bookfilter
June 18, 2015 9:25 AM Subscribe
Books that have really worked for me in recent memory: Vladimir Nabokov's stuff, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. All of these were totally obsessive experiences for me, and I'm not sure why. What should I read next to be similarly engrossed?
Very similar tastes here. I really got into Marisha Pessl's lessons in calamity physics and Stephen Toltz's a fraction of the whole.
posted by meijusa at 9:30 AM on June 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by meijusa at 9:30 AM on June 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also by Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch. Kept me absolutely riveted while a lot of bad stuff was happening for me.
posted by holborne at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by holborne at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2015 [9 favorites]
If you liked Kundera, try Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal. It's short (100 pages) but great.
posted by Behemoth, in no. 302-bis, with the Browning at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Behemoth, in no. 302-bis, with the Browning at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, I asked a similar question rather recently, and got some great answers.
posted by holborne at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2015
posted by holborne at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2015
Unbearable Lightness is my favorite book of all time, and Lolita is up there.
You might like Stoner by John Williams. I don't think there is a more perfect novel about one man just living an ordinary life. I bawled.
He's a little more 'dreamlike' than the books you listed, but give Italo Calvino a shot. Maybe 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller' or 'Invisible Cities'.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2015 [6 favorites]
You might like Stoner by John Williams. I don't think there is a more perfect novel about one man just living an ordinary life. I bawled.
He's a little more 'dreamlike' than the books you listed, but give Italo Calvino a shot. Maybe 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller' or 'Invisible Cities'.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2015 [6 favorites]
Sarah Waters
Jeannette Winterson
Amy Tan
Kate Morton
Diane Setterfield
Elizabeth Kostova
Lionel Shriver
TC Boyle
Valerie Martin
Umberto Eco
posted by jaguar at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Jeannette Winterson
Amy Tan
Kate Morton
Diane Setterfield
Elizabeth Kostova
Lionel Shriver
TC Boyle
Valerie Martin
Umberto Eco
posted by jaguar at 9:35 AM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oh! And if you haven't read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, you might really like it. Even if you've seen the movie.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:39 AM on June 18, 2015
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:39 AM on June 18, 2015
Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness.
posted by teremala at 9:42 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by teremala at 9:42 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Have you tried the Wolf Hall books by Mantel? If I had to come up with a description of those books, particularly the first one in the series, I could do a lot worse than saying it's basically a Tartt-style outsider relating a story with heavy cultural/history notes, but with Nabkov's lyricism and Rushdie's stream-of-consciousness.
posted by joyceanmachine at 9:49 AM on June 18, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by joyceanmachine at 9:49 AM on June 18, 2015 [5 favorites]
I am only partway through it, but I can't recommend A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara) enough.
posted by minsies at 9:54 AM on June 18, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by minsies at 9:54 AM on June 18, 2015 [5 favorites]
I liked Kundera's Immortality better than Unbearable Lightness
posted by goethean at 9:57 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by goethean at 9:57 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer was positively Nabokovian. Also, +1 for Winter's Tale.
posted by dzot at 10:02 AM on June 18, 2015
posted by dzot at 10:02 AM on June 18, 2015
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco gives me the same sort of obsessive pleasure as Secret History does (more, even).
posted by lefty lucky cat at 10:07 AM on June 18, 2015
posted by lefty lucky cat at 10:07 AM on June 18, 2015
The Secret History is one of my favorite novels ever - top five all time. Whenever I recommend it to someone I usually also add in The Alienist by Caleb Carr and The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Same obsessive feelings.
posted by librarianamy at 10:08 AM on June 18, 2015
posted by librarianamy at 10:08 AM on June 18, 2015
Rebecca Goldstein; Margaret Mitchell Dukore (A Novel Called Heritage); Angela Carter. Patrick Süskind, Perfume.
For a long time, my favorite novel was Nabokov's Ada and I was also quite enamored in those days with The Recognitions by William Gaddis. But I suspect I would not be in love with that book today and hesitate to recommend it. I think Joyce's Ulysses would be my preference over either of those now.
Kind of in left field, but some of the books Ruth Rendell wrote as Barbara Vine might do it for you. Try A Fatal Inversion which has a very similar plot to The Secret History. Or No Night is Too Long. Rendell would have won the Booker, I am convinced, had she not been classed as a mystery writer.
posted by BibiRose at 10:33 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
For a long time, my favorite novel was Nabokov's Ada and I was also quite enamored in those days with The Recognitions by William Gaddis. But I suspect I would not be in love with that book today and hesitate to recommend it. I think Joyce's Ulysses would be my preference over either of those now.
Kind of in left field, but some of the books Ruth Rendell wrote as Barbara Vine might do it for you. Try A Fatal Inversion which has a very similar plot to The Secret History. Or No Night is Too Long. Rendell would have won the Booker, I am convinced, had she not been classed as a mystery writer.
posted by BibiRose at 10:33 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
What I recommended in a previous thread:
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:47 AM on June 18, 2015
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:47 AM on June 18, 2015
And yes, if you liked Tartt's Secret History, do try The Goldfinch. It was completely immersive for me, just like the other books I mentioned.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:49 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:49 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
My tastes are similar, and recent novels that have completely enraptured me that aren't listed above include:
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra
Neverhome, by Laird Hunt
In the Light of What We Know, by Zia Haider Rahman
Also, consider the books of Richard Powers, particularly Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance and Plowing the Dark
posted by janey47 at 10:52 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra
Neverhome, by Laird Hunt
In the Light of What We Know, by Zia Haider Rahman
Also, consider the books of Richard Powers, particularly Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance and Plowing the Dark
posted by janey47 at 10:52 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
David Mitchell - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
followed up by The Bone Clocks
Sarah Hall - The Electric Michelangelo
Esi Edugyan - Half-Blood Blues
posted by GrapeApiary at 11:05 AM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
followed up by The Bone Clocks
Sarah Hall - The Electric Michelangelo
Esi Edugyan - Half-Blood Blues
posted by GrapeApiary at 11:05 AM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Seconding the recommendation of Wolf Hall -- I had a similarly obsessive experience reading The Secret History and Lolita, and that absolutely inspired the same feeling for me. Furthermore I would recommend the works of Virginia Woolf (and the Woolf-inspired The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which I finished about two minutes ago), A.S. Byatt's Possession, Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series (The Likeness in particular bears some thematic similarities to TSH), and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.
posted by jeudi at 11:24 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jeudi at 11:24 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Brothers K - even if you don't care about fishing or baseball
The Time Travelers Wife - a little poppy but has enough depth to it to round it out
Sometimes a Great Notion - a little testosterone-y but very good
We Were the Mulvaneys - about the aftereffects of a rape but okay to read even if you're (like me) rape-story averse
Housekeeping - I can not put into words why this is so engrossing
Birds in Fall - very similar vibe to some of Kundera's stuff even though it's closer to home (Canada not Prague)
You might also like the mysteries of Tana French who has a lot of that poignancy and nostalgia throughout her novels.
posted by jessamyn at 11:34 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Time Travelers Wife - a little poppy but has enough depth to it to round it out
Sometimes a Great Notion - a little testosterone-y but very good
We Were the Mulvaneys - about the aftereffects of a rape but okay to read even if you're (like me) rape-story averse
Housekeeping - I can not put into words why this is so engrossing
Birds in Fall - very similar vibe to some of Kundera's stuff even though it's closer to home (Canada not Prague)
You might also like the mysteries of Tana French who has a lot of that poignancy and nostalgia throughout her novels.
posted by jessamyn at 11:34 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Strongly seconding The Electric Michelangelo and The Brothers K. It makes me so happy to see both of these books listed above, because heretofore I haven't known anyone who has read them unless they did so at my urging.
posted by janey47 at 11:38 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by janey47 at 11:38 AM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you haven't read it, it is time to read Crime and Punishment.
posted by bdc34 at 11:42 AM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bdc34 at 11:42 AM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
I just finished City on Fire, a novel coming out this fall about 1970s NYC. It has been favorably compared to The Goldfinch. I HATED The Goldfinch - yeah I said it - but I loved City on Fire, even if it is 950 pages long. If you're interested in my advance reading copy, memail me.
May I also suggest The Astral by Kate Christensen and Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo.
posted by lyssabee at 12:07 PM on June 18, 2015
May I also suggest The Astral by Kate Christensen and Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo.
posted by lyssabee at 12:07 PM on June 18, 2015
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (not the non-fiction one about Ronald Reagan!) and The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan
posted by jaguar at 12:29 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by jaguar at 12:29 PM on June 18, 2015
Seconding Tana French. In the Woods was wonderful, and the second novel in the series, The Likeness reminded me strongly of The Secret History.
posted by Karmeliet at 12:32 PM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Karmeliet at 12:32 PM on June 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Nthing Tana French. I don't even like mysteries and I love her work. In the Woods was a gorgeous book --profoundly sad yet beautiful.
posted by holborne at 12:48 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by holborne at 12:48 PM on June 18, 2015
Two by Michael Chabon that I found very engrossing:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Yiddish Policeman's Union
posted by GrapeApiary at 1:27 PM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Yiddish Policeman's Union
posted by GrapeApiary at 1:27 PM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Solo by Rana Dasgupta
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
posted by tackypink at 1:36 PM on June 18, 2015
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
posted by tackypink at 1:36 PM on June 18, 2015
Thirding The Bone Clocks, so much!
From the NYT review: "No one, clearly, has ever told Mitchell that the novel is dead. He writes with a furious intensity and slapped-awake vitality, with a delight in language and all the rabbit holes of experience, that no new media could begin to rival."
posted by merejane at 2:25 PM on June 18, 2015
From the NYT review: "No one, clearly, has ever told Mitchell that the novel is dead. He writes with a furious intensity and slapped-awake vitality, with a delight in language and all the rabbit holes of experience, that no new media could begin to rival."
posted by merejane at 2:25 PM on June 18, 2015
To me, City of Thieves by David Benioff is the perfect midpoint between literary read and pop read.
In the realm of classics, I like Edith Wharton, particularly House of Mirth, which reads much more contemporary than I expected.
Perhaps Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem?
Above you have suggestions for Kavalier & Clay, Master & Margarita and A Fraction of the Whole, all of which I also enjoyed and seem to make sense to me from your initial input.
posted by vunder at 2:50 PM on June 18, 2015
In the realm of classics, I like Edith Wharton, particularly House of Mirth, which reads much more contemporary than I expected.
Perhaps Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem?
Above you have suggestions for Kavalier & Clay, Master & Margarita and A Fraction of the Whole, all of which I also enjoyed and seem to make sense to me from your initial input.
posted by vunder at 2:50 PM on June 18, 2015
Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian.
posted by snorkmaiden at 3:11 PM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by snorkmaiden at 3:11 PM on June 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wonder if you would enjoy Waterland by Graham Swift.
posted by spelunkingplato at 4:37 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by spelunkingplato at 4:37 PM on June 18, 2015
Earthly Powers.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:20 AM on June 19, 2015
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:20 AM on June 19, 2015
Nthing Toltz's A Fraction of a Whole, as he has a Nabokovian gift of crafting delightful, beautiful phrases. I'm also enjoying Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding right now, finding it very immersive and lovely to read.
posted by thebots at 12:58 AM on June 19, 2015
posted by thebots at 12:58 AM on June 19, 2015
Oooh, I love this thread! Since you started with some of my favourite books, I suspect this is going to result in a lot of fruitful library visits.
Wanted to add a couple of other favourites: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, and Half Life by Shelley Jackson. Both of them have premises which sound slightly over-the-top at first, but they're... I'm trying to describe them and failing. Suffice to say the premises are used for good rather than for evil. And they are definitely obsessive.
Also, though it's far slimmer and gauzier, I would suggest you read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides if you haven't already. (There was no movie you cannot make a movie out of a book narrated in first-person singular there was no movie.)
I would add that you might consider House of Leaves. Different, but similar in some way, at least in my brain.
I'm gonna stop now.
posted by Because at 3:54 AM on June 19, 2015
Wanted to add a couple of other favourites: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, and Half Life by Shelley Jackson. Both of them have premises which sound slightly over-the-top at first, but they're... I'm trying to describe them and failing. Suffice to say the premises are used for good rather than for evil. And they are definitely obsessive.
Also, though it's far slimmer and gauzier, I would suggest you read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides if you haven't already. (There was no movie you cannot make a movie out of a book narrated in first-person singular there was no movie.)
I would add that you might consider House of Leaves. Different, but similar in some way, at least in my brain.
I'm gonna stop now.
posted by Because at 3:54 AM on June 19, 2015
Calvino's If on a Winters Night a Traveller has been mentioned above, alongside others. Given your tastes I'd heartily, stomachily, cerebrally, recommend it.
posted by Gratishades at 4:43 AM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Gratishades at 4:43 AM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was similarly, inexplicably obsessed with White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
posted by EarnestSchemingway at 6:10 AM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by EarnestSchemingway at 6:10 AM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seconding the A.S. Byatt Possession recommendation. I was pretty fixated by that novel when I read it.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is good - Milan Kundera is one of my favorite authors. Have you read his other stuff? I especially enjoyed The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Immortality, both mentioned earlier.
Also seconding: The Alienist by Caleb Carr, Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, and oh my god Crime and Punishment (my favorite book of all time).
I'm currently reading Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem and love it so far.
Others I've been into: The New York Trilogy and The Brooklyn Follies (really loved that one) by Paul Auster; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.
This is a stretch, but given how I like all the examples you cited, and that I like apocalyptic novels... you might want to check out Colson Whitehead's Zone One.
posted by jacquilinala at 6:21 PM on June 21, 2015
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is good - Milan Kundera is one of my favorite authors. Have you read his other stuff? I especially enjoyed The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Immortality, both mentioned earlier.
Also seconding: The Alienist by Caleb Carr, Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, and oh my god Crime and Punishment (my favorite book of all time).
I'm currently reading Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem and love it so far.
Others I've been into: The New York Trilogy and The Brooklyn Follies (really loved that one) by Paul Auster; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.
This is a stretch, but given how I like all the examples you cited, and that I like apocalyptic novels... you might want to check out Colson Whitehead's Zone One.
posted by jacquilinala at 6:21 PM on June 21, 2015
A Confederacy of Dunces
Revolutionary Road
The Martian
posted by getawaysticks at 11:06 AM on June 22, 2015
Revolutionary Road
The Martian
posted by getawaysticks at 11:06 AM on June 22, 2015
You would do well to look into the works of Bohumil Hrabal, especially his (to my mind) ultimate masterpiece Too Loud a Solitude.
Also, with very few exceptions, pretty much everything that NYRB Classics releases is worth your time.
(Interestingly enough, a Hrabal rerelease that I haven't yet read on the front page of the NYRB Classics page!)
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:24 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also, with very few exceptions, pretty much everything that NYRB Classics releases is worth your time.
(Interestingly enough, a Hrabal rerelease that I haven't yet read on the front page of the NYRB Classics page!)
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:24 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
posted by spacewaitress at 2:27 AM on June 25, 2015
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
posted by spacewaitress at 2:27 AM on June 25, 2015
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