too, and it made a better transition to film than The Road, in my opinion.
really love Butler’s Xenogenesis series!
I appreciate you naming more than one female author!
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I only read “The Left Hand of Darkness”. That novell was fire (no pun intended). Excellent world building and super captivating and immersive writing.
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Le Guin died a few years ago.
Iain (M) Banks
China Mieville
Two of my faves
Gene Wolfe - the style of his sci-fi is mesmerizingly mysterious, even the mundane things described take on sinister tones
Terry Pratchett.
I am on 12 of 42 or however many he wrote, but damn it if his little quips aren’t masteries of word play. So far Sorcery, Wyrd Sisters, and Mort are my favorites.
I tell people it’s like living in a Monty Python universe with a dash of magic.
I’m more of a fan of his later works myself. It trades some silliness for depth as time goes on. And I really loved Susan who you haven’t met yet
Be sure to include The Amazing Maurice and Equal Rites and the Tiffany books as well; the only thing YA about them is the ages of their protagonists.
Equal Rites was great! I think that was my first introduction to Granny but I wished there was a sequel.
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There kinda is. Esk shows up in I Shall Wear Midnight. Tiffany resolves a lot of the threads left by the witches
Agreed, I’m most of the way through The Colour of Magic and I can’t remember the last time I was reading something where at times I have to stop and fully comprehend what I just read because it was so dang well written that I have to go back and read it again immediately.
That will never end. Every re-read for me is fantastic.
And you’re on one his weaker books! 🫣
https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html
This link has always been helpful for explaining his books.
Neil Gaiman
off-beat:
- Vikram Seth (polyglot) – A Suitable Boy
- Ryszard Kapuściński (journalist)
A Suitable Boy is such an amazing novel. It captures India and it’s complexities really well.
Tom Robbins and Tim O’Brien
Haruki Murakami. I’ve liked everything he’s written up to 1Q84. I’m sure his newer stuff is good too I just haven’t caught up to them yet lol
If you want something more like hard sci-fi/cyberpunk, I recommend the Otherland series by Tad Williams. It’s seriously probably the best modern sci-fi I’ve ever read
Have you read the expanse and if so, is it better than the expanse?
I have not read The Expanse yet, but it looks like a good series!
Its absolutely incredible IMO. Was hoping you had to compare it. Guess I’ll just have for ead other land and decide for myself. What a shame lol.
I have read the first book of the Expanse. I liked it but didn’t find any connection to Murakami, perhaps in later novels?
I have no idea what you’ve just said
I have read the first book of The Expanse, known as Leviathan Wakes. While reading it, I did not discover any connections to Haruki Murakami insofar as the writing nor the way he works a metaphor. I liked reading Murakami a lot; The Expanse not as much. But perhaps in later novels of The Expanse I shall?
Ken Follet: Pillars of the Earth. Historical fiction. You’re transported back to the 1200s. Cathedral building with raunchy politics, a bit of HBO Game of Thrones mixed in. It was extremely visual… and fondly memorable for me.
Not to mention the two sequels World without End and A Column of Fire, set in the 1400s and 1600s, respectively, and the prequel Kingsbridge set around the year 1000.
Then there’s the century trilogy which takes place in the 20th century, and a whole lot of smaller works like A Dangerous Fortune, which manages to make you care for some bankers in 19th century London.
To me, it has to be Steven Erikson. Malazan series is simply amazing.
Just finished book 1 earlier this year, looking forward to getting to the rest of them.
Ones that many people have mentioned: Atwood, Wallace, Murakami
One I don’t think anyone has said yet - Paul Auster. I’ve only read New York Trilogy so far, but I thought it was superb.
