Anonymous
Post 07/20/2024 10:18     Subject: Contemporary world literature

Anonymous wrote:“A Bend in the River,” VS Naipaul. A classic. Takes place in an unnamed East African country.

“Out of Africa,” Isak Dinesen. Another classic. Lyrical, beautiful, slow—a very specific lens/memoir of running a coffee farm in East Africa.

“Scatterlings,” Resoketswe Manenzhe. Also newer, about 1920s South Africa. Lovely. Sad.

“Hungry Ghosts,” Kevin Jared Hosein. A newer book about Trinidad in the 1940s.

Any JM Coetzee book. I liked “Disgrace” quite a bit.


NONE of these are "contemporary"
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2024 18:17     Subject: Re:Contemporary world literature

Khaled Hosseini is an author who spent his childhood in Afghanistan, but moved to the U.S. at age 15. He has written four books based in the middle east. The most well known is the Kite Runner.
Seeing as how his books were published while he lived in the U.S., I am not sure it fits your criteria, but I thought I would throw it out there as a suggestion.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2024 14:53     Subject: Re:Contemporary world literature

Cutting for Stone and Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Arundhati Roy - God of Small Things
Amitav Ghosh - The Glass Palace
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2024 14:47     Subject: Contemporary world literature

I really like Yangsze Choo. She often writes about historical malaysia with a heavy dose of folklore/magical realism.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2024 14:21     Subject: Contemporary world literature

+1 for Yaa Gyasi.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2024 21:17     Subject: Contemporary world literature

Mohammed Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2024 21:13     Subject: Contemporary world literature

My sister the serial killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 19:33     Subject: Contemporary world literature

Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 17:50     Subject: Re:Contemporary world literature

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I like this much better than her most well known book Americanah but it isnt as well known
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 15:52     Subject: Contemporary world literature

Anonymous wrote:“A Bend in the River,” VS Naipaul. A classic. Takes place in an unnamed East African country.

“Out of Africa,” Isak Dinesen. Another classic. Lyrical, beautiful, slow—a very specific lens/memoir of running a coffee farm in East Africa.

“Scatterlings,” Resoketswe Manenzhe. Also newer, about 1920s South Africa. Lovely. Sad.

“Hungry Ghosts,” Kevin Jared Hosein. A newer book about Trinidad in the 1940s.

Any JM Coetzee book. I liked “Disgrace” quite a bit.


Thank you! I've read Naipaul, Dinesen, and Coetzee, but Scatterlings and Hungry Ghosts were just what I'm looking for. Scatterlings is on sale for 1.99 on kindle today, so I bought it. Put Hungry Ghosts on my wishlist for when I'm ready.

Oh, and I loved Nadine Gordimer's July's People. I'll have to try some of her others.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 15:33     Subject: Re:Contemporary world literature

The website Words Without Borders will give you plenty of ideas.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 15:32     Subject: Contemporary world literature

^^and how could I forget Nadine Gordimer! “Burger’s Daughter” and “The Pickup” are two good ones. (I spent several years combined in South Africa and East Africa so that’s where my tastes lie!)
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 15:26     Subject: Contemporary world literature

“A Bend in the River,” VS Naipaul. A classic. Takes place in an unnamed East African country.

“Out of Africa,” Isak Dinesen. Another classic. Lyrical, beautiful, slow—a very specific lens/memoir of running a coffee farm in East Africa.

“Scatterlings,” Resoketswe Manenzhe. Also newer, about 1920s South Africa. Lovely. Sad.

“Hungry Ghosts,” Kevin Jared Hosein. A newer book about Trinidad in the 1940s.

Any JM Coetzee book. I liked “Disgrace” quite a bit.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2024 12:34     Subject: Contemporary world literature

I'm looking for book recommendations to expand my reading beyond U.S./British/Canadian/Australian authors. I think I'm pretty familiar with world classics, but I barely know where to start with world literature being written today. They don't have to be translated works. For instance, I know a lot of African and Caribbean writers write in English.

Any recommendations of your favorites?