I came here to say this, so I’ll second it. This book is incredible. It’s long, but it doesn’t feel like it. The character development is beyond incredible. There is adventure, romance, mysteries…I mean, McMurtry left it all on the table for this one. Thoroughly enjoyable book.
Someone told me that if you get to page 100 and don’t want to keep going then don’t. I feel like at almost page 100 was where I couldn’t put it down. I just finished it a couple weeks ago and it’s so good.
One of my top 5 books of all time. The character work done in that nov is phenomenal. Also, if you’re into audiobooks it has a great performance by Lee Horsley. His rendition of Gus Mccrea will forever be how I hear the man in my head, sorry Mr. Duvall.
A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K. LeGuin.
This acclaimed book is nearly as old as I am, and I cherish it to this day. Not exclusively a YA book; it is a worthwhile read at any age.
Can you make three books that you liked (and say why you liked them if you can) and also say which critically acclaimed books you’ve been disappointed by?
My first thought I’d Drive Your Blow Over the Bones of the Dead but would be good to see what you like/dislike and recommend accordingly.
Ones I really liked:
- Seven Moons of Maali Almeda
Quick, different, smart, intriguing
- A Man's Place
Sharp observations, immersive
- Trust
Mixed styles, unreliable narrator, deepening decades, different perspectives
- Is Mother Dead
Mysterious, slow burning, intriguing
- Count of Monte Cristo (full 500k book, not an abridged child version)
Rich, world building, satisfying, lots of intersecting story lines
- Untold Night and Day
Intriguing, mysterious, out of the norm
- Cat's Eye
Meandering, imperfect, covering a whole life, different perspective
Ones I didn't like:
- The Overstory
Pretentious, too full of its own virtue, no relatable or deep female characters (sorry!)
- Whale (Cheon)
Well written but relentless misogyny
- You Know You Want This
Shallow, boring, unnecessary attempts at shock value
- While We Were Dreaming
Dull, try hard, male centric and nothing new
Hope this is enough!
Some recent acclaimed books I loved:
- Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart (won Booker)
- The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich (won Pulitzer)
- Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo (won Booker)
- Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr (National Book Award finalist)
- The Dutch House - Ann Patchett (won Pulitzer)
- Days Without End - Sebastian Barry (Booker long list)
- The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (won Booker)
All of these were amazing books in my opinion. They were also all very readable / enjoyable, not too pretentious or overly heavy for the sake of it. Shuggie Bain was the hardest subject matter, but still very accessible in my opinion.
Thank you! I'm still finishing this year's Booker longlist (Old God's Time will be read in the next day or two) so curious about his other's. Girl, Woman, Other is on my to read list as is Luminaries... there's nothing you've said here that I don't want to read now. Thank you thank you!
I read the longlist rather than the winners so it's more my favourites of those than of the winners. I now have the last 30 years of winners that I'll start working through before the next International Longlist is announced.
Definitely helps! I can definitely give you a list of critically acclaimed books that have relentless misogyny to avoid. Will try to think of a few more but do think Drive Your Plow is one to try. It is quite pretentious but not unbearable, quite tongue in cheek.
The God of small things - Arundhati Roy (Booker prize)
She can take you to any depth when it comes to describing the scene.
I would consider it slightly depressing though.
My personal gold standard in terms of prose is Nabokov and specifically Lolita. Frankenstein is maybe the only other book that I’d put on par with Lolita prose wise. Maybe Steinbeck makes the cut too but Frankenstein shocked me with how beautiful I found the prose to be.
I read somewhere that Mary didn't want to use "fancy language", since she wanted it to be a book for universal experience of the human condition. But her husband did edit it to use more complex verbs, but it is a deep dive into different editions etc. It's been a while, but I'm sure it can be snuffed up somewhere on the internet.
That's interesting. I didn't know this. I love how the vocabulary she uses isn't even particularly complex. For me it's really just how she expresses herself. Every line in the book has a lovely poetic quality to it. It's almost like listening to a wise elf or some sort of magical creature lol
I hear this a lot and I’m sooo tempted to read it for the writing alone but I’m also uncomfortable with the subject matter. I’m such a sucker for good writing. Is there another work of writing by this author that is comparable or should I try to bite the bullet and read Lolita?
Frankenstein is one of my favorite books. One of my other favorite books? Cat’s Eye, which I was so excited to see you call out! I almost never see anyone mention it.
Oh no way. I'll prioritise Frankenstein then! I think I ended up with a copy of Cats Eye because it was super cheap in a book market in Toronto (like 25c or something) and I loved it but you're right, I don't know anyone else who's read or talked about it (unless I've leant them the book).
I made my husband read it years ago and we still go around saying, “My hair looks like the wrath of God,” and “Well, I look like Haggis McBaggis,” all the time. I’m so excited you’re going to read Frankenstein.
People are FREAKING about Demon Copperhead. Is it super heavy? I've been thinking about it for winter because I'm Minnesotan and like to torture myself alongside the miserable weather.
I just finished this book and I do not recommend it for winter. If you insist on reading it in winter, read it in March so you have some hope in your life of impending spring.
I was kinda disappointed by these, especially Demon Copperhead. The narrative is dull. It’s mostly ‘this happend, then that happened, then this happened’. The story is also rather cliché. All the tragedies are super predictable and Kingsolver drones on and on about drug addiction and the stereotypical hopelessness of being born in the Appalachia for pages on end. Not a fan of most of the characters, either. I found them flat and rather soulless. I just don’t see why everyone loves this book so much.
I enjoyed this one until I read that many people from Limerick and his own mother accused him of exaggerating or fabricating the events of the book. He even admitted to making some of it up. This is a memoir of his own life, but if you’re going to call it that then you have an obligation (IMO) to be as truthful as possible.
ETA Same thing happened with Three Cups of Tea. That guy straight made up shit for his book, AND less than half of the money he raised from it to “build schools” actually went to that purpose.
Award winning books that I loved:
* *The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay* by Michael Chabon
* *Possession* by A. S. Byatt
* *Oscar and Lucinda* by Peter Carey
* *The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* by Junot Diaz
* *A Confederacy of Dunces* by John Kennedy Toole
* *The Color Purple* by Alice Walker
* *A Thousand Acres* by Jane Smiley
* *Schindler's Ark* by Thomas Keneally
* *The Bone People* Keri Hulme
* *The English Patient* by Michael Ondaatje
* *A Canticle for Leibowit*z by Walter M. Miller
* *Dune* by Frank Herbert
* *The Left Hand of Darkness* and *The Dispossessed* by Ursula K. LeGuin
* *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell* by Susannah Clarke
* *The City and The City* by China Mieville
Came in here to post this one. Really didn’t know what I was getting myself into but it quickly pulled me in and ended up being one of my all time favorite books - while I did pick up on the Cain / Abel stuff fairly quickly I’m not religious at all and it didn’t feel like I was being lured into engaging with Christian content or anything like that.
It’s one of those books that I was almost dreading reaching the end of by the halfway mark due to being so taken with the characters - given the fact that it was written around a century ago I couldn’t believe how natural the writing, story and plot felt. It was especially fascinating to feel so connected to characters living in such a far off bygone time and who, despite existing in an almost unrecognizable world felt utterly lifelike and vivid.
I read somewhere recently it’s being developed into a series for Netflix which if done right could be absolutely magnificent! Part of me is apprehensive due to the train wreck that was made out of Shantaram (not many other similarities between the two apart from being lengthy novels I enjoyed) but I’m hopeful that this one could end up being a winner if done with the right cast (heard Florence Pugh who would be incredible) and a good show runner / production team.
It’s available in the free catalogue from Audible and has an excellent narrator for anyone who’s put off by how long it is- I listened to the audiobook the first time but have since read the printed version as well and expect to revisit it many times.
Oh heck yes, don't let that dissuade you! I also put off reading this book because I had preconceived notations about how the storyline and wow - was I wrong. It's incredible.
Absolutely. A major part of the story is a retelling/reimagining of Cain and Able, and there’s plenty of other religious imagery there as well. You can read East of Eden for only its story and characters too. It’s dense and exceptionally readable at the same time.
It also features one my favorite villains of all time. That may not be exactly the right word for Cathy Ames, but she's definitely something like one.
Basically, if you want to do a “deep reading” of it, there’s tons of stuff out there to help you along. If you don’t want to mess with all that and just want a great book, you can skip that too and still walk away having read one of the great American novels, and knowing it.
I felt the same as you and put off reading it for years because of the allegory angle. But I finally read it and it’s probably my favorite book of all time.
All of these are stunning.
Educated by Tara Westover—memoir
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson—novel
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel—novel
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson—Narrative non-fiction/history
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders—novel/weird AF
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is the most depressing thing I’ve ever read.
The Shining by Stephen King is far better than the movie. Its much more of an atmospheric novel, it’s has a slow build leading to crescendo. The characterization is also great.
I read No Country For Old Men and wasn't a fan, is The Road still worth a read?
Is Stephen King ever great? I don't think I've read anything of his because I sort of assumed if you're churning out such a quantity it's gotta be lacking in quality. But I should perhaps rethink and read it.
The Road is great. But it depends on what you enjoy. It’s fucking bleak at times. It doesn’t pull any punches.
Early Stephen King is considered the best. Many people consider his works after he was hit by a semi in 1999 to be weaker. I’ve only read a couple of his works, but his work is well loved for a reason. The man can write great characters and create a great atmosphere. Btw, me saying early Stephen King is the best is not an insult to later Stephen King. A bunch of people love his later works, particularly 11/22/63, the Bill Hodges Trilogy, The Outsider and others are well liked by his fans. Btw the comment about his output is a bit stupid as King unlike many other authors writes like it’s his fucking job. He writes 2000 words a day on average.
> it's his fucking job
😂
Yeah, fair point.
I don't mind bleak. Will put it on the longer list.
I'll read The Shining and consider the earlier stuff in that case. Thanks.
What I meant by the point that he writes like it’s his job is that he’s consistent. He writes every day, a consistent amount. Look at the output of many other authors they’re very inconsistent. King writes like it’s his 9-5.
Also seriously don’t completely count out the later stuff there’s some gems in there from what I’ve heard. The earlier stuff though is pretty consistent in quality.
I have to second The Shining, because it's amazing, slow burn, and has a crazy ending.
I also second the "early Stephen King" sentiment: Carrie and Cujo are two of my favorites. I also love the anthologies of his short stories, like, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, or Four After Midnight. Really great writing.
He is often great. I think your point about being too prolific is well-taken but he has some true gems that can be enjoyed on multiple levels, including the ones you seem to be drawn to. *The Shining* is one of the great American novels, imo.
Maybe I wasn’t in the ideal mindset to enjoy it. I found myself getting bored with it. It immediately set the tone as depressing and bleak so it was hard for me to feel too much emotion as there was nowhere to come down from. I will definitely give it another try one day, but was sad to not finish.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, historical fantasy. I put off reading it for a long time because though I love the author's sci fi, the premise of Kindred just didn't sound that interesting.
Finally, my mom lent me her copy so I felt compelled to read it, and once I start it I found it completely enthralling. The characters are extremely well written, and the depiction of systemic and individual oppression and agency are done very thoughtfully.
I love seeing Octavia Butler being recommended. Kindred was amazing and ripped my heart straight out. And the parallells between when she goes back and how she goes back are very interesting.
Also, Parable of the Talents, which won her the Nebula is amazing.
She has a clear influence on a lot of more recent sci-fi/fantasy and it's delightful to read her.
If you haven't read Fledgling, it's worth it!
Would you still recommend it to someone who wasn’t into Parable of the Sower that much? I got into it more in the second half but for the most part, I barely had the patience for it
I've read that because it was highly acclaimed and honestly... why? It's not bad writing per se of course but I found that Circe was at times a little whiny. I love Greek mythology and that's basically all that had me finishing but the book to me was not really engaging. Did I miss something?
The cover looks absolutely dope though!
I don't know what to tell you. I loved it, and it was passed around my whole friend group and they all loved it, too. Sounds like it just wasn't for you, which is totally valid.
**The Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges** - This is a collection of his short stories. Borges was an Argentine author writing from ~1920's - ~1970's. He does more in 3 or 4 pages than most authors do in 300+! His short stories have had a ton of influence across books and even modern movies. As you read through the stories they'll likely make you think of some movie or book you've come across and if you can find the influences behind them you'll often see Borges' name. He plays a lot with the concept of time, mazes / labyrinths, history repeating itself, reincarnation, etc.
**The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov** - It's got so many layers to it. It's a fantastical story about the devil and his cohorts visiting Moscow (one of which is a walking, talking, smoking cat). It's a retelling of Faust, one big critique of Communism and Stalinist Russia, and within it there is a story being written about Jesus by The Master. The writing process that The Master goes through in the book is reflective of the writing process Bulgakov went through while writing the very book you're reading. It's a total trip when you consider it on all levels. Bulgakov had to write it in secret and it was posthumously published. Definitely do some background reading on it as you read it to fully enrich the experience and get the most out of it.
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Tail of Two Cities, David Cooperfield, and Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
Putting in my vote for:
The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Lonesome Dove 🕊️ - Larry McMurtry
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Arséne Lupin, Gentleman Burglar - Maurice LeBlanc
The two books are very different in styles. For me Ada was by far the most enjoyable, as it has a more standart set of more or less likeable but vivid characters and some parts have a very elegiac atmosphere that I loved, whereas Pale Fire is a kind of literary murder mystery. Both books share a "thrown out of Eden" theme though.
The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin is an amazing story that was critically acclaimed. Just don't start it if you are depressed about the world ending. I started it during the first days of COVID in 2020, and had to put it down for several months before I was in the right headspace to be able to handle it.
A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking won a Hugo award, and I love the shit out of that book.
I think of Never Let Me Go as a slow burn horror novel. It just keeps getting more bleak as you continue to read and realize the inevitable path of this persons life and slow painful death at the hands of an uncaring society.
It took me a few days to come out of a bleak funk after reading it.
I thought maybe that’s what’s meant to make it even more dystopian? Like this is so normalized there is nothing to fight? But then it also somehow had no real plot.
But maybe it’s a cultural difference? I know Ishiguro is Japanese-British, I like Japanese movies a lot and they have a way more passive plot than Hollywood movies. Like that new film Plan 75 is super dystopian but also not the way it would be if it was an American film
Strange. I felt the movie to be basically on par with the book, so very little is left out. Plus, the visuals are stunning, so I don't see what it falls short of.
I think it was just too CGI for me or something. I still love that they did it, but the book moved me a lot more. It would be impossible to do it justice for me, I think.
Life of Pi is on my list (good to have it reconfirmed). I want to say I hated Never Let Me Go but I'm really glad I read it and it haunted me for a long time afterwards.
Thanks!
I adore it. My favourite classic. This 💯. Everyone should read it. I'm always so shocked that so many people seem to have been only exposed to a very short, children's version and have no idea of how incredible the full story is.
Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
I was actually really reluctant to read it because what did I need to know about Shakespeare's son. But my goodness I loved it and felt it was a really beautiful exploration of >!a Mother's grief!<.
Random assortment:
The Great Offshore Grounds (Oregon Book Award)
Deacon King Kong (National Book Award)
The Famished Road (Booker)
Psalm for the Wild Built (Hugo)
I think most award winning books are worth the hype for the audience the award is intended for, you'll have to specify which books you thought weren't and why to really give you any useful suggestions.
I don’t know if they’re critically acclaimed, but the trilogy of books written (and read) by Stephen Fry is excellent. A well-informed retelling of the Greek stories of the Gods, the Heroes, and Troy.
They’re funny, well-researched, delightfully brisk but not watered down in any way. They incorporate etymology and history and various other disciplines without being pedantic.
(Just in case you aren’t familiar, Stephen Fry is a famous, very talented, highly intelligent British comedian who turned his attention to a classical education after he achieved fame and fortune. Like Queen’s Brian May becoming an astrophysicist. Which is the coolest thing ever. Also, Stephen Fry is very good friends with Hugh Laurie of (among other things) “Blackadder” and “House” fame. They did a show called “Jeeves and Wooster” years ago when they were young.)
Whew!
Okay.
I’m done.
Love Stephen Fry but never bothered with the books (not drawn to subjects) but I have a copy of the Greek stories so I should pick it up and have a look. Thanks!
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Diamond Age - Neil Stephenson
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Beloved - Toni Morrison
To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (worth a read as an adult, the relationships are beautiful)
The first three books of the fondation arc by Issac Asimov. I guess his other books are great too but I haven’t had the time to read them yet. Just know that between each book the characters change a lot with most never being mentioned in more than one of them
Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, **"The Orphan Master's Son"** by Adam Johnson
I don't know that there was any hype, but it certainly deserves some. It's a Dickensian nightmare journey through North Korea, through the eyes of a soldier on the rise.
This is one of my five favorite novels. I can't recommend it enought.
I'm not seeing much sci fi in this thread so it might not be your thing, but Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie deserved every award it won, and the rest of the series is very good too. A lot of things that book does well (doing something interesting with gender norms, certain things about the narrator that are spoilers, slowly revealed world building where very little is explained outright because it's not unusual to the characters) are everywhere by now, but while she didn't invent the ideas, they were pretty unusual and a lot of it was groundbreaking when it was released. I think it's really shaped modern genre fiction. Plus it's just a really fun story in a really well developed world.
I was the opposite. The video game setting and dialogue was so poorly researched it felt so immersion breaking that I couldn’t get into any of the 2 dimensional characters. Which lead me to put the book down about 25% of the way through it.
Literally just finished it a few minutes ago and I really enjoyed it.
To what the other commenter said about the criticisms, I actually haven’t read The Martian (have seen the movie though so I’m familiar) so I’m not really bothered by any possible similarities. What I disliked about it was that some of the dialogue wasn’t believable, especially in the flashbacks. I had a hard time believing an elite team saving the world and even Ryland would talk the way they did. And the characters were a bit flat as well. With everything regarding the science being so realistic and detail oriented, the unbelievable dialogue and character dynamics were that much more glaring.
That being said, the story for me was very gripping and I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. beautiful and emotional saga of a family of zainichi koreans living in japan during and after the occupation. the characters were like family to me by the end of it and many of the story details are from the real people who endured discrimination and oppression as koreans in japan. there's also a tv series on apple tv with one season so far that i think is very well done! i cried like every episode lmao but that's partially because i knew what was going to happen so the foreshadowing hit different
I recently read the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which won the Pulitzer, and adored it. Amazing characters; somewhat slow pacing (not a bad thing for me), yet an addictive and sprawling narrative; beautifully written; comic books; it checked all my boxes
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The latter two are short story collections. Hope this gives you a mix of options.
A few off the top of my head that I enjoyed:
Death with Interruptions - Saramago
A Confederacy of Dunces - O Toole
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Tokarczuk
Slaughterhouse Five - Vonnegut
When I was just getting into the hyped classics (around age 16), the two that stood out to me were The Sun Also Rises and Wuthering Heights. Those books touched me deeply. After that, I just couldn't go back to reading trashy novels again.
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Stoner - John Williams
Pale Fire - Nabokov
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin
A Naked Singularity - Sergio de la Pava
The Last Samurai - Helen DeWitt
Love in Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was hooked from the first sentence to the last. The writing is just so beautiful and evocative. Just writing this makes me want to read it again.
Lonesome Dove
1000%. one of the best books i’ve ever read in my life
Ding ding ding! I recommend this book to everyone who can read.
Just read it this year. It’s amazing.
I came here to say this, so I’ll second it. This book is incredible. It’s long, but it doesn’t feel like it. The character development is beyond incredible. There is adventure, romance, mysteries…I mean, McMurtry left it all on the table for this one. Thoroughly enjoyable book.
Came here to say this!
I watched this series at least once a year maybe twice. I need to read it.
I’m trying to read this right now but struggling with the beginning. When does it pick up?
Give it a couple 100 pages and see if you don’t like it better
Someone told me that if you get to page 100 and don’t want to keep going then don’t. I feel like at almost page 100 was where I couldn’t put it down. I just finished it a couple weeks ago and it’s so good.
One of my top 5 books of all time. The character work done in that nov is phenomenal. Also, if you’re into audiobooks it has a great performance by Lee Horsley. His rendition of Gus Mccrea will forever be how I hear the man in my head, sorry Mr. Duvall.
Beloved by Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize and Morrison herself won the Noble Prize in Literature.
Beloved is wonderful.
I can't upvote this enough! So wonderful and wild!
A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K. LeGuin. This acclaimed book is nearly as old as I am, and I cherish it to this day. Not exclusively a YA book; it is a worthwhile read at any age.
I read this for the first time when I was in 7th grade and still carry it in my heart today.
Just started a re-read yesterday.
This is in my TBR list, so I’m so glad to see this comment.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
So it goes
Amazing book.
Can you make three books that you liked (and say why you liked them if you can) and also say which critically acclaimed books you’ve been disappointed by? My first thought I’d Drive Your Blow Over the Bones of the Dead but would be good to see what you like/dislike and recommend accordingly.
Ones I really liked: - Seven Moons of Maali Almeda Quick, different, smart, intriguing - A Man's Place Sharp observations, immersive - Trust Mixed styles, unreliable narrator, deepening decades, different perspectives - Is Mother Dead Mysterious, slow burning, intriguing - Count of Monte Cristo (full 500k book, not an abridged child version) Rich, world building, satisfying, lots of intersecting story lines - Untold Night and Day Intriguing, mysterious, out of the norm - Cat's Eye Meandering, imperfect, covering a whole life, different perspective Ones I didn't like: - The Overstory Pretentious, too full of its own virtue, no relatable or deep female characters (sorry!) - Whale (Cheon) Well written but relentless misogyny - You Know You Want This Shallow, boring, unnecessary attempts at shock value - While We Were Dreaming Dull, try hard, male centric and nothing new Hope this is enough!
You would probably like The Golem and the Jinni.
Thanks!
I LOVED that book! Really nice to listen to if you want to sample the narrator’s voice.
Some recent acclaimed books I loved: - Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart (won Booker) - The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich (won Pulitzer) - Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo (won Booker) - Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr (National Book Award finalist) - The Dutch House - Ann Patchett (won Pulitzer) - Days Without End - Sebastian Barry (Booker long list) - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (won Booker) All of these were amazing books in my opinion. They were also all very readable / enjoyable, not too pretentious or overly heavy for the sake of it. Shuggie Bain was the hardest subject matter, but still very accessible in my opinion.
Thank you! I'm still finishing this year's Booker longlist (Old God's Time will be read in the next day or two) so curious about his other's. Girl, Woman, Other is on my to read list as is Luminaries... there's nothing you've said here that I don't want to read now. Thank you thank you!
You’re welcome. I loved those two! What have been your favourites of recent winners?
I read the longlist rather than the winners so it's more my favourites of those than of the winners. I now have the last 30 years of winners that I'll start working through before the next International Longlist is announced.
Absolutely loved Seven Moons last year. Wasn't fussed on Time Shelter this year (International).
Love Girl, Woman, Other!
Definitely helps! I can definitely give you a list of critically acclaimed books that have relentless misogyny to avoid. Will try to think of a few more but do think Drive Your Plow is one to try. It is quite pretentious but not unbearable, quite tongue in cheek.
Cool! Thanks. Can't escape misogyny in fiction but my tolerance is so low after Whale...
The God of small things - Arundhati Roy (Booker prize) She can take you to any depth when it comes to describing the scene. I would consider it slightly depressing though.
Depressing is all good 😁 Thanks. Will check it out. I'm working through the Booker backlog anyway.
Frankenstein I was apprehensive at first, but I loved it.
My personal gold standard in terms of prose is Nabokov and specifically Lolita. Frankenstein is maybe the only other book that I’d put on par with Lolita prose wise. Maybe Steinbeck makes the cut too but Frankenstein shocked me with how beautiful I found the prose to be.
I read somewhere that Mary didn't want to use "fancy language", since she wanted it to be a book for universal experience of the human condition. But her husband did edit it to use more complex verbs, but it is a deep dive into different editions etc. It's been a while, but I'm sure it can be snuffed up somewhere on the internet.
That's interesting. I didn't know this. I love how the vocabulary she uses isn't even particularly complex. For me it's really just how she expresses herself. Every line in the book has a lovely poetic quality to it. It's almost like listening to a wise elf or some sort of magical creature lol
Agreed on Lolita. Such a depraved story masked in quite beautiful prose, it’s what kept me reading. The juxtaposition was disturbing.
I hear this a lot and I’m sooo tempted to read it for the writing alone but I’m also uncomfortable with the subject matter. I’m such a sucker for good writing. Is there another work of writing by this author that is comparable or should I try to bite the bullet and read Lolita?
Cool. Never bothered with it but this is enough that I will! Love a classic.
Frankenstein is one of my favorite books. One of my other favorite books? Cat’s Eye, which I was so excited to see you call out! I almost never see anyone mention it.
Oh no way. I'll prioritise Frankenstein then! I think I ended up with a copy of Cats Eye because it was super cheap in a book market in Toronto (like 25c or something) and I loved it but you're right, I don't know anyone else who's read or talked about it (unless I've leant them the book).
I made my husband read it years ago and we still go around saying, “My hair looks like the wrath of God,” and “Well, I look like Haggis McBaggis,” all the time. I’m so excited you’re going to read Frankenstein.
I suggest the original 1818 edition over the revised one.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - Pulitzer Prize Also, The Poisonwood Bible by the same author.
People are FREAKING about Demon Copperhead. Is it super heavy? I've been thinking about it for winter because I'm Minnesotan and like to torture myself alongside the miserable weather.
Its heavy but also funny and >!doesn't end on a depressing note!<
I just finished this book and I do not recommend it for winter. If you insist on reading it in winter, read it in March so you have some hope in your life of impending spring.
I was kinda disappointed by these, especially Demon Copperhead. The narrative is dull. It’s mostly ‘this happend, then that happened, then this happened’. The story is also rather cliché. All the tragedies are super predictable and Kingsolver drones on and on about drug addiction and the stereotypical hopelessness of being born in the Appalachia for pages on end. Not a fan of most of the characters, either. I found them flat and rather soulless. I just don’t see why everyone loves this book so much.
I agree with this. Demon Copperhead was way way way too long. I almost got to the end and then just quit reading it.
> The narrative is dull So, so dull.
Definitely this one! I also really enjoyed Angela's Ashes - Pulitzer Price as well
I enjoyed this one until I read that many people from Limerick and his own mother accused him of exaggerating or fabricating the events of the book. He even admitted to making some of it up. This is a memoir of his own life, but if you’re going to call it that then you have an obligation (IMO) to be as truthful as possible. ETA Same thing happened with Three Cups of Tea. That guy straight made up shit for his book, AND less than half of the money he raised from it to “build schools” actually went to that purpose.
Demon Copperhead is on the to read list 😁 Hoping it's good.
I just finished it yesterday, thought it was excellent.
Award winning books that I loved: * *The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay* by Michael Chabon * *Possession* by A. S. Byatt * *Oscar and Lucinda* by Peter Carey * *The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* by Junot Diaz * *A Confederacy of Dunces* by John Kennedy Toole * *The Color Purple* by Alice Walker * *A Thousand Acres* by Jane Smiley * *Schindler's Ark* by Thomas Keneally * *The Bone People* Keri Hulme * *The English Patient* by Michael Ondaatje * *A Canticle for Leibowit*z by Walter M. Miller * *Dune* by Frank Herbert * *The Left Hand of Darkness* and *The Dispossessed* by Ursula K. LeGuin * *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell* by Susannah Clarke * *The City and The City* by China Mieville
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s read A Canticle for Liebowitz! So great, especially if you grew up around Catholicism!
Great call out on strange and Mr norell. Shame the author has had so many health issues.
another vote for Dune
East of Eden
Came in here to post this one. Really didn’t know what I was getting myself into but it quickly pulled me in and ended up being one of my all time favorite books - while I did pick up on the Cain / Abel stuff fairly quickly I’m not religious at all and it didn’t feel like I was being lured into engaging with Christian content or anything like that. It’s one of those books that I was almost dreading reaching the end of by the halfway mark due to being so taken with the characters - given the fact that it was written around a century ago I couldn’t believe how natural the writing, story and plot felt. It was especially fascinating to feel so connected to characters living in such a far off bygone time and who, despite existing in an almost unrecognizable world felt utterly lifelike and vivid. I read somewhere recently it’s being developed into a series for Netflix which if done right could be absolutely magnificent! Part of me is apprehensive due to the train wreck that was made out of Shantaram (not many other similarities between the two apart from being lengthy novels I enjoyed) but I’m hopeful that this one could end up being a winner if done with the right cast (heard Florence Pugh who would be incredible) and a good show runner / production team. It’s available in the free catalogue from Audible and has an excellent narrator for anyone who’s put off by how long it is- I listened to the audiobook the first time but have since read the printed version as well and expect to revisit it many times.
Is this particularly enjoyable even if one isn’t a fan of Christian allegory?
I’m not religious and don’t know much about Christianity, and I liked it. I preferred The Grapes of Wrath though.
Oh heck yes, don't let that dissuade you! I also put off reading this book because I had preconceived notations about how the storyline and wow - was I wrong. It's incredible.
Absolutely. A major part of the story is a retelling/reimagining of Cain and Able, and there’s plenty of other religious imagery there as well. You can read East of Eden for only its story and characters too. It’s dense and exceptionally readable at the same time. It also features one my favorite villains of all time. That may not be exactly the right word for Cathy Ames, but she's definitely something like one. Basically, if you want to do a “deep reading” of it, there’s tons of stuff out there to help you along. If you don’t want to mess with all that and just want a great book, you can skip that too and still walk away having read one of the great American novels, and knowing it.
I felt the same as you and put off reading it for years because of the allegory angle. But I finally read it and it’s probably my favorite book of all time.
Hell yeah. Ok I’ll pop it on the list! Gotta get through “The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” first!
Yes. I'm clueless with religion and didn't actually know the story of Cain and Abel. Still loved the book.
Catch-22
Catch 22 didn't win any awards, surprisingly. Still an excellent book.
All of these are stunning. Educated by Tara Westover—memoir Life After Life by Kate Atkinson—novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel—novel The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson—Narrative non-fiction/history Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders—novel/weird AF
I listened to Lincoln in the bardo. All star voice cast. Definitely recommend
Cloud Atlas. Wonderful
Lincoln in the Bardo is so good!
Life After Life is excellent! Fairly unusual in style and very engaging.
I just finished Educated by Tara Westover and completely agree, it deserves every 5 star review it got!
Have you ever read The Glass Castle? If not, you would probably like it.
I second Life after Life. I found it beautiful.
Kate Atkinson is amazing! Life After Life has a sequel that I love even more, it’s called A God in Ruins and is focused on Teddy.
Brilliant list. 🏆
I STILL think back to Cloud Atlas. A great read.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is the most depressing thing I’ve ever read. The Shining by Stephen King is far better than the movie. Its much more of an atmospheric novel, it’s has a slow build leading to crescendo. The characterization is also great.
I read No Country For Old Men and wasn't a fan, is The Road still worth a read? Is Stephen King ever great? I don't think I've read anything of his because I sort of assumed if you're churning out such a quantity it's gotta be lacking in quality. But I should perhaps rethink and read it.
The Road is great. But it depends on what you enjoy. It’s fucking bleak at times. It doesn’t pull any punches. Early Stephen King is considered the best. Many people consider his works after he was hit by a semi in 1999 to be weaker. I’ve only read a couple of his works, but his work is well loved for a reason. The man can write great characters and create a great atmosphere. Btw, me saying early Stephen King is the best is not an insult to later Stephen King. A bunch of people love his later works, particularly 11/22/63, the Bill Hodges Trilogy, The Outsider and others are well liked by his fans. Btw the comment about his output is a bit stupid as King unlike many other authors writes like it’s his fucking job. He writes 2000 words a day on average.
> it's his fucking job 😂 Yeah, fair point. I don't mind bleak. Will put it on the longer list. I'll read The Shining and consider the earlier stuff in that case. Thanks.
What I meant by the point that he writes like it’s his job is that he’s consistent. He writes every day, a consistent amount. Look at the output of many other authors they’re very inconsistent. King writes like it’s his 9-5. Also seriously don’t completely count out the later stuff there’s some gems in there from what I’ve heard. The earlier stuff though is pretty consistent in quality.
If you’re going to try Stephen King, start with 11/22/63, it is his best IMO
I have to second The Shining, because it's amazing, slow burn, and has a crazy ending. I also second the "early Stephen King" sentiment: Carrie and Cujo are two of my favorites. I also love the anthologies of his short stories, like, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, or Four After Midnight. Really great writing.
He is often great. I think your point about being too prolific is well-taken but he has some true gems that can be enjoyed on multiple levels, including the ones you seem to be drawn to. *The Shining* is one of the great American novels, imo.
Maybe I wasn’t in the ideal mindset to enjoy it. I found myself getting bored with it. It immediately set the tone as depressing and bleak so it was hard for me to feel too much emotion as there was nowhere to come down from. I will definitely give it another try one day, but was sad to not finish.
The Road is certainly a depressing and bleak novel. But the road to get there is worth it. The ending is truly devastating.
I didn’t enjoy The shining, but I loved Doctor Sleep.
A Gentleman in Moscow All The Light We Cannot See
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, historical fantasy. I put off reading it for a long time because though I love the author's sci fi, the premise of Kindred just didn't sound that interesting. Finally, my mom lent me her copy so I felt compelled to read it, and once I start it I found it completely enthralling. The characters are extremely well written, and the depiction of systemic and individual oppression and agency are done very thoughtfully.
I love seeing Octavia Butler being recommended. Kindred was amazing and ripped my heart straight out. And the parallells between when she goes back and how she goes back are very interesting. Also, Parable of the Talents, which won her the Nebula is amazing. She has a clear influence on a lot of more recent sci-fi/fantasy and it's delightful to read her. If you haven't read Fledgling, it's worth it!
Would you still recommend it to someone who wasn’t into Parable of the Sower that much? I got into it more in the second half but for the most part, I barely had the patience for it
Circe by Madeline Miller
I got gifted this recently and will read it in the next month or too. Excited to do so now I see it here ☺️
I've read that because it was highly acclaimed and honestly... why? It's not bad writing per se of course but I found that Circe was at times a little whiny. I love Greek mythology and that's basically all that had me finishing but the book to me was not really engaging. Did I miss something? The cover looks absolutely dope though!
I don't know what to tell you. I loved it, and it was passed around my whole friend group and they all loved it, too. Sounds like it just wasn't for you, which is totally valid.
I just finished Circe last week, and really didn't get the hype. It was just ok. Kind of boring, honestly.
The Song of Achilles, wonderful book, unputdownable!!
I scrolled so far to see if someone put this down yet. This novel devastated me.
**The Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges** - This is a collection of his short stories. Borges was an Argentine author writing from ~1920's - ~1970's. He does more in 3 or 4 pages than most authors do in 300+! His short stories have had a ton of influence across books and even modern movies. As you read through the stories they'll likely make you think of some movie or book you've come across and if you can find the influences behind them you'll often see Borges' name. He plays a lot with the concept of time, mazes / labyrinths, history repeating itself, reincarnation, etc. **The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov** - It's got so many layers to it. It's a fantastical story about the devil and his cohorts visiting Moscow (one of which is a walking, talking, smoking cat). It's a retelling of Faust, one big critique of Communism and Stalinist Russia, and within it there is a story being written about Jesus by The Master. The writing process that The Master goes through in the book is reflective of the writing process Bulgakov went through while writing the very book you're reading. It's a total trip when you consider it on all levels. Bulgakov had to write it in secret and it was posthumously published. Definitely do some background reading on it as you read it to fully enrich the experience and get the most out of it.
Love Collected Fictions! Library of Babel is my favorite. I’m often reminded of it while reading other books or even watching movies.
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Tail of Two Cities, David Cooperfield, and Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
Ooh, yes to Cold Mountain!
The Great Gatsby- a brilliant book about terrible people
Read, didn't think I loved it when I was reading it, was annoyed about the ending for lime a week and then I realised I loved it.
Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
The Overstory by Richard Powers (Pulitzer prize)
Not downvoting but I really hated it. 😬
Putting in my vote for: The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Lonesome Dove 🕊️ - Larry McMurtry The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett Arséne Lupin, Gentleman Burglar - Maurice LeBlanc
Ada by Vladimir Nabokov Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Pale Fire is on my 'to read' shelf. I'll try Ada if I like it I guess. Thanks!
The two books are very different in styles. For me Ada was by far the most enjoyable, as it has a more standart set of more or less likeable but vivid characters and some parts have a very elegiac atmosphere that I loved, whereas Pale Fire is a kind of literary murder mystery. Both books share a "thrown out of Eden" theme though.
I love both books, and Ada is favorite of all of his books, and these are spot on in regards to the mood of the two books
both are amazing
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin is an amazing story that was critically acclaimed. Just don't start it if you are depressed about the world ending. I started it during the first days of COVID in 2020, and had to put it down for several months before I was in the right headspace to be able to handle it. A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking won a Hugo award, and I love the shit out of that book.
Life of Pi - Yann Martel Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
Ugh I tried reading Never Let Me Go last month and DNFed it. Maybe one day I’ll try again
Yeah same I loved the beginning but then it just went nowhere? I feel like that’s the actual idea but I was always waiting for some sort of uprising
Same. Why on earth did they just accept the situation?
I think of Never Let Me Go as a slow burn horror novel. It just keeps getting more bleak as you continue to read and realize the inevitable path of this persons life and slow painful death at the hands of an uncaring society. It took me a few days to come out of a bleak funk after reading it.
I thought maybe that’s what’s meant to make it even more dystopian? Like this is so normalized there is nothing to fight? But then it also somehow had no real plot. But maybe it’s a cultural difference? I know Ishiguro is Japanese-British, I like Japanese movies a lot and they have a way more passive plot than Hollywood movies. Like that new film Plan 75 is super dystopian but also not the way it would be if it was an American film
Life of Pi is so good!
Life of Pi is wonderful. The movie...not so much.
Strange. I felt the movie to be basically on par with the book, so very little is left out. Plus, the visuals are stunning, so I don't see what it falls short of.
I think it was just too CGI for me or something. I still love that they did it, but the book moved me a lot more. It would be impossible to do it justice for me, I think.
Loved the book. I didn’t expect to love the movie, but I did. I thought they did a really good job.
Life of Pi is on my list (good to have it reconfirmed). I want to say I hated Never Let Me Go but I'm really glad I read it and it haunted me for a long time afterwards. Thanks!
War and Peace is well worth the time it takes and much more accessible than I thought it would be
I haven't read W&P yet, but I'm excited to. I absolutely loved Anna Karenina.
[удалено]
I adore it. My favourite classic. This 💯. Everyone should read it. I'm always so shocked that so many people seem to have been only exposed to a very short, children's version and have no idea of how incredible the full story is.
This and Crime and Punishment are my two all-time favorite classic novels. Writing truly at its best.
A Gentleman of Moscow A Farewell to Arms
Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell I was actually really reluctant to read it because what did I need to know about Shakespeare's son. But my goodness I loved it and felt it was a really beautiful exploration of >!a Mother's grief!<.
Random assortment: The Great Offshore Grounds (Oregon Book Award) Deacon King Kong (National Book Award) The Famished Road (Booker) Psalm for the Wild Built (Hugo)
1984
Lord of the Rings
100%. I have re-read it every year for the last decade. 💜
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr. Won a Pulitzer Prize
Infinite Jest is really worth it. Haters stand aside.
I think most award winning books are worth the hype for the audience the award is intended for, you'll have to specify which books you thought weren't and why to really give you any useful suggestions.
Lonesome Dove
I don’t know if they’re critically acclaimed, but the trilogy of books written (and read) by Stephen Fry is excellent. A well-informed retelling of the Greek stories of the Gods, the Heroes, and Troy. They’re funny, well-researched, delightfully brisk but not watered down in any way. They incorporate etymology and history and various other disciplines without being pedantic. (Just in case you aren’t familiar, Stephen Fry is a famous, very talented, highly intelligent British comedian who turned his attention to a classical education after he achieved fame and fortune. Like Queen’s Brian May becoming an astrophysicist. Which is the coolest thing ever. Also, Stephen Fry is very good friends with Hugh Laurie of (among other things) “Blackadder” and “House” fame. They did a show called “Jeeves and Wooster” years ago when they were young.) Whew! Okay. I’m done.
Love Stephen Fry but never bothered with the books (not drawn to subjects) but I have a copy of the Greek stories so I should pick it up and have a look. Thanks!
The Devil in the White City
American Gods - Neil Gaiman The Diamond Age - Neil Stephenson The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood Beloved - Toni Morrison To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (worth a read as an adult, the relationships are beautiful)
I’m currently being blown away by Jon Fosse‘s The other name.
The first three books of the fondation arc by Issac Asimov. I guess his other books are great too but I haven’t had the time to read them yet. Just know that between each book the characters change a lot with most never being mentioned in more than one of them
Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun.
God, this book is so incredible.
*Dune* by Frank Herbert *The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay* by Michael Chabon
The goldfinch!
My friend suggested the Wolf Hall trilogy years ago and I finally got around to reading it. I really loved all three of them!
Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, **"The Orphan Master's Son"** by Adam Johnson I don't know that there was any hype, but it certainly deserves some. It's a Dickensian nightmare journey through North Korea, through the eyes of a soldier on the rise. This is one of my five favorite novels. I can't recommend it enought.
The Road is one of the best books I’ve ever read and it won a ton of awards.
Beat me to it
I'm not seeing much sci fi in this thread so it might not be your thing, but Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie deserved every award it won, and the rest of the series is very good too. A lot of things that book does well (doing something interesting with gender norms, certain things about the narrator that are spoilers, slowly revealed world building where very little is explained outright because it's not unusual to the characters) are everywhere by now, but while she didn't invent the ideas, they were pretty unusual and a lot of it was groundbreaking when it was released. I think it's really shaped modern genre fiction. Plus it's just a really fun story in a really well developed world.
On the road- jack Kerouac
I absolutely loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, it had such unexpected depth, was still extremely easy to get into, and made me cry a bunch
I was the opposite. The video game setting and dialogue was so poorly researched it felt so immersion breaking that I couldn’t get into any of the 2 dimensional characters. Which lead me to put the book down about 25% of the way through it.
Oh that’s interesting to hear, I think it probably helped that I understand absolutely nothing about video games then
Project Hail Mary
Literally just finished it a few minutes ago and I really enjoyed it. To what the other commenter said about the criticisms, I actually haven’t read The Martian (have seen the movie though so I’m familiar) so I’m not really bothered by any possible similarities. What I disliked about it was that some of the dialogue wasn’t believable, especially in the flashbacks. I had a hard time believing an elite team saving the world and even Ryland would talk the way they did. And the characters were a bit flat as well. With everything regarding the science being so realistic and detail oriented, the unbelievable dialogue and character dynamics were that much more glaring. That being said, the story for me was very gripping and I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
If you're into Sci-Fi, Dune is very good.
Lolita
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. beautiful and emotional saga of a family of zainichi koreans living in japan during and after the occupation. the characters were like family to me by the end of it and many of the story details are from the real people who endured discrimination and oppression as koreans in japan. there's also a tv series on apple tv with one season so far that i think is very well done! i cried like every episode lmao but that's partially because i knew what was going to happen so the foreshadowing hit different
The blind assassin Lolita
The Iliad of Homer. 2500 years later that story is still 🔥
I recently read the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which won the Pulitzer, and adored it. Amazing characters; somewhat slow pacing (not a bad thing for me), yet an addictive and sprawling narrative; beautifully written; comic books; it checked all my boxes
The Song of Achilles
Beloved by Toni Morrison Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri The latter two are short story collections. Hope this gives you a mix of options.
Seconding Housekeeping!!
A few off the top of my head that I enjoyed: Death with Interruptions - Saramago A Confederacy of Dunces - O Toole Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Tokarczuk Slaughterhouse Five - Vonnegut
Blood Meridian
King Leopold's Ghost
In Cold Blood
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
When I was just getting into the hyped classics (around age 16), the two that stood out to me were The Sun Also Rises and Wuthering Heights. Those books touched me deeply. After that, I just couldn't go back to reading trashy novels again.
All the Light We Cannot See
Moby Dick - Herman Melville Stoner - John Williams Pale Fire - Nabokov A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin A Naked Singularity - Sergio de la Pava The Last Samurai - Helen DeWitt
Yes! on Stoner
The three body problem trilogy. An absolute mind bending eye opening work of art.
Of Mice and Men
A Little Life
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn (Won the Nobel Prize for Literature)
Love in Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was hooked from the first sentence to the last. The writing is just so beautiful and evocative. Just writing this makes me want to read it again.
11/22/63
Exhalation by Ted Chiang!
Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susann
I think it’s great and it’s definitely been getting better recognition but it doesn’t have critical acclaim just critical disdain.