John asks:
> I need a few recommendations for recent works of fiction that are worth
> reading.
1. Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon (1997).
Simply superb. Do not be put off by its length or the unusual style. Pynchon is not nearly as difficult as people make him out to be, and can be both funny and moving.
2. Juan Goytisolo's The Garden of Secrets (2000)
The Spanish novelist who should have won the Nobel instead of Saramago, but since he is queer and has Muslim lovers, this was not going to happen. All his work is extraordinary and a personal touchstone for me. I will only list latest two.
In 28 tales - one for each letter in the Arabic alphabet - Goytisolo probes the fate of a fictional friend of Lorca, the great Spanish poet and homosexual, held by the fascists in a north African jail as "a red, a queer and a poet". The author's lifelong skewering of Catholic, nationalist Spain has been bound up with his bisexuality and an avowed quest for political, moral and sexual freedom.
>From the Los Angeles Times:
"A beautifully written metaphor for what it means to seek out the truth in a world often dominated by lies . . . this author, now 70 years of age, is one of the most brilliant of living writers."
Seemingly simple and very beautiful. As each story unfolds, they become like a spinning mosaic in your mind. Goytisolo is able to re-arrange they way you think, but with such talent that you don't realize what has happened until yo have finished the book. 3. Juan Goytisolo's The Marx Family Saga.
>From Kirkus Reviews:
History is a nightmare that's more enjoyable than most pleasant dreams in this truculent surrealistic farrago from the Spanish postmodernist author of such cryptic fictions as Count Julian (1974) and Quarantine (1994). The subject here is ``the long-winded author of Capital'' and his long-suffering family, reimagined into such situations as a TV serial translating their struggles into cheesy melodrama, Marx's conversation with the (highly indignant) biblical patriarch Abraham, and damning testimony on the failure of his ideals from ``the survivors and victims of real socialism.'' By turns playful, vitriolic, hilarious and numbingly redundant, this is, oddly enough, one of Goytisolo's least labyrinthine and most entertaining books.
This was my first Goytisolo. Wonderfully challenging and funny. As the review said, this one is rather straightforward for Goytisolo, but his passion and his hatred of duplicity and lies comes shining through. Goytisolo writes as if he has nothing to lose and no one to impress. He is also featured in Godard's new film, Notre Musique.
4. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Winner of last year's Booker Prize, a beautiful written novel of London. Line by line, it is simply amazing. Carefully constructed, Hollinghurst pulls it all together in the last 100 pages and reveals the emotions that he keeps hidden at the outset. Great gay sex scenes too.
5. Anything by Carl Hiaasen. Black comedies set in Florida. Especially recommended if you know Florida. Hiaasen will make you laugh out loud.
6. The Murder Room by P.D. James
Classic mystery by the writer who does them best. Deep characterization and sense of place.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister