In addition to the writers I have already posted about (e.g., Penelope Lively, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, Anne Tyler), the following living (as far as I know) authors are among my favorites:
Writers of fiction: Margaret Atwood, Margaret Drabble, Anne Enright, Mavis Gallant, Jane Gardam, Gail Godwin, Mary Gordon, Barbara Gowdy, Tessa Hadley, Ha Jin, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margo Livesey, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Antonya Nelson, Ann Patchett, Richard Russo, Jean Thompson, Tobias Wolff.
Memoirists: Diana Athill, Mary Gordon, Patricia Hampl, Alice Kaplan, Madhur Jaffrey.
I also enjoy and learn from the magazines I regularly read. Favorites include The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Ms., The Nation, The Progressive, The Women's Review of Books, The New York Times Review of Books, The Threepenny Review, New York, San Francisco Magazine, and Vanity Fair.
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Ha Jin and Jhumpa Lahiri are 2 of my favorites too. I haven't read Anne Enright, but have heard good things. Can you recommend which one to start with? Jane Gardam and Barbara Gowdy are unfamiliar to me so I'm curious....thx, sarah
ReplyDeleteSarah, For the Irish Anne Enright I would start with "The Gathering," about a large Irish family that gathers for their brother's funeral, and all the family dynamics that bubble up then. I believe this novel won the Man Booker. For the Canadian author Barbara Gowdy, start with "The Romantic," which also has a lot of family dynamics as well as - of course - romance. And for Jane Gardam, first read her latest, "The Man with the Wooden Hat," and then the one that came before it, "Old Filth," which are a sort of matched pair, telling the same story but from the viewpoints of the wife (in "Hat") and the husband (in "Filth"). Fascinating. And she is an amazing writer. (Filth, by the way, stands for "failed in London, try Hong Kong"!). If/when you read any/all of these, please let me know what you think!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these great recs. I'll see if my book group might want to read any of them. If not, I'll read them on my own!
ReplyDeleteother memoirists I really like are Mary Karr, Rick Bragg, and Calvin Trillin. Also, David Sedaris, who is mostly but not completely humorous. Have you ever read the books by Haven Kimmel, who wrote "A Girl Named Zippy" and another one, "She Got up off the Couch"? She also has a sort of deadpan, clear-eyed style that although often humorous is also touching and real.
ReplyDeleteMary, You are the one who convinced me to read Mary Karr, a few years back. I had been avoiding her first memoir, for some reason, but once I read it, I thought it was wonderful (sad, but wonderful). Her new memoir is on my "to read" list now. I think I read a novel by Kimmel, but can't remember the title. Will check. Thanks for the suggestions!
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