Are there any must-read books you’d recommend for someone who loves and has mostly read classic literature and fantasy fiction but wants to explore other genres? I grew up reading classic novels published pre-1950s (Balzac, Austen, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Woolf, etc.) and later got into fantasy with writers like Tolkien and Pratchett. I ended up getting a huge gap in period, genres, and formats in literature, which I would like to fill in, but I'm not sure where to start. I think I've missed out on a lot of poetry, essays, and modern fiction.
by OctoberMist1495
4 Comments
If you haven’t read any books by Octavia Butler I highly recommend her works. I’d recommend starting with Parable of the Sower or Kindred.
I grew up reading Victor Ugo and Alexander Dumas, so I had a similar gap. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is one of my favorite “modern” books I’ve read in the last few years.
I’d say the most important works that occurred in your gap period would be
Lonesome Dove pulitzer winning novel of the old west by Larry McMurtry
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, maybe the most celebrated novel of this century so far
Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, arguably the most important scifi novel since Dune
The Culture novels by Ian M Banks – personal favorite scifi, describes what a post scarcity society might look like
I’d say the most important works that occurred in your gap period would be
Lonesome Dove pulitzer winning novel of the old west by Larry McMurtry
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, maybe the most celebrated novel of this century so far
Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, arguably the most important scifi novel since Dune
The Culture novels by Ian M Banks – personal favorite scifi, describes what a post scarcity society might look like