Contemporary Fiction - Recommendations please.

**Stu Gotz** · 06-26-2007, 01:04 PM

I believe that I am walking into a well laid trap by the bean dip socialist, but Eggers was in the running for the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction.

**BeanDip4All** · 06-26-2007, 02:15 PM

Don't call me a socialist, Stewy, or I shall lure you out onto the Wside highway "bike path" underpass to be maimed and killed by decrepid homeless people under the guise of a safe-recommendation for a nice run. Oh, wait....

**Spats** · 06-26-2007, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by cj001f

colour me middle of the road on Middlesex.

Cryptonomicon is fun, the Diamond Age is better.

Cryptonomicon is seriously boring. Diamond Age is OK.

"Zodiac" is the best book he's written (and the first). "Interface" is a great book, too. ("Stephen Bury" is a pseudonym for Neal Stephenson and his uncle.)

**telepariah** · 06-26-2007, 08:27 PM

I thought Stephenson's first book was The Big U.

Snow Crash is still my favorite. I want a tattoo across my forehead that says, POOR IMPULSE CONTROL.

**spindrift** · 06-26-2007, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by AKbruin

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. The premise--an English butler pondering his life of service--sounds uninspiring, but it's a fantastic novel.

Better than fantastic. It is on quite a few friends' "best ever" lists. Everyone I know who has read it considers it amazing. That includes folks spanning the gamut from serious literary types to serious sci-fi geeks. Can't go wrong with it.

**cj001f** · 06-26-2007, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by Spats

Cryptonomicon is seriously boring. Diamond Age is OK.

"Zodiac" is the best book he's written (and the first). "Interface" is a great book, too. ("Stephen Bury" is a pseudonym for Neal Stephenson and his uncle.)

I agree he's gotten worse as his editors have given him a freer hand it's a linear correlation. But, if Cryptonomicon is seriously boring, what does that make Quicksilver and the rest of the baroque cycle?

The Big U was first.

If you want a taste of Stephenson style, try his nonfiction Wired article
Mother Earth Mother Board

**Spats** · 06-27-2007, 01:54 AM

Oops! Totally forgot about the Big U. Although he hated it so much that he wouldn't allow it to be reprinted for years, finally giving in after used prices got insane: "The only thing worse than people reading the book was paying that much to read it."

Originally Posted by cj001f

I agree he's gotten worse as his editors have given him a freer hand it's a linear correlation. But, if Cryptonomicon is seriously boring, what does that make Quicksilver and the rest of the baroque cycle?

Don't know, I was done with him at that point.

Even Snow Crash didn't impress me as much as it did everyone else. It's like he was trying too hard: "Look! I'm like William Gibson, but ZANY!!!1!11!" That's why I liked Interface so much...it didn't feel forced.

**lemon boy** · 06-27-2007, 07:28 AM

I know that it now makes me terribly WT to admit in this thread but:
Cryptonomicon is a fucking great book. The ending is a "little" weak but other than that, you people are insane.

**bdmrad** · 06-27-2007, 08:28 AM

There have been few books that have made me laugh out loud. Cryptonomicon was one. Thank You for Smoking was another.

**Griz** · 06-27-2007, 03:27 PM

Thought of another book I really enjoyed a while back... 10 years ish... - In the Lake of the Woods by O'Brien.

Edit: Woods plural.

**Steven S. Dallas** · 06-27-2007, 03:32 PM

Anything by Tim O'Brien is good. Going After Cacciato is excellent.

**philippeR** · 06-27-2007, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by spindrift

Better than fantastic. It is on quite a few friends' "best ever" lists. Everyone I know who has read it considers it amazing. That includes folks spanning the gamut from serious literary types to serious sci-fi geeks. Can't go wrong with it.

I seriously think that's maybe the best novel I read those last 15 years. It's a genuine masterpiece IMO. The best from a great author.

In the last few years, I've been really impressed by Jens Christian Grondahl, a danish author. He really struck a chord with me.
The first book I read from him is Hjertelyd (french translation) and it was beeatiful. I don't know if it has been translated in English, I can't find it on Amazon.
Check him out.

(Oh, and I liked the Cryptonomicon.)

Edit 2 : I must add that my favorite author is probably Italo Calvino. I would read anything from him. MarcoValdo and If on a winter's night a traveler are just classics.

**hutash** · 06-27-2007, 06:06 PM

I just re-read "East of Eden"- it is a great book. I just started Cannery Row for the umpteenth time, one of my all time favorites.

For a short, quick read, that is hilarious, try "Pint size Ireland", or "The Sex Life of Cannibals". Both are travel books about small Island nations.

**altagirl** · 06-27-2007, 07:27 PM

just FYI, but check out http://www.paperbackswap.com

Reading this thread made me want to buy a bunch of these books, and instead I listed 9 books that I'd happily mail to someone else and ordered three off this list that people who have them and are willing to mail them off will now send me for free. Cool deal. And a good use of the piles of books sitting in boxes that I know damn well I'm not going to re-read.

**Griz** · 07-23-2007, 11:16 AM

Just finished "The Fortress of Solitude" by Lethem. Great recommendation! The only thing is I wish I had a better familiarity with the music referrenced.

**altagirl** · 07-23-2007, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Griz

Just finished "The Fortress of Solitude" by Lethem. Great recommendation! The only thing is I wish I had a better familiarity with the music referrenced.

Cool, I'll have to get that next. I just finished "Motherless Brooklyn" which was also excellent.

(And I just put it up on paperbackswap if anyone is looking for it...)

**schuss** · 07-23-2007, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by Spats

Oops! Totally forgot about the Big U. Although he hated it so much that he wouldn't allow it to be reprinted for years, finally giving in after used prices got insane: "The only thing worse than people reading the book was paying that much to read it."

Don't know, I was done with him at that point.

Even Snow Crash didn't impress me as much as it did everyone else. It's like he was trying too hard: "Look! I'm like William Gibson, but ZANY!!!1!11!" That's why I liked Interface so much...it didn't feel forced.

I like his stuff better than Gibson's. Gibson went downhill after Neuromancer, as it was the same...goddamn...formula...every...time. I still read them all though. Baroque cycle is a sad, sad thing. Cryptonomicon is great, but I do agree VERY wordy. Diamond Age and Snow Crash were his finest works though, despite Diamond Age's horrid ending.

**iceman** · 07-24-2007, 09:13 AM

"Shanks for Nothing" the new one by Rick Reilly is a quick read and quite funny, perfect summer reading.

Ken Bruen is an excellent "new" mystery writer and "The Guards" is not to be missed if you're a fan of crime fiction.

Hugh Conway · 07-02-2009, 05:39 AM

a random bump for
"The Piano Tuner"
and
"Highways to a War"

**adam** · 07-02-2009, 06:41 AM

Try out White Noise and The Underworld by Don DeLillo.

**G. Gordon Liddy** · 07-02-2009, 10:06 AM

Embarrassing as hell but: Wicked was pretty fucking good... Its the story of the wicked witch of the west...

**Hutch** · 07-02-2009, 10:44 AM

The Book Thief, by Markus Zuzak

**skuff** · 07-02-2009, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Hutch

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Beautifully written, one of my favorites.

and x however many, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

**half-fast** · 07-02-2009, 11:36 AM

philip caputo. I particularly liked Indian Country, Voyage, Rumor of War and Horn of Africa

**Obstruction** · 07-02-2009, 12:13 PM

I liked Chabon's Yiddish Policeman's Union and Gentlemen of the Road. Finn by Jon Clinch was an intriguing take on the backside of the world Twain created. Adrian Mckinty tells a good tale check out his "dead" trilogy.