I'm not looking to expand my mind with heavyweight titles but also don't want to rot it with kitsch fiction. I suspect this is a big ask as the arts are subjective, however as members of the UKC collective we should be culturally assimilated already to some extent. Any ideas, then?
That's a tough ask with no more detail about your preferences. One person's heavyweight tome is anothers light entertainment.
I'm going to have a go with Primo Levi's If Not Now, When? One of my all time favorites. Definitely not hard to read, but in no way could it be considered kitsch fiction.
An interesting question, the answers to which depend to a large part on your definitions of pretentious and crap. However, if you are looking for fiction recommendations, you might like to try anything by Robert Harris, which to my mind fit the bill of decent quality fiction without pretension.
https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/robert+harris
I would also offer Robertston Davies:
https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/robertson+davies
or for crime fiction with a bit of twist, Joe Ide:
https://www.waterstones.com/author/joe-ide/3528925
You might also find this website useful:
https://whatshouldireadnext.com/
It's not perfect, but it's not a bad place to browse
Thanks! Plenty to go at there. I'll browse your links.
The ''A Song of Ice and Fire" (Game of Thrones) novels by George R. R. Martin are great. Plenty of plot complexity but proper page turners.
The Smiley/Tinker Tailor trilogy by John le Carre - brilliantly immersive, brilliantly paranoid Cold War-era espionage.
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold - historical fiction weaving imagined characters and events seamlessly with the real in the 1920s, featuring Houdini, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, Max Friz and loads of others. Brilliant fun.
https://whatshouldireadnext.com/
> It's not perfect, but it's not a bad place to browse
A handy resource! Typed in the last book I read and it suggested I read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Great stuff!
That is a great recommendation. Ivan Denisovich is another classic that is easy to read but profound and important.
Best read in one sitting for the full effect!
The Way of the Transgressor by Negley Farson. A man who lived a varied and interesting life.
Cormac McCathy
Umberto Eco
Charles Bukowski
Kurt Vonnegut
Chuck Palahniuk
Graham Greene
Evelyn Waugh
Robert Graves
...for starters.
Some of that lot is more what I consider weighty (but not pretentious, just requiring effort which I'm not always prepared to put in).
Anyone who hasn't read Dan Rhodes should do. Although they might hate it. 'When The Professor Got Stuck In The Snow' is quite a good place to start, particularly if you think brutally taking the piss out of Richard Dawkins is worthy of a whole book. They're all great though.
On a similar light, amusing, but rather brilliant note, Magnus Mills is great - 'All Quiet On The Orient Express' is my favourite.
'A Spot Of Bother' by Mark Haddon is hilarious and very humane. But I found a later one I tried boring.
If anyone wants to read something really, really horrible, but absolutely gripping and brilliant, 'Beastings' by Benjamin Myres is...err, a novel you probably won't forget in a hurry. Great writing.
Anything I've read by Nick Hornby seems to fit your criteria perfectly. Just really well written, insightful, funny observations on human interaction. All highly recommended (even if the screen adaptation of 'About a boy' was murdered by Hugh Grant!)
I’m going to have to look out Beastings now, plus the Dawkins piss take. He does take himself far too seriously.
> That is a great recommendation. Ivan Denisovich is another classic that is easy to read but profound and important.
> Best read in one sitting for the full effect!
I wouldn't describe it as easy to read.
Puckoon by Spike Milligan is seriously funny and also an interesting insight into the Irish border situation.
"Water Music" by T.C. Boyle (a pseudo-historical but wildly inventive novel about a19th century expedition to the source of the Niger) is brilliantly funny and an absolute page turner.
Neal Stevensons Baroque books are worth a look. And The Name of the Rose really rattles along
Am on a spree. Just bought The Limpet Syndrome: How to Survive the Afterlife by Tony Moyle
> Just the ticket!
> I have ordered a second hand copy.
Treat yourself to his collection of short stories 'The Periodic Table', you won't regret it.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.
Ian Banks, the crow road as a start
Vonnegut, anything but especially Slaughterhouse 5 and, the work of utter genius; Hocus Pocus
Tom Robbins, Jutterbug Perfume
John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Last Night in Twisted River, Thoe Fourth Hand etc etc
> Ian Banks, the crow road as a start
Read The Wasp Factory as a youth and found it devoid of humanity - maybe that was the point, but that put me off Banks. Slaughterhouse 5 - I haven't read either but reading the synopsis on Amazon it strikes me as though it could be a bit cerebral for my tastes. Still, never judge a book by its cover as the saying goes...
It's worth giving Iain Banks another go. He didn't write anything else remotely like The Wasp Factory. The Crow Road is a good recommendation.
Kurt Vonnegut, it's my firm belief that everyone should read one of his books. There is no one else like him. Give Slaughterhouse 5 a go. It's not hard work, and you won't know unless you try.
> I wouldn't describe it as easy to read.
Ah, that's the problem I mentioned in my first post. My easy read is your hard work. I picked up the book one dull morning and didn't put it down until I'd finished it. It's definitely a lot easier than Dostoyevsky or any other Russians I've read.
To the OP, this being UKC someone will come along soon and recommend James Joyce and claim he's not hard work. You can safely ignore them.
Try Stan Barstow - the Vic Brown trilogy - A Kind of Loving, The Watchers on the Shore and A Right True End
anything by John Steinbeck
I've been binging on Joe Abercrombie recently. His First Law series is excellent!
It's fantasy but a lot more grown up than things like Lord of the Rings and a lot lighter on the fantastical elements, most of it is about the characters, people and politics interspersed with edge-of-the-seat action sequences.
It's also pretty fast paced compared to a lot of fantasy series, the actions starts pretty much from page 1 and doesn't really stop.
The other thing I really like about it is that unlike a lot of fantasy it's not really about good vs evil, it's more one shade of grey vs a slightly different shade of grey.
The first trilogy focusses primarily on the 'Union' who are portrayed as the 'good guys' but the methods used their goals are often questionable.
The second set of standalone books then focusses primarily on characters outside of the union and you find yourself sympathising with their causes and disliking the Union. Many characters from the original trilogy re-occur and people you thought you hated when told of them from one side of the story you find yourself endearing too and rooting for when you hear things from their point of view.
The characters are deep, none of these squeaky clean heroes, they all have their own flaws and dirty secrets and their motivations are not always pure.
I can't recommend highly enough!
> To the OP, this being UKC someone will come along soon and recommend James Joyce and claim he's not hard work. You can safely ignore them.
It's only me who ever does that and I'm keeping quiet.
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg. Thoughtful, scandi-noir.
> It's worth giving Iain Banks another go. He didn't write anything else remotely like The Wasp Factory. The Crow Road is a good recommendation.
To be fair there are a few rather abstract examples (I wouldn't recommend Whit or A Song of Stone, for instance) but his straight contemporary (at least then) fiction like A Steep Approach to Garbadale or Stonemouth is a joy. It's slick and witty, always with a bit of twist, and usually a great soundtrack!
For easy reading that's definitely not crap it's hard to go wrong with anything by Elmore Leonard. Also second the rec. above for Magnus Mills - Restraint of Beasts being my favourite of the ones I've read.
Kate Atkinson - start with 'Case Histories' for a contemporary story or 'Life after Life' for something more historical and high concept.
I've recently enjoyed Anne Cleeves 'Vera' novels. Crime fiction but quite lit fic. Well written and very readable.
David
> Kurt Vonnegut, it's my firm belief that everyone should read one of his books.
I did. One was enough for me!
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin novels. I'm currently on number 13 and still reading avidly.
Currently reading Rotherweird https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/18/rotherweird-by-andrew-caldeco...
As the Guardian says: the love-child of Gormenghast and Hogwarts!
I find a good biography interesting. I happened to read Martin Luther King's and Malcolm X's back-to-back a while ago and it had a fair impact.
I read that last year. I had reservations, but probably unfair to say while you are half-way.
To the OP:
Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451 - the film is due later this year, so get in first. Extraordinary
Literally anything by Murakami, but I'll suggest IQ84 is his masterpiece. The Colorless .... may be a good intro
The Plot against America, Philip Roth. Brilliant writer, with alternative history where Lindberg becomes President of USA
> Currently reading Rotherweird https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/18/rotherweird-by-andrew-caldeco...
> As the Guardian says: the love-child of Gormenghast and Hogwarts!
Rotherwierd is good, the sequel.....less so. Seems like filler before the finale
> Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin novels. I'm currently on number 13 and still reading avidly.
Agreed - I've read the lot twice (possibly 3x?) and once you get into the mindset they are absolutely engrossing and delightful.
> anything by John Steinbeck
That's another excellent recommendation. Especially Of mice and men. Not heavy going, but deeply moving and stayed with me a long time.
> Ah, that's the problem I mentioned in my first post. My easy read is your hard work. I picked up the book one dull morning and didn't put it down until I'd finished it. It's definitely a lot easier than Dostoyevsky or any other Russians I've read.
> To the OP, this being UKC someone will come along soon and recommend James Joyce and claim he's not hard work. You can safely ignore them.
I was talking about the content rather than the complexity. However, the OP was asking for non-pretentious recommendations and I think, based on your post, you are probably not qualified to comment...
I'm not sure what you're on about here. I can see how my comment about my easy read being your hard work might have come across as snobby, and if that's the case then I apologise, I didn't mean it like that. I meant that due to differences in taste, a book that one person will breeze through will be a slog for another. Certainly a book about a day in the Gulag doesn't sound like a light read, but I found it inspiring.
On the other hand, if you meant that One day in life of Ivan Denisovich is pretentious, then you're just wrong.
Maybe I misinterpreted your post - my mistake. I agree with you about Of Mice and Men, despite having read it at least 100 times (for work and pleasure), it still has the most unsatisfying final lines of any book I've ever read.
And that giant rabbit...
I think the Fahrenheit 451 film has been available on Sky Atlantic for a few months now, if it's the version with Michael Shannon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philip-Kerr/e/B000AQ3KZ6
Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther detective novels are really good.
His characters are so well written and woven into the fabric of the stories that they seem like friends by the end of the series. I was devastated when ....... died!
The last book I read was 'Viet Tran Nguyen's' 'The Sympathiser'. 2016 Pulitzer winner and highly engaging with vivid characters that are well developed. It's an interesting cultural perpective on the nature of man and Nguyen provides an insight into life that translates to the written word perfectly.
As others have mentioned, Steinbeck is wonderful. Stories that roll along at no great pace but taps into many foibles of the human condition so can be relateable.
The Flashman Papers are a riot and almost guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. great fun
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