Book suggestions

[undyingking]

It's time for our book group to draw up a new list, and once more I'm turning to you guys for some good ideas. The ones we ended up with last time are listed here, to give an idea of the sorts of things that people go for.

All I've got so far is William Hope Hodgson's The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder, which I've been meaning to read for ages so this seems a good excuse. I have to suggest five titles, and it'd be good to have a couple of non-fiction and a couple of modern / recent ones.

The criteria, as last time, are:

• can be new or old;
• can be fiction, non, play, or anything else really;
• should be something I'm likely to find interesting;
• and so are the rest of the group, who are quite a mix of types, ages, etc;
• shouldn't be deep-genre, ie. relying on existing knowledge of genre for enjoyment -- but fringe-genre is fine;
• must be readily available in paperback in the UK;
• not too long, people get antsy over about 400 pages;
• in English (although can be a translation of course);
• probably some other things I haven't thought of.

Any recommendations?

Comments

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Things I've especially enjoyed and would recommend:

Colin Thubron - In Siberia.
[for an interesting cross-cut, try that and his "Among the Russians", which covered the same ground in the days of Brezhnev]

Iain MacLeod - The Light Ages

Michael Frayn - Copenhagen (play)

I thought of Lord Dunsany, but Time and the Gods is rather on the lengthy side. Maybe The King of Elfland's Daughter (which I must admit I haven't read)

Graham Swift - Waterland or Last Orders

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

I would be very happy to recommend the King of Elfland's Daughter on your behalf; it is a gorgeous book. His use of language is like a banquet in an age of fast food.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Great suggestions, thanks! I think the MacLeod might be a bit too "genre" for the group, though.