21st Century Literature discussion

Tell us about one or two 21st century authors who you read for the first time in 2019. Why did you choose their work? Did it live up to expectations? Do you plan to read more of their work?

Marc wrote: "Tell us about one or two 21st century authors who you read for the first time in 2019.

Ali Smith and Rachel Cusk.

Why did you choose their work?
Reading about them on this forum piqued my interest to read their work.

Did it live up to expectations?
Absolutely--and then some!

Do you plan to read more of their work?
You betcha!

I adore Ali Smith but Rachel Cusk was new to me last year. I'd had the trilogy on my TBR for awhile and my local library had all three books in stock so it seemed like perfect timing. Definitely plan to read more of her work, too.

I thought Rachel Kadish's The Weight of Ink was wonderful. Will definitely check out anything new.

There were four memorable writers that were new to me last year:
Gabriel Josipovici & his novel The Cemetery in Barnes
Yoko Ogawa & her book The Memory Police
Sylvia Brownrigg & Pages for You (I was only 18 years late to this, but I have the more recent sequal)
Kevin Barry & his book Night Boat to Tangier

I have bought some other books by the first three authors on the list, and I'm sure I'll read some more Kevin Barry.
Rachel Cusk was a discovery towards the end of 2018 for me, and there are plenty of her ealier works to keep me going.

The obvious choice is Bernardine Evaristo, thanks to her Booker longlisting and later deserved win with Girl, Woman, Other. I have since read another two of her books and will read more.

I have just worked out that 64 of the 153 books I read last year were by authors I had not read before. In most cases I have still only read the one book. Evaristo is the only one on three, the ones with two are Elif Shafak, Melissa Harrison, Chris McCabe and Miranda July.

I read very many new-to-me 21st century authors in 2019, predominantly as a result of reading books on prize longlists - MBI, Booker, NBA, NBA-translations. The one I have already obtained a second book was the author of a book recommended by Hugh -- Amy Sackville. His review of her book Painter to the King caused me to read that book and it then formed the core of our trip to Madrid, as we delved into the life and paintings of Diego Valezquez.

Three other 21st century authors I first encountered last year and will keep my eyes open for more work by them are Ocean Vuong, Sara Stridsberg, and Valeria Luiselli. There are many others who wrote books I gave 4 or 5 stars to and would likely enjoy reading more books written by them but my shelves are already too full so I will likely not read them again unless they show up on another prize list.

While more 20th than 21st century, I did read my first book by Mark Helprin (published in 2017) and I will look for more by him.

And in the same vein of new-to-me 20th century authors who I read in connection with Mooske Madness were Penelope Fitzgerald and Beryl Bainbridge.

LindaJ^ wrote: "His review of her book Painter to the King caused me to read that book and it then formed the core of our trip to Madrid, as we delved into the life and paintings of Diego Valezquez. "

Now THAT is an excellent reading experience (turned multi-media travel adventure).

I just re-read the first post and noticed you said "one or two". At this point I'd done about 80-90% of a list which was going to be all of them, so I won't add more to it. (These are nearly all of them as I mostly read classics in the latter part of the year)

Read because of International Booker Longlist:
Hwang Sok-yong - quite interesting but wouldn't go out of my way
Marion Poschmann - hope not to read again, low expectations from blurb turned out correct
Tommy Wieringa - had heard negative comment ahead of time from ppl who hadn't read the book, had very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Wouldn't mind reading again if topic was of interest but wouldn't go out of my way.
Mazen Maarouf - quite interesting but think Hassan Blasim has written similar stuff better
Samanta Schweblin - mixed bag as short story collections are. Wouldn't rule out reading again if was int in topic of book
Jokha Alharthi - interesting but not sure I'd read again unless also for award or similar
Alia Trabucco Zerán - interesting but once I read As I Lay Dying realised it was a riff on that; would read again if had time to read more contemp Latin American authors but have other priorities
Sara Stridsberg - excellent book but harrowing; not in a hurry to read again as have other priorities (classic) as far as gruelling books are concerned

Read because I was trying to read books eligible for the MBI in the weeks leading up to the longlist:
Yōko Tawada - liked The Emissary and found plenty to analyse in it, but I've read the beginning of Memoirs of a Polar Bear a few times and really didn't like it.
Éric Vuillard - a bit dull and seemed superfluous; would rather read/listen to non-fiction on same topic (run-up to WWII)
Amélie Nothomb - book was alright but wouldn't go out of my way to read her again. One of the main things I'd previously heard about Nothomb was stereotyping of Japan in Fear & Trembling, but there was no occasion for that in the book I read.
Genki Kawamura - IMO a bad book, and one for which I was not the target audience. (May suit people who like cheesy mass-market life-lessons novels.) Helped me decide to be even stricter about which ARCs I request, and about not reading books I don't love the sound of just because they are eligible for an upcoming award.
Annie Ernaux - *was* longlisted, loved it other than strong political reservations about a handful of sentences. One of the most important /resonant books of the year for me.

Others
Nora Ikstena - because listed for another award + trying to fit in reading more Baltic lit, something I was doing a few years ago & wld still like to; interesting but felt was a bit overrated in terms of GR avg / maybe some things only *amazing* if you know Latvia. Found it irritating at the time but have more positive memories of it now.
Laura Esquivel - because of aim to read books from recent Spanish A-level syllabuses and women authors translated from certain languages who are on 1001. Enjoyed more than I expected, though am sure many friends wld find too cheesy; if author had written similar would want to read, but gather her other stuff isn't as good.
Isabel Allende - read for same reasons as Esquivel; engrossing and seemed to hit that sweet spot between literary & commercial. Some stereotyping as might be expected for book from the 80s. Wld certainly read again at a time I needed a book of this tier.

Audio
Katja Petrowskaja - memoir, which I prioritised because it was listed for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, was a bit jumbled as audio, probably better as text, but some very interesting scenes/stories
Orlando Figes - historian has been disgraced (for fake Amazon reviews and questionable use of evidence) yet seems to remain respected by much of the public & media, and books on introductory academic reading lists. (The Whisperers was on one for a postgrad I'd like to have done but couldn't afford. Dubiousness of Figes prompted decision to listen as audio because I wouldn't mind much about not taking in everything in a book known to have inaccuracies.) Invaluable to me as I find audio about social history during very difficult eras very supportive to listen to. Wld definitely listen again as audio but if poss wld like it to be in a format where I wasn't buying /giving royalties
Jan Morris - felt like something from another age, very midcentury Brit abroad, as one might expect from a writer now in their 90s.
Simon Callow - a fun and int popular biography, frustrated by audio being read too fast for me and having to reduce the speed. One on which those who speed up audio may not need to

Kazuo Ishiguro and Ali Smith we’re both new to me, although now I cant believe I ever didn’t know about them.

The Rivers of London mysteries by Ben Aaronovitch were very much my jam so I'm surprised that I hadn't even heard of them until last year.

Last year was also the first time I've read Siri Hustvedt, Junji Ito, Téa Obreht, and Michael Ondaatje.