Hi Tony, This is a solid list of favorite writers. I think we’re on the same page. Trusting that, and since you also selected the “doorstopper” preference, I will now be recommending three recent novels that I have loved, all of which are over 600 pages, and all of which fit your stylistic criteria. The first book that came to mind when I read your query was Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, a wackadoo and deeply moving (even devastating) drama about a dysfunctional family trying to make ends meet in post-recession Ireland. It’s not always plainly written, some perspectives being more straightforward than others, but it is intensely readable while being morally and formally complex. It’s also very funny. I will also recommend Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren, translated by Agnes Broomé. Don’t be fooled by the title: it’s a novel, and one that you might find particularly interesting (or perhaps annoying, but I’m taking a shot here) as an art historian. A bestseller in Sandgren’s native Sweden, the novel is an absorbing family saga, a mystery about a publisher whose wife, the longtime muse of his famous painter best friend, has disappeared. It also involves inquiry into the nature of art, ambition, and aging. Like many of your favorites above, it is both highly emotional and intellectually stimulating: a book that satisfies on every front. Finally, I’ll suggest a more recent favorite, Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a lush and gorgeous novel about exile—both literal and emotional—that doubles as a compelling love story. It’s a big, almost old-fashioned novel that lets itself wander down side paths and wings ever so pleasantly around the world, and I’d wager you’ll find it very engrossing. –Emily Temple, Managing Editor |
