Malazan Empire: Gabriele - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

pat5150, on 12 January 2025 - 03:49 AM, said:

You don't see that recommended often. I second it, though.

John Gwynne, esp. his latest, the Bloodsworn trilogy, and Scott Oden's Grimnir Saga (a trilogy as well, those never die out ). Both are inspired by Viking cultures, makes you wonder why.

Historical Fiction can get pretty grimdark, too, esp. if the MCs find themselves on the losing side. Try Harry Sidebottom's standalone The Lost Ten; in case you like that he got plenty more books, the Throne of the Caesars trilogy and the Warrior of Rome series.

JPK, on 05 January 2025 - 03:05 AM, said:

Maybe I'll give Dickens another shot. I burned out on him with Oliver Twist and David Copperfield both of which I didn't really like, and never read anything else by him. Going to follow your read-along.

JPK, on 04 January 2025 - 03:43 AM, said:

I can totally relate to that feeling.

Looking at my shelves, I miss some German and Scandinavian books on that list.

Thomas Mann is an author that appears on all German Classics lists, usually with Magic Mountain, though I'd recommend The Buddenbrooks as starter, that one is more accessible (shorter, too ); if you like it, you can always move to either the novellas (fe. Death in Venice) or his longer works like Doktor Faustus or Magic Mountain.

Siegfried Lenz, Deutschstunde (The German Lesson) - a fictive character's memories of a childhood in WW2.

Theodor Fontane: Usually it's Effi Briest on those lists, but his last novel, The Stechlin, is a lovely, quiet and thoughtful Alterswerk (work of an older author), as we call it.

Another often suggested book is Theodor Storm, The Rider on the White Horse (Der Schimmelreiter). Definitely recommended.

I see you got Goethe's Werther. That is the work of a very young Goethe, still part of the Sturm und Drang-movement. I'd suggest to add a later one: Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. You could also pick Elective Affinities (Wahlverwandtschaften) but personally, I could never get into that one.

Don't miss out on Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness. Under the Glacier/Christianity at the Glacier is a good one to get into his writing (not a big book, either), or Iceland Bell. I also like Wayward Heroes (well, I like most of his novels, but that one is quite a bit of fun). I'd also suggest to pick some Icelandic sagas, most have at some point been published by Penguin - some of the best ones are: Laxdoela saga, Njals saga, Egils saga and Gísla saga Súrssonar (also Gisli the Outlaw).

If you like Austen, I'd suggest to check if there is a translation of Selma Lagerlöf's Charlotte Löwenskjöld. A shorter and a bit 'ghostly' book by her would be The Treasure (Herr Arnes penningar). The usual candidate on the lists is Gösta Berlings saga.

Vilhelm Moberg, The Emigrants (Utvandrarna).

Lars Gustafsson: Bernard Foy's Third Castling (Bernard Foys tredje rockad). I wrote an 80 page essay about that one back when I studied, among other subjects, Scandinavian Literature and Culture.

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I also got a lot of Honoré de Balzac. Père Goriot (Father Goriot (unfortunately, I can't find any English translations on the spot, but there should be), Cousin Bette, The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans/A Harlot High and Low are the best starters into his vast work.

From my Classics shelf: Ovid's Metamorphoses and Vergil's Aeneid (since you already got the Illiad).