readers advisory for all discussion

Good day all. Thought I'd try this out. I've been wandering out in the non-reader wilderness for years, with only the occasional audiobook or new Stephen King book my mom sends me to nourish my reading soul. But I've rekindled my love for reading in recent months. And I'm looking for a particular flavor of novel.

I don't care that much what the book is about, or 1st vs 3rd person. Could be contemporary, could be either set, or have been written, in the past. I'm really looking for character driven reads in whose world I can totally immerse. Where the characters' inner life is truly revealed. They ponder stuff. They think things about everything. Lush descriptions make the setting vivid. A deliciously long read preferable, though not strictly necessary.

So, not plot-driven per se, yet you feel like you've really been on a journey by the end. I'm thinking "literary". It's great if the author has Things to Say about the human condition. Donna Tartt. Three Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. The Magus, by John Fowles. The Beach, by Alex Garland. David Mitchell. Margaret Atwood. Or even Tana French, the best writer of literary-leaning, character-driven, lushly atmospheric crime novels on the planet - that I know of anyway...hint, hint... (half her reviews are some version of "didn't like it, it's too slow..." Hmph!).

Anyway, I hope that's enough info to go on :-) Thanks for your time. Cheers,

Lee

Have you tried Richard Russo?
When you mentioned Tana French this was the first name that popped into my mind. He doesn't write crime novels, but small town chronicles with colourful characters, mostly blue collar, with a focus on family relations and self-actualization.
"Empire Falls" was my first novel by him and remains my favourite, but you can really start anywhere. "Straight Man" has a strong comedy vibe and is set in the academic world. "Nobody's Fool" is about a midlife crisis and about friendship, with "Everybody's Fool" as a sort of sequel. "Chances Are" is about old friends and the ghosts of the past.

Another big name that usually delivers the goods is Larry McMurtry. Even if you don't usually read westerns, his "Lonesome Dove" excels at characterization and vivid setting. It's also immersive, detailed, and huge if you consider reading all of the four episodes.

The Country Life: A Novel

Indelicacy

The Juniper Tree

The Friend

Grove

Creatures

Hamnet

Serena

Migrations

The Margot Affair

Memorial

the order of these novels means nothing- they are all very good & i think might have what you are looking for. :)

I really enjoyed A Burning by Megha Majumdar and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Both are Indian authors who offer some insight on Indian culture. These novels also have great character development and comment on the human condition. They will definitely take you on a journey.

I really enjoyed A Burning by

I second the Larry McMurtry recommendation and suggest John Irving as well.

I too would echo the choice of Richard Russo. Start with Nobody’s Fool. Empire Falls won the Pulitzer and remains my favorite novel of all time.

I have some suggestions that may sound odd, but that fulfill at least some of your requirements pretty specifically:

1. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World: No, definitely not Tana French! But...it's an internal dialogue with himself, and he is pondering the nature of love, loyalty, honesty, family, all sorts of things, plus noting and reflecting on what the world is like after "the end" and comparing it with what old apocalyptic novels from our time thought it would be like. I was completely engaged by this book.

More in the line of long and intricate (and literary), perhaps you would like the novels of Kate Morton. They are detail-oriented, like French's, and most frequent complaint is "like watching paint dry," ha ha. But they are narrator-driven, and most seek to discover why something happened in the history of their family that has so impacted them today. So they are mysteries, but not murder mysteries, right? I especially liked The Forgotten Garden, The House at Riverton, and The Distant Hours.

Lily King is an intriguing (though somewhat uneven) writer. You might enjoy her book Writers and Lovers.

Another recent favorite: Once Upon a River, by Diane Setterfield. In a way, it's narrated by the river (the Thames). It's literary, a little dark, a little puzzling, quite detailed, and such an interesting concept.

A completely different direction in terms of the writing: Have you read the books of Peter Heller? He writes in a much more Hemingway-ish style (short, choppy sentences in some books), but every book he writes is different from all the others, and all are good. My faves are The Painter, The Dog Stars, and The River. They all have a fascinating flavor of introspection while simultaneously giving you a good adventure.

Thank you all! These are some great suggestions. I'd had Lonesome Dove on my list at one point. Kate Morton - I've seen her books around but never read one, that might be perfect. Also, that Migrations book looks very intriguing. I did read Empire Falls long ago and I think I liked it fine. Maybe I'll check out more Russo.

I can offer a suggestion of my own in case anyone reads this in search of similar books - I recently read The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and it was amazing. Very well done, character driven historical thriller. She has at least two other similar novels I'm keen to read.

Cheers!

I've come back to the thread, because today I started reading the fourth and final book in a special series, one that will probably redefine the term 'character driven' in modern novel.
I'm talking about Elena Ferrante and her Neapolitan novels, a big story divided into four installments that cover the friendship from childhood to old age between two women, set in an impoverished neighbourhood of Napoli from 1948 to 1990

@Algernon Intriguing! Sounds almost like a neo realist film, except as a novel. Which could be fascinating!

Also a book that has caught my eye before that I need to finally read & thought I'd share, is A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. It's a long, sprawling novel taking place in Jamaica and having to do with the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. Seems like it could be the type of epic length book that could take over my life for awhile, like for example The Goldfinch or Cloud Atlas or 11/22/63 did. Hopefully that doesn't doom the book with expectations too lofty lol. Keep the suggestions coming! Thanks all, cheers!

Yes, I have the Marlon James book waiting for an opening in my crowded reading list. the more books I add, the less time I have, just like Zappa said.

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "Yes, I have the Marlon James book waiting for an opening in my crowded reading list. the more books I add, the less time I have, just like Zappa said."

Ain't that the truth! My problem is everything interests me, but there's only finite quantities of time so lots of very worthy books are never read. I'm trying to get back to my 2014 days though, when I read 66 books, including some real door stops.

Lee wrote: "Thank you all! These are some great suggestions. I'd had Lonesome Dove on my list at one point. Kate Morton - I've seen her books around but never read one, that might be perfect. Also, that Migrat..."

I haven't yet read anything by Kate Quinn, but her books get a lot of buzz on the Facebook group I belong to, "What Should I Read Next?"

Hey all, I just stumbled across this article of suggestions of 500+ page reads written after 1970. It brought this discussion to mind, so I thought I'd share. Really much better than most lists of this type, there's a lot of variety and the list's author seems to have really good taste.

I've read 6 on the list - Cloud Atlas, All the Light You Cannot See, The Witch Elm, The Secret History, The Stand, Skippy Dies. Didn't totally love ATLYCS - it was fine but overwrought (starting with the pretentious title), seemed to be straining effortfully to be Transcendent and Moving and other capitalized words, and to win awards. The others are good to great. And there's a lot more I plan to add to my to-read list. Anyway, here's the article link:

https://lithub.com/the-50-best-contem...

Have you read A Gentlemen in Moscow ? Long. Lush atmosphere. Beautiful characters, very incredibly written!

I second the motion for Kate Morton- The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper are two of my favorites of hers.

Another interesting read, slower and filled with fabulous characters - The Elegance of the Hedgehog. One of my all time favorites.

I have enjoyed this thread!

I just finished Count The Ways by Joyce Maynard. It’s a naval-gazer, for sure.

If you like Tana French, I recently discovered a new Irish writer who I would classify as aspiring to be Tana (in a good way), who also writes mysteries. It's Dervla McTiernan, who writes the Cormac Reilly mysteries, and they are introspective, detailed, convoluted, interesting. She has written three so far, and they have gotten better with each one. If you are longing for Tana French but have read all of hers, check out McTiernan.

Thanks for these additional recs! I added Count the Ways and A Gentleman in Moscow to Want to Read. I'd already stumbled across McTiernan & added The Ruin. There are definitely many, many worse things to aspire to be than Tana French :-) Great suggestions! The description of Count the Ways reminded me, obscurely, of The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. I can highly recommend that one. Gotta read another Wolitzer.


I've got it in my head to tackle one of Margaret Atwood's books I haven't read. like Alias Grace or the Blind Assassin or the Robber Bride. Those are plenty long. Gonna try to fit at least one of those into my reading schedule soon. Lady Oracle, Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake are three of my favorite books of all time.

Soooo many books, not enough time.... :-)

I can also heartily recommend Three Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell. Takes place in NYC, 1958 in the city's publishing world. Bounces between three exceptionally well drawn, different characters who harbor aspirations of busting into that world either as an author or editor. It's a genuine literary treat!

This is a little less Literary, but you might enjoy Among Others, which is primarily an ode to the love of reading. It essentially one very strong character reading and thinking.