Human Drama, and writings of ordinary people their lives and unusual circumstances are my thing. Philip Roth is brilliant. Julian Barnes writes with beauty. An unexpected gem of a book was City of night by John Rechy.
I’ve often been disappointed by the famous big name writers. They seem dated and simplistic. Ernest Hemingway was particularly dry along with Graham Greene. Although Julian Maclaren-Ross wrote some very funny books.
Kazuo Ishiguro (for me) is a mixed bag. I enjoyed Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go but found The Buried Giant and When we were Orphans pretty hard work to read. I hated Klara and the Sun. The Unconsoled was an odd book, but it got to me. I felt uneasy with all those requests and tasks requiring action and not being attended too.
Haruki Murakami often goes over my head because they are so weird. Did anyone really like Hardboiled Wonderland and the end of the World? Seriously? – I can’t help but think he’s overrated – although Norwegian Wood, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage and Killing Commendatore were surprisingly good.
Don’t mind a bit of Nick Hornsby or Paul Auster.
Arthur C Clarke does a pretty good sci-fi book in fact I’m reading Childhoods End right now.
Really really struggle to bear the writing of Salman Rushdie.
Could not finish Dune or 100 Years of Solitude.
Please give me some suggestions – I will investigate your ideas further. Thanks
by thingsgoingup