I'm looking for recommendations for books covering someone's life from childhood until at least 30. Ideally I'd like the setting to be post-war America. I don't really mind about the genre or even plot (if fictional), I'm just looking for well-paced, readable books which tell someone's life story, either real or fictional. Something like a modern David Copperfield would be ideal, but also very interested in less linear structures. Many thanks in advance!
Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace transcended era and setting for me, and taught me a lot about life. It's just not an easy read. Still, I couldn't recommend it more.
The Goldfinch? It's a bit descriptively dense, but it is pretty good. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. (I like this one a lot.) It jumps between characters you don't expect though, and some of that is told out of order.
One of my favourites! In this case I'm really hoping for modern stories, though, ideally set in America. Research purposes.
On second thought, I'm not sure how much of Garp is devoted to his childhood. It details the rather unusual circumstances leading up to his birth, I know there's at least a little bit with him as a child, and then it might cut to his adult life. I can't really remember. Does anybody know?
Thank you! I will check it out in any case, what I'm interested in is stories following one person for years at a time where the plot isn't immediately obvious (i.e. there's no murder or romance or whatever to get to the bottom of), this sounds like it would still fit?
I think so. It's not a plot-driven story, more a sort of character portrait I suppose. It's not genre, I guess I'd call it mainstream or popular fiction leaning toward the literary.
Don't your American sports stars release autobiographies an hour after retirement like on this side of the Atlantic? I don't much go for biography but vaguely remember enjoying a book of Jim Morrison's life, No-one Here Gets Out Alive, I think. But then, it was about Jim Morrison. He died at 27, so not quite reached your specs.
Thanks, I'll check it out nevertheless. As for American sports stars, being neither American nor into sports I wouldn't know where to begin, but if anyone knows of one with a good autobiography please do share!
In any case, I enjoyed 'Ranger Confidential' https://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Confidential-Living-Working-National/dp/0762752637
In the US, post-war refers to WWII. Namely the 1950s, conjuring baby boomers, television, suburbia, prosperity, picket fences, a car in every garage, a good job for all, affordable tract housing, Hollywood, Norman Rockwell, etc.
Absolutely agree. "War and Peace" by Tolstoy is an epoch-making work, which was not only created on the basis of decisive events for the world political and economic scale, but also which is truly beautifully written in terms of the artistic components of the text. Edubirdie and I once researched this issue. In this epic novel, the moments of interaction between the characters are very subtly shown. And it's incredibly cool.
