Ooh, welcome back!
I've only read Captain Corelli's Mandolin and the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The former I didn't enjoy at all, the latter I did enjoy but totally get the 'annoying Murakami tropes' thing (it's the only one of his I've read and made me ambivalent about reading more). Trying to work out if the good bits of it are worth a vote, despite the irritating elements.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 16:38 (two years ago) link
Wind-Up Bird is the best Murakami novel I've read, though I know he isn't popular on these threads. Short story collection The Elephant Vanishes was maybe better though.
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
I love Lorrie Moore and couldn't finish Frog Hospital. I may not be mad about her novels.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
i voted Murakami over Houellebecq, two problematic faves
― look on my guacs, ye mighty, and dis pear (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
xp
Haven't read all of Moore's novels, but I think I agree: short fiction is where she is strongest. That said, I do like whatever Anagrams is supposed to be.
― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 16:56 (two years ago) link
and strangest
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 16:58 (two years ago) link
Hooray the polls are back! I've only read the banks & the eco & the murakami but at least I haven't read captain corelli's mandolin. It's the only murakami I've read and it didn't do much for me, the eco is mid tier and the banks is very inventive so that I guess.
― ledge, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 18:54 (two years ago) link
i guess the crossing is the one after all the pretty horses. in which case I've read that, and the banks, obv, and the murakami (can't remember).
i think insomnia is the one after i gave up on Stephen King (last one i read was named after a woman but can't remember if it was Delores or Rose, and i don't recognise the plot of insomnia)
― koogs, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 19:27 (two years ago) link
I am fond of Gaddis, but that's an uneven novel. I like the Lorrie Moore.
― Richard Marxist (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 19:36 (two years ago) link
2002 me is all Murakami - that book destroyed me. 2021 is all Lorrie Moore. I'll go with that.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 19:57 (two years ago) link
wind-up bird didn't stick with me much compared to the few others of his i've read
learning from these threads that i haven't actually read many 90s books, just the murakami and i have a vague memory of reading that lethem but have no memory of what it was like
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 20:46 (two years ago) link
Have only read the Murakami and McCarthy, the former contains interesting facts about wigs and the latter interesting facts about wolves. I went wigs over wolves but it was a close-run thing.
― a flange is gonna come (Matt #2), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 00:29 (two years ago) link
(turns out i haven't read the murakami, have read another two, but not that one)
― koogs, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 01:19 (two years ago) link
Gun with Occasional Music is GREAT and I voted for it. Agree with other Lorrie Moore fans that Frog Hospital isn't the thing of hers to vote for (though I think I liked it.)
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 02:40 (two years ago) link
quite liked wind-up bird before discovering that every single one of his novels involved a woman who disappeared (and maybe some jazz and probably cats)
enjoyed gun with occasional music but am not comfortable calling it the best of a year
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 02:42 (two years ago) link
It doesn't have to be the best of the year, it just has to be the best on this list
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 03:04 (two years ago) link
The operative word is "favourite".
― ledge, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 07:22 (two years ago) link
learning from these threads that i haven't actually read many 90s books
Gotta say, since I started doing these there hasn't been a period where I've been as lost trying to find what to include. Dunno if they truly were bad years for lit, if the good stuff just hasn't been canonized yet or if it's just my ignorance.
Also the UK section is like 70% Doctor Who and Judge Dread novels now.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 09:58 (two years ago) link
Interested in Kelman and maybe Hollinghurst
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 10:12 (two years ago) link
The Kelman is good, wd've been my other choice
― look on my guacs, ye mighty, and dis pear (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 11:09 (two years ago) link
quite liked wind-up bird before discovering that every single one of his novels involved a woman who disappeared (and maybe some jazz and probably cats)enjoyed gun with occasional music but am not comfortable calling it the best of a year
― I, the Jukebox Jury (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 12:48 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Voted "Wind-Up Bird"
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:58 (two years ago) link
The only one I've read is the Lethem and I didn't care much for it.
― adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 23 September 2021 07:17 (two years ago) link
I should say, the Kelman is also really good, but I can't say I remember much about it, just that I thought the dialect was going to be barrier but it was so well-written that I ended up finding the dialect totally transparent.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 23 September 2021 16:30 (two years ago) link
every single one of his novels involved a woman who disappeared (and maybe some jazz and probably cats)
+ spaghetti. + running
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 23 September 2021 16:32 (two years ago) link
think the running is a later (post-2000) development, "exoticised Western pop culture and geography" is a mainstay throughout
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 September 2021 16:42 (two years ago) link
i know but i couldn't resist listing every murakami touchstone
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 23 September 2021 16:45 (two years ago) link
+ fetishisation of random female body parts e.g. earlobes
― a flange is gonna come (Matt #2), Thursday, 23 September 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link
+ wells
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, 23 September 2021 19:15 (two years ago) link
otm
― I, the Jukebox Jury (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 September 2021 22:30 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 24 September 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1995
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 24 September 2021 13:56 (two years ago) link
Pereira maintains is the one I was anticipating in the last thread! Read it earlier this year & loved it, the gradual move away from trivialities is so well controlled (& whether the concerns of the literary mag count among the trivialities is an open q) - I also really enjoyed how the prose style has a superficial similarity to Bernhard but to such different effect
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Friday, 24 September 2021 20:33 (two years ago) link