Ratebeer Readers discussion
Digging deeper into an author's body of work
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Also a couple of really obscure writers: Mervyn Peake (I've read the 'Gormenghast' trilogy but not his other novel nor much of his poetry), William Hope Hodgson (early 20th C writer of weird SF and sea stories) and David Lindsay (his 'Voyage to Arcturus' has to be one of the 10 great SF novels of all time; the rest of his work is not even close to the same level, but I've read half of it so might as well finish it off).
And in the really, really long term, HG Wells, who was the first writer I really fell in love with. 52 novels, over 1000 pages of short stories, and significantly more nonfiction. Doubt I'll ever get to all the NF, but I would love to get through all the fiction. He's such a neglected writer today; I suspect that if I ever do go back to school, Wells will be one of my studies.




I agree with the previous poster that "Wise Blood" is Flannery's best novel. Novella, really. It often comes in a collection with "Everything that Rises Must Converge" and "The Violent Bear it Away."
For Saul Bellow, I liked "More Die of Heartbreak" although I hear it is more for people who are already Bellow fans. But it sounds like you qualify : )

As for Bellow, I've only read Henderson the Rain King, which I loved. I'll try More Die of Heartbreak. I like his style.
I also want to get into Charles Williams. I've started one of his books, but got distracted. I know muzzlehatch has read a lot of his work.

The only other author I'm very interested in now is Theodore Sturgeon. Have a couple of novels and a volume of short stories down. Unlike Dick, he was a short story writer by trade and that is definitely where I'm gonna focus my efforts.
Other than that, I've read pretty much everything by Vonnegut at this point but who hasn't?

I've read just a little Sturgeon, few short stories years ago. Don't remember 'em really.
I've been trying (very slowly) to go through Dick's novels chronologically; it's not really easy to do as the sequence is pretty confused and there are still a few of them that aren't in print or aren't easy to get -- and I'm skipping a lot of the mainstream stuff that was unpublished at the time of his death. May get to it some day. Even his earliest stuff like 'Solar Lottery' is impressive, and by the mid-60s he was definitely on all cylinders. The last one I read, 'Martian Time-Slip' I don't think is generally regarded as one of the very best, but it might be my favorite so far. Very, very good all the way through but a little -- ordinary -- and then there's this incredible curve ball and you get to the end with your brain just exploding.

One of those unfathomable things for which I have no real excuse. Don't most people have to read one of them in high school or college at least? I have listened to several of his interviews though - those were quite interesting. Smart guy.


I'd like to read more Walker Percy, Flannery O'Conner, Toni Morrison and Saul Bellow.
Any recommendations among those writers?