Attack of the flat books

[muckefuck]

I have a bad conscience in bookstores these days. Whenever I'm browsing the literature section, a nagging voice is asking me Why are you buying more fiction when you still have so much lying around unread at home? Ever since mollpeartree had the inspirational idea of a "reading confessional" to turn social pressure into a motivation for making her way through neglected titles, I've been thinking of doing something like that myself. Before I could solicit votes, however, I'd need to pare the possibilities down to a short list.

So here are ten titles in the category "20th/21st century novels in English", most of which I bought in the past year or two. What they all have in common is that they intrigued me enough for me to sacrifice at least $2, the energy to lug them home, and shelf space to store them. Tell me what you think--it doesn't matter whether you've familiar with the authors or not.

1. Felipe Alfau. Locos.
2. T. Obinkaram Echewa. I saw the sky catch fire.
3. Michael Frayn. Headlong.
4. Abdulrazak Gurnah. By the sea.
5. Alan Hollinghurst. The line of beauty.
6. Rohinton Mistry. Family matters.
7. Bharati Mukherjee. The holder of the world.
8. V.S. Naipaul. A bend in the river.
9. Audrey Niffenegger. The time traveler's wife.
10. M.G. Vassanji. Book of secrets.

Comments

[nitouche.livejournal.com]

I actually liked Headlong very much. I read a Bend in the River years and years ago, but don't remember it very well -- I'm also having problems reading Naipaul recently, since his recent political extremism colours the earlier stuff too much for me. Um, let's see -- Vassanji & Mistry are both good writers, but I haven't read either of those two.

Have you read English Passengers, btw?

[nitouche.livejournal.com]

Damn. Now I need a paid account so I can edit my stupid html.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Do what I do: Copy the text, paste it into a fresh new comment, and delete the old one.