1) Plainwater, by Anne Carson - I discovered Anne Carson through a friend of mine and now I read her works for the same reason I read Italo Calvino (translated) - sometimes I like to swim around in the language and let it paint pictures in my head and Anne Carson is amazing for that. Check out this snippet from Plainwater:
2) Break by Hannah Moskowitz - Hannah is the reason I am comfy reading YA written in first person present tense (being mostly a reader of arcane Victoriana and non-fiction, I found this really difficult at first until I started reading her work). She is the queen of voice, and I know if I am reading passages of a book through my fingers because the action is so intense that it'll be a book I read again and again. Break's definitely my fave 2009 debut.On Homo Sapiens
With small cuts Cro-Magnon man recorded the moon's phases on the handles of his tools, thinking about her as he worked. Animals. Horizon. Face in a pan of water. In every story I tell comes a point where I can see no further. I hate that point. It is why they call storytellers blind - a taunt.
3) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - I don't actually like this book, and that's why I'm listing it. I think Atwood is a master (mistress?) but when I read this I got the distinct impression that it was written by someone much older and out of touch with modern tech. Like, it would have been an amazing dystopian if it had come out in 1996, but being released in 2005 it seemed a little too...dated? I'm having trouble articulating my actual beef with this book. It's masterfully written of course, who would expect less? But it reads like it was written by someone translating a story they heard from someone else without understanding some of the nuances behind it. Like Atwood was told about this internet thing and knew it had porn, so that went in there, and then some stuff about urban gardeners because of course THAT was a hot topic so that went in there too. I don't know. Anyone else want to chime in?