Giovanni's Room
Author : Baldwin, James
Publisher : Delta
Comment : Baldwin is one of the most famous black American writers. Giovanni’s Room concerns a tragic relationship between two men—there’s nothing explicit in it though, as far as I remember (though it’s many years since I read it). It is just written very movingly and sensitively. For another classic Baldwin novel, very powerfully written, try Another Country.
The House of Sleep
Author : Coe, Jonathon
Publisher : Vintage
Comment : Funny and moving – and clever – modern novel, set around the theme of sleep, which follows the relationships of a group of university students.
Ghostwritten
Author : Mitchell, David
Publisher : Vintage
Comment : Published within the last few years, this is a very innovative novel, by a writer who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for his novel Cloud Atlas). Each of its chapters are told by a different character in a different part of the world (e.g. a Japanese Om- cult member, an expat banker in Hong Kong, etc.), and all are loosely but definitely linked. The way the different tone of each character is handled is brilliant. It really kept me reading!
The Narrow Corner
Author : Maugham, W. Somerset
Publisher : Penguin Classics
Comment : Some people find Maugham pretty old and dated now, but he has a wonderfully dry and ironic sense of humour. His various Short Stories are very good too. To my mind, the Asian ones set in Borneo, etc., are the best – he loves to put stuck-up straight-laced English people into a jungle setting and watch their superficial value-system fall apart! The Narrow Corner is a kind of South-Seas thing. For something more "English", one of his most famous works is Of Human Bondage, though it' s a long one!
A Fine Balance
Author : Mistry, Rohinton
Publisher : Vintage
Comment : A long and sprawling Indian narrative which is worth taking time with. The Guardian book-review quoted on the back says that “like all great literature, it will change your life”. Maybe that is a bit “tai guo-fen”, but even so, it makes one think deeply about life, suffering and adversity, optimism and pessimism, and how we somehow come to terms with it all.
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Author : Murakami, Haruki
Publisher : Vintage
Comment : A later work. Very moving stuff – quite painful at times.
House of Splendid Isolation
Author : O' Brian, Edna
Publisher : Plume
Comment : Her earlier books are lighter, but this is one of O’Brien’s late works, and she writes very powerfully, with a distinctive Irish flavour. This book is about an IRA suspect on the run in rural Ireland, and about the gradual and uneasy bond that forms between him and an ageing spinster when he invades her house looking for a hide-out. Gripping and relentless stuff. Another one to try is the one after this, Down By The River – again set in rural Ireland, a cruel father gets his daughter pregnant. She tries to get an abortion illegally, whilst he tries to cope with his guilt. It is very hard-hitting.
