Favorite contemporary authors
by The Flamingo
It’s not a coincidence that my top five authors of contemporary literature are all women writers. I find their style very delicate and they stir emotions in me that a male author couldn’t succeed…well, except Tolstoi, but our subject here is contemporary literature. These 5 female authors are very close to my heart. I recommend them to anyone who has a sense of humor, a taste for accurate history, who appreciates well built characters, enjoys Japanese culture and is a romantic like myself.
She is a French author who studied philosophy, currently my favorite writer. Although she didn’t write that many novels (only four till the present day), they were all very well received by the public and the critics. It’s very difficult to describe Barbery’s style. Between the deep and very original ideas, the lack of action and her overwhelming sense of humor, what remains is her perfect prose. The way she describes human feelings and behavior (“when someone you love dies, then I can tell you that you feel what this means and that it hurts very, very, very badly. It’s like a fireworks display which ends abruptly and everything sinks into darkness” – Colombe, a 13 year old girl from “The elegance of the hedgehog”) or something as simple as a “sashimi” (“velvet dust at silk’s border, ethereal essence, the milky consistency that even the clouds don’t possess” – the food critic in “Gourmet Rhapsody”) is genuinely beautiful.
Whatever I write about her, I can’t do her justice, so it’s better to leave it to you, dear reader, to enjoy her and draw your own conclusions. Her four books are as follows: “Gourmet Rhapsody”, “The elegance of the hedgehog”, “The life of Elves” and “Un éstrange pays”. I recommend reading the second book if I were to choose her best novel.
This is a German author who writes historical novels. She perfectly combines history, adventure and mystery with romance, reminding me very much of Margaret Mitchell, the author of “Gone with the wind”. Their style feels very similar between their detailed description of nature and surroundings, of human behavior and relationships, and the accuracy of every historical event, and the heavy feeling the wars and battles leave on the reader. The most important similarity lies in the consequences and changes that are brought upon the characters from the beginning till the end.
Vosseler is fascinated not only by the traditional England, but also by the exoticism of the Arabian desert, by Asian and African countries, like Egypt, India, Sudan, Zanzibar and so many others. She has a passion for the English colonialism and all the changes that were brought upon these far away countries during that time. Her novels are very educational and they leave the reader wanting more knowledge and with a need of exploration and adventure.
Books I loved: “Under the saffron moon”, “Beyond the Nile”. The list is a very long one for those of you who can read German, Italian, Russian etc. They haven’t been translated into English yet.
She is a Belgian writer, whom I discovered in college. Nothomb lived part of her life all over Asia and this experience influenced her writing style. This author has one of my favorite combos: lots of humor (especially very vivid hilarious situations), easy to follow and fluent writing, subjects with and about all things Japanese (culture, habits, people, relationships).
Nothomb has a long list of books, translated into many languages, but my personal favorite is “Fear and Trembling”. The movie with the same name is also worth watching, but after you’ve read the book of course. “Tokyo fiancée” is the next on my list, although is very different from the first, I recommend both of them wholeheartedly.
This Japanese author is one of the best women writers in Japan. She was one of the first Japanese I read and I can say she is at the opposite end from most of the male Japanese writers. Her sensitivity, warmth and delicacy are felt throughout her writing. I discovered recently a quote from one of my favorite novels written by her, “Masks”, that is very relevant to her expressiveness style: “A woman’s love is quick to turn into a passion of revenge – an obsession that becomes an endless river of blood, flowing on from generation to generation”.
The two books that I’d like to recommend (“The Waiting Years” and “Masks”), are both written after World War II, so are somewhat contemporary, and they both have two very interesting Japanese women as protagonists, characters that stay with you long after you finish the books, similar to the likes of Anna Karenina, Scarlett O’Hara or Emma Bovary.
An English author, who writes “chick lit”, is the last on my list. I’m not a huge fan of this genre, I tried reading other authors but they didn’t work out. However, I must admit that Sophie Kinsella is really good at what she does, she is funny without being ridiculous, her stories are not far fetched and are believable, her characters are well built without being a cliché. Her “Shopaholic” series is very famous and has also been turned into a movie. Maybe I’m very subjective, because I could relate a lot to her main character, Becky Bloomwood, the similarities are uncanny. I would recommend a lot of her books, but the “Shopaholic” series is really my favorite, especially the first three books. It’s a perfect read for when you are on holiday or flying around a lot, it’s relaxing and funny.
My husband also read the first 5 books and liked them a lot, so maybe it’s not just for the female audience…
I have also male contemporary authors that I enjoy reading and I will share them with you in another article. The Flamingo hopes you will enjoy the recommendations and that you list below your favorites as well!
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Random thoughts of a mother
