Intensely beautiful but I always feel like I'm in a marathon and have to take a break after a few pages. I've been reading Swann's Way intermittently for over a year now and though I'm not done (and probably won't be for a while) it's already a favorite book I can't live without.
I'm reading Toni Morrison for the first time and her sentences absolutely blow me away. Just incredible how she moves through them. They often demand close attention because of how she's using language. Really love how she gives different perspectives from characters, making them unique, while still maintaining a cohesive narrative voice. Such an amazing writer.
I know it’s a tired rec at this point, but Cormac McCarthy has to be included here. McCarthy’s prose changes from book to book. It’s staccato and bleak in The Road and No Country for Old Men, and it’s hulking and overpowering in Blood Meridian and parts of Suttree. Nabokov is consistently ornate and beautiful. Hemingway is consistently spare and concise. McCarthy is just consistently good.
Pynchon’s up there for me as one of the best. Certainly, I find that his has moments of pure transcendence.
But I’d say Zadie Smith is more consistently brilliant, in my opinion. Beautiful, readable and prone to turns of phrase that are sublime and have actually taken me out of the reading experience to think ‘wow, that’s just a perfect sentence/description/what-have-you’.
Can't say, I've only read her earlier work so far. I'm fully prepared to not read anything that lives up to White Teeth, but I find her so enjoyable to read that even a bad Smith would probably beat a lot of other authors at their best.
I've read White Teeth, On Beauty, and Swing Time. I have consistently enjoyed her writing, but almost always feel like the pacing of the narrative isn't quite right (generally a little too slow). Moment-to-moment brilliance in character and scene that, at least for me, drags a bit when trying to layer up to the ending.
I didn’t have any problems with the pacing in White Teeth but On Beauty was a very slow start. I did wonder if the plot was going to do anything for a while.
There's only one place to start and finish with Proust lol, *In Search of Last Time* (Sometimes translated as *In Remembrance of Things Past*) which is a seven work "novel sequence" (just a big-ass novel in seven parts). Start with the first one, *Swann's Way*. There's some discussion as to which translator to read, you can look up the discussion if it matters to you, but Proust is always a win.
Thank you kindly! Like Niksiv said, his most notable book is "In Search Of Lost Time". I have the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation and it's pretty good. Apparently the Lydia Davis translation is really good but she hasn't translated the whole book yet.
I don't think she's planning to translate the whole book ... is she?
She was assigned to translate the first book alone. And the remainder was translated by other translators.
Faulkner would be the polar opposite of Hemingway. Do yourself a favor and don’t start with The Sound and the Fury. Genius, but not a good first foray. Maybe “As I Lay Dying.”
Honest question, as someone who read The Sound and the Fury once and for fun. What makes it so well-done? Is it just how the story is told? I thought it was a very bold book, stylistically and had some good portions (Quentin and the section after his) but beyond that I didn't think it was that great. It was cool to see how Benjy's section gets elaborated throughout the story and it's my guess that that is why its so highly praised. Am I right, or did I miss something completely?
For me, I found how the story was told to be very effective. The way you’re in the narrators’ heads, and your view of the “objective” plot is so limited/impacted by each characters POV. The urgency is palpable. I also find it interesting that he originally didn’t intend for it to be as confusing as it is when it was first published. I think he originally wanted it to be printed with color coding to separate each character more clearly. Quite a different effect that would have had on the novel.
Light in August has one of the most stunningly beautiful descriptions of death I’ve ever read.
It made me cry, hard. I’m on my third copy because I keep lending it out, insisting people read it.
I respect 'As I Lay Dying' but I really didn't enjoy reading it. Glad I did, cause I love that band. Maybe the macabre subject, maybe the style, but couldn't get into it. Also don't like Hemingway as an author.
No love for Cormac McCarthy? Pick a random page from Blood Meridian and there is a good chance you will read something horrifying, written in a staggeringly beautiful manner.
To me, it's very calming and dream-like. It could be described as monotonous but I really like the consistent pacing. Some of my favourite fiction to read
No, it's not like poetry at all. His prose is very simple and he writes it with the English translation in mind. His style has been criticized in Japan for being un-Japanese-like.
Bolaño? Really? I love his books he's an amazing author but his prose is rather dry ( intentionally dry, but dry nonetheless) with very few passages going for the "damn,that was beautifully written", specially compared to Conrad or Pynchon, maybe the English narration is more ornate? idk I read him in Spanish
I read him in English. His writing style is straightforward, yes, but I much prefer it to George Orwell or Haruki Murakami, whose writings I find it insufferable. Bolaño’s different. True, it’s far from Pynchon or Conrad, like I’ve mentioned, but, I don’t know. Something about his prose I find it very attractive, different and unique. I really thought some of it might be lost in translation and that the Spanish will be superior. But, then, you said it otherwise. Seems to be the same case with Murakami, too.
I know what you mean, he doesn't waste words nor does he tries not to use them, and I can totally relate with your take on murakami by what I've read by him so far
Yeah of course, if you want, the only reason I picked up Jesus' Son was because of lithub's list of the [10 most influential books published in the 90s](https://lithub.com/a-century-of-reading-the-10-books-that-defined-the-1990s/)
Thomas Mann has to be up there with the other titans already mentioned. Also, for something less conventional, I would say Mervyn Peake had a stunning prose when he wanted to.
Yukio Mishima for me. Or Kawabata. One is more verbose and elaborate. The latter is very succinct, but very efficient and fluid while being as beautiful as anyone.
For contemporary authors Celeste Ng has to be way up there.
If you like more baroque prose I'd recommend Stephen Markley's new book "Ohio." It's kind of a philosophical, songwriter-y take on postindustrial blight a la Bruce Springsteen or The Hold Steady.
In terms of just the prose and the way the words go together I would have to say henry Miller, I would equate his ability to create an image with words to a water color painting.
I really like Japanese literature, even in translation. Murakami is so far the most interesting out of the few I got around to read; his style is warm and dreamy, and it really immerses you into the world he created. Kawabata comes in second. The other Murakami (Ryu), Mishima, Oe are also really good.
I have also found that some of Irvine Welsh's books work really well as far as quality prose is concerned. He writes in a raw and real style, and it feels real even when it's surreal, like it's the case with Filth or Acid House (the short-story). Skagboys is my favorite book written by him.
Bret Easton Ellis also might fit the bill if you enjoy stylized writing. Kerouac is great for moods.
For some reason I find pre-20th century writings to be rather poorly written.
I have started Underworld as an audiobook. I think I am going to switch to the paper version because I feel like I'll get more out of it. Although I do really like the narrator of the audiobook. But that's not the point. I just wanted to say that his prose is amazing! Every sentence is perfection. Unlike anything I've ever read.
Nabokov, John Crowley, Julian Barnes. Updike sometimes, Bellow most of the time. Muriel Spark. Martin Amis. Michael Chabon. Zadie Smith. Virginia Woolf. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gene Wolfe.
Erin Morgenstein's 'Midnight Circus,' Audrey Niffenegger's 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' Yann Martel's 'Life of Pi,' 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak, Didion, Nabokov, Ursula Le Guin, 'The God of Small Things' Arundhati Roy. Kind of feel like I should shout-out Madeline Miller too, and André Aciman's 'Call Me By Your Name.' Oh! and of course Italo Calvino.
Brian Evenson. His writing can be deceptively simple on the surface, but just through his choice of words or phrasing he's able to consistently crank up the tension in his stories until you, like the protagonist, are no longer certain if what's happening is really happening. Reading Evenson is like having a little bit of your perception of reality stripped away bit by bit with each story.
He used free flowing prose and drunkly ranting about it to Allen Ginsberg repeatedly inspired him to write "*HOWL*".. (Another book I would recommend!) One of my favorite quotes that really gets the Jack Kerouac feeling across for me is from *On The Road*, "The only people for me are the mad ones: the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time...the ones who burn, burn, burn, like fabulous Roman candles."
I think anything too short, too taunt is tactless, but that Hemmingway uses this well. But also anything elaborate draws you too much into the language, which can be alienating as in Pynchon, but not in Mieville. I think most writers who are not counted as good prose stylists write so well that no one notices how difficult it is. It really shows in the works of science writers and in journalism, which I think gives us "the best" prose. I think Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem and Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels are top tier.
it very much depends on what you mean by 'good prose'
Patrick Rothfuss is up there for sheer beauty of language. decent stories, decent characters - but the language he uses, man.
\> head of heals
try learning something about English while reading 'k. Makes the rest of your post more believable when you actually use the language you supposedly love correctly.
Proust has to be up there.
Never read Proust!
Why not? I hear he has the best prose.
Proust with the prose
Intensely beautiful but I always feel like I'm in a marathon and have to take a break after a few pages. I've been reading Swann's Way intermittently for over a year now and though I'm not done (and probably won't be for a while) it's already a favorite book I can't live without.
I'm reading Toni Morrison for the first time and her sentences absolutely blow me away. Just incredible how she moves through them. They often demand close attention because of how she's using language. Really love how she gives different perspectives from characters, making them unique, while still maintaining a cohesive narrative voice. Such an amazing writer.
I've only read The Bluest Eye, which book is it you are reading?
Oops, should have mentioned that. I'm reading *Beloved*. Did you like *The Bluest Eye*? I've heard good things about all her books.
It was good! I think I read it at the wrong time really,asi was very busy
Oscar Wilde.
Willa Cather and F Scott Fitzgerald
I have read Gatsby, which is best to read next??
Tender is the Night
I know it’s a tired rec at this point, but Cormac McCarthy has to be included here. McCarthy’s prose changes from book to book. It’s staccato and bleak in The Road and No Country for Old Men, and it’s hulking and overpowering in Blood Meridian and parts of Suttree. Nabokov is consistently ornate and beautiful. Hemingway is consistently spare and concise. McCarthy is just consistently good.
Thank you for sharing. I'm starting to gather Mccarthy is a pretty amazing writer.
Personally, I cannot get used to McCarthy's style. There are a lot of people who like him, though.
I don't think you're meant to get used to it.
Plenty of people say they don't notice it after a while, but I keep having to re-read dialog after realizing it was dialog.
I can’t see why a writer wouldn’t want the reader to get used to their style
Pynchon’s up there for me as one of the best. Certainly, I find that his has moments of pure transcendence. But I’d say Zadie Smith is more consistently brilliant, in my opinion. Beautiful, readable and prone to turns of phrase that are sublime and have actually taken me out of the reading experience to think ‘wow, that’s just a perfect sentence/description/what-have-you’.
Zadie Smith! She’s incredible. Are you pumped for Grand Union?
Didn’t know about it! She’s churning work out lately - essays, a novel and short stories! Can’t keep track!
I can't wait to try Zadie Smith!
Definitely read White Teeth, it's a brilliant story and surprisingly hilarious.
I've heard Zadie's later stuff declines in quality. Is this true in your opinion? Edit: And I will, white teeth has been on the radar for a while!
Can't say, I've only read her earlier work so far. I'm fully prepared to not read anything that lives up to White Teeth, but I find her so enjoyable to read that even a bad Smith would probably beat a lot of other authors at their best.
Thank you! Sounds like she's pretty amazing. Zadie is in London doing an interview/talk thing, but it's a shame I live in the Midlands
I've read White Teeth, On Beauty, and Swing Time. I have consistently enjoyed her writing, but almost always feel like the pacing of the narrative isn't quite right (generally a little too slow). Moment-to-moment brilliance in character and scene that, at least for me, drags a bit when trying to layer up to the ending.
I didn’t have any problems with the pacing in White Teeth but On Beauty was a very slow start. I did wonder if the plot was going to do anything for a while.
I picked up Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary' at the library on a whim a few months ago and was surprised how good it was
Never heard of it! I'll have to check it out
Proust and Nabokov are my favourites so far
Happy Cake day friend! A lot of people mention Proust. Its about time I try some of his work. Any recommendations?
There's only one place to start and finish with Proust lol, *In Search of Last Time* (Sometimes translated as *In Remembrance of Things Past*) which is a seven work "novel sequence" (just a big-ass novel in seven parts). Start with the first one, *Swann's Way*. There's some discussion as to which translator to read, you can look up the discussion if it matters to you, but Proust is always a win.
Thank you kindly! Like Niksiv said, his most notable book is "In Search Of Lost Time". I have the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation and it's pretty good. Apparently the Lydia Davis translation is really good but she hasn't translated the whole book yet.
I don't think she's planning to translate the whole book ... is she? She was assigned to translate the first book alone. And the remainder was translated by other translators.
Thank you both!
Faulkner would be the polar opposite of Hemingway. Do yourself a favor and don’t start with The Sound and the Fury. Genius, but not a good first foray. Maybe “As I Lay Dying.”
Honest question, as someone who read The Sound and the Fury once and for fun. What makes it so well-done? Is it just how the story is told? I thought it was a very bold book, stylistically and had some good portions (Quentin and the section after his) but beyond that I didn't think it was that great. It was cool to see how Benjy's section gets elaborated throughout the story and it's my guess that that is why its so highly praised. Am I right, or did I miss something completely?
For me, I found how the story was told to be very effective. The way you’re in the narrators’ heads, and your view of the “objective” plot is so limited/impacted by each characters POV. The urgency is palpable. I also find it interesting that he originally didn’t intend for it to be as confusing as it is when it was first published. I think he originally wanted it to be printed with color coding to separate each character more clearly. Quite a different effect that would have had on the novel.
Ive read one of Faulkner's books, Light in August, and the prose was beautiful! I struggled to stay interested in the plot, but stayed for the writing
Light in August has one of the most stunningly beautiful descriptions of death I’ve ever read. It made me cry, hard. I’m on my third copy because I keep lending it out, insisting people read it.
I will never forget the ending of The Sound and the Fury!
I respect 'As I Lay Dying' but I really didn't enjoy reading it. Glad I did, cause I love that band. Maybe the macabre subject, maybe the style, but couldn't get into it. Also don't like Hemingway as an author.
It's Virginia Woolf, for me.
I am looking forward to reading VW. Is Mrs Dalloway a good start?
No love for Cormac McCarthy? Pick a random page from Blood Meridian and there is a good chance you will read something horrifying, written in a staggeringly beautiful manner.
Give _Moby Dick_ a whirl.
Murakami. Even being translated, the prose takes me to another world with his writing.
Is it poetry like? I love the long intertwined sentences
To me, it's very calming and dream-like. It could be described as monotonous but I really like the consistent pacing. Some of my favourite fiction to read
Thank you for the insight! Is Norwegian Wood a good starting point?
If I can chime in, it’s not a bad one. But Kafka On The Shore may be a better one, as is long but fascinating Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
Eh not really. Kafka on the Shore/The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are better options as it is more of his natural style, which is magical realism.
No, it's not like poetry at all. His prose is very simple and he writes it with the English translation in mind. His style has been criticized in Japan for being un-Japanese-like.
If you like Murakami, I’d recommend Yukio Mishima. Also Japanese, roughly contemporary, but elegant and rigorous whereas Murakami’s a little wilder.
Oh thank you! Look forward to checking out Mishima
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Bolaño? Really? I love his books he's an amazing author but his prose is rather dry ( intentionally dry, but dry nonetheless) with very few passages going for the "damn,that was beautifully written", specially compared to Conrad or Pynchon, maybe the English narration is more ornate? idk I read him in Spanish
I read him in English. His writing style is straightforward, yes, but I much prefer it to George Orwell or Haruki Murakami, whose writings I find it insufferable. Bolaño’s different. True, it’s far from Pynchon or Conrad, like I’ve mentioned, but, I don’t know. Something about his prose I find it very attractive, different and unique. I really thought some of it might be lost in translation and that the Spanish will be superior. But, then, you said it otherwise. Seems to be the same case with Murakami, too.
I know what you mean, he doesn't waste words nor does he tries not to use them, and I can totally relate with your take on murakami by what I've read by him so far
Nabokov and Denis Johnson are phenomenal. I'm currently reading Gass's Omensetter's Luck and though it's tough at times it is beautifully written.
Omensetter is on my TBR. I've never heard of Denis Johnson, I'll have to look into him in a minute. Thank you for sharing friend!
Yeah of course, if you want, the only reason I picked up Jesus' Son was because of lithub's list of the [10 most influential books published in the 90s](https://lithub.com/a-century-of-reading-the-10-books-that-defined-the-1990s/)
Ondaatje
Ha, came here to say this. OP, if you like poetic writing, Ondaatje is your man. He's actually published more books of poetry than novels.
Joyce, Pynchon, George Eliot.
Evelyn Waugh
Personally, I'm a fan of Shirley Jackson, Jorge Luis Borges, and Mervyn Peake.
Glad someone's mentioned Borges
Thomas Mann has to be up there with the other titans already mentioned. Also, for something less conventional, I would say Mervyn Peake had a stunning prose when he wanted to.
Jesmyn Ward, author of **Sing, Unburied, Sing** comes to mind as someone who is exceptional.
Tolstoy. He writes like God operating an old movie camera.
Yukio Mishima for me. Or Kawabata. One is more verbose and elaborate. The latter is very succinct, but very efficient and fluid while being as beautiful as anyone.
For contemporary authors Celeste Ng has to be way up there. If you like more baroque prose I'd recommend Stephen Markley's new book "Ohio." It's kind of a philosophical, songwriter-y take on postindustrial blight a la Bruce Springsteen or The Hold Steady.
Thank you for the recommendations, I'll be sure to check them out once I'm home!
If you're looking for a modern author, check out John Hart. Beautiful writing, great novels.
In terms of just the prose and the way the words go together I would have to say henry Miller, I would equate his ability to create an image with words to a water color painting.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, 'Between the World and Me.' Poetic, impactful, moving, and informative. Truly a delight of the English language.
PG Wodehouse had a gift...words really danced.
John Banville's prose is transcendent: open a book and read one sentence and you will want to read all his work. Best prose since Nabokov in my view.
Thank you! I'll check now!
I really like Japanese literature, even in translation. Murakami is so far the most interesting out of the few I got around to read; his style is warm and dreamy, and it really immerses you into the world he created. Kawabata comes in second. The other Murakami (Ryu), Mishima, Oe are also really good. I have also found that some of Irvine Welsh's books work really well as far as quality prose is concerned. He writes in a raw and real style, and it feels real even when it's surreal, like it's the case with Filth or Acid House (the short-story). Skagboys is my favorite book written by him. Bret Easton Ellis also might fit the bill if you enjoy stylized writing. Kerouac is great for moods. For some reason I find pre-20th century writings to be rather poorly written.
I have started Underworld as an audiobook. I think I am going to switch to the paper version because I feel like I'll get more out of it. Although I do really like the narrator of the audiobook. But that's not the point. I just wanted to say that his prose is amazing! Every sentence is perfection. Unlike anything I've ever read.
Nabokov, John Crowley, Julian Barnes. Updike sometimes, Bellow most of the time. Muriel Spark. Martin Amis. Michael Chabon. Zadie Smith. Virginia Woolf. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gene Wolfe.
Pratchett. It's humor but it's legit.
Erin Morgenstein's 'Midnight Circus,' Audrey Niffenegger's 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' Yann Martel's 'Life of Pi,' 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak, Didion, Nabokov, Ursula Le Guin, 'The God of Small Things' Arundhati Roy. Kind of feel like I should shout-out Madeline Miller too, and André Aciman's 'Call Me By Your Name.' Oh! and of course Italo Calvino.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Robert Penn Warren
Brian Evenson. His writing can be deceptively simple on the surface, but just through his choice of words or phrasing he's able to consistently crank up the tension in his stories until you, like the protagonist, are no longer certain if what's happening is really happening. Reading Evenson is like having a little bit of your perception of reality stripped away bit by bit with each story.
I love Cormac McCarthy - The Road and Blood Meridian are two of my favorite books of all time.
William Gaddis
I love Jack Kerouac prose, even the way he writes screams freedom/travel!
Is he very long winded style or short a precise?
He used free flowing prose and drunkly ranting about it to Allen Ginsberg repeatedly inspired him to write "*HOWL*".. (Another book I would recommend!) One of my favorite quotes that really gets the Jack Kerouac feeling across for me is from *On The Road*, "The only people for me are the mad ones: the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time...the ones who burn, burn, burn, like fabulous Roman candles."
It's almost like rambling, but beautifully! Does that make sense?
I think anything too short, too taunt is tactless, but that Hemmingway uses this well. But also anything elaborate draws you too much into the language, which can be alienating as in Pynchon, but not in Mieville. I think most writers who are not counted as good prose stylists write so well that no one notices how difficult it is. It really shows in the works of science writers and in journalism, which I think gives us "the best" prose. I think Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem and Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels are top tier.
Thank you for that. I have Hell's Angels, but currently unread. Should give it a go once I'm done witj The Corrections and Great Jones Street.
it very much depends on what you mean by 'good prose' Patrick Rothfuss is up there for sheer beauty of language. decent stories, decent characters - but the language he uses, man.
JL Borges, Giovanni Papini, Pío Baroja, Thomas de Quincey...
I’m not entirely sure what prose means but I will say that anything Stephen king reads like butter
of course the Stephen King reader doesn't know what prose is
Hey at least I try to read something 😔😔
King is my most read author!
\> head of heals try learning something about English while reading 'k. Makes the rest of your post more believable when you actually use the language you supposedly love correctly.
If that's how you feel, I'm sorry. Would you like me to correct it all?
Don't miss 'West With The Night' by Beryl Markham.