What do you recommend?

Does anyone have any authors to recommend aside from "the usual suspects?"

Terence Blacker
Jane Stevenson

what period?

Well, I'm reading Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn. Intelligent and witty but otherwise difficult to describe. Has anyone else read this author?

I really liked London Bridges by Jane Stevenson and that is actually what lead me to Simon Raven. the Provincial Lady books by E.M. Delafield are some favorites.

I read one of the Edward St. Aubyn trilogy and while I thought it was very clever in spots, I was not left with the desire to read more of his work.

But I am glad you mentioned it and might try to give him another chance.

How about Henry Green?

#7 Kromes: Who is Henry Green?

amandameale (message 8): I don't know how to make this a link, but if you cut and paste this URL into your browser, you'll get a good little bio to start with ... the short story is that "Green" is the pseudonym of an English industrialist-type, who wrote kind of "modernist" stories dealing with the English class system, mostly pre-WWII ... I first stumbled across him in some comments from John Updike and have since picked just about all of his books ...
http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/green.htm

KromesTomes, I have just the omnibus volume Loving; Living; Party going. It doesn't seem willing to load, though I've recopied the punctuation from the book page. I've read one of the novels - Loving, I think, but didn't appreciate it as I thought I should. I'm not sure whether this was merely mood, approach, it not being (in some sense) the right time for it - or whether I truly am a bit lukewarm about Henry Green. Any comments on his strengths much appreciated: I'd be happy to have my enthusiasm or awareness kindled.

Thanks Kromes. Will do.

I second (or is it third?) Jane Stevenson, I adored her historical fiction trilogy which began with The Winter Queen. I've enjoyed what I read by Sarah Waters also. And then again, I have enjoyed some fairly recent Martin Booth novels, Islands of Silence and A Very Private Gentleman.

There are so many to name!

This thread is rather wide open, isn't it? It might be good to specify type of literature, era...etc. you are interested in.

Robert Barnard--just posted something to the other thread on anglophiles and mysteries.

Good heavens, Henry Green fans! Another vote here.

Eurydice, 'lukewarm" is an appropriate response - there aren't any pyrotechnics in Green. I'm 15-20 years from having read them, so I'm having a hard time "commenting on his strengths" other than to note that he leaves the reader (this reader, at least) with the sense of an author completely in control of his material: and his stuff is certainly subtle, if not downright oblique. So 'lukewarm' is appropriate, but I found it to be a deeply lukewarm experience. (If that makes sense.) Perhaps the contemporary parallel is Remains of the Day?

Ah, I see. Thank you, Bob. Yes, I did feel it was oblique: but I also remember loving The Remains of the Day, at least on my second reading. The parallel between the books does illuminate what one could appreciate in Henry Green. It's quite helpful. And now I think, suddenly: 'That's the beauty of having an omnibus...' Namely - I can return at any time, and pick up again somewhere new. I will definitely give him another go.

I should add (or perhaps I shouldn't) that the flaw in my first reading of Ishiguro was age, or the lack thereof. My 'ear' for prose tone was not particularly acute, and there are several books I've returned to since that time - even quite soon after - and read very differently. So much so, I felt like I had been tone deaf....!

:) Age does have its merits.

What about Anthony Powell's magnificent dodecology, A Dance to the Music of Time? It's clustered into four groups of three novels each: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. The multitude of characters dance in and out of each other's lives for 50 years or so, encompassing much of England's 20th century.

#17 - I'll second Dance to the Music of Time. It's a little slow getting started, but the foundation of the characters' school days is important. And I absolutely love the opening scene and how the series concludes in the same way. I've read the series twice, the first time over 20 years ago, and again about 8 years or so ago. I enjoyed it even more the second time. My favorite of the 4 trilogies is Fall. Many of the characters stay with you, and after "knowing" them over a period of so many years, they seem real - or maybe it's just that you want them to be real. (I only just this morning mentioned Molly Jeavons to Bob when we happened upon the name Jevons!)
I recommend it very highly, though it does require some time commitment for reading it.

I never got into Henry Green either, Eurydice. I think I started one of his books and it didn't capture my interest. Perhaps, as you say, it wasn't the right time for me to read Green. I greatly admire Remains of the Day, it is so beautifully crafted. But as much as I'm glad I had the experience of reading it, I didn't like the characters and I don't think I'd reread it. I'd still recommend it though (esp. if one hasn't already seen Hopkins' masterful performance in the movie).

I have, of course, heard good things of Anthony Powell, and admit you make it sound tempting. On the roster for some other year, perhaps?

I was much more inclined to re-reading a dozen years ago, and before: I had so many fewer books. The rate of acquisition wasn't good. And I kept growing. Now, it takes far more to inspire a return. At any rate, if I don't find Henry Green captures me on a second or third attempt, I won't feel I'm in poor company.

Yes, Hopkins' performance was just that: masterly.

My thoughts exactly avaland. Might try posting individual authors.

Regarding Henry Green, I recently read Nothing; Doting; and Blindness and and while I could appreciate some of the comic subtlety it very nearly put me to sleep.

LOL. Going in knowing what to expect often helps keep clear of whatever disappointment one can blame on false expectations and other works: perhaps I will have a deeply lukewarm experience this time, or perhaps I will finally decide there is nothing I can do about it, where Henry Green is concerned I'm suffering from premature dotage or a form of blindness to his strengths.

Another less known author to try is Jane Gardam. Her novels are very enjoyable, though sometimes a bit hard to find. Start with Old Filth, which is an entertaining novel about a retired judge whose childhood and career centered in Hong Kong. It's a wonderful depiction of the emotional price paid by the children of his generation, sent off away from family to school in England. Faith Fox is another enjoyable read; a mother dies in childbirth, and who will raise the surviving child? The various eccentric relations all play their part in this rewarding novel.
Jane Gardam is perfect for any Anglophile readers you know.

Erica James is wonderful. Sort of a cross between Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy.

I can't believe I didn't know that Margaret Drabble and A. S. Byatt are sisters.

Miss avaland....I'm surprised at you!!

Yes, well, it lingers in the back of my mind, so I suspect that I did know it and not really thought about. I did "rediscover" it by rereading the last few chapters of a book I've read before...A Literature of Their Own:British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing by Elaine Showalter. A delicious book, btw, if one is interested in the feminine literary tradition.

#25 - Drabble and Byatt have a famously 'strained' relationship - allegedly, due to Byatt's jealousy of Drabble getting a starred double first while she only got a double first. The other claim is that Byatt took offence of Drabble's portrayal of their mother in an early novel. Whatever the reason, they have made enough disparaging remarks about each other over the years for it to become common knowledge.

I'll back Henry Green as well. As_You_Bob sums up his strengths perfectly in #14.

A Literature of Their Own is an excellent book!

Its lurking in some carton in the attic behind all the other stuff so I haven't looked at if for awhile.

(This is one reason I love LT, books and authors are rediscovered!)

Bleuroses, I find thoughtful (and scholarly) books on women's literature to be nearly irresistible! I also like Imagining Characters: Six Conversations about Women Writers (Austen, Bronte, Eliot, Cather, Murdoch, and Morrison) by A.S. Byatt and Ignes Sodre. But, then again, there are so many delicious ones I could mention...

I recommend Jane Rogers (Mr. Wroe's Virgins and The Voyage Home), Margot Livesey (Eva Moves the Furniture or Banishing Verona), and Helen Dunmore (Spell of Winter, The Siege, Mourning Ruby) also.

I'm new here and just finding my way round, so I've only just seen cctlund's message # 23 about Jane Gardam. Can I endorse that. I think she's superb. I would start with Queen of the Tambourine which won the Whitbread. She also used to write excellent novels for teenagers. Another excellent writer in the same vein, although perhaps rather lighter, is Adele Geras. Try her latest, Made in Heaven or her teenage books Troy and Ithaka.

There is a website - www.contemporarywriters.com - which is a great resource from the British Council for the Arts on current UK writers. It features a short biography, bibliography and one critical response for each author (as best I have been able to tell). It's really interesting reading in itself, seems to be light on various genre writers.

avaland...you deserve the wealth of information award!!

>bleuroses. Why thank you; however, it comes from doing nine years in a bookstore and several other employment experiences that required me to be very resourceful....not to mention, I have a compulsive sense of curiosity:-)

J.G. Farrell - The Siege of Krishnapur is one of my very favourite books and Troubles is good too. Unfortunately, Farrell wrote very few books. The Singapore Grip is unfinished (or Farrell died before he edited it?) and not as good.

Mistake - it's The Hill Station that's unfinished.

#35 So is The Singapore Grip worth reading? It's been sitting on my To Be Read pile for ages. Should I move higher up?

I'll add another recommendation for The Singapore Grip. Other's I would recommend are William Cooper starting with Scenes From Provincial Life and C.P. Snow.

The Singapore Grip was a bit long and dreary and a struggle to get through. The Siege of Krishnapur, in contrast, was entertaining, philosophical, witty, exciting and historically interesting.

Another suggestion The Diary of a Nobody.

Thanks Quartzite - I will chase up Scenes from Provincial Life.

A big favourite of mine is The Mulberry Empire by Philip Hensher. A big novel sweeping across Afghanistan, Moscow and London and based around the abortive attempts of the British to gain the upper hand in Kabul in 1839.

Just finished reading Scenes from Provincial Life. Excellent recommendation Quartzite. Is Scenes from Metropolitan Life as good?

Glad you liked it. If you liked the first one, you should go ahead with the next three--there is also Scenes from Married Life and Scenes from Later Life

Does Julian Barnes fall into the category of "usual suspects?" If not, I would recommend his work highly for those that enjoy literary word play and wit. Despite his virtuosity with language, his characters never come off (at least to me) as mere ciphers either. Just started reading England, England this morning and I'd imagine that for Anglophiles it will provide a double whammy: the crux of the plot is about someone creating a theme park that exemplifies all things that would be identified as distinctly "English."

I am a great fan of Julian Barnes - I admire the way he approaches the novel in a unique structural form. The sign of an innovative artist. I was introduced to him many years ago with Flaubert's Parrot which was great. All his books have great merit. Interestingly, despite his 'Englishness', he has lived in France for many years (although I think he recently moved back home).

I have Julian Barnes' Arthur and George on my TBR list and plan to read it in the next few months. I am not familiar with Barnes but recently stumbled across another of his books in a box in my basement: A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. Not sure how it came to be there but am willing to give it a try sometime. Any opinions on this book?

I really loved his A history of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters - it approaches the novel form in a very different structural form. It has been ages since I read it so I cannot elaborate - but it is on my favourites list.

I like Julian Barnes, but I don't think he belongs in the Anglophiles list -- surely he's a French writer who just happens to have been born in Leicester and write in the English language?

I do think that Julian Barnes is quintissentially English.

He has an English outlook, an English upbringing, and has moved back to England to live. I think the flavour and perspective of his prose is 'English' too.

Another author that I consider 'English' in the sense of prose construct and outlook on life is Paul Auster. Although he moved to the US in his twenties - he has not shaken off his formative years and it shows through in his writing.