Most Awesome Books in the Last Ten Years

[LydiaNetzer]

Hi all! :)

I have been "in the cave" with my novel for the last decade, not wanting to read too much contemporary fiction from authors that shared my own cultural point of view. I was reading early 20th century American stuff, and then stuff like Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, etc. So now I'm coming out from the cave, and I'm looking around and realizing I've missed a lot of interesting American stuff in the last decade. I think that literally the last American book I read was Jonathan Franzen's _The Corrections_. So I'm looking to make up a little time here and want some suggestions!

I've come up with:

The Fortress of Solitude
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Life of Pi
A Visit from the Good Squad

What else?

Hmm, wait a minute, I also read The Time Traveler's Wife and I am pretty sure that was from this century. And I realize that Yann Martel is a Canadian. And I don't want to read any more David Foster Wallace than I did in the 90s. Heh.

This is all assuming I can put aside my George R. R. Martin fixation long enough to read something that doesn't involve Starks and Lannisters. Having said that, I'm up for any genre. :)

[Vito]

I'm gonna break the rules and recommend a book that was published in 1964: Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey. Absolutely beautiful story! Check it out, if you haven't already done so... :)

[LydiaNetzer]

Thanks for the recommendation! I loved _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_. Did you like that one also?

[Vito]

Thanks for the recommendation! I loved _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_. Did you like that one also?

I read Cuckoo's Nest when I was a high school senior and thought it was OK. One thing I noticed was that the mental patients in the book seemed pretty "normal" when compared to most of my teachers and classmates at the time. :tongue


I think Sometimes A Great Notion is a challenging but pleasurable reading experience, and it's one of those books that I place in the "Great American Novel" category. The first two paragraphs really grabbed me:

Along the western slopes of the Oregon Coastal Range...come look: the hysterical crashing of tributaries as they merge into the Wakonda Auga River...

The first little washes flashing like thick rushing winds through sheep sorrel and clover, ghost fern and nettle, sheering, cutting...forming branches. Then, through bearberry and salmonberry, blueberry and blackberry, the branches crashing into creek, into streams. Finally, in the foothills, through tamarack and sugar pine, shittim bark and silver spruce -- and the green and blue mosaic of Douglas fir -- the actual river falls 500 feet ... and look: opens out upon the fields.

:Thumbs:

[milly]

The Time Traveller's Wife

yes, I know...whatever anyone thinks of it, it totally took over a solid week of my life and I don't regret a minute of it

:)

[sleepsheep]

You might want to check out Orhan Pamuk or Haruki Murakami. I just read "The Tiger's Wife" by Tea Obreht and you might enjoy that. I really like Aimee Bender too. Lemon Cake was an excellent book, and I still can't stop thinking about it (it's been months since I finished it).

[Darren Frey]

I found Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince to be really enjoyable. The movie however was a different story.

[Satori1977]

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. All of her books are great, but Water became my favorite book the second I finished it. Another great one I just read is by a fellow AWer. Hotel in the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford. Incredible story.

[fredXgeorge]

Harry Potter. All of them.