I am looking for some good modern books. I spent the last twenty years reading mostly young adult and fantasy, with a few classics thrown in. I still want to read ya and fantasy, but I also want to start cracking the "modern classics." The kind of books that my mom reads with her book club.

I've read The Time Traveler's Wife, The History of Love, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (the first one I liked a lot, the other two I wasn't as keen on). I'm looking for things like Bel Canto, The Book Thief, The Thirteenth Tale, The Secret Life of Bees, Water for Elephants etc. I'm woefully ignorant in this genre and I want to rectify that.

One of my personal favorites is I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. I didn't much care for "She's Come Undone" by Lamb, but "I Know This Much Is True" is excellent.

I haven't read Middlesex, but everything I have heard about it seems to indicate that it is really, really good.

Similarly, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Haven't read them yet, but they seem to gather nothing but rave reviews.

Thanks Becky! I added the Wally Lamb book and I already have Middlesex on my TBR list.

I know I should read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but I just can't bring myself to read that much tragedy. I feel like it would just be too painful to subject myself to. Not that I can't read any tragedy; Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare and one of my favorite plays in general. I have a similar view of movies. I can do some dark, tragic stories (The Departed) but others just make me hate the world and all humanity and leave me depressed and bitter (like Osama, a movie on the same subject as Khaled Hosseini's books). If forced, I might try to read The Kite Runner (and I might even end up loving it) but I can't even begin to contemplate it. War and Peace seems like it would be easier.

I would have to suggest The Road and Blindness for starters!

The Kite Runner was a good book but I didn't really like it because I found it depressing.

Don't know if it fits in the genre you are looking at but My Sister's Keepr by Jodi Picoult is great and The Eight by Katherine Neville was excellent (we had to read this in high school and I still love it).

How about Possession A Romance, by A.S. Byatt?

My suggestions, without looking at YOUR books first, The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood, and Life of Pi Yann Martel. They are both excellent and I would recommend them to any reader.

These may all qualify as depressing, but I think of them as depressing in a good way, if that makes sense.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (an astonishing book that is hard to describe -- it's like a collection of stories, all of which are about the author's experiences in Vietnam, but some of them are fantastic meditations on storytelling & the nature of reality as well as different ways of telling stories.)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (don't be dissuaded by it's size, it is a large book, but a funny and wacky story about cousins that create comic books during the golden age of comic books, has some sad moments too).

The Hours by Michael Cunningham (exquisitely written novel interweaving three stories -- a modern woman's day based on the plot of Mrs. Dalloway, a 50's housewife reading Mrs. Dalloway, & Virginia Woolf. Ultimately sad, but beautifully so.)

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (a retelling of King Lear, set in the Midwest).

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (also beautifully written, very sad book -- it is the voice of a man, a preacher, writing a letter to his young son about his life & faith and making peace with yourself).

Hi Bonnie, I would recommend The Air We Breathe A Novel by Andrea Barrett, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and anything by Geraldine Brooks

I've enjoyed some of the books mentioned, most notably The Time Traveller's Wife and Life of Pi. I think you may enjoy the following:

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

and although it may not be grand literature, there is something special about The Number one ladies Detective Agency.

Happy Reading!

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! I've added all the books that weren't already on my TBR list! There were quite a few I'd never heard of before and I can't wait to get started!

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is a wonderful story. After I read it I wanted to run out and pitch my own.

Tre metri sopra il cielo.
The Loop
Prodigal Summer A Novel
The Whale Rider
A Fortune-Teller Told Me Earthbound Travels in the Far East
Sophie's World
Maya
Snow- Fermine Maxence

Fall on Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald is one of my favourites.

Becky wrote: "One of my personal favorites is I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. I didn't much..."

I read I Know This Much Is True in 1999. It is a wonderful book. For some reason I really liked She's Come Undone too. But I haven't found anyone else who enjoyed it.

Bobbi wrote: "Becky wrote: "One of my personal favorites is I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb...."

I loved She's Come Undone. I felt such empathy for her.

I wasn't really a huge fan of "She's Come Undone" It was OK, and it was a quick read, but I just didn't love it the way that I loved "I Know This Much Is True". And I absolutely LOVED "I Know This Much Is True".

I'm not sure whether I want to read Lamb's new book, The Hour I First Believed: A Novel. It's on my TBR list, but when I realized that it has to do with the Columbine school shootings, it almost turned me off about the book, although it's hard for me to define exactly why that is. I normally don't shy away from difficult material, but it just seems wrong for that tragedy to be used like that. Anyway, despite my misgivings, I've heard good things about the book, so maybe I am judging prematurely. I'll wait for the paperback in any case. :)

Becky wrote: "I wasn't really a huge fan of "She's Come Undone" It was OK, and it was a quick read, but I just didn't love it the way that I loved "I Know This Much Is True". And I absolutely LOVED "I Know This ..."

Christi, I'm going to read The Hour I First Believed I have the book now, but I wanted to tell you I had the same reaction as you when I realized what it was about. I am going to give it a try though.

Bobbi wrote: "Becky wrote: "I wasn't really a huge fan of "She's Come Undone" It was OK, and it was a quick read, but I just didn't love it the way that I loved "I Know This Much Is True". And I absolutely LOVED..."

I loved both of Wally Lamb;s books - She's Come Undone and I Know This Much is True". I am still on the waiting list for his newest - The Hour I First Believed.

Bonnie -

You might try
Memoirs of a Geisha
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan A Novel
The Prince of Tides (an oldie but a goodie)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
North River by Pete Hamill
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Any novel by Barbara Kingsolver

Q&A by Vikus Swarup (the book Slumdog Millionaire is based on)
P.S. I love you by Ceceli Ahern
Wicked by Gregory Macguire
Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi

Someone mentioned Middlesex, it is really an interesting book, but goes on really long deviations and sub plots, so be prepared!

I loved One Hundred Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus