Naming just a single book is near impossible (and the book I’d name would likely have to be TLoTR), so I’ll rather list a few that are perhaps less widely known, but still very much worth it (if the genre is your thing).
Adolf Muschg: Der Rote Ritter. Eine Geschichte von Parzival
This one is likely only available in German. If you read German, this is a must, for the language alone, but it’s also a decent interpretation of Arthurian legend. If you are more into contemporary fiction, an alternative read would be Sax by the same author.
Dietmar Dath: Feldeváye: Roman der letzten Künste
Again, German only, I fear. Science Fiction. Hard to describe, really. It has a bit of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos, but less action-y and more philosophical.
Helga Glaesner: Im Kreis des Mael Duin
Standard fantasy fare. Again, German only. Not too bad and it’s a single volume that does not needlessly drag on and on. If historical fiction is more your thing, try Die Safranhändlerin instead.
Now something for our international audience:
Brian Catling: The Vorrh
Historical fantasy or fantastic history, set in colonial Africa. Brilliant writing. It’s the first in a trilogy, with the final installment due in July this year.
Patricia McKillip: Cygnet
More fable than fantasy. If you’re fed up with the likes of A Song of Ice and Fire, this one (or any other of hers) manages to entertain without people dropping dead left and right. If you read a couple of her books, you’ll notice that they more or less follow a similar pattern, so stop before it gets too boring.
Peter S. Beagle: The Innkeeper’s Song
You’ll probably know him for The Last Unicorn (shame if you don’t), but that lovely fantasy story has a fine style and is quite enjoyable (and over far too soon).
Valery Leith: The Company of Glass
Fantasy, but of a weird kind. In a good way. First of a trilogy (in Germany, only the first two volumes were released, so better to read in the original).
Those are translated into English. Red Moon & High Summer is the first, while Siddhartha keeps its title. The first one sounds interesting. Will have to check that out .
I hate to disappoint, but no, sadly not.
Your own recommendations brought two additional books to my mind, however:
Agreed, I had sworn off fantasy after overdoing it by reading too much Dragonlance drivel when I was a teenager until someone gave me a copy of Name of the Wind. It’s basically real literature with human stories and deeply relatable characters set in a fantasy world. The stories within stories within stories technique was interesting too, I thought.
My one beef with Wise Man’s Fear is that there’s too much “Previously on the Kingkiller Chronicles” recap everytime a character is introduced. I went straight from the first book to the 2nd book, so it was a bit annoying since I didn’t need to be reminded who Sim or Willem or Devi were… I’ve just been reading about them for 500 pages! Other than that, though, great story.
I can’t wait for the film he’s working on the LMM.
It was quite a while ago, but I’ll try and dig one out
I loved Choke too – I think that was the book that got me into him.
In order of enjoyment:
Choke
Lullaby (I only just read the story behind why he wrote this, which is pretty shocking. This seems to happen a lot with authors I like – like James Ellroy)
Survivor
Snuff (this is what he was promoting when I met him)
Haunted (short stories, including ‘Guts’ which supposedly made 73 people faint when he read it out at book readings)
For some reason I’ve never read Fight Club (maybe because I saw the film first, and there was so much hype around it (deservedly so)).
I tried reading some of his later works – Diary, Make Something Up, and Non-Fiction – but couldn’t get into them. I prefer his older stuff I think.
Thanks, I’ll check him out
Good nomination. There are a lot of good morals to come out of it. We studied it at school, which meant we analysed the crap out of the symbolism. If it was possible I’d like to go back and read it without looking for all that stuff.
Have you seen the movie? I liked it cause I liked the book and the cast is fantastic (Sam Rockwell, Kelly Macdonald, Anjelica Houston), but I have to admit the movie isn’ worth of the book. Anyway, as a fan of Palahniuk and those three actors I enjoyed it.
I stil haven’t read it yet.
Not bad, but i preferrèed
Second after Choke, in my personal list. My wife liked it, too.
I had no doubt, since you named the doll!
I’ll read this soon, but first I have a suggestion from @Guga to face up to…
Sorry, I misspelle his name. Bukowski, Henry Charles. If you like short stories, you could start with Tales of ordinary madness.
I didn’t study it at school. I was lucky enough to discover it by myself, immediately after I finished high school. So I was still versed in critical scholastic reading, but I wasn’t constrained to read it… So I enjoyed it at its best. It is really one of the books that changed somehow my life.
Yes, and I agree - they did quite a good job but I prefer the book. They don’t quite get Palahniuk’s dry tone across. And while I really like Sam Rockwell I feel like at that stage of his career he wasn’t quite right for it.
I highly recommend. It’s pretty hard-hitting, though.
Yeah, that’s much better. I might read it again at some point, since it’s been a while and perhaps I’d see it in a fresh light. I don’t normally re-read books but that would be a good reason to.
Yes, my ex-gf was a huge Palahniuk fan but didn’t manage to finish it.
I’m sure it deserves it. Oh, I checked… I didn’ read it after high school (96/97), but much later, in 2006… Strange.
I have a record of the dates in which I have read a good half of all the books I have read… I think I can make a game…
Best book of the year, from 1984 to 2018!
It has some biases, though…
Some date isn’t accurate
I didn’t record many books
In some years I read more than one memorable book, so some worthy titles won’t be cited
In some years I read only bad books, so the book of the year could be junk…
I also read Hard Boiled Wonderland, and it is still the only one I have read by Murakami so far.
The next books I will read are Absolute Sandman Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman, which is a part of a series of comic books actually and Clive Barker´s Books Of Blood Volume 1 by whom I have read nothing so far and only know him from watching Hellraiser and Candyman.
Some books I have loved over the years include:
Crime and Punishment by Fjodor Dostojevsky (one of the best written stories of all time)
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (remember my first avatar?)
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (dark AF western story)
Neuromancer by William Gibson (one of the greatest books not to have been filmed yet)
The Big Sleep by Ramond Chandler (the classic hard boiled detective story)
Moon Palace by Paul Auster (beautiful and melancholic and also a little funny)
Lord Of The Rings by JR.R. Tolkien (some obscure paperback written by an illiterate hackfraud)
Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (even more haunting than the countless re interpreatations of it)
The Mist by Stephen King (for the longest time his greatest novella not to be filmed, I like the movie)
At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (still the greatest novella not to have been filmed yet)
Marionettes Inc. by Ray Bradbury (somehow that ending twist stuck with me)
The Palmwine Drinkard by Amos Tutola (not easy to get into, this is more to be felt than read an analysed)
Walden by Henry David Thoreau (naivly romantic but makes you dream)
Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson (greatest piece of Gonzo Journalism there is)
I wonder if Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco would be on there. Definitely in my top 10, though I don’t pretend to be smart enough to understand 100% of what Eco writes.
(*) second read… the first time was in 96ish… but I really can’t remember. I Just know that I re-read it in 2010 because in that year I saw Apocalypse Now and…
“but… but… I know this story… this… is… Conrad!!!”
I think it was 96 since that was my Conrad period… I read “the Shadow Line: a Confession” (Book of the Year 1996) and Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco, Inspired by Conrad, which is one hell of a book, BTW. Highly recommended.
@yrface @milanfahrnholz
Both of them are in my library, inherited from my mum, but I didn’t read them, what a shame. That’s because -being italian- I had the chance to listen to Eco speaking in TV many times, and I didn’t like him.
But I’m sure I should pass over that.
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Pics! Pics! Pics! Pics!
