Question:
What novel (book) written in the last 20 years can you recommend me?
Kraljica Katica
2006-07-03 20:36:16 UTC
I have read most of the 'clasics' but I get a little nervous and conservative when it comes to modern literature,,Can you reccomend something for me...

Thank you
35 answers:
poohba
2006-07-03 20:48:46 UTC
"Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon



It's not for the faint of heart, but if you can stand some torture scenes, as well as a bit of sex and adult language, the "Outlander" series (DG is up to book six by now) is a breath of fresh air.



The books tell the story of Claire and Jamie Fraser. They have a mixed marriage; she was born in the 20th Century and he was born in the 18th. It's something of a silly premise, but somehow it manages not to be cheesy in these books. They are romantic, but not romance novels (they turn quite a few romance novel conventions on their head, actually.) They're historicals, but with a fantasy element.



In short, there's nothing else out there like them. I really thought I knew exactly where the story was going the first time I read "Outlander" and I wound up being completely wrong.
anonymous
2006-07-03 20:54:19 UTC
Belle Prater's Boy is magnificent!



You dont have to read the summary about the books if you dont want to... just if your intrested.



There's a mystery at the heart of this lyrical novel for young adults: what really happened to Belle Prater, the aunt of 12-year-old Gypsy Arbutus Leemaster? When Gypsy's cousin, Belle's son Woodrow, comes to live in tiny Coal Station, Virginia, he sets off a chain of events that precipitates a solution to this enigma, as well as the mystery of Gypsy's own father's death seven years earlier. Ruth White's characters, particularly the cross-eyed, brilliant Woodrow, are sharply drawn, and the small-town life of rural Virginia is wonderfully described



Also if you finished reading that and you enjoyed that and you want to know what happened to Belle Prater you should also try reading the sequal called The Search for Belle Prater.

This sequel to the Newbery Honor book BELLE PRATER'S BOY continues Woodrow's story. The phone rings on Woodrow's birthday, and he's sure it's his long-lost mother. When the call is traced to Bluesfield, Woodrow and cousin Gypsy take the bus to find Belle. Cassie, a classmate with second sight, and Joseph, the first "colored" person they've ever encountered, join the quest. Alison Elliott's reading is spot-on, true to the 1950s' Virginia setting. She gives each character a unique voice as he or she searches for a safe, loving place in the world. An interview with the author, offering insight into the writing process and the independent life that story characters often take on, is icing on the cake.



All in all They are wonderfully written books both written by Ruth White and would highly reccomend them.
?
2016-10-14 06:33:47 UTC
i'm somewhat at a loss for words. do you're able to opt for on a pair as provided? There are 4 conflict novels listed jointly, for instance, and in case you %. one, does your second could be yet another conflict novel? Or are you able to %. any 2 from the total record? If the first supposition is real, i'd flow with The issues They Carried (Viet Nam conflict) and Slaughterhouse-5 (WWII, technology fiction tropes). those are both more recent novels. My second decision will be the African-American women persons's novels, and any 2 of those will be strong. in case you could %. any 2, it somewhat relies upon on your tastes in type and concern remember. even as i have examine lots of the classics listed, I have a tendency to need novels written after 1950. extra takes position in them and there are fewer tedious descriptive passages. i respect Guterson's language in Snow Falling on Cedars,, which has a dramatic tale, too. And the colour pink became a impressive e book. i imagine both The short and Wondrous existence of Oscar Wao and The Bell Jar are puffed up, so i'd ward off those 2.
anonymous
2006-07-05 11:56:18 UTC
Depends what what genre you like. Here are a few authors in each category I recommend.



Crime/Noir: John Connelly; Raymond Chandler



Contemporary Fiction: Dave Eggers; Iain Banks; David Mitchell; Douglas Coupland



Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Terry Brooks; Douglas Adams; Steven Erikson; David Eddings; Daniel Keyes; Simon R Green; Mark Chadbourn



Humour: Robert Rankin; Terry Pratchett



Supernatural: M R James; Susan Hill; Sheridan Le Fanu; Koji Suzuki; Robertson Davies.
anonymous
2006-07-04 01:10:47 UTC
As mentioned above, Margaret Atwood is a good writer, and that Julian Barnes book was interesting and witty too.

Personally, I'd like to recommend The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. It's a great book with a Kafka-like atmosphere.

Money by Martin Amis is an interesting novel too; I liked it, although it's not very Muslim-friendly considering the amount of alcohol and sex in the story. :)

Today's most popular writer in literature is Coelho. His best novel is probably the Alchemist.

Finally, if you let me talk for my country, I'd like to recommend the writings of Esterházy, who has a very intellectual language. I'm sure you can find some of his works in English.
anonymous
2006-07-03 22:00:48 UTC
The Lovely Bones

The Bean Trees

Bastard Out of Carolina

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

The Satanic Verses

Breakfast of Champions

Lonesome Dove

Love In The Time Of Cholera

The House of the Spirits
anonymous
2006-07-03 21:56:15 UTC
It's a good question; I struggle for an answer. Lionel Shriver's 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' is a fine work.



The narrator's voice exudes a knowing self-consciousness typical of the contemporary age yet it's a direct and honest book that doesn't try to be clever or obliquely witty.



It's a very thoughtful novel that asks many difficult questions of the values of Western consumerist culture and probes at the sense of ennui and meaninglessness that persists.



The extensive vocabulary and absence of cliche is refreshing yet it's a very accessible and readable book, by no means is it difficult or intellectual.



And it's a fictional yet plausible meditation on the experience of motherhood. One critic reviewed it as something like, 'A book about the things we don't say and yet need to.'
anonymous
2006-07-03 21:05:48 UTC
I will read anything, even the bleach bottle in the toilet. I read 3 or 4 books at a time, hopping from one the other, bit like some do with TV, I hate TV. Well researched historic novels, that entertain and teach. James A Michiner "Alaska" or any of his other similar books Chesapeake Bay for instance. One of my guests left a book i would not have normally chosen, but i loved it, Shaman by Noah Gordon. I've since read other historic novels with a western theme and I enjoyed crossing the prairies with those brave people. Happy hunting, Tony in remotest Isan.
anonymous
2006-07-03 21:01:40 UTC
If you're looking for modern literature, I would really recommend Anche Minh's Work. I have just finished one of her books called "Empress Orchid". It was a story about the woman, who had nothing and finally got her place as the last empress of China. It was a great story, but the best part about this novel is how the writer wrote the details of this story.



Another one is Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Great book, Great story!



Also, one of my friend recommend me to buy a book called Girl with a Pearl earring by Tracy Chevalier. She said the book is not hard too understand, and it explores the lavish emotions of all the characters.



Well, that's all, hope this helps
anonymous
2006-07-08 15:25:43 UTC
I would recomend "Silent Echo" by Val MacDermid. It's a fantastically real story about four guys who accidentially become involved in a murder enquiery. I was a bit dubious abot it at first, thinking that it would be very cheesy and predictable, but the writing is vey powerful and full of wonderful imagery without being to frilly. It's very good if you like that sort of thing. Had a cracking ending too. This book is quite differant to classic literature i think, but there are still some messages to be found.
Dramafreak
2006-07-07 07:52:14 UTC
All the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, about the life of a captain in the Royal Navy around the time of Napoleon. It doesn't sound very promising put like that, but the stories are full of heart, adventure and wisdom. Start with "Master and Commander" and keep going. You might get hooked, like many others. Lots of sea-going terminology but it doesn't distract from the broad sweep of the stories. There was a film based on these books with Russell Crowe. Happy reading!
laney_po
2006-07-03 21:57:00 UTC
I enjoy most works by Orson Scott Card. His most famous work would have to be Ender's Game. That book has many sequels including another branch of novels beginning with Ender's Shadow. But he also has some great stand-alone novels such as Enchantment, a wonderful modernization of Sleeping Beauty set in Russia, U.S., and a fantasy land. Pastwatch the Redemption of Christopher Columbus is also one of my favorites. It is a futuristic novel with time travel.



Some of the best writers are in the YA genre. I have many favorites, but some outstanding books in the field are Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Looking For Alaska by John Green. I also recommend a book called Legend of the Wandering King by Laura Gallego Garcia. She is, I believe, a spanish author whose works are being translated into English. The book was released in 2005, and it is without a doubt one of the best books of the year. The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck is a great book. It is in my opinion a very funny historical novel.
nelent01
2006-07-03 22:18:38 UTC
i just finished "clan of the cave bear", by jean auel. it is the first in a series called "earth's children". i really enjoyed it!



the premise sounds kind of silly but, it is abouot a cro magnon girl who gets adopted into a neanderthal clan. well researched and extremely well written.



i am currently in the middle of another historical fiction called "labyrinth" by kate mosse. it is set in the time of the albigensian crusade. there is a little fantasy theme going as well. i am enjoying this book so far.



most of john grisham's books are awesome. "the partner" and "a painted house" are his best so far. (there are only a couple i havent read yet. i DO NOT recommend "king of torts" or "street lawyer". alll the rest are very good)



i like the fantasy genre. try "the deed of paksenarrion" by elizabeth moon. it is a trilogy about a young farm girl who leaves the farmers life for adventure in the army. she eventually becomes a paladin. author is a military vet and it shows in her authentic writing style.
anonymous
2006-07-05 03:58:39 UTC
I'll recommend some of my favorates.However none of them are classics



Dresden file book series by Jim Butcher.There are 8 books in the series beginning with stormfront.It narrates the story of Harry Dresden,chicago's only professional wizard who works as a detective.He stands between the general population who is ignorant about the supernatural world and the monsters - vampires,werewolves,fallen angels,fey.He is aided by Bob,a talking skull.Karrin Murphy-a police officer and Thomas-a white court vampire.



Another good series is the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.The books provide an alternate take on vampires.People who are unjustly murdered call upon Artemis(Greek goddess) and she grants them a day to avenge themselves.After that they are recruited to her army to fight against evil.This series is romance based.Best of the series are 'Dance with the devil' and 'Seize the night'.



Dragonjousters series(joust,alta,sanctuary) by Mercedes Lackey.The setting is ancient Egypt.Hunger, anger, and hatred are constants for young Vetch, rendered a brutally mistreated and overworked serf by the Tian conquest of his homeland. But everything improves when a Tian jouster requisitions Vetch to become the first serf ever to be a dragon boy. His training is intense, and his duty clear-cut: to tend his jouster, Ari, and his dragon, Kashet. He discovers that, because Ari himself had hatched Kashet, the dragon is different from others that have been captured live in the wild and must be drugged to be made tractable. Vetch finds he really likes and understands dragons, and soon he becomes the best dragon boy of all. He still harbors anger, however, toward the Tian invasion. Could he, perhaps, hatch a dragon, and then escape to help his people



The door to december by Dean Koontz.A psychiatrist's daughter was kidnapped by her ex-husband years ago. When the daughter is finally found, the real fight begins. One by one the people who held her captive become mysteriously tortured and killed. Everyone is afraid the young girl will be next.



The mystery unravels as to what happened to the young girl while she was kidnapped. The young girl, Melanie, is unable to speak, but her mother soon learns that the young girl went through extreme torture as her father used her for a rat in his experiments.



Landslide by Desmond Bagley.Bob Boyd wakes up in a hospital with no memory,the only surviver of an accident.He was burned badly all over and needed extensive plastic surgery which was payed by a mysterious sponser.He is told that he's a geology student with a bad history.However Bob recovers and gets on with his life.Hired by the powerful Matterson Corporation to survey land before they build a great new dam, he begins to uncover the shaky foundations of the Matterson family and becomes a fly in their ointment.His accident and the Matterson family have more in common than he thought.



Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum.Forget the movie.The book is the real article."The Bourne identity" is the story of a man without a past, rescued from the Mediterranean Sea by some fishermen. He is very ill, and his body has suffered the impact of many bullets. The man is taken by the fishermen to a doctor in a nearby island, who helps him to recover physically and mentally. Our protagonist doesn't remember who he is, but with the help of the doctor he finds some clues he doesn't like too much. He only knows for certain some things, for instance that his face has been altered by plastic surgery, that he knows a lot about firearms and that he carried on him a microfilm that contains the code to an account of four million dollars.



In the Swiss bank where the account is he also finds a name: Jason Bourne. But... is he Jason Bourne?. He cannot remember, and if it were for quite a few people, he won't. From the moment he leaves the island onwards, our man without a past will be followed, and attacked. He doesn't understand why, but he reacts in order to stay alive. Add to this already interesting mixture a woman he takes as a hostage, Marie, a number of assasins (including the most famous assassin in the world, Carlos), and the possibility that he is, as a matter of fact, also an assassin, and you will understand why this book is so good. The main character will be hunted all throughout the book not only by the "bad guys", but also by the "good" ones (mainly agents from the USA Government). You won't be able to stop reading this book, and you will find yourself asking aloud to nobody in particular "who on earth is this man?" and "what started this whole mess"?.
Thinx
2006-07-03 20:44:11 UTC
Julian Barnes - A History of the World in 10½ Chapters



it's funny, thoughtfull, informative, and has just a lot of funny observations about world-history.



Specially the first chapter, about two woodworms (dunno if that's an english word...) on Noah's Ark made me laugh beyond my ears.



Besides that: Milan Kundera, the unbearable lightness of being. Best book ever written, but i guess it's older than 20 years, so ur not allowed to read it, sorry.



ah well, lots more...books from Coelho are kinda nice, but i have no idea if they are translated into English.
k
2006-07-05 07:24:37 UTC
Kestral For A Knave by Barry Hines.



It is one of my all time favourite books. It definitely has been around for more than 20 years - I first read it in 1987/88 when I was at school.
anonymous
2006-07-04 08:43:46 UTC
The True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey
tirejack
2006-07-03 21:01:46 UTC
Depends on what you like to read.



Fantasy: Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series



Comic Fantasy: Robert Asprin's Myth series



Literary Fiction: The Historian (About vampires but intelligent none-the-less) (Can't remember the woman's name that wrote it. Sorry.)



Steven King's The Dark Tower Series (Still haven't read the last one myself, but the first 6 were great.)



There are hundreds of others but my mind is drawing a blank. Those are just ones I've read recently that were as recent as I could think of.
lifhapnz
2006-07-03 20:59:00 UTC
Death inYellowstone by Lee Whyttelse (not sure about the spelling of the last name) It cronicles the deaths that had ocurred in Yellone National Park from the time it opened until the mid 1990's .
bestclemsonfan
2006-07-03 20:48:57 UTC
I don't know if you've ever read East of Eden by John Steinbeck, but it is a really great book. It was released in 1967 and then re-released in 2002 or 2003. I enjoyed reading it very much.



Hope you like it!
Marien
2006-07-03 20:54:25 UTC
By far one of the best books I've ever read is 'The Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood. Other good ones are 'Sula' and 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison (Beloved was named the best American novel of the 20th century). I would also suggest "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, and "The Pilgrimage" by Paulo Coelho
Kelly K
2006-07-05 20:04:32 UTC
I loved reading "Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas" by James Patterson. I loved the story and I learned a little bit about life's balancing act.
susanradford18
2006-07-09 05:54:33 UTC
The Lovely Bones. It's a fictional novel based on a girl who was killed and she is looking down from heaven on her family. Alot of people, especially famous have read it and it was in Richard and Judy's book guide thingy so I went and read it and I just couldn't put it down!
anonymous
2006-07-08 10:05:48 UTC
For laugh out loud funny: Tony Hawks Round Ireland with a Fridge can't be beaten.
oohhbother
2006-07-03 20:48:02 UTC
anything written by Margaret Atwood

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Romeo
2006-07-04 18:31:13 UTC
Akhenaten, The Dweller in Truth. . . . .



A little bit older than 20 years, by the Nobe Laureate Naguib Mahfouz. . . .



You can also read also Eerie Guffaws, authored by myself last year, but not completed yet!
anonymous
2006-07-05 10:52:34 UTC
Sarum, London the novel, Russka, The Forest. all by Edward Rutherford are very good. WW 2 Novels by Sven Hassel are also very good & can be quite funny in places. But it all depends on individual taste. good luck.
anonymous
2006-07-03 20:56:31 UTC
If you like a good laugh try these.Skin and Bones,The Jovial Ghosts,The Bishops Jaegers,in fact all Thorne Smith books are a good read.
engineer
2006-07-03 21:18:29 UTC
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus....



Not a novel, but V Good
dinac
2006-07-03 21:48:21 UTC
the lovely bones

the 5 people you meet in heaven

the time travelers wife

good in bed

running with scissors

my friend leonard

jemima j
Scottish lass
2006-07-08 05:40:01 UTC
i like Richard Laymon and Mary Higgins Clark and I'm not much of a book person
QuakerGal
2006-07-04 05:33:12 UTC
'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' by Mark Haddon



GOOD STUFF
corner of the morning
2006-07-03 20:39:09 UTC
I enjoyed trainspotting.
the silent warrior
2006-07-05 19:00:21 UTC
try the fist of God by frederick forsyth.
anonymous
2006-07-05 15:13:26 UTC
steven kings -the stand.


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