Damn, that would be awesome. I'm still hoping she'll come out with one last epic novel before she dies. Her Powers trilogy is good, but understandably light since she's shooting at middle school.

I read Life After Life when it came out, it was amazing, one of my favorites. Haven't heard of the other ones. Thanks for the rec

That's one of the few I haven't read. I absolutely adore his other stuff though, Jacod De Zoet is one of the few historical novels I can stomach, and Cloud Atlas is in my top 10 of all time easily.

I couldn't get into Abercrombie's stuff. I read The First Law and I thought the writing was atrociously bad - it reminded me of some of the stuff my students have turned in as first drafts. I couldn't get over all the sneering and spitting and grunting adjectives tossed around. It read like if JK Rowling tried to…

I disagree that Martin "pulls the rug" on his readers. Just about all the twists that people harp about are telegraphed for careful readers, it's not like he just rolls dice and takes characters out. He does have a master plan.

Steven Erikson is a funny writer because, of all the Iowa Writer's Workshop graduates, he's probably the most successful, but they totally ignore him because he writes fantasy.

Faulkner is among my favorite writers. After reading a few of his novels I can see why people often write off McCarthy as a Faulkner/Hemingway ripoff. Start with As I Lay Dying. It's short, easy to read, but incredibly dense and full of lush characters. The way Faulkner plays with perspective in that book is amazing.

I would never recommend it because, as far as my literary tastes go, IJ stands near the very end of the spectrum of extreme stuff. An analogy would be a philosophy person not wanting to recommend Jacques Derrida. A good philosopher, but not for beginners or even for advanced. It's next level stuff.

I have a personal connection to Le Guin (she's friends with an editor I'm friends with) and I was shocked to learn a few months ago that she can no longer get published by any of the big SF houses. This woman, one of the greatest living writers, SF or otherwise, is getting form rejections from SF magazines and…

http://boiledleather.com/po…

I read The Blade Itself a few months ago on recommendation that it would scratch my post-ASOIAF itch. Big mistake. Abercrombie isn't half the writer Martin is. In fact, I'd say he isn't even half the writer Stephen King is, and King is just terrible. I had all three from a used book store and I returned them for store…

I too read The Woman Upstairs and couldn't get into it until the end, which mostly turned things around for me. I'm not sure it was worth the read, ultimately.

Inherent Vice is the most accessible Pynchon by far, and my favorite. Reads like a lost Coen Bothers movie.

Sarah Vowell is good for the NPR crowd. I'd also give BJ Novak's new collection a try. Similar vein.

Saga Vol 3 is a bit of a slow burner compared to the last two, but the character work is still there, and where it leaves off is at a HUGE cliffhanger. Fucking sucks that I have to wait till May for the next issue.

I just finished The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud, which was saved mostly by the ending, but was a slog to get through despite being only 250 pages.

I second this notion. The ending of True Detective had me thinking about this, and I'd say I prefer a well-told cliche of a story to some clunky arthouse mess that doesn't make a lick of sense and tries to talk down to its viewer/reader.

I should abort the tires on her truck too - she lives just down the street from me. I see her at Starbucks a lot and make faces at her while she talks to people. One time one of the people she was with saw me and I had to high tail it out of there.

My rep is notoriously anti-abortion so I send her the occasional plea to take care of my children that I can't abort, but she never replies. Also, she follows back everyone so I followed her and then unfollowed her. ZING

All minor characters, though. I see what Thor is saying. Anderson has slightly more nonwhite characters than Allen, but they both don't concern themselves with race at all. It clearly interests them zero percent.