Comments on: This book made you love books, right?

Question: This book made you love books, right?

goosechasing — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:11:04 -0800

I'm looking for a book that is so wonderful it will renew my joy for reading. Books that don't make you want to sit in a library and luxuriate in the ability to absorb impossibly lovely stories need not apply.

This question is highly subjective, of course, but the goal is clear: to rejuvenate my taste for a well-told story after a really, really intense semester. I don't care if this book is one part of a series with lurid sex scenes or high-class piece of literary fiction. I can appreciate flowery language and the barest bones of English. Fantasy, scifi, romance, realistic fiction - doesn't matter.

That said, the novel does have to be approachable and, once approached, digestible. I'm afraid attempting Infinite Jest at this time would cause an implosion of some kind. I'd prefer suggestions are kept to post-1950. My favorite novel is Middlesex. I really like romantic subplots, but they're totally not necessary.

Thanks, guys.

By: miles1972

miles1972 — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:12:31 -0800

Michael Chabon is your man.

By: themanwho

themanwho — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:17:02 -0800

The Brothers K, by David James Duncan. The shortest long book you'll ever read.

By: infini

infini — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:20:22 -0800

Somerset Maugham's short story collection does this for me.

By: willbaude

willbaude — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:20:35 -0800

The post-1950 books that remind me why I love books include Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife (seems like it has a complicated narrative structure, but actually quite easy to follow; romantic subplot); Carlos Ruis Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind; and the significantly less hoity-toity but possibly best of all, Lois McMaster Bujold's The Warror's Apprentice.

By: infini

infini — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:21:59 -0800

Ah, sorry, didn't notice the post 1950 in your question. And on preview, seconding Lois McMaster Bujold's books.

By: vegartanipla

vegartanipla — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:23:33 -0800

If you love reading, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is a good bet. The first in the series is The Eyre Affair. There is a romantic sub-plot.

By: jeather

jeather — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:24:08 -0800

I adored Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Or there is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (the sequel has just come out; I haven't read it yet). Cloud Atlas. Faithful Place by Tana French.

By: telegraph

telegraph — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:24:19 -0800

Bashfully seconding The Time Traveler's Wife. Great literature maybe not, but solidly good and definitely a well told, engrossing story.

By: dawkins_7

dawkins_7 — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:28:52 -0800

John Irving, maybe even some Pat Conroy. I'd keep to the first three-quarters of their work. Anything by Ann Patchett or Barbara Kingsolver.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:29:32 -0800

Master and Commander and Post Captain are two of the most amazingly funny, witty, literary, rippingly good books I have ever read.

By: jeri

jeri — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:30:17 -0800

The one I recommend to everyone who hasn't read it: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

By: dawkins_7

dawkins_7 — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:31:41 -0800

On preview, you want books, not authors. Here goes: A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, The Great Santini, The Lords Of Discipline, Bel Canto, The Poisonwood Bible and The Prodigal Summer.

By: ljshapiro

ljshapiro — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:33:11 -0800

Seconding Chabon. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Yiddish Policeman's Union are my favorites. William Gibson's Pattern Recognition is another I've read multiple times, one of the best books I have read in any genre.

By: peppermind

peppermind — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:41:57 -0800

For me, Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. Every time I open that book, I end up sinking into it like it's a warm bath.

By: Sunburnt

Sunburnt — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:50:25 -0800

I'll second Chabon, and add Neal Stephenson-- Cryptonomicon or Anathem. Nothing wrong with the Baroque Trilogy, but it was a big commitment. (Not as big as reading Master & Commander/Post Captain turned out to be, and that was an amazing ride.)

By: Madamina

Madamina — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:52:28 -0800

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell.

By: ramenopres

ramenopres — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:53:01 -0800

Ender's Game if you haven't read that yet. Ender's Shadow if you have.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

By: punchtothehead

punchtothehead — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:53:53 -0800

Any of Mark Helprin's books, particularly A Soldier of the Great War. Or Memoir from Antproof Case.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:01:14 -0800

The Secret History

By: FirstMateKate

FirstMateKate — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:03:03 -0800

Terry Pratchet, specifically Night Watch.

By: MeghanC

MeghanC — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:15:06 -0800

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis does this for me. It's the book that I read when I'm feeling burnt out on reading, and it always makes me want to read more. It's my desert island book, and is on every ereader and phone and computer that I touch, just in case I end up needing it.

By: brujita

brujita — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:22:22 -0800

A S Byatt's Possession

By: gaspode

gaspode — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:25:26 -0800

Seconding Bel Canto and Wolf Hall.

By: The otter lady

The otter lady — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:37:19 -0800

The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and The Walled Orchard by Tom Holt, are the books I turn to when I am sick of books, to renew my love for the written word and the images it can evoke in the mind.

By: egypturnash

egypturnash — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:38:57 -0800

Michael Swanwyck, "The Dragons of Babel".

It's the sequel to his wonderful book "The Iron Dragon's Daughter". I don't think you have to have read that to enjoy "Babel", it's set in the same world but is very different.

It's a book of stories in stories. The best moment, for me, is when the main character is sitting in front of a library doing some research. One of the stone lions flanking the stairs is reading over his shoulder, and begins to talk to him about what he's reading and why. And then goes off on a tangent where he tells the story of how continental drift separated him from his pride of stone lionesses back when Pangaea started to break up, what happened when the continents bumped into each other again and reunited them, and the apocalyptic future that will someday result.

There are other digressions, other stories occupying their fractal part of the main story. That's the one that sticks in my mind.

The world is familiar yet bizarre, and Swanwick's prose carries you through it joyously. There's a lot left lingering in your mind afterwards, but it's never hard to read.

By: titantoppler

titantoppler — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:52:18 -0800

Elizabeth Kostova has written 2 novels, both of which are very, very interesting. They were the only two books in recent memory to really grab hold of my attention (and this comes from someone who reads quite a fair bit).

The Historian was her first book, focusing on vampires. Tightly-written and imagery-rich.

The Swan Thieves was her second effort, and better written as well. This has a lot of artistic themes in it, and may be more relatable to everyday life.

Either book you pick, it'll be a fantastic experience.

I've also been reading David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary, though I hesitate to recommend it because it's quite short. If you don't mind that, the writing style is beautiful.

By: elephantsvanish

elephantsvanish — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:57:02 -0800

I most recently had this feeling with Patti Smith's wonderful memoir, Just Kids. It's such a loving piece of literature -- draws you into the clumsy hipness of city/art life and introduces you to people who made that tangle alive and vital for Patti. If you have any interest in early punk, art, or kids in the big city, I would recommend diving into it.

By: bongo_x

bongo_x — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:02:45 -0800

A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin

By: stoneandstar

stoneandstar — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:10:51 -0800

The Secret History, The Corrections. Anything by Richard Yates (Revolutionary Road or his short stories, not "beautiful," necessarily, but completely absorbing). I've heard a lot of people say things like this about Jeanette Winterson. Also not post-1950, but Wuthering Heights is so impossibly beautiful I just can't. Dune is a great story. I don't quite get there with Murakami, but a lot of people do. And if you can get your hands on Takako Takahashi's short stories, they're incredible. Incredible!

By: Ghostride The Whip

Ghostride The Whip — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:13:33 -0800

The most beautiful and enjoyable book I've read recently is Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus to the point I'm evangelical about it.

By: TheLittlestRobot

TheLittlestRobot — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:14:24 -0800

Seconding Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's a "literary" mystery, with lots of suspense (and a creepy hint of the occult) but also beautiful language and a really magical sense of place -- you really feel as if you're walking the streets of post-WWII Barcelona with the young narrator. And the entire theme of the novel is the power and magic of books! So lovely.

By: metabrilliant

metabrilliant — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:15:24 -0800

I read Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler during a particularly difficult semester at college, and it helped renew my interest in fiction.

By: armoir from antproof case

armoir from antproof case — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:28:41 -0800

A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin.

By: Surprised By Bees

Surprised By Bees — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:38:06 -0800

Nthing Lois McMaster Bujold.

City of Thieves is set in the siege of Leningrad, and it's utterly absorbing.

By: knile

knile — Mon, 28 May 2012 23:13:18 -0800

I've often said that Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine turned me back on to reading. The whole concept is one that wouldn't work in any other medium.

By: pompelmo

pompelmo — Mon, 28 May 2012 23:14:16 -0800

I, too, loved Kavalier & Clay.

I also recommend "Crossing to Safety" and "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner. They're both excellent books, perfect for the situation you're describing. It's a character-driven book, where K&C is more plot-driven, I'd say. Both Stegner books are stories of marriages and long friendships; you see the characters grow and change, and the way they relate to each other develop over time.

I love Stegner because his voice is so clear; the writing is relatively simple, yet evokes beautiful scenes from the American West and builds complex, relatable characters.

By: neilb449

neilb449 — Mon, 28 May 2012 23:39:50 -0800

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Anything by Louis de Bernieres, Isabel Allende or Richard Ford.

2nding The Mezzanine and the Poisonwood Bible and nthing The Time Traveller's Wife.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Mon, 28 May 2012 23:55:44 -0800

Marguerite Duras "The Lover"

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Tue, 29 May 2012 00:51:14 -0800

Before I read your entire question, I was thinking Middlesex! But since that's your favorite already, I join the others who say Bel Canto.

By: sebastienbailard

sebastienbailard — Tue, 29 May 2012 00:53:16 -0800

n+1thing Lois McMaster Bujold.

The Silent Tower, by Barbara Hambly.

By: yaymukund

yaymukund — Tue, 29 May 2012 01:12:58 -0800

How about People Of The Book by Geraldine Brooks? March is also fantastic. Both have romantic subplots, and are very well written.

You might also enjoy Irving Stone's The Agony And The Ecstasy if you haven't already read it.

nthing Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

By: ZipRibbons

ZipRibbons — Tue, 29 May 2012 02:13:40 -0800

How about Robertson Davies' The Deptford Trilogy? Three for the price of one!

Richard Powers writes great big idea things too. I particularly liked The Echo Maker, but his others are all worth a spin.

By: undue influence

undue influence — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:25:09 -0800

Perhaps too pop-ish for your requirements, but I've always found Ian Rankin's Rebus books to make me giddily happy about reading - so atmospheric, so quick and so understatedly funny. His other books are good too. Come to think of it, not lovely, but certainly ripping yarns in enjoyable prose. Sorry if it's off the mark.

How about The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle? I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, after an exhausting semester of my own.

By: backwards guitar

backwards guitar — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:36:24 -0800

The Invisible Bridge - Julie Orringer
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Seconding "A Fine Balance"

By: jonnyploy

jonnyploy — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:43:31 -0800

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, in which the Queen becomes addicted to reading.

By: dpx.mfx

dpx.mfx — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:08:54 -0800

I came to suggest the Book Thief and the Historian (I didn't love the Swan Thieves). So seconding those.

By: devious truculent and unreliable

devious truculent and unreliable — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:44:25 -0800

Perfume, by Patrick Susskind

By: Daily Alice

Daily Alice — Tue, 29 May 2012 05:06:22 -0800

Little, Big

By: halfbuckaroo

halfbuckaroo — Tue, 29 May 2012 05:09:27 -0800

I came to Mark Helprin with A Winter's Tale which is great if you like New York, and some history.

By: gwenlister

gwenlister — Tue, 29 May 2012 05:12:43 -0800

I came here to suggest Ender's Game but I was beaten to it. (Seriously, read it. So great.) Instead I will suggest the following books:
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman (not a hard read, but such amazing visuals and really engrossing)
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo (the book is SO SO SO GOOD and better than the movie(s))
- Most things by Michael Crichton (not hard reads, but generally really good stories and fun)
- Cloud Atlas may be a little heavy, but it is really good
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- The Forever War
- The Harry Potter series (Burn through the first two, and then the books get REALLY good)
- Jitterbug Perfume

By: epo

epo — Tue, 29 May 2012 06:07:52 -0800

2nding Perfume by Patrick Susskind and, ignoring your 50s cutoff and because good writing occurs in non-fiction also, pretty much any of George Orwell's shorter pieces, "Selected Essays" is a good place to start.

By: Dolley

Dolley — Tue, 29 May 2012 06:13:13 -0800

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

By: mlle valentine

mlle valentine — Tue, 29 May 2012 07:06:10 -0800

I enjoyed The Art of Fielding so much. I was afraid it would be pretentious but instead it really embodied what I enjoy about a novel--compelling characters, suspenseful plot, and just all-around good writing.

Around the time I read Fielding, I also read Eugenides's The Marriage Plot, which you should give a try if you haven't already. Different from Middlesex and not quite as good but still really enjoyable.

I also loved Amor Towles's The Rules of Civility and Cristina Alger's The Darlings--both about characters navigating wealthy New York society, though many years apart.

By: primer_dimer

primer_dimer — Tue, 29 May 2012 07:12:42 -0800

Seconding Little, Big. Beautiful language and, even though it's been six months since I read it, I found myself thinking about it unprompted this morning :-)

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Tue, 29 May 2012 07:49:13 -0800

Nthing Time Traveller's Wife or The Book Thief. John Irving is my favourite author and of all his books, I would suggest Cider House Rules as the best combination of craft and plot. However, like a previous poster, I am evangelical about Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. Those are my among my favourite books of the last 50 years.

Someone else suggested Pat Conroy and The Price of Tides is a wonderful, epic book, certainly in my top 10 novels. However, it will break your fucking heart. Both Time Traveller's Wife and Cider House Rules pack equivalent emotional punch with less futility of tears.

By: Ipsifendus

Ipsifendus — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:54:28 -0800

Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" is the book you're after.

By: theuninvitedguest

theuninvitedguest — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:15:59 -0800

Every summer I seem to read one book that really blows me away and starts me on a hunt for something similar. A few from the past:

- White Noise by Don Delillo (I hesitate to recommend this because some people hate this book, but it's now my favorite book of all time. I re-read it every year).
- This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
- Continental Drift by Russell Banks
- Nice Big American Baby by Judy Budnitz (ridiculously inventive short stories)
- On Beauty by Zadie Smith (I think you might like this one if you like Middlesex)

By: lunasol

lunasol — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:16:35 -0800

Middlesex is my second-favorite book is - my all-time favorite is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. They are quite similar and I can't imagine that anyone who loves Middlesex wouldn't also love Midnight's Children.

Nthing the Poisonwood Bible. A Fine Balance is excellent but also very, very depressing. Actually, in general, I've found that Indian (or Indian Diaspora) authors are some of the best for this kind of writing. Another good one is Jhumpa Lahiri.

If you've never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, definitely put that on your list.

By: lunasol

lunasol — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:18:14 -0800

Oh, and nthing A Secret History and The Historian.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:35:24 -0800

Jo Walton's Among Others.

By: bookish

bookish — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:59:58 -0800

Recently Cutting for Stone did this for me after a very stressful semester. Big, rich, smart, romantic, and engrossing.

By: pink_mint

pink_mint — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:19:43 -0800

I can't believe no one else has mentioned this yet, but I would recommend the song of ice and fire books. They are utterly engrossing, easily digestible. (I'm assuming here the post 1950 requirement means written post 1950). I have been reading several hundred pages a day because I cannot put them down.

By: brappi

brappi — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:27:29 -0800

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez.

By: benzenedream

benzenedream — Tue, 29 May 2012 23:14:20 -0800

Pale Fire by Nabokov.
Nthing Cloud Atlas. A fantastic book with interesting structure that manages to tell an engrossing story. Calvino is great, but his stories are a bit formalized.
I may in the minority that loved Oryx and Crake by Atwood.

By: phonebia

phonebia — Wed, 30 May 2012 02:24:37 -0800

Grass by Sheri Tepper
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Orientation and Other Stories by Daniel Orozco
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

By: kristi

kristi — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:16:21 -0800

I had that reaction to The Enthusiast by Charlie Haas. (Try to find a copy with the Book Club guide in the back.)

By: northxnorthwest

northxnorthwest — Thu, 31 May 2012 04:17:59 -0800

I've been recently enjoying Geoff Dyer's books, namely Yoga for People That Can't be Bothered To Do It and But Beautiful if you're into jazz (and surrealism)

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Marukami (one of his lesser known works but that left me feeling whole and satisfied)

Seconding a Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Utterly engrossing.

Anything by Orhan Pamuk. The Museum of Innocence shattered me.

By: stampsgal

stampsgal — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:15:34 -0800

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is the queen of contemporary romance. What I love best about her books are the believeable, three-dimensional characters and the laugh-out-loud humor. The sexy times are there, but not the focus of the plot. Two of her recent books I've enjoyed are What I Did For Love and Natural Born Charmer.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:40:16 -0800

If you're not particularly squeamish, Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted.

If you are squeamish, stay far far away from it.

By: kettleoffish

kettleoffish — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:19:02 -0800

Seconding Zadie Smith if you liked Jeffrey Eugenides, her first book White Teeth has also received a lot of attention, including a BBC miniseries. And it has several romantic subplots.

By: ThaBombShelterSmith

ThaBombShelterSmith — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:15:10 -0800

Cloud Atlas, as someone already mentioned, took me on such a wonderful journey that I literally mourned when I got to the last page. The particular tale "An Orison of Sonmi-451" moved me to tears. The whole book is wonderful, though.

By: triggerfinger

triggerfinger — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 06:56:18 -0800

Metafilter is the best place for book recommendations!

Most of what I would have said are already in here so I'll just add my vote in for:

Bel Canto
The Poisonwood Bible
City of Thieves
The Secret History

A few other books I've read that I've gotten totally engrossed in:

Love Medicine
The Ruins
House of Leaves
Life of Pi
Child 44
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

By: mykescipark

mykescipark — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 19:55:09 -0800

When I think of "impossibly lovely", I think of the stories of William Trevor. Trevor is one of those author who lends actual authenticity to all the cliches about Irish writers and their purring poetics and warm earthiness and a plangent, rolling melancholy. I don't hear too many people talking about him anymore, but I have entire feelings that I associate only with reading William Trevor stories.

By: KrzysztofJCN

KrzysztofJCN — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 09:16:12 -0800

in no particular order:
- Danilo Kiš [anything really, but Garden Ashes & A Tomb for Boris Davidovich]
- John Hawkes [Second Skin]
- William Gass [Omensetter's Luck]
- David Markson [Wittgenstein's Mistress]
- Malcolm Lowry [I lied, this is tops, technically published in '47]