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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

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Book Resources & Recommendations > Diversify my shelf

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message 1: by Seth (new)

Seth | 2 comments Recommend me books by non-male and/or non-white authors who might appeal to a fan of Jonathan Franzen, Don Delillo, David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon, etc. I love sprawling, ensemble cast, postmodern, creatively structured books about modern life, social ills, technology/society/environment/economies etc. But I have just been reading my same white man authors listed above out of laziness.


message 2: by Mariab (last edited Aug 31, 2017 07:36PM) (new)

Mariab | 3059 comments Seth wrote: "Recommend me books by non-male and/or non-white authors who might appeal to a fan of Jonathan Franzen, Don Delillo, David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon, etc. I love sprawling, ensemble cast, postm..."
Maya Angelou


Octavia E. Butler, a bit leaning to fantasy, but stil good


message 3: by Seth (last edited Sep 01, 2017 03:00PM) (new)

Seth | 2 comments Mariab wrote: Maya Angelou Octavia E. Butler

Thanks, but I'm looking for novels (Angelou wrote autobiographically). Maybe I'll try one of Butler's.


message 4: by Janice, Moderator (new)

Janice (jamasc) | 58951 comments The Round House by Louise Erdrich might appeal to you. The author is female of Native American heritage and writes about the social ills facing Native Americans.

From the book blurb, "Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with The Round House, transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It is an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family. "


message 5: by Mariab (new)

Mariab | 3059 comments I have forgot, there also is: Their Eyes Were Watching God


message 6: by Rusalka, Moderator (last edited Sep 04, 2017 05:09AM) (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19158 comments Welcome to YLTO, Seth.

At the risk of opening up a can of worms, what do you mean by non-white? As in the experience of a "white" person in Russia is going to be different to one in Australia, to one in France, to one in America. A lot of us have done a lot of around the world style challenges to broaden our reading, so I'm not asking for an arguments sake, just so we can help with recommendations!

I've only read Franzen of who you mention, and I wasn't a fan. But I think I can get the jist of the genre/style of writing you like. The ones I can think of straight away:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - now Czech behind the Iron Curtain, so again, depends on the white thing
The Poisonwood Bible - white female author writing about missionaries in the 70s in the Congo.

Doesn't fit exactly what you want but are worth looking at on goodreads to see if they appeal:
The Kite Runner
Who Fears Death - fantasy from a gritty, African mythology bent. Also a female author
Haruki Murakami - you may enjoy his stuff, a bit fantastical, but may work.
The Carpet Wars: From Kabul to Baghdad: A Ten-Year Journey Along Ancient Trade Routes - not a novel, but written by a journalist (white, Aussie, male though), so it doesn't feel like non-fiction. He finds people all along the Carpet Road and tells their story along with the facts. This is one of my all time favourite books, and I recommend it to everyone trying to broaden their reading about the world.


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