# Please recommend some new literary fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013 "2009-06-07T16:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013/21 "2011-09-25T20:12:37Z")
> [@Night\_so\_be\_it](#): > > Maybe its just snobbery, but I’m having a really hard time in trying to convince myself to read many new books. Occasionally I’ll find/or be advised to read a particularly brilliant writer and then I’ll stick with him/her. I’ve got comfortable with Ozick and McCarthy and DeLillo, and its making me think all other new writing is rubbish. I hope, and also think, that I’m wrong. Wow, I think I might have just discovered my literary evil twin. I have to force myself to read novels any more recent than post-modern…this made getting an English degree less fun than it might have been if I was an admirer of Romantics and Victorians. Recent(ish) literary novels I liked include: - **The Turtle Warrior** by Mary R Ellis - **The Disapparation of James** by Anne Ursu - **What Happened to Henry?** by Sharon Pywell - **Night Birds** by Thomas Maltman - **The True Story of Hansel and Gretel** by Louise Murphy - **Tinkers** by Paul Harding - **Shadow Baby** by Alison McGhee I’m a little surprised to see recommendations for Neal Stephenson. I don’t read him, but I have had the distinct impression that he writes genre fiction (cyberpunk?) **not** literary like the OP requested. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013/22 "2011-09-25T21:08:56Z")
Try Tobias Hill and Iain Sinclair. Maybe it’s just because I’m not from the UK, but I haven’t heard very much about them, yet I love their books. Specific recommendations? Try **The Love of Stones** or **The Hidden** by Hill and **Downriver** by Sinclair. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013/23 "2011-09-25T21:44:19Z")
I enjoyed _Tree of Smoke_ but I’m not sure it’ll be “literary” enough for the OP. _Posession_ is great, I went on a bit of an A S Byatt jag after reading it but else of hers nothing bettered it in my opinion. _The Moor’s Last Sigh_ is my favourite of Salman Rushdie’s novels, it’s both more accessible and more stylish than _The Satanic Verses_ or _Midnight’s Children_. I gave up on Rushdie after _The Ground Beneath her Feet_ which was so tedious I can’t remember anything about it and _Fury_ whcih was just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013/24 "2011-09-25T21:49:05Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Wow, I think I might have just discovered my literary evil twin. I have to force myself to read novels any more recent than post-modern… Make that “less recent,” dammit. See what happens when someone distracts you mid-post? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013/25 "2011-09-25T23:07:13Z")
I think I’m unwarrantedly snooty enough to be of use to you, based on your getting irritated at Nabokov for the same reason I did (I regretted it later). One piece of advice that I think might be helpful is just don’t try to find modern stuff that’s in the vein of Wallace, because there really isn’t any, and well-meaning recommendations that are based on that preference won’t be satisfying. For instance, I think Neal Stephenson is plenty good at what he does, but the thing he does is not what you’re looking for, or close to it, in my opinion, and that shouldn’t be in your head when you pick up one of his books. Franzen comes up, too, but in my humble opinion, come on. I definitely think you should give Nabokov, Barth and Barthelme a real chance, though. And nobody has said Joyce, but I guess you’ve heard of him. How about Beckett and Flann O’Brien? I’m not sure how I feel about Vollmann recommending-wise, but I’m not sorry I read Europe Central, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Tarwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@Tarwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarwater)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013/26 "2011-09-25T23:32:43Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > I definitely think you should give Nabokov, Barth and Barthelme a real chance, though. And nobody has said Joyce, but I guess you’ve heard of him. How about Beckett and Flann O’Brien? I’m not sure how I feel about Vollmann recommending-wise, but I’m not sorry I read Europe Central, at least. I agree with your recommendation that **Night, so be it** give Barthelme another opportunity. Barth, I’m not so sure. If **Night, so be it** is turned off by Barthelme’s linguistic acrobatics, he’ll be thoroughly unimpressed with Barth’s work. The dude had a major bone to pick with literature and literary criticism, and if you’re not into those things, you’re unlikely to enjoy reading Barth. My personal recommendations are Lydia Davis (take a glance at her collection of short stories at [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Lydia-Davis/dp/0312655398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316993269&sr=8-1) ) and Kosinksi (start with his “novel” Steps, which again you can read at [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Steps-Jerzy-Kosinski/dp/0802135269/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1316993485&sr=8-7) ). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-new-literary-fiction/499013.md?page=1)