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American novel recommendation

Infinity

Infinity

New Member
Besides "forcing" us to read a poetry book, my english teacher also requires that we read an American novel. It can be about anything, be it fantasy, science fiction, history fiction, whatever. Could anyone please recommend for me some good books? It would be easier if you can sort the books you recommend into categories like fantasy, sci-fi, horror, romance, etc. so that I can go through them easily. Thank you in advance! :)
 
pretty broad category there. is there anything in particular you are looking for? what genre are you leaning towards? was that the only specification, that it be american?
 
jenngorham said:
pretty broad category there. is there anything in particular you are looking for? what genre are you leaning towards? was that the only specification, that it be american?
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The two only requirements are that it be fiction and written by an American author.
 
Infinity said:
I said just recommend anything, but it has to be American.
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easy there cowboy, just trying to get a bit o'info. i recommend steinbeck, grapes of wrath is sad and wonderful, and east of eden is dark, but brilliant.

best of luck.
 
Infinity said:
Besides "forcing" us to read a poetry book, my english teacher also requires that we read an American novel. It can be about anything, be it fantasy, science fiction, history fiction, whatever. Could anyone please recommend for me some good books? It would be easier if you can sort the books you recommend into categories like fantasy, sci-fi, horror, romance, etc. so that I can go through them easily. Thank you in advance! :)
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'Retribution ' by Jilliane Hoffman

Paperback 528 pages (January 27, 2005)
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0141015233
Category(ies): Fiction , :) Crime, :cool: Thrillers :eek: & Mystery :confused:


Gripping read, although disturbing in places. Recommended :)
 
jenngorham said:
easy there cowboy, just trying to get a bit o'info. i recommend steinbeck, grapes of wrath is sad and wonderful, and east of eden is dark, but brilliant.

best of luck.
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One of Steinbeck's books, preferably:

Grapes of Wrath......or.....
East of Eden
 
Some other ("Literature-type") books by American authors I would consider particularly "American", but off the beaten path:
A Fan's Notes - Fred Exley
A Short History of a Small Place - T.R. Pearson
The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
Desolation Angels - Jack Kerouac

For a really interesting and fun combination of genres, I recommend anything in the "Rex" series by Eric Garcia. They blend hard-boiled detective fiction with alt-reality sci-fi without ever seeming contrived. The third (newly out in paperback), Hot & Sweaty Rex was every bit as good as the first two.
 
I'm a big fan of Sinclair Lewis. He took people (not real people) and wrote novels about them, exposing the foibles of them and their classes. My favorites are Main Street (small town / housewife), Arrowsmith (doctor), and Elmer Gantry (preacher). I think Arrowsmith is my favorite. I think that he is Lewis's only truly noble protagonist.
 
The lists could be endless...and I agree a Faulkner would capture the American South at a certain period of time, as would a Flannery O’Conner or a John Steinbeck. Pynchon would be great, but possibly a heavy read.
Raymond Chandler would encapture the ‘noir’ feel of the 30s and 40s which is well-associated with America.
Ralph Ellison’s _Invisible Man_
If you want something with a bit more of a contemporary edge and feel, a Palahniuk’s _Fight Club_ would work.

Let us know what you pick,
j
(but do not consider Rushdie, as he isn’t American and you’d be in breech of the assignment’s criteria)
 
Infinity, I concur with Jay. Let us know what you pick. The forum members have been kind enough to give you their recommendations.
 
A work of fiction, written by an American author? Hmmmmmm! That narrows it down to about a half million or so books... :p I guess that the obvious choice would be "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", by Mark Twain. :)
 
here are a few american novelists that i've enjoyed recently:
christopher buckley; david leavitt; lorna landvik; robert rodi; sherwood kiraly; tom perrotta; peter gadol; peter lefcourt; michael malone; ellen gilchrist.
start with joe keenan,though, if you fancy a modern-day take on p.g.wodehouse by the writer who went on to be chief writer on 'frasier'. his 'blue heaven' had my stitches in stitches.
 
froggerz40 said:
A work of fiction, written by an American author? Hmmmmmm! That narrows it down to about a half million or so books... :p I guess that the obvious choice would be "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", by Mark Twain. :)
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Actually, that would be a pretty good choice. My first choice would still be Steinbeck though.
 
Ernest Hemingway's Farewell to Arms

Hemingway is one of my favourite authors. He can evoke so much with so few words. Brilliant stuff! If you have never tired him then I can really recommend him. If not Farewell to arms then you could try his short story/novella The Old Man and the Sea
 
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