# Need suggestions for medium-heavy literature



## Pluralized (Sep 5, 2013)

Lately have been reading outside my normal stuff (Hesse, metaphysical nonfiction, Eco), getting more and more into authors I've never heard of and therefore have no preconceived notions. Prefer it that way. I've wasted some time starting certain ambitious books like Kafka's The Castle, which is just too thick for my comprehension (and isn't very fun to me), James Joyce's Dubliners, Naked Lunch, and others.

I'd like to tackle some medium-heavy stuff that I missed out on in my formative years. Essential works, like Catcher in the Rye and Anna Karenina and As I Lay Dying. 

Thing is - I read for pleasure, but also to investigate and learn about storytelling. I've enjoyed all of the books I've read this year, but when looking for new reading materials I tend to get mired in a five-to-one ratio of crappy stuff for every jewel. Can some of you well-read beasts help me with some suggestions for intelligently written, gripping stories? Fiction, of a darker nature, and I'm not afraid of arcane language (although some translations *Proust* run me out of steam fairly quick). Need fuel for my creativity engine.

Thanks guys!


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## Jeko (Sep 6, 2013)

Phillip K Dick paints the world darkly with a wonderfully crafted brush; he's someone I've always admired and want to read more of myself. Though I'm not sure how you define 'medium-heavy'.


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## Pluralized (Sep 6, 2013)

What I'm after is literary fiction, I suppose, worthy of reading for the purposes of enjoyment and enhancing my knowledge of proper storytelling and thoughtful prose. Of recently started books (always reading a few simultaneously it seems), Faulkner seems to be fitting the bill, as does Kingsolver. 

Any suggestions welcome.


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## philistine (Sep 6, 2013)

How about some Balzac?


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## Deleted member 49710 (Sep 6, 2013)

Here are some books I saw on my shelves which I think most people both like and respect, and if they don't people say deprecating things about them in whispers:
Truman Capote, _In Cold Blood_
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, _Voyage to the End of Night_ (disclaimer: I just started this)
Jeanette Winterson, _Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit_ or _Written on the Body_
Dorothy Allison,_ Bastard Out of Carolina_
Gustave Flaubert,_ Madame Bovary _or_ A Sentimental Education _or_ Three Stories
_Stendhal,_ The Red and the Black
_Thackeray, _Vanity Fair._ (long but don't be intimidated, it's very fun.)

Hope this helps. You should tell us what you pick up and what you think. 

On edit, re: philistine's Balzac recommendation: Balzac does this thing where he spends about the first ten pages describing a location. Some people find this wonderful and fascinating. Others think, "My god, what a boring book," and throw it aside before they get to the story. So if you try Balzac, you have my permission, as a French teacher, to skim that part. _Old Goriot _is a big classic, not very long, pretty enjoyable, and since you are a father it might make you weep with rage, a little.


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## PiP (Sep 6, 2013)

Hi Pluralized

I suggest The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

If you read the book description on Amazon you will understand why.


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## Orchidia (Sep 6, 2013)

Have you read Norwegian Wood by Murakami? It was sort of a depressing read (three suicides) but I really enjoyed it, despite reading it for an English class and being forced to pick it apart line-by-line. I wrote a paper on the main character (Toru) and found some really interesting ways in which Murakami develops his character through syntax. Anyway, you should look it up and see if it interests you.


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## philistine (Sep 6, 2013)

Orchidia said:


> Have you read Norwegian Wood by Murakami? It was sort of a depressing read (three suicides) but I really enjoyed it, despite reading it for an English class and being forced to pick it apart line-by-line. I wrote a paper on the main character (Toru) and found some really interesting ways in which Murakami develops his character through syntax. Anyway, you should look it up and see if it interests you.



You studied that for an English class? Quite ironic, as the author himself said that his works were not written to be interpreted, and that anyone who who attempted to find deeper meaning within his novels-other than what was immediately apparent- was putting words into his mouth.

Decent book, admittedly, though I didn't care a fig for his others.


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## Orchidia (Sep 6, 2013)

> You studied that for an English class? Quite ironic, as the author himself said that his works were not written to be interpreted, and that anyone who who attempted to find deeper meaning within his novels-other than what was immediately apparent- was putting words into his mouth.



 :shock: I wonder if my professor knew this, because I sure didn't. Well, I definitely feel that I got more out of the book because I had to interpret it, but now I kinda feel bad about that...


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## philistine (Sep 6, 2013)

Orchidia said:


> :shock: I wonder if my professor knew this, because I sure didn't. Well, I definitely feel that I got more out of the book because I had to interpret it, but now I kinda feel bad about that...



Murakami chalks his literary output up to a permanent case of _cacoethes scribendi_, and nothing more. He is (or at least, was- his views may have changed) critical of most of Japan's most prolific authors, both alive and dead, and has an equally rainy view of his own work. He expressed his views to the travel writer, Paul Theroux, during an intimate _tête-à-tête _in Tokyo. He wished people didn't read into his works, and stated, verbatim, 'I don't like it when people interpret my novels. I wrote them as they are, and there is little else to discover'. 

Of course, just as Capote shagged Mishima back in the 1960s, that information isn't so well-known.


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## Pluralized (Sep 6, 2013)

Many thanks, guys - great suggestions. I'm going after some Capote, then we'll see what's next. Have missed that boat my entire adult life.

The Kite Runner is excellent, as is A Thousand Splendid Suns. I'd recommend The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga if you like Hosseini's stuff.

(Thought up some killer jokes for "Dick and Balzac," as the thread started out, then realized we're supposed to be talking about high-brow literature here. Maybe next time.)


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## ppsage (Sep 9, 2013)

_Ancient Evenings,_ Mailer


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## Caragula (Sep 22, 2013)

John Banville, Annie Proulx, Ian McEwan, Thomas Pynchon, Anthony Burgess, Proust.


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## tabasco5 (Nov 11, 2013)

To Kill a Mockingbird


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