Best modern literature?

[amthysteyes2]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

*Has to be after 1901

*No Harry Potter

*Give a reason

 

Also, what do you think qualifies as literature? I think it has to include more than one theme, a decent plot and good characters.

 

I think the best is Life of Pi. It has everything and also demonstrates the differences in writing styles of now and the past. Its also has a fantastic character and it made 7 months in a life boat not boring.

 

I also wrote my coursework on it and I still like it.

 

1984 and To Kill a Mockingbird come in close seconds.

[Kell]

I actually set myself a challenge last year to read at least one "Modern Classic" every month. The crietria were that it had to be post-1900 and pre-1970-ish. Some of the very best of that bunch were:

 

George Orwell

[Lilywhite]

Rebecca ~ Daphne Du Maurier is one of my all time favourite books. I love this one. There's also a spin off book Rebecca's Tale ~ Sally Beauman which I read at the same time. Equally wonderful.

[Kate]

I completely agree with To Kill A Mockingbird, just an awesome book, it is def a classic in my opinion

[Guest]

Donna Tartt's The Secret History?

 

ETA: Forgot to put a reason. D'oh! *ahem*

 

There's an increasing sense of menace woven throughout the book and you find yourself rooting for the wrongdoers. Or is that just me being twisted?

 

I've read it twice to look for all the clues peppered throughout each chapter. My only gripe is the twins are called Charles and Camilla!

Edited May 12, 2008 by Guest
Adding my reason for choosing this book.

[Freewheeling Andy]

All my favourite books fall into this category. I wouldn't know where to start.

 

Although I suppose it'll be, as always with:

 

The Master And Margerita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Bridge Over The Drina by Ivo Andric

Catch-22 by Jospeh Heller

The Good Soldier Shweijk by Jaroslav Hasek

etc, etc...

[Purple Poppy]

Good question Amthysteyes.

 

I think 'literature' is often the label given to the more academic works. It is often used as a catagory in it's own right, as opposed to fiction, and of course includes more than just novels and short stories, but I wouldn't like to say what constitutes 'literature', or try to define it. However, for me, good fiction writing is something that works on several levels. Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm (yes...I'm going on about it again!) is a parody. The story is compelling and the characters good, but underneath all that, Gibbons is gently poking fun of a genre, current at the time, of stories written against a background of rural hardship, and doom-laden events. This was a popular genre with authors such as Mary Webb and Thomas Hardy (think of Tess).

 

Then there are stories which concentrate on reminding readers about current day social issues. Charles Dickens springs to mind, and of course, one of our book circle reads, Black Beauty, which was trying to raise awareness about the cruelty to horses that was prevalent at the time.

 

So, stories have to be interesting or exciting, well written, with chararcters who either leap from the page, or grow on you (without you realising) and have to be memorable. A good read tends to live with you long after you have finished, as Kell said. If there are lots of twists and turns, lots of irony, humour, a little pathos /drama, but not too much, and at least something or somebody that you can relate to...to ground you, then for me, those are some of the important things. I've probably forgotten lots, but you get the idea:)

[Mia]

However, for me, good fiction writing is something that works on several levels. Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm (yes...I'm going on about it again!) is a parody. The story is compelling and the characters good, but underneath all that, Gibbons is gently poking fun of a genre, current at the time, of stories written against a background of rural hardship, and doom-laden events. This was a popular genre with authors such as Mary Webb and Thomas Hardy (think of Tess).

 

I wanted to mention Cold Comfort Farm last night, but I couldn't express what I wanted to say properly. I knew Purple Poppy would be mentioning it, so I thought I'd wait for her to post and then second it! (Apologies for my laziness, PP.)

[George Stark]

A couple that spring to my mind is;

 

The adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

 

Out of those it has to be Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. For me it's such a powerful book. It explains and shows poverty in the Western World. Because lets face it, it's different to real poverty like in Africa and Asia.

 

Though i do have to add that Schindler's list by Thomas Keneally is powerfull and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King becuase it's just an awesome book.

 

I really hate these types of questions because i love books for different reasons and different people will have different reasons for thinking a book is better than another book. It's so subjective but it gets you thinking about them and that's always good!

[Horsecorset]

John Steinbeck - 'The Grapes of Wrath' 10/10 (actually said 'wow' when I finished)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - '100 Years of Solitude' 10/10 (didn't want that dream to end)

Mikhail Bulgakov - 'The Master and Margherita' 10/10 (brilliant, funny and bizarre)

Jack Kerouac - 'On the Road' 10/10 (cliche to say, but it changed my life)

Kurt Vonnegut - 'Slaughterhouse 5' 10/10 (read it in school -didn't get it, re-read it couple of years ago and cursed my previous stupidity)

Ken Kesey - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' 10/10 (Kesey is a legend -I was born to the wrong generation) -Influenced my next choices.

Tom Wolfe - 'Electric Cool-aid Acid Test' 10/10 (yeah man, pass the joint)

Hunter S. Thompson - 'Hells Angels' 10/10 (Sociology when it's interesting)

[Purple Poppy]

Mia said...

I wanted to mention Cold Comfort Farm last night, but I couldn't express what I wanted to say properly. I knew Purple Poppy would be mentioning it, so I thought I'd wait for her to post and then second it! (Apologies for my laziness, PP.)

 

Now how on earth did you know I would mention it?? I can't think for the life of me lol! Hope I said what you were going to say?

Pp

[Kylie]

John Steinbeck - 'The Grapes of Wrath' 10/10 (actually said 'wow' when I finished)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - '100 Years of Solitude' 10/10 (didn't want that dream to end)

Mikhail Bulgakov - 'The Master and Margherita' 10/10 (brilliant, funny and bizarre)

Jack Kerouac - 'On the Road' 10/10 (cliche to say, but it changed my life)

Kurt Vonnegut - 'Slaughterhouse 5' 10/10 (read it in school -didn't get it, re-read it couple of years ago and cursed my previous stupidity)

Ken Kesey - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' 10/10 (Kesey is a legend -I was born to the wrong generation) -Influenced my next choices.

Tom Wolfe - 'Electric Cool-aid Acid Test' 10/10 (yeah man, pass the joint)

Hunter S. Thompson - 'Hells Angels' 10/10 (Sociology when it's interesting)

 

Except for Marquez and Wolfe, I have either read these books and loved them, or have them on my TBR pile. Seeing as our tastes seem pretty similar, I'm going to add both missing books to my wish list.

 

Oh, wow! I was just checking out this Wikipedia article about The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and the book mentions many of my favourite bands/singers and authors. This one's going straight to the top of my wish list! It sounds awesome. I don't know how I've missed it until now! Thanks Horsecorset!

[Echo]

Some of my favorites from the 20th century are:

 

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery

Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H. Lawrence

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

 

I'm going to be taking a class in 20th century literature this fall, so I'm sure I'll have more favorites soon!

[Kate]

I read both the Great Gatsby and Lord of the Rings a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed both. I did struggle with The Two Towers a bit, but got there eventually and I am really glad I did. LOTR is a book I find myself encouraging people to read. I am always shocked when they haven't. No one should be put off by the size, reading it makes up for that! The Hobbit is a classic too. I may re-read it soon. Along with To Kill A Mockingbird, I would add those three to my list of classics.

[Mia]

Now how on earth did you know I would mention it?? I can't think for the life of me lol! Hope I said what you were going to say? Pp

 

Yes, perfectly thank you!!

[Freewheeling Andy]

John Steinbeck - 'The Grapes of Wrath' 10/10 (actually said 'wow' when I finished)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - '100 Years of Solitude' 10/10 (didn't want that dream to end)

Mikhail Bulgakov - 'The Master and Margherita' 10/10 (brilliant, funny and bizarre)

Jack Kerouac - 'On the Road' 10/10 (cliche to say, but it changed my life)

Kurt Vonnegut - 'Slaughterhouse 5' 10/10 (read it in school -didn't get it, re-read it couple of years ago and cursed my previous stupidity)

Ken Kesey - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' 10/10 (Kesey is a legend -I was born to the wrong generation) -Influenced my next choices.

Tom Wolfe - 'Electric Cool-aid Acid Test' 10/10 (yeah man, pass the joint)

Hunter S. Thompson - 'Hells Angels' 10/10 (Sociology when it's interesting)

 

Ah! Hello! Lots of my favourite books are here.

 

I've never read the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, but loved The Right Stuff, Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man In Full, so I should probably make time.

[Guest Sedgewick]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

*Has to be after 1901

*No Harry Potter

*Give a reason

 

The best modern literature? Oh, I'd have to say those that don't just entertain but leave marks on the psyche and inform our own character.

 

Also, what do you think qualifies as literature?

Anything from a pamphlet right up to whatever the most difficult books in the canon are.

 

I think it has to include more than one theme, a decent plot and good characters.

I should hope, at the very least, that it contains good writing. Have you ever seen Neil Gunn's The Silver Darlings? It's plot is huge, has interesting characters, and is hailed as a classic. But the prose is some of the most turgid waters I've ever sailed. In the end it's all about the words as they shape everything - good writing is all a book needs.

[Guest Sedgewick]

Conversely, I think a writer with a talent for using the English language can make even the most nondescript actions interesting. So if I had to choose, I'd go for style over story.

Indeed. One only has to look, to cite a recent example, at Ian McEwan's Saturday. Delicious prose where nothing much happens over the course of the book but your attention is held from start to finish.

[angelofboox]

Not read Saturday but I did read Atonement. I agree McEwan's writing holds your attention and has an excellent quality of prose, but I'm still not sure it makes for "interesting" under scrutiny or the greatest literature. Like prospero said, they probably shouldn't be mutually exclusive - it's just unfortunate that sometimes they are!

 

If you have read it here's a spoilerful quick something I wrote after reading it which mentioned what I thought of McEwan's writing.

 

 

 

He does write well, but what struck me is that he knows what writing well is. Like Di said, he's a writer's writer. He had an almost painfully deliberately slow narrative - his descriptions were beautiful. There was a sentence about the parallelograms of sunlight that came through the window which I adored, it was a perfect description framed in a way I couldn't have done myself. But then later he refers to the description again; he knew it was good and that's why he brought it back up but for me it meant it lost some of its integrity.

 

The sex scene was really well written - actually the whole book was well written but like I said, the writing was too calculated. Obviously, a writer has to often go painstakingly through every word – but it was like he knows what good writing is – and he strives to get there but in doing so loses some sort of carefree flair that I like in writers. When words just come tumbling out of your pen in a mad rush to get them down and the book didn’t feel like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, perhaps I just prefer it when writing comes across that way and this writing didn’t. It wasn't spontaneous; although it seems effortless he reveals that it isn't.

 

...sorry, back to the sex. It was well written but lacking some sort of passion - or maybe that's just directly relevant to what I thought of McEwan's writing style.

 

Certainly, I didn't dislike his writing. Part One took place over...what...two days? And yet was the longest part. Despite the plot moving at the pace of a snail, the writing that filled the stretches between anything happening was not boring at all. It was engaging enough that you didn't (or at least that I didn't) start wondering when we were getting back to the plot, and the backstories provided were thoroughly interesting. I particularly liked towards the end when Briony had made up her own mind, and in realising her doubts could not go back on her words because of all the adults' attitudes to her and everybody was so convinced and reliant upon her words. It was like she had trapped herself and doomed Robbie and Cecilia and that was the point at which I knew everything would crash around her and couldn't be rectified...(although...y'know, that was pretty obvious).

 

I haven't seen the film but felt the plot twists were...predictable? Not surprising, if not predictable. But then I might just attribute that to McEwan's writing again. Anyway, my conclusion is that it was a terribly well-written book but didn't evoke enough emotion in me for me to think it was that great. My cousin said she cried. I didn't, although I can see why she would have.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2008 by angelofboox

[NiceguyEddie]

Nobody has mentioned John Updike. Surely the greatest living writer. The Rabbit novels each defined an era & the style was compelling. In places it was music in words.

[Freewheeling Andy]

I want to throttle Ian McEwan. There's something about the dreary nothing-happening lovely-writingness of his books which really, really riles me. I probably wouldn't mind so much if he weren't so popular, but I find the popularity inexplicable.

[NiceguyEddie]

I want to throttle Ian McEwan. There's something about the dreary nothing-happening lovely-writingness of his books which really, really riles me. I probably wouldn't mind so much if he weren't so popular, but I find the popularity inexplicable.

 

That's not fair. I do understand what you mean, but for example On Chesil Beach was not only clever, but also very readable. Similarly with Atonement. Saturday was less good, but Amsterdam was very good. I also enjoyed The Innocent. But I have said myself that UK novelists do tend to be a bit "kitchen sink" at times. In my opinion.

[Freewheeling Andy]

Atonement is what finally drove me up the wall. It's had such rave reviews all over, and for the first half it's just a really tedious upper class mansion kitchen-sink drama, with one little event. Then there's the brief good bit, with the war stuff, and then it's back to the girls, and then finally it has that insanely annoying "twist" ending. Which is even more annoying than just usual trite twists, because I had books about writers. Bah. Dreadful rubbish. And completely affected and mannered and pretentious and part of the dreadful backward looking parochial garbage nature of British literature, where it becomes ever more inward looking and is rapidly vanishing into its own sphinter.

[NiceguyEddie]

Atonement is what finally drove me up the wall. It's had such rave reviews all over, and for the first half it's just a really tedious upper class mansion kitchen-sink drama, with one little event. Then there's the brief good bit, with the war stuff, and then it's back to the girls, and then finally it has that insanely annoying "twist" ending. Which is even more annoying than just usual trite twists, because I had books about writers. Bah. Dreadful rubbish. And completely affected and mannered and pretentious and part of the dreadful backward looking parochial garbage nature of British literature, where it becomes ever more inward looking and is rapidly vanishing into its own sphinter.

 

It would be much better if you didn't sit on the fence.

 

But couldn't the same argument be leveled at Remains of the Day re: upper class drama? I do know "where you're coming from", but I don't in the end agree. Atonement is a fine read. Not as good as Remains of the Day. Besides, you only attacked one novel. Have you read On Chesil Beach?

[Freewheeling Andy]

I've not read On Chesil Beach. And after disappointment with Atonement, being deeply underwhelmed by Black Dogs (which I read when I was much younger), and thinking Amsterdam was dull and pointless to the extent that I can hardly remember a thing about it except that I wondered why the hell I was reading it... it's unlikely I'm going to try to read any more McEwan.

 

I suppose Remains Of The Day could be tarred with the same brush, but the fact it was written 20 years ago meant that it was tramping over quite such ready-trammelled ground, and also I actually enjoyed reading it even though not much happened.