I'm not much of a trend-follower these days; I receive and occasionally read several of the same books that I see several other online reviewers promoting, but I rarely feel the need to comment on them, since they receive more than their fair share of coverage compared to their actual literary merits. However, there are several fine works, old and newish alike, that I wish I'd see more coverage of by a wider variety of readers. The books listed below do not all belong to a particular time, place, or genre, but instead are just some good stories that I'd like to see more people cover (I do hope to cover more of these myself in the coming months and years):
Brian Evenson, Altmann's Tongue
Michael Cisco, The Narrator
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
John Crowley, Ægypt Cycle (four novels)
Charles Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao
Stepan Chapman, The Troika
Gustave Flaubert, The Temptation of St. Anthony
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
A. Merritt, The Face in the Abyss
Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote
Raymond Queneau, Saint Glinglin
Robert Irwin, The Arabian Nightmare
Gustav Meyrinck, The Golem
Any of these strike your fancy?
Top Ten Books Read in 2024
3 days ago
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11 comments:
*clears throat* It's Charlotte Lennox and voila:
http://a-fantastical-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/11/way-beyond-retro-charlotte-lennox.html
;)
The Troika has taken on almost legendary proportions in my mind. I think I was first alerted to its existence by Jeff Vandermeer more than a decade ago and since then tantalising references to it have popped up everywhere.
That's what I get for typing from memory. I'll correct shortly.
The Troika is coming out as an e-book later this year, I believe.
I think I've spoke about a good number of those? Anyway, Troika and Library of America Jackson stuff planned for future.
I'm actually very curious about The Narrator. I don't know if I'll get to read it, though. School is back up...
I have The Atlman's Tongue on my pile; I loved Evenson's story in The New Weird and enjoyed Last Days.
While I hope to get to Brian Evenson, Italo Calvino, and the Aegypt Cycle someday, after suffering through A. Merritt's "The Moon Pool," I would probably need large sums of money and/or alcohol to tackle any of his work again.
I am ~70% through the Aegypt books right now and amazed. I can't remember how I learned about them, but it feels as though a great secret has been revealed.
As it happens, I have both Cisco's The Narrator and The Traitor on order: I was thinking of doing a write up of one of them at some point (probably the latter, but I'll see).
I also have the Meyrinck and Calvino on the shelves to be read at some point... I'll maybe bump the The Golem up the pile a little and tackle that one. I did do The Castle of Crossed Destinies a wee while back, though I enjoyed it and found it interesting, didn't quite like it so much as the first thing I'd read by him (If on a Winter's Night A Traveller).
Ta,
Richard
Sweet, sounds like several of you are on your ways to discovering some interesting literature! As for the Merritt, I listed that one not because I read/enjoyed it but because I hadn't read it and had heard some praise it before.
I still have The Narrator sitting on my shelf... reading it is one of my goals for the year.
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