da heck wit' it, i's gonna carpet bomb lj wit' posts t'day ~

[lookingland]

weekends are so quiet around here. last weekend i didn't even bother posting.

this weekend i feel like posting up a storm.

so, last night i was laying in bed thinking about my top ten favorite contemporary (post-1960, let's say) novels. novels that i think are absolutely flawless in terms of form and characterization. i qualify this because i'm talking about my own personal aesthetic, which tends to emphasize style and structure over plot (a novel can have a mind-numbingly simple plot and still be positively brilliant, but if the characters or the structure fail to hold it up, even the best-plotted novel will disintegrate).

so these are novels that do something more than just tell a story. novels that master the art of reversal, the nuance of personality, the fine art of narrative voice, and the tenuous balancing act between storytelling and word painting. these are books on which every level i found totally, enduringly satisfying (no kvetching whatsoever in review of their literaryness). in every case, these are books that have influenced my writing and taught me things about the craft.

in no particular order, they are:

Coming through Slaughter by michael ondaatje

a a writer, this book was life-changing for me in a very dramatic way.

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by michael ondaatje

i couldn't pick between ondaatje's books. hands-down two of the best pieces of writing in the last twenty years.

Watership Down by richard adams

talking rabbits. c'mon. 'nuff said.

Silk by alessandro baricco

perfect example of the "simple story, complex telling" quality i was talking about. i grumbled through this book because i was so annoyed at the main character. one of the most perfect literary endings ever.

A Prayer for the Dying by stewart o'nan

anyone ever interested in knowing what you can do with a second-person narrative, this is the book for you. to date, the scariest thing i've read since The Shining (and that's saying a lot!)

Wheat that Springeth Green by j.f. powers

the least fancy of all the entries, but this book has a charm like no other. last book that totally choked me up and had me laughing all at once. you might have to be Catholic and have a firm grip on 60s-70s culture to "get" this one.

Nat Turner by william styron

prolly the most complex of the bunch. i rarely recommend it because it reads like 19th century fiction, but i think that's part of what's so brilliant about it.

Snow by maxence fermine

a book about haiku in a haiku-like style. and it's about snow. what's not to love?

Cycle of the Werewolf by stephen king

my favorite king novel (novella). this is where his writing shows what it can really do.

Einstein's Dreams by alan lightman

this book is almost more of a meditation than a novel, but oh the thinks you can think!

and because i couldn't just pick ten, these are my also-rans:

Lying Awake by mark salzman

it's just a beautiful book. simple. elegant.

A Clockwork Orange by anthony burgess

burgess does with narrative voice here what i could never hope to achieve in a lifetime.

The Barrytown Trilogy by roddy doyle

doyle is just one of the most solid, consistent writers i've ever come across. his work seems fluffy, but resonates.

Love and other Demons by gabriel garcia marquez

probably the last book i cried over while reading. to this day i don't recall how it ends because it was just too traumatic for me. so obviously it belongs here.

Montmorency by eleanor updale

i couldn't decide whether i like this or its sequel better. it's the only series i have ever been rabid for. technically this is a children's book, but it reads like adult fiction.

A Soldier's Book by joanna higgins

surprise! there's only one civil war novel on my list and it's in the also-rans. higgins does with andersonville what a lot of writers fail to do with it: she tells a story about the men inside the stockade instead of the stockade itself. i'm amused that the one piece of civil war fiction i have here happens to be written by a woman (the only woman on my list)

Fata Morgana by william kotzwinkle

this is a strange book with all manner of surprises. one of the few mysteries i'll read again.

The Whitechapel Horrors by edward b. hanna

the other only mystery i would read again. in all my years of being a Jack the Ripper fanatic, this is the only book i have ever forgiven for being "wrong" (snicker). it's just that well-written.

Mariette in Ecstasy by ron hanson

i hesitated adding this one because to this day i am perplexed by what it all means. but then, that's the point of the book, so i guess it succeeds at its goal. somehow, even being utterly perplexing, the book is very satisfying. and the writing is phenomenal.

i'll have to come back and do my top ten picks for the classics.

in the meantime, what are your favorite contemporary novels?

: D

Comments

[sparowe]

By all means, post away! I made a single "bomb" of a different kind, yesterday. Probably just as well; I don't want to see what it might have generated during the week!

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

oy ~ !

i've been watching, but trying not to intrude. i think lj is a good place to air stuff out, but i tend to shy away from online confrontation. it's so hard to communicate in this medium sometimes!

[sparowe]

Normally, I don't think I would have gone that route? But I've had enough. It's all been so very one-sided, too; I don't think anyone approaches him about it. (Or if they have, he hasn't said anything to me--and it fits his character that he wouldn't, so....) On the other hand, I'm not sorry for anything I've written--and the next person who wants to give me enough grief may just end up with their own copy. I've said everything that I needed to say.

[siltjade.livejournal.com]

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

This book leaves you with more questions than when you started, and I love that. A Postmodern book which truly embraces the notions of Postmodernity and weaves them beautifully through three disjointed, yet connected tales. I am yet to find a more intricately written work. I am in awe of how this book works.

England, England by Julian Barnes

A company makes a theme park of England on an island just off the coast of England. Eventually, it becomes more England than the real England. That's where the fun begins :-) As fun of a plot as this book has, the writing matches it well. There are times when I'm just thinking "oh come on, don't do it that way," but then it ends up being the way it had to be, because of the somewhat absurdity of the book to begin with. Anyone familiar with the philosophy of Jean Beaudrillard will get a kick out of this book.

Go Ask Alice by anonymous

Holy crap this book just reaches out at you, grabs you by the horns, and pulls until you have no idea where you are. A beautiful (somehow that's the right word) look at the destructive power of drugs in a young girl's life. For anyone who has dealt with issues such as these in their own life or in the life of someone they knew/know, this will be an incredible emotional ride.

And then there's also Vonnegut to throw in there; I haven't read much of his, but I like all I have read. And really, there's no young adult lit. I'll turn down. But I think these three are my favorites.

--Brian

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i read Go Ask Alice a bajillion years ago and it's stuck with me ~

The New York Trilogy piques my interest (and reminds me that i left irvine welsh off my list!).

thanks for your recommendations ~ maybe i'll pick one for the 50bookchallenge this year!

: D

[lastremnant.livejournal.com]

Haha, I guess this shows how little I read of contemporary fiction, unless it's children lit of course. :)

I liked Mariette in Ecstasy too. The ending did leave a sort of hmmm-ness to it. It had a very unique writing style though.

And Watership Down! Wabbits! Lots of wabbits! Okay, I'm guilty, I saw the animated film and I'm not sure if I ever read the novel. I think I did. I seem to remember checking it out from the library ten years ago or so. But, anyway, Bigwig was one of my childhood heroes. :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

captain holly and blackberry, man.

huge influences in my character development ideas over the years.

i don't know if this list is at all representative of "popular" fiction. a few, like Einstein's Dreams are on the best seller list and a few, like Nat Turner are award-winners. but i would say these tend toward the more obscure than not.

i'll have to make a children's lit list too! you too!

: D

[sparowe]

Fiver, oddly enough.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha ~ the watership down coalition.

at least we won't fight over the characters!

: D

People have been writing novels after 1960???? ;)

[pithhelmet.livejournal.com]

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

What she said.

Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

It perfectly captured the 1980's college experience. Even though Ellis attended a elite liberal arts college in the nor'east and I attended Peau-Dunque Cow College in the South. It is also one of the few novels I've ever read that actually made me have to take a break from it.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Once again, I hearken back to college. I read this when I was a college freshman, and I actually got scared walking back to my car from an evening creative writing class. Perhaps it would seem dated if I went back and read it again now, but at the time, it was what the deluge of vampire novels that have flooded the market should all strive to be.

The Stand by Stephen King

As someone who spend most of my academic career writing papers based on Joseph Campbell, I once considered this the Great American Novel. In hindsight, I'll just say it is a great American novel.

Peshwar Lancers by S. M. Stirling

The setting alone placed this in my top ten.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Ditto.

King Rat by James Clavell
Once again, a novel that disturbed me so much, the aftertaste has lasted a good twenty-plus years.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

McCarthy's romp through the wasteland. I've always been a fan of the genre, but this one really struck a chord with me. Perhaps it is his treatment of Hope. I don't know if I'd have dug it as much were I not a parent, though.

The Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell

"Flawless" in the sense that it does what it sets out to do perfectly, and there is nothing I would ask that Mr. Cornwell do differently.

The Flashman Series by George MacDonald Fraser

Ditto.

I'm sure I left something out so that a week from now I'll be V-8 forehead-slapping and saying, "Oh man, I forgot x."

Re: People have been writing novels after 1960???? ;)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i'd like to give ol' cormac another try. wasn't impressed with Blood Meridian, but maybe something else of his will.

i actually read The Stand and Salem's Lot late in my king days, so they don't resonate for me as much as i've heard other fans. but i also think Carrie and The Talisman are some of his better books, which many fans dislike a good deal.

he's definitely got something for everyone!

: D

[msmcguire.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I've been trying to expand my reading list and particularly to add more quality contemporary authors to it. It's often so hard to sift through all that literature that hasn't yet taken the great standardized test of time -- when I try on my own, I end up feeling frustrated & overwhelmed. This list is a great help.

To it I'd add Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated, which is everything people say it is, and Michael Cunningham's The Hours, which I once repudiated in an anti-postmodern phase but have since come back to as a book that yields more about structure, character and craft each time I read it.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

oooo good recommendations ~ thank you!

i repudiated many a novel in my anti-postmodern phase (which i'm still going through ~ hahahahaha).

but i've learned if you just don't attach labels to anything, they're quite all right just as they are.

: D

[astamaria.livejournal.com]

The Kite Runner is definitely at the top of my list. Incredible characterization, creative but realistic storyline, and themes that can't be beat: sin and redemption, familial bonds, the nature of love, you name it and it's probably there.

Honorable mention goes to The French Lieutenant's Woman.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

doh ~ ! fowles is definitely an also-ran for that one.

love love love that book. it's sooo wacky. talk about flaunting contemporary conventions!

one of these days i will read The Kite Runner (heard so many good things!)

: D

[utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com]

Lord of the Flies. Is that contemporary? Probably not. And perhaps too cliched a choice. Or not.

I've been getting into Charles Bukowski recently. "Pulp" was my favorite read last year. I don't know if I can recommend it, though...

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i can't remember when Flies was written off the top of my head, but i'm guessing late 50s. still, a great book.

i haven't read much bukowski (kind have to be in the mood), but he's worth a second look.

: D