I've always enjoyed reading and wanted to read a lot of books. But in reality I sometimes have to force myself to actually sit down and read, and tend to take forever to get through books no matter how much I'm enjoying them.

So starting in June I'm going to force myself to finish at least one book per month. I'd like some recommendations for some relatively new books. I've already got a Japanese novel and a few scifi books I got for Christmas last year, so I'm pretty set as far as classics and older books.

It's a bit hard to describe my tastes...the last two books I read (Not counting America: The Book) are White Noise by Dom Delillo and The Human Stain by Philip Roth. Before that I read Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, and really liked that, but thought the plot was a little too random. Historical favorites of mine were 1984 and Slaughterhouse Five. I like books that are extremely character-driven and come from a sort of clever intellectual perspective. But that isn't confined within any particular type of plot or genre.

Any ideas would be welcome. And what do I mean by new? Hmm..nineties is 'new' enough. Anything not old enough to be canonized, but good enough that it could eventually be canonized.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
Brilliant Japanese novel, far superior to the movie adaptation. A modern Lord Of The Flies!

One I would recommend is Stone Junction by Jim Dodge.

Battle Royale seems interesting, but I'm already planning to read that series of four novels...I forget what it's called, but one of them is called 'Spring Snow'. Don't want to be oversaturated with Japanese stuff.

Of course, I'll entertain all suggestions.

I would recommend Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Beautiful stuff, and short...

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Originally posted by Frank Valeron Esq.:
I would recommend Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Beautiful stuff, and short...

How does that rate with One Hundred Years of Solitude? That's one of my favorite novels.

Solitude IS my fave, but it's older. I recommend reading all of Marquez. If you've read him, you know why.

Hmm...a lot of Gabriel Garcia Marquez references.

I'm reading Spring Snow by Mishima first. (I already read Runaway Horses). But I think I'll try finding something by Marquez next.

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Originally posted by musicfanatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Valeron Esq.:
I would recommend Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Beautiful stuff, and short...

How does that rate with One Hundred Years of Solitude? That's one of my favorite novels.

They aren't really comparable, because the one I mentioned is basically a novella. But you should read it.
And Mark's right. We should all read whatever we can get our hands on from Senor Marquez. Long may he sprinkle his magic dust upon the world...

If you enjoy intensely stylized writers such as DeLillo and Roth, you might enjoy Cormac McCarthy. "All the Pretty Horses" is a wonderful starting point for McCarthy. You also might like "The Puttermesser Papers" by Cynthia Ozick (my personal favorite novel) or the books of Jim Crace, a wonderful, underrated writer I've recently discovered. "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt is a great novel, a well-written potboiler, basically.

One that's rather new? Suite Francaise or The Road, but both are very dark, especially, The Road.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien (or really, anything by him); "Life of Pi" by Yann martel; "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie; "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides; "Notes From the Underground" by Dostoyevsky.

I often find that when I'm trying to get back into the groove of reading, plays are often the most easy way to segueway into reading longer pieces of literature. That said, anything by Tennessee Williams is good and this play called "Stop Kiss" by Diana Son is quite fantastic.

Have fun!

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Originally posted by okidokipoke:
"Life of Pi" by Yann martel... "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides..."Notes From the Underground" by Dostoyevsky.

Excellent choices all, though Dostoyevsky could hardly be call "newish."

Also loved "Suite Francaise." To those I'd add either Black Swan Green, or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

I'd like to recommend Rupert Thompsons' dystopian tale, Divided Kingdom, in which an alternative U.K. is divided into 4 zones, the zone distinctions based on the 4 humours of antiquity, leading to all sorts of adventure and commentary on contemporary Britain.

Excellent book from the last couple of yrs

quote:

Originally posted by Memorial:
If you enjoy intensely stylized writers such as DeLillo and Roth, you might enjoy Cormac McCarthy. "All the Pretty Horses" is a wonderful starting point for McCarthy. You also might like "The Puttermesser Papers" by Cynthia Ozick (my personal favorite novel)

I definitely would recommend McCarthy. He is probably my favorite living American author. All The Pretty Horses is a good starting point, although I think The Crossing is really the gem of the trilogy. Or go for his most recent called The Road. If you're going to go with Delillo, do yourself a favor and don't jump right into Underworld. Instead, start with something like White Noise. I also like the love for Cynthia Ozick! It's been a while since I have read any of her fiction, but I would second the recommendation.

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Originally posted by kendocubano:

quote:

Originally posted by okidokipoke:
"Life of Pi" by Yann martel... "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides..."Notes From the Underground" by Dostoyevsky.

Excellent choices all, though Dostoyevsky could hardly be call "newish."

Also loved "Suite Francaise." To those I'd add either Black Swan Green, or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

i totally realized that after i put it. but oh well it's still great haha

So, you got a bunch of recommendations. What did you read?

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Originally posted by kendocubano:
So, you got a bunch of recommendations. What did you read?

Bob/Art is no longer with us.

Dang! Now I'll never know what he read!

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Originally posted by kendocubano:
Dang! Now I'll never know what he read!

Ask about him at LT's.