Fiction Essentials
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Lanny
Max Porter’s second book is a stunner — a quick read that I immediately re-read most of once I was finished.
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Disgrace
Coetzee won his second Booker Prize with this in 1999. It’s short, but rich and memorable.
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Denison Avenue
Moving and beautiful. It belongs in the Toronto Starter Kit. It’s one of the best things I’ve read in years.
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Waiting for the Barbarians
Cotezee’s best-regarded book is a slim volume with sharp teeth and resonance more than 40 years after its publication.
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When We Cease to Understand the World
Early contender for best read of 2024. A slim, readable and unforgettable thing.
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Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast of Champions is the perfect Vonnegut gateway drug. It’s an easy read, it’s bizarre, cynical, angry, vulgar, hilarious and certainly not for everyone.
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The Bee Sting
The comparisons to Franzen are fair. It sure didn’t feel like 600+ pages. I could not get enough of this book.
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Prophet Song
Lynch’s book details a modern Ireland’s quick slide into a nightmare dystopia. It sees the world through the eyes of a mother trying to figure out how to keep her family together. It’s easily one of the top five fiction books I’ve read this year.
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The MANIAC
This book is readable, compelling and full of ideas that will follow you around long after you finish it. It’s absolutely riveting.
