21st Century Literature discussion

Sometimes you finish a wonderful book, or a truly bad one, and you just move on to the next…. But sometimes a book leaves you still thinking about it for days/weeks/months after you finish it. Which 21st century books have left you still thinking about them and in what ways?

What a great question, Marc. It made me realize that "books I keep thinking about" is a different category of book, for me, from "favorite books."

Pretty much anything on my 'Best Books of the 21st c.' WIP qualifies as having made me think of them in the long term. You can see them here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

ok after thinking about it off and on today--

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Frontier by Can Xue
Radiant Terminus by Antoine Volodine
Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure: A Tale That Begins with Fukushima by Hideo Furukawa
The Blizzard by Vladimir Sorokin

...all because they communicated, through language, in a way that I hadn't understood was possible before reading them. What I keep thinking about them is how they taught me that each discrete word-box contains both an apparent meaning, as well as a greater meaning, when put in a certain context. (I know what I mean!)

Ah--it is quite a different question from favorites, isn't it?

There are others I may have liked more, but these come to mind that have haunted me:
Men We Reaped Jesmyn Ward
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
A Little Life - Hanya Yanigihara
Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour - Joshua Ferris (this book inspired my Masters thesis)
How to be Both - Ali Smith
Leonard and Hungry Paul - Ronan Hession

What a good question! I'm with lark on Fever Dream - gosh that one is never going to detach from my brain. And agree with Robert on Ali Smith, although it's There but for the for me.

Milkman pops up in my brain a lot too.

And No Country for Old Men.

These books pop up in my mind often, I guess because they made such a huge impact on me when I read them. Sometimes because I experience a certain feeling or thought & something about these books rise up in my consciousness in concert with those feelings or thoughts....

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi because it cracked my brain.

Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro because I am currently caretaking for an elderly, sick parent and it's just so.spot.on (in re: to that as well as so many other things). F$%^ this book hit me. Hard. Felt like a bus hit me.

Magnetized: Conversations with a Serial Killer by Carlos Busqued because I didn't think I would want to read it (was just going to read a few pages to see if my sister might like it) & instead was sucked in & read the entire thing at once. It's not what you expect & it raises some interesting questions about how we as a society deal with incarceration, rehabilitation, etc....

The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson because I wanted to bleach my brain & also couldn't stop reading. I was horrified & riveted.

The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal because I wasn't sure if I could bear the subject matter. But I did & it was fascinating, heartbreaking, urgent, & hopeful all at the same time.

Comemadre by Roque Larraquy just because it's so bizarre & weird & thought-provoking.

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman because it was cringe-y & raw & just incredibly well-done as a translation to pull you into the claustrophobic feeling of being in a small dive bar with a stand-up comedian who makes you uncomfortable.

Augustown by Kei Miller because it's lyrical & powerful.

Head in Flames by Lance Olsen because it's the first book I can remember having such a visceral reaction to when reading. Another one where I felt like I had been hit by a bus.

The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli because it's a favorite of mine & epitomizes the joy, humanity, weirdness, & uniqueness of the books I love. Fascinating to also read about the creation process (in concert with Jumex factory workers) as well as the collaborative translation process.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki because it reminded me to see the other side of the story. A favorite. And I am still struck by a quote from it, “Sometimes when she told stories about the past her eyes would get teary from all the memories she had, but they weren't tears. She wasn't crying. They were just the memories, leaking out.” Yes.

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi because it's dark & clever & fun. Another favorite that I think of often.

Stacia, some of yours have been on my to read list for a while, so maybe time to bump them up!

Tough question Marc. I reviewed all the books I've read that were published in 21st century from 2000 until 2020. I've left out 2020 and 2021 (and those I've read in those years) as too fresh to know if they will stick. And I did not include books I read only in audio.

The why is hard to explain. The fiction books touched (and continue to touch) my soul for a number of reasons, as did the first three of the non-fiction books. The fourth (actually 4 books and I just hope with get the fifth) fed my interest in politics - US elections and government - in the 20th century. The fifth speaks to medical ethics, racism, and classism in the US, also long time interests.

Fiction:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón,
The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers,
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson,
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks,
American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell,
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann,
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes,
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner,
In the Land of Armadillos: Stories by Helen Maryles Shankman

Non-fiction:
When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine by Monica Wood,
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi,
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller,
The Years of Lyndon Johnson Set: The Path to Power; Means of Ascent; Master of the Senate; The Passage of Power by Robert A. Caro,
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Hadn't even thought about non-fiction, Linda, but I have a few that have stuck with me:
- Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
- Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
- In the Dream House
- The Argonauts
- The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning
- Suite for Barbara Loden

Fiction:
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- How to Be Both
- Chouette
- Counternarratives
- The Vegetarian