Ooh, this is great! There's a bunch of stuff in here I haven't read and/or even heard of before. Thanks for all that!

That makes a lot of sense.

Hey you! I could not get into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I really wanted to. In fact, I finally just gave my copy away. How long did it take you to get hooked?

Sold! He's been recommended to me a lot so this is a good nudge.

Ha! I am a huge Buffy fan so now I am intrigued. :)

Oh, wow. Sounds fantastic. I will definitely look for that. Excellent.

I still have never read Zadie Smith somehow. I don't know why not.

That is quite a recommendation. Sometimes I find it harder to read someone's earlier works if I start with newer ones.

Oh, good. I'm glad. It's actually all those smaller pieces that make me like it.

No, though I heard that he did it. Such a great pairing. I never seem to be able to do audio books for some reason. I'd like to but I haven't had much luck.

I think it must technically be horror but mostly it's just about relationships and personal reflection. The characters are generally very socially isolated. Off the top of my head I can't think of any other Scandinavian authors I've read besides Sigrid Undset years ago. Thanks for the suggestions!

I hadn't heard of this. Right away the first line is hilarious: "The names of the men in this book have been changed because most of them are Dave." Looks great.

I love Dickens. I really do. I hope you like it. It can be hard to get into him at first but I really think it's worth it. If it doesn't work for you now I suggest trying again in a few years. I have had to do that with some of his stuff.

Oh, man. That's always hard. I have heard other people say the same thing.

I know exactly what you mean. That's good advice.

I looooooooove Scalzi. I haven't read Redshirts yet. I do love Agent to the Stars. I usually tell people to start with that one. I have Zoe's Tale waiting for me. I'm trying to pace myself so I don't blow through all his stuff. He just mentioned on Twitter recently he finished something new.

I have never read Tartt but I have been interested. Would you suggest starting her in a particular order? Also, The Good House looks awesome. Thanks!

This is the second Tursten reference in this thread. And I've never heard of Mankel. I'm very intrigued. The last Scandinavian writer I read was John Ajvide Lindqvist. I found his pacing to be hypnotic. Do you have others you can suggest?

I second what Seize: drunk etsy gift says, try The Dispossessed. For both books I think you have to keep in mind they were written in the early '70s but The Dispossessed stands up better. One of the interesting elements with that one is that you can really see where people's mindsets about certain prevailing political…

This is in my top ten favorite books. It's also one of the books I have given away most often.