General Fiction

Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, contemporary fiction...whatever you want to call it, there's a vast array of amazing stuff being published by a diverse group of authors these days. So many people have given me great suggestions in this category, that if I tried to fit them all in one post I would (a) run out of time and (b) bore you to tears.

So: here are a few good books. More good books to follow later.

I'm going to go ahead and skip right past the likes of Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Barack Obama, and Alex Haley. You may, of course, count any of these authors towards your challenge goal, and certainly if you haven't read them you probably should! But I want to introduce you to some authors you may not find at the front of the bookstore or in your average reading list.

Alexander Chee (Korean American) has a debut novel called Edinburgh, about a gifted 12-year-old Korean American soprono coping with his sexually abusive choir director, comes highly recommended by Moonrat on The Book Book: "This book was absolutely spellbinding. It's the only book I've been so engrossed in that I've actually missed my subway stop--and that happened twice during the week I was reading."

Many people recommended Native American author Sherman Alexie . His latest adult novel, Flight, is about a 15-year-old boy who, after getting shot during a bank robbery, finds himself catapulting through time to experience life through a variety of people's eyes.

Aravind Adiga, winner of the 2008 Booker Prize with The White Tiger, is East Indian. Publisher's Weekly says, "First-time author Adiga has created a memorable tale of one taxi driver's hellish experience in modern India. Told with close attention to detail, whether it be the vivid portrait of India he paints or the transformation of Balram Halwai into a bloodthirsty murderer, Adiga writes like a seasoned professional."

M. recommends Paulo Coelho (Brazilian) : "I've only read The Alchemist, but he has several others including The Zahir, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, and Veronika Decides to Die."

Julia enjoyed Chilean Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune (1999). San Francisco Magazine said, "Part exuberant girls' adventure story, part historical romance, it's the tale of a Chilean orphan who falls for an unsuitable lover as a teenager, stows away on a brigantine with the help of a Chinese cook, and pursues her quarry to California during the gold rush. Told with San Rafael-based Allende's light, deft touch, the story has enough plot twists and intriguing historical detail to keep the pages turning."

Sandra suggests Through Black Spruce, winner of the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize, by First Nation Canadian author Joseph Boyden. Penguin describes it as a novel of "contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city. When beautiful Suzanne Bird disappears, her sister Annie, a loner and hunter, is compelled to search for her, leaving behind their uncle Will, a man haunted by loss.While Annie travels from Toronto to New York, from modelling studios to A-list parties,Will encounters dire troubles at home. Both eventually come to painful discoveries about the inescapable ties of family.

Sandra also enjoyed The Village Of Stone (2005) by Xiaolu Guo (Chinese, living in England). The cover copy reads, "Coral and her frisbee-obsessed boyfriend, Red, live in a cramped tower block in the megalopolis that is modern-day Beijing. The epitome of disaffected youth, their already fragile existence is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious fishy package. As the smells of the sea wash over her, Coral is transported back to a traumatic childhood dominated by solitude, fear and shame. Coral was raised by silent grandparents among the stern and superstitious fishermen of the remote village of Stone. Shunned from birth as a bringer of ill fortune, and exposed to the malevolent forces of a closed-off society, she immersed herself in the minutiae of the landscape around her. At fifteen, she escaped to the big city and shut the door on the darkness of her past.As the narrative darts between the forbidding sprawl of Beijing and the rhythms of a tiny coastal village, our narrator struggles to navigate a path through painful and hidden memories of a time spent helpless, cold and alone. But when a sick old man appears on Coral’s doorstep, the past and present shockingly converge, and she is forced to confront the secrets of her history in order to realize her dreams for the future.

OK, so I'm going to stop there but I'll do another General Fiction post in a few days. As always, if you've read or reviewed any of these, please let us know!

So, here's the deal: I have about 10 unfinished posts where I've been filing suggestions in various genres and categories as they come in. Which area would you like me to work on next? I have a ton of memoirs so I'll be posting those soon, but if anyone has a challenge they want titles for, shout it out and let's get to work!