1. Carole Maso. This American novelist has been described as experimental; her works are poetic and sometimes fragmentary. I think she deserves far more recognition than she generally gets: her novels include Ghost Dance, The Art Lover, Ava, and The American Woman in the Chinese Hat. Her book on writing is called Break Every Rule, and she does.
2. Margot Livesey is a Scottish writer now living in the United States. She's far from unknown, but I think the author of Homework, Criminals, The Missing World, and Eva Moves the Furniture deserves to be more widely discussed.
3. Ron Rash is a Southern writer known for Serena and The World Made Straight. His writing is so good it will set your teeth on edge.
4. Eula Biss has only published two books, a book of essays, Notes from No Man's Land, and The Balloonists, a meditation on marriage. Who knows what will come next, but I will definitely be reading it.
5. Rachel Ingalls is an American writer living in London who combines fantasy and satire in delicious ways. She's best known for her novel Mrs. Caliban, in which a housewife falls in love with a monster named Larry. She has a book of stories out from Graywolf Press called Times Like These.
6. Nella Larsen was part of the Harlem Renaissance, and I can't figure out why more people aren't reading and talking about her novel Passing.
7. Molly Gloss is a writer whose work I greatly admire. Her wonderful novel, Wild Life absolutely captivated me.
8. David Rhodes is my hero, and I have to mention him every ten posts or so. Rock Island Line and Driftless were two of the best novels I read last year.
9. Kathleen Cambor has only published two books, but I thought In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden, a novel about the tragic Johnstown flood, was extraordinary.
10. You've probably heard of Robin Black, who worked for nine years on her book of short stories If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This. As soon as I finish moving all these books to a much smaller living space, I'm going to write a review of this wonderful book, but for now I'll just tell you to go read them for yourself.
I'm curious, what writer do you love who deserves more recognition?
8 comments:
My book group read Driftless last year, my first exposure to David Rhodes. It wasn't a book I thought I would like but I enjoyed it. I hope to read Rock Island Line sometime ....
A whole list of writers I haven't heard of. I look forward to learning more about them.
I haven't heard of any of these writers except Robin Black. Starting that book next week! Great list.
I haven't heard of many of the authors but I agree with you and Ron Rash. Wow, Serena made me hoppin' mad. Great writing.
Nella Larsen is a good one. I've also heard good things about Molly Gloss and picked up one of her books, but haven't read it yet.
Check out my post here: http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2011/03/top-ten-tuesday-check-um-out.html
I haven't actually heard of any of these authors so thanks for all the new authors to check out!
Carole Maso is a list of contemporary American women writers that I will work on in the second half of the year. Larsen is absolutely wonderful. I;m going to check out the others. Thank you for the list.
Such an enticing list. I seldom read any author's collected work, so I generally push titles more than authors. Recently I have been touting Jane Gardam's Old Filth and also her The Man With the Wooden Hat. Another find: Angel Rock by Darren William, which won a YA award in Australia. The Housekeeper and the Profession by Yoko Ogawa. Cathleen Shine's The New Yorkers: A Novel.
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