Best Contemporary Literature

The best novel of the last ten years, and then some.

>tfw john green's name in spanish is a political advisor to hilary clinton

A little bit more than 10 years, but still, read it.

Danielewski is a rare talent. I feel like a lot of people write him off as a gimmick writer because of the physical presentation of the text, but his style is legit. The Familiar is one of the most enjoyable things I've read in ages, I can't wait for the next volume.

I genuinely loved Taipei. I'm not autistic, but I felt close to the main character.

Check out Ferrante's Neapolitan novels.

>Contemporary works
>Literature
Pick one.

The Familiar by Mark Z Danielewski

>if it isn't old it isn't lit

An ideology for plebs.

Does Veeky Forums actually like Murakami? I love him but I feel like you guys will think he's pleb

He isn't as bad as Veeky Forums makes him out to be, but I don't see him as anything too special.

Murakami is trash.
Read some Krasznahorkai, the best living author.

They're comfy, but highly overrated. A slightly more literary pop-novel if you will. They offer no challenges, nothing new to the literary conversation, no interesting perspective.

this

and soumission by houellebecq

lin is just a NYC hipster houellebecq on acid, from a social background that has no history of fascist undercurrents. i mean it's a stretch, but it's there. lin's quotes shopy, houellebecq quotes neetskeet, there's a certain degree of spiritual third cousinship going on there

and to amend that, i feel like readers of one might enjoy the other. if you subtract the tao lin readers who are just in it for the memes and edginess

Houellebecq has a couple contenders. Soumission, because it was very much of the moment. If it has any staying power, it will be as an historical artifclact though.
The Map and the Territory was great in a very different way. He eschews the dirty old man shit for the most part, and reaches beyond his usual schtick. Finally something that captures a facet of the contemporary world without needing to be edgy.

Stop making me want to reread Tao Lin.

he's iggy pop's favourite contemporary, too, and iggy pop know's his stuff

did you just read something by houellebecq, it feels like youre emulating him kek

did you enjoy it the first time or did you not like it and are reconsidering now?

anyways you can always just read the stuff he's got on his website. it's shorts and essays the length of a train ride

my eternal favourite is
thoughtcatalog.com/tao-lin/2011/02/koko-the-talking-gorilla/

These posts are correct.

>wasting your time not reading the canon

I read Richard Yates a few years ago before Tai Pei came out and I wasn't terribly impressed. I am a Houellebecq fanboy, which is most of why I'm reconsidering

it definitely reads different (lin vs houellebecq), i was blowing the similarities out of proportion, but i still feel like it's a valid point. at the very least it's blatantly obvious that there's two men in the same time and place (it's the west, what difference does it make), with the same issues on their mind, just dealing with them differently, writing about the same stuff from a different point of view

i read tai pei and most of the essays and shorts, i had yates on my phone for a while, couldnt get into it either. maybe he half-assed that one, idk

>assuming I haven't

Having a canon is for plebs, btw.