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Overlooked fiction from recent years
Slate.com polled several bloggers and booksellers, scroll down to find my pick. You are welcome to leave your ideas in the comments...
Posted by Tyler Cowen on October 12, 2006 at 06:41 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Well by Matthew McIntosh
Super Flat Times by Matthew Derby
Posted by: Bill Cristal at Oct 13, 2006 6:50:03 AM
Out by Natsuo Kirino. not sure when the original was published, but the English translation is only a few years old.
my review: http://optic.livejournal.com/593350.html
Posted by: Mike at Oct 14, 2006 12:37:24 AM
Pleasant Hell (2004), by John Dolan.
Dolan's first novel is an authentically bitter Berkeley memoir that will appeal to anyone with a taste for loser literature. While the depiction of unrequited love is real enough to sting, the narrative is redeemed by comic flair and skillful turns of prose poetry.
Here's an excerpt that I like:
"Winter in Pleasant Hill is what summer is for cold climates: the nice time. The dead brown hills go green for a couple of months, and with the live oaks darkening in every green crotch of the hills, it becomes easier to superimpose the Tolkien world on every vacant lot. The air has a live green smell, and the pavement smells of rain. Puddles spangle the playground, so that the basketball courts' painted lines link mirror-fragments of cloud."
Posted by: Chip Smith at Oct 15, 2006 10:44:10 AM
