What to read from modern literature. Modern prose

23.03.2022

To make it easier for you now and in the future to find a book "in the mood", we started to make monthly collections of interesting books for every taste.

They can contain literature of various genres, published both 10 days ago and ten years ago. It’s not a fact that you will meet sales record holders here (“Fifty Shades of Gray” is not to be expected), because these reviews will not be done by a store that has the goal of “getting away with it”, but by an enthusiastic reader who loves to write about books.

“There will never be anything in this column that I didn’t like (at least I will try to be frank in evaluating books), and it will also not contain reviews of books that I have not read. But objectivity, perhaps, is not particularly worth waiting for, because the taste and color of all felt-tip pens are different, and the lists of books are not recommended by any important government agencies.

Sometimes this column will be thematic, sometimes just a list of books read during the month that I am preparing this text, there are no rules - only books. And one more small introductory moment: I will write quite a lot about some books, about some less, but this absolutely does not mean either the quality or the volume of the book, but simply how the letters have formed into words personally me".

All the books you love were published decades or even centuries ago, but are you afraid to take on something modern because you don’t want to be disappointed?

Then to your attention - a selection of modern books that you should definitely include in your personal library!

Ann Tyler - Spool of Blue Thread

This is a family saga about three generations of the Whitshank family, told exactly in reverse: from the end to the beginning.

A story connected with the family home, the local way of life, mores, customs, habits, with a constant desire to break out of what surrounds.

Like any family, the Whitshenks are united by joy, laughter, holidays, as well as grief, misunderstandings, conflicts and, of course, secrets and family secrets.

Tyler writes measuredly, in detail, showing a simple life without fuss, and wins not with a fascinating plot, but with an honest, quiet, as if in a whisper, story.

John Thorne, JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The long-awaited continuation of the Harry Potter saga is a play staged in London.

You should not expect a repetition of a fairy tale from childhood: the style, the manner of presentation, the construction of the plot - everything is different. But this is such a “hello” from the past, thanks to which you plunge into the world of childhood and youth for several hours, remembering a few forgotten heroes and plunging into their new adventures with interest.

19 years have passed since the last events described by JK Rowling, and already the children of the main characters are the main characters of the story, forming the most unexpected alliances.

Narine Abgaryan - "Zulali"

These are simple stories about life, about Berd, about Armenia, about people, about recipes, about air, about parables... Narine Abgaryan invariably succeeds in creating something amazing and completely out of the ordinary description.

So "Zulali" absorbed all the love, all the tenderness, national flavor and simple human joys and sorrows.

Tears well up when reading, but a bright smile remains on your face, and you yourself somehow especially feel life.

Khaled Hosseini - The Wind Runner

Khaled Hosseini's gripping novel is largely autobiographical. It tells about the boy's life in pre-war Kabul and his way to the USA.

Children's life is not yet overshadowed by the war, but it has its own troubles and joys. For example, the father, as it seems to the boy, does not love him enough and pays more attention to the servant's son. And he himself grows up not as a worthy successor of the family, but as a coward and weak-willed. But is it really so?

A novel about Afghanistan, about nationalism, about friendship, about childhood, about the vicissitudes of fate. This is another world, sometimes incomprehensible, but existing in real time, very close to us, which sometimes makes it creepy...

David Mitchell - The Hungry House

Invisible from the street, a quiet alley in the center of London, a small black iron door that not everyone will notice, let alone be able to open, and behind it a huge Victorian house, which it is not clear how it fit there.

All this is the beginning of a chilling story, from which it is simply impossible to tear oneself away until the last page is turned.

Time passes, people change, but after a cycle, the house receives its victim every time. Will it last forever? You can only find out by reading the book.

Stephen King called "The Hungry House" a "rare, magnificent thing"! And it is impossible not to agree with him.

Dina Rubina - "Babi Wind"

The new book by Dina Rubina is wonderful, however, as always. The story, which fit on 317 pages, tells about the fate of a woman in exile. An ordinary, perhaps, absolutely any woman, in whose life there was an indelibly bright childhood, great love, unbearable pain, and now only work, hard, exhausting, sometimes disgusting work, and this “diary” that she keeps for her “writer” .

And, of course, in her life there was and remains freedom, freedom of flight, balloons and an incredible love for the sky, she just forgot about it a little ...

Rubina's amazingly figurative language makes her not only empathize with the characters, but also feel completely immersed in the story.

Donna Tart - "Goldfinch"

The famously twisted plot immerses you in a completely unreal jungle of narration: there are explosions, and murders, and drugs, and childhood problems. But these are 828 pages, and therefore you are swinging on the waves of the text, plunging into incredibly beautiful and naturalistic images.

Donna Tart is, first of all, the language and the enjoyment of the very process of reading, even if the story is about a drug frenzy. True, immersion in it occurs so sharply and deeply that you want to quickly break through it.

But when the turn of the text about art comes, I want to stretch the chapters to infinity ...

The world-famous picture runs like a red thread through the entire novel and the life of the protagonist, but it is definitely impossible to say whether it is a curse or a guiding thread.

The book is about many things, and it is simply worth reading for yourself.

Rune Belswick - "Prostodursen"

The stories of the modern Norwegian writer about Prostodursen and his friends are becoming increasingly popular. Simple stories about simple things that are so needed in childhood to distinguish good from evil, friendship from pretense. These books teach how to live and make friends, and also answer the questions why the sky is blue, the grass is green and the wind blows. And most importantly: they talk about the fact that each person is individual and has the right to his own life.

I am me, this is me, this is me

That's who I am.

Others are completely different

Who are they, who are they.

Each of us is more than it seems

There is something hidden in each of us.

Mikhail Shishkin - "Coat with a strap"

Not Shishkin's main book, but in the absence of his new books, Coat with a Strap is a breath of fresh air for fans of the author's work.

On the pages of the book you can find sketches from life, and historical chronicles, and journalistic investigations. But all these seemingly incompatible texts have one thing in common - the unique style of the author. Mikhail Shishkin remains true to himself and, like no one else, he accurately defines his prose: “The writer has no choice but to perform a miracle and resurrect dead words, make them alive again. And only with these revived words will it be possible to speak of love. For me, the only way to resurrect words is to spell them wrong. I sniff every phrase, and if it smells like a Speak and Write Properly manual, I cross it out. To say something right is to say nothing."

The best books are a relative concept. A good printed edition at the moment is a work that brings comfort, advice, knowledge, wisdom, vivid impressions to a person. Thus, the determining moment is the satisfaction of the demand of a certain reader by the book.

For some people, exclusively specialized literature is valuable: documentary, scientific, technical, medical, industry. But it's more of food for thought. However, most readers are still interested in fiction books. They contribute to the formation of the spiritual image. They will be discussed in this article.

The art book is a unique invention. Pleiades of thinkers of different times and eras trusted paper with their hopes, observations, understanding of truth, life, humanity. It is wonderful when the vivid images created by these authors, together with deep and unique quotes (sometimes decades ago, and sometimes centuries) illuminate the lives of our contemporaries!

The role of the Russian competition "Book of the Year"

The current one in Russia is unusually fruitful and has the characteristic features inherent in decadence:

Directing the literary process in a constructive direction, avoiding the erosion of the national and stimulating truly talented beginnings in it is an extremely important task of modern Russian culture. An indicator of the success of books written by our contemporaries is the annual national competitions of the "Book of the Year" type. They are organized to stimulate both writers and publishers.

For example, in the Russian competition of 2014, traditionally held in mid-September, 150 publishing houses participated, submitting more than half a thousand books to the competition. The winners in 8 categories were announced:

prose works - the novel "The Abode" (Zakhar Prilepin);
a poetic work - a translation of Shakespeare's "King Lear" (Gigory Kruzhkov);
fiction for children - the story "Where does the cock horse jump?" (Svetlana Lavova);
art book - "Kargopol Journey" (prepared by the local architectural and art museum);
nomination Humanitas - artistic and documentary album "Lermontov" (State Archive of Arts and Literature);
e-book - media project "Yasnaya Polyana" and "Yaroslavl Temples" (project bureau "Sputnik");
nomination "Printed in Russia" - album "Vetka. book culture”;
the main prize of the competition "Book of the Year 2014" - the three-volume book "Russia in World War I" (a team of 190 researchers from universities, museums, archives).

To summarize: the objectives of the above-mentioned competition are to raise the status of the book in current public life; stimulation of the best authors and publishers. Over the sixteen years of its existence, this event has proven in practice its motivating role in the development of Russian literature.

At least, they nominated Russian writers who can rightly be called classics:

2004, nomination "Prose" - "Sincerely yours, Shurik" (Lyudmila Ulitskaya); nomination "Bestseller" - "Night Watch" (Sergey Lukyanenko);
2005, nomination "Prose" - "Voltairians and Voltairians" (Vasily Aksenov);
2011, nomination "Prose" - "My Lieutenant" (Daniil Ganin).

International book ratings

As we have already mentioned, the best, most sought-after books, thanks to the thought crystallized in them, become real friends, advisers, and joy for their readers. And the authors who wrote them are called classics.

Created by talent, the best books are studied in schools and universities, they are widely quoted in everyday life.

At the very least, navigating the web reveals dozens of variants of The 100 Best Books.

Such lists have a certain value. Thanks to them, it becomes much easier for a novice reader to find the really best books to read among tens and hundreds of thousands of works. If a person feels his gaps in the knowledge of world culture (an integral part of which is domestic and foreign literature), then such a rating can become a route map.

What direction to choose for such a landmark? If you are really interested in world literature, then we would recommend using one of the ratings by version:

the English Broadcasting Company (BBC);
The Observer;
Writers' Union of Russia;
the French newspaper Le Monde;
American publishing house Modern Library;
Norwegian book club.

Of course, the news agency of each country, when listing the best books, tries to give leading places in the lists to authors-countrymen. And it's justified. After all, the talents of recognized classics, who created their masterpieces from the time of the ancient world to the present day, are in fact incomparable. Each of them in their own way finds a path to the hearts of readers.

A phenomenon that has come down to us after millennia: the literature of the ancient world

The list of books that have come down to us through the millennia and inherited from other eras is rather limited. However, they also appear in modern ratings. That is why we write about them. Unfortunately, history has not preserved the ancient libraries: Gentiles fought with books in the same way as with enemies. So, for example, the richest library of Alexandria, numbering up to 700,000 papyrus scrolls, was destroyed.

What books of our classical ancestors should be mentioned first of all when speaking about the ancient world? Of course, Publius Virgil Maron, the author of the Aeneid, deserves fame in Latin, and Homer, the author of the Odyssey and the Iliad, deserves fame in ancient Greek. Guided by the theory of Virgil, the Russian scientist and poet Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov developed a syllabo-tonic system of versification, which served as a launching pad for the further development of Russian poetry.

However, not only Virgil and Homer are considered ancient classics. Horace, Cicero, Caesar also worked in Latin, and Aristotle, Plato, Aristophanes in ancient Greek. However, it is the two names mentioned earlier that present the literature of the ancient world to the greatest extent.

Books of Europe in the era of the formation of capitalism

Foreign literature, of course, is represented by a much richer list of authors than Greece and Ancient Rome. This was facilitated by the rapid development of European states.

France, with its Great Revolution, brought to life romantic human aspirations for freedom, equality, and fraternity. In the literature of Germany, which began to create its own statehood, in unison with French, romanticism also prevailed.

In contrast, industrialized, urbanized and politically stable Britain - the mistress of the seas - showed the most powerful and mature literary process, leaning towards realism.

It is generally accepted that the most famous writers who worked in French at that time are Victor Hugo ("Les Misérables", "Notre Dame") and George Sand ("Consuelo").

However, speaking of the French contribution to world literature, we should mention the names of Alexandre Dumas père ("Iron Mask", "Three Musketeers", "The Count of Monte Cristo"), Voltaire (the poem "Agathocles"), Charles Baudelaire (collections of poems " Parisian Spleen", "Flowers of Evil"), Molière ("Tartuffe", "The Tradesman in the Nobility", "The Miser"), Stendhal ("Perm Convent", "Red and Black"), Balzac ("Gobsek", "Eugene Gande ”, “Godis-sar”), Prosper Merimee (“Chronicles of the times of Charles IX”, “Tamango”).

We will continue the list of romantic books characteristic of early bourgeois Europe by mentioning the works of the Spaniards and Germans. A brilliant representative of Spanish classical literature is Cervantes ("The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha"). Of the German classics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe became famous ("Faust", "Wild Rose"), Heinrich Heine ("Journey through the Harz"), Friedrich Schiller ("The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa", "Robbers"), Franz Kafka ("Missing ", "Process").

Romantic adventure books discarded the entourage of real life, their plot was based on the actions of exceptional characters in unusual conditions.

Rise of British Literature

In the 19th century, British writers were rightfully considered to be the legislators of the “book fashion” on the European continent. French authors, initiated by the Great Revolution, received less favor after the collapse of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The English had their own literary tradition. Back in the 14th century, the whole world recognized the genius of William Shakespeare and the innovative social ideas of Thomas More. Developing their literature in a stable industrial society, British authors already in the 18th century began an evolutionary transition from the classic chivalric romance (romanticism) to social, psychological works.

They, more pragmatically than the French, tried to answer the philosophical question: "What is Man, and what is Society?" These new thinkers were Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) and Jonathan Swift (Gulliver). However, at the same time, Britain marked a new direction of romanticism, as demonstrated by George Gordon Byron, author of Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

The literary tradition of realism in the first half of the 19th century was powerfully developed by the following famous writers:

Brilliantly talented (whom F. M. Dostoevsky later called his teacher);

Intellectual to the point of uniqueness, stoically enduring hunger and poverty, Charlotte Bronte, famous for the novel "Jane Eyre";

The creator of the world famous Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle;

Kneeling and persecuted by the corrupt press ("Tess of the Dabervilles").

Russian golden literature of the 19th century. The Biggest Names

The classics of Russian literature are associated in the world primarily with the names of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Although in general in the 19th century (which is generally recognized) Russian literature turned into the most striking cultural phenomenon on a global level.

Let's illustrate the above. Tolstoy's style of writing novels has become an indisputable classic. Thus, the American writer Margaret Mitchell wrote her famous epic Gone with the Wind, imitating the style of Lev Nikolaevich.

The piercing psychologism of the highest standard inherent in Dostoevsky's work was also generally recognized in the world. In particular, the famous scientist Freud claimed that no one in the world could tell him anything new about the inner world of a person, no one except Fyodor Mikhailovich.

And Chekhov's innovation inspired the authors to start writing works based on the world of human feelings. In particular, the venerable British playwright Bernard Shaw recognized himself as his student. Thus, foreign literature in the 19th century received both powerful ideological nourishment and a new vector of development from Russian literature.

A Note About Literary Rankings

The fact remains: among the hundreds of the best works, a significant part is occupied by books written in the 19th century. It is these writers that are usually studied in schools, for which inertial and unreasonably stable curricula have been developed.

Is it fair? Not at all. It is more expedient to change the curriculum, taking into account the tastes of a real advanced readership. In our opinion, no less than the works of the 19th century in the curriculum should be occupied by the works of writers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The classics of Russian literature today are not only the works of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, but also the books of Mikhail Bulgakov, Viktor Pelevin. We deliberately express the thought figuratively, mentioning only individual names of famous poets and writers.

Raising the topic: “What books are the best?”, It is reasonable to tell in more detail about the works of the classics of the present and past centuries.

BBC's Best Book. critical eye

First place in the BBC version, is occupied by John Ronald Tolkien's trilogy novel "The Lord of the Rings". We will pay special attention in this article to this fantasy work. Books with a similar depth of study of the plot, based on ancient legends, are very rare.

What motivated the experts of the rating for such a high rating? Indeed, the professor at Oxford University has done Britain a great service with his most fascinating work. He, having deeply and comprehensively studied the folklore of Foggy Albion (hitherto disparate and fragmentary), figuratively speaking, untwisted it by a thread and wove it into a single concept of the struggle between Good and Evil. It is not enough to say that he did it with talent. A curious fact testifies to the uniqueness of the trilogy. Once, after his lecture, an angry scientist colleague came to the author of The Lord of the Rings and accused the writer of plagiarism.

Modern fiction, perhaps, hitherto did not have such associations. The writer's opponent turned out to be conclusive, he brought to the bewildered author of "The Ring" unknown to the latter copies of drawings from ancient British chronicles, which seemed to illustrate Tolkien's work.

It happens! One person managed the impossible - to unite, systematize and, what is important, presentably present the ancient folklore of his homeland. No wonder Queen Elizabeth II awarded the writer the honorary title of Knight of Britain.

Some other BBC rated books

Children's fantasy trilogy "His Dark Materials" (Philip Pullman).
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
"1984" (George Orwell).
"Rebecca" (Daphne Du Maurier).
"The Catcher in the Rye" (Jerome Salinger).
The Great Gatsby (Francis Fitzgerald).

Opinion of Russian readers

What assessment is given to the fairness of the British rating on the Russian forums of book lovers? Short answer: ambiguous.

A rather high assessment is given to the work of the writer George Orwell. For many readers, the exciting novel with an unpredictable plot, Rebecca, has become a favorite book. For reading, children can recommend the story of the journey of the girl Lyra Belacqua from Oxford through fantastic worlds from Philip Pullman.

However, there are also quite motivated remarks. For example, for a domestic sophisticated reader who has fallen in love with such novels as Bulgakov's realistic-mystical novel The Master and Margarita, Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, as well as Picnic by the Road and Doomed City by the Strugatsky brothers, to put it mildly, the priority criterion for the BBC rating is not entirely clear.

Understand correctly: we are by no means trying to lower the artistic value of a number of talented novels like Catch 22, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, when we state the fact that their genre is an ideological novel. Can they, speaking objectively, compete with the voluminous and multi-problem work The Master and Margarita?

Such books-novels, consistently revealing only one thought of the author, should be rated lower! After all, their depth of meaning is initially limited by design, devoid of volume, multidimensionality. Therefore, according to our readers, the dubious positioning of novels-ideas in the list of books at positions higher than War and Peace or Master and Margarita is completely absurd.

Modern postmodern books

Postmodernist books today are perhaps at the peak of popularity, as they represent the ideological antithesis of a stagnant mass consumer society. Modern postmodernist writers dissect the consumerist lifestyle that surrounds them, filled with soulless advertising and primitive glossy glamour.

There are such ideological authors even in well-fed America. Recognized in his homeland as a true connoisseur of the problems of the consumer society, the writer of Italian origin Don DeLillo (underworld novels, "White Noise"). Another Italian scientist, professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, Umberto Eco, immerses the reader in such an intellectually rich outline of the work (“Foucault's Pendulum”, “The Name of the Rose”) that his creations are in demand by an intellectual audience.

A softer postmodern is demonstrated by another author. One of the representatives of Russian modern literature of this trend is Boris Akunin. The books of this modern classic (“The Adventures of Erast Fandorin”, “Azazel”, “The Adventures of Sister Pelageya”) are in demand by the mass reader and even filmed. Many people note the power of the author's talent, his masterful style, the ability to create fascinating stories. In his reasoning, he demonstrates a special personal philosophy of the Eastern character.

The latter is particularly noticeable in his "Jade Rosary" and "Diamond Chariot".

It is noteworthy that, captivating the reader with detective stories taking place in the general outline of the historical events of Russia, the modern classic Akunin does not bypass the problems of poverty, corruption and theft. His books, however, are not sustained within the strict framework of the historical plot. In the West, this genre of prose is called folk-history.

The chronological point that determines the start of the concept of "modern Russian literature" is 1991. Since that time, the hitherto closed works of authors of the sixties have become the property of the broad masses of readers:

"Sandro from Chegem" by Fazil Iskander.
"Crimea Island" Vasily Aksenov.
"Live and Remember" by Valentin Rasputin.

Following them, modern writers came to literature, whose worldview was initiated by perestroika. In addition to the above-mentioned Boris Akunin, other Russian literary stars of the first magnitude also brightly lit up: Viktor Pelevin (“Numbers”, “The Life of Insects”, “Chapaev and Emptiness”, “T”, “Empire V”) and Lyudmila Ulitskaya (“The Case of Kukotsky ”,“ Sincerely yours, Shurik ”,“ Medea and her children ”).

Modern fantasy books

Perhaps a sign of an era of decadence was the remake of the romantic genre, resurrected in the form of fantasy. What is worth only the phenomenon of the popularity of the cycle of Harry Potter novels from JK Rowling! This is true: everything is returning to normal, romanticism is regaining its lost ground from realism!

No matter how much they say that realism once (in the 30s of the 20th century) crushed romanticism to death, no matter how much its crisis is hidden, but it is back on horseback! It's hard not to notice. Let us recall just one of the classic definitions of this literary style: "Exceptional heroes act in unusual situations." Isn't the last statement in the spirit of fantasy?! What else to add...

"Night Watch", "Day Watch" (Sergey Lukyanenko).
"Forbidden Reality", "Gospel of the Beast", "Catharsis" (Vasily Golovachev).
The cycle of novels "The Secret City", the cycle "Enclaves" (Vadim Panov).

We also recall the popularity in Russia of the fantasy cycle "The Witcher" by the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. In a word, adventure books are now again in favor with readers.

Looking through the forums of Russian readers, we found that among the outstanding writers of the 20th century non-European and non-American books are mentioned much less frequently. However, among them there are very bright and talented works:

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" (Colombian Marquez).
"Woman in the Sands" (Japanese Abe Kobo).
"Waiting for the Barbarians" (South African John Coetzee).

Conclusion

The bottomless artistic of its authors (meaning - the best) the average person, unfortunately, a priori will not be able to read throughout his life. Therefore, navigation in the boundless "sea" of books is extremely important. "Why is it necessary - purposefully read?" - an uninitiated person will ask ...

We will answer: “Yes, to decorate your life, to make real friends! After all, books are both advisers, and inspirers, and comforters.

In conclusion, we note that if in the future you are lucky enough to find at least a dozen books, each of which, like a tuning fork, is ideal for you, your soul in a certain life situation, then we will consider that it was not in vain that we worked on this article. Happy reading!

We talk about books of different genres that you can read for the soul. These works will definitely not leave you indifferent.

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age.

Are you over 18 already?

Well, when else, if not in winter, wonder what to read for the soul? When TV and social networks are tired, it's time to pick up a book. We'll tell you what to read.

R. Bradbury "Dandelion Wine". Winter cold evenings make us remember the gentle summer. Fresh air, birds singing, a warm river, golden sunlight - this work will plunge you into such an atmosphere. Together with the main character - a 12-year-old boy - you will live a carefree summer full of discoveries, sad and joyful events, pleasant experiences.

T. Pratchett "Cat without embellishment". No politics, no drama, just Their Majesties Cats. This book is a small encyclopedia that tells about the life and essence of felines in an easy manner. "Cat without embellishment" will allow you to pass the evening in a warm cozy atmosphere, and maybe you will even learn a lot of interesting things about mustachioed pets.

A. Exupery "The Little Prince". This is an allegorical story-tale, which, despite the genre, is dedicated to adults. Together with the wonderful Little Prince, you will go on a journey through the planets and learn to look at familiar things from a different angle.

This is a work from modern literature. This novel tells about the girl Liesel, who lives in the era of the Second World War. Interestingly, the story is told from the perspective of Death, and in Zusak's book it is a male character.

Ken Kesey Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In this selection, we tried to include works of different genres, and you choose which book to read. "Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a serious work, the characters of which are in a psychiatric clinic. The silence of hospital corridors and boring procedures reigns here, but everything changes with the advent of Patrick McMurphy. this disobedient hoolan turns everything upside down in the clinic, preventing his comrades in misfortune from bowing dutifully before the outside world.

B. Pasternak "Doctor Zhivago". This book can also be read for the soul, but it is rather sad. The novel shows how historical events (in this case, the Civil War and the Revolution) affect the fate of an ordinary person who, by chance, finds himself in their center.

Stephen King Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. This is the story of how the protagonist, wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover, ends up in Shawshank Prison, where corruption and violence flourish. The book is considered one of the best in the work of King.

M. Hansen, D. Canfield, E. Newmark “Chicken broth for the soul. 101 best stories". If you have never come across the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books, then we advise you to pay attention to it. The series includes several books, each of which is a collection of stories about different people. You will learn about a boy from a simple family who met three presidents, about an actress who became happy thanks to cancer, about a girl who sold more than forty thousand cookies for the sake of her mother's dream. Here are collected amazing stories of ordinary people in whose lives something incredible happened, and you definitely won’t be able to tear yourself away from them.

It's no secret that women love to read for the soul. Most representatives of the beautiful half of humanity love to read about love. Romance novels are also designed for a certain circle of readers, but if you want to read better and more interesting works, then you should pay attention to the following books:

Maya Kucherskaya "Aunt Motya" - a classic novel about love, betrayal and experiences;
Haruki Murakami "Norwegian Forest" - a novel about friendship, love and conscience;
Chingiz Aitmatov "Jamilya" - a love story with chic descriptions of the steppes and mountains;
Janusz Wisniewski "Loneliness in the Net" is a novel about the modern world and the position of one person in it.
John Fowles "The French Lieutenant's Mistress". There are many good things in this novel. The author leads the reader to the fact that conscience is an individual choice of each person.

Maybe we're wasting our lives on things we don't need? Or appreciate the worthless things? The life of a dying Lillian teaches readers how important it is to value time.

Anne Frank Shelter. Diary in letters". The book presents the diary of a little girl who kept it in Amsterdam while hiding from the Nazis with her family. This is a tragedy of the twentieth century, which was reflected in the notes of a fifteen-year-old girl.

Vladimir Nabokov "Lolita" This work can be treated with contempt or with admiration. There is no third. A novel that stirred up society and became popular on both sides of the ocean.

The reader himself chooses what literature to read, domestic or foreign. From foreign literature, you can choose very interesting books. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is admired by readers around the world. This is a love story that stands a level above all other novels in this category.

Emily Bronte "Wuthering Heights". The novel will take you to England, where the girl fell in love with her cousin. This novel is still a mystery.

Erich Maria Remarque "Arc de Triomphe". The text of this book is divided into quotations. The love story that develops in Nazi-occupied Paris cannot leave the reader indifferent. Paris, two lovers and doom - these are the main directions of the book.

Victor Hugo Notre Dame Cathedral. The novel is also recommended for reading, because this book has withstood the centuries and has not lost its popularity. A story about what can hinder love.

Margaret Mitchell Gone with the Wind. The novel remains a sought-after work decades later. If you are looking for a woman to look up to, then this novel is for you. The main character Scarlett O'Hara deserves to be inherited by women with diametrically opposed social views. blackthorn". The family saga of an Australian writer. This is a story about the Cleary family, about their sorrows and joys, about ups and downs, but the main feeling that permeates the entire novel is true and pure love.

Françoise Sagan Hello Sadness. This is a novel about the experiences of a young girl Cecile. She spent some time in a monastery, and when she returned to her father, she plunged into a bohemian life without rules. Until one day a friend of their mother appears in their lives, a smart and beautiful woman with her own moral values.

Mikhail Shishkin "The Letterman". The book is a correspondence between two lovers. The hero writes from the war, in which he participates in a campaign against the Chinese. The girl writes from the "citizen". Soon the reader realizes that the lovers correspond, but do not hear each other, and they live in different times...

There are many interesting things about love among Russian classics. For example, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina has been filmed many times. Performances were staged according to its plot. A story about passion, love, which has destructive power, makes you live with the experiences of the main characters.

Want to spend an evening with a good modern book but don't know where to start? Below you will find a list of what to read from modern literature.

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age.

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Often, having finished reading an interesting novel, we think about what can be read from the works that are being written in our time? Today is a very interesting time for literature, because new items worthy of attention regularly appear on the book market. However, what is worth reading, and what, although it takes place in the annual list of the best works, is definitely not worth the time spent? Popular books are not always interesting. In addition, many exciting works often turn out to be rather coldly received by the general reader, and as a rule, very in vain, because in a few years, when the next cycle of film adaptations is released, it may turn out that these are the most interesting novels and stories. In this article, we will look at the best novels by modern authors by genre, so you will definitely find something worth reading here.

Fiction

Dmitry Glukhovsky "Metro 2033". This is a dystopian novel that tells how, after the Third World War, the planet was destroyed and unsuitable for life. All that's left are metro stations that have become a haven for people. They turn into independent cities constantly at war with each other friend. A 20 year old Artyom must go through all the stations to save his family, and at the same time and all mankind.

The action takes place in distant future, planet Solaris, more precisely, on located on her research station. But 90% of the planet is the ocean, which, as it turned out, is a living organism, whose secrets.

Andy Weyer "The Martian". The protagonist Mark Watney participates in an expedition to Mars. Due to a sandstorm, all crew members are urgently evacuated, but Mark's suit is damaged and cannot be found and left on an alien planet. Waking up, Mark understands: he is alone on a planet where there is no oxygen, he has no connection with the Earth and a limited supply of food. How to hold out and stay alive, and is there any hope for salvation?

Peter Watts False Blindness. In the future, humanity will realize that there are other civilizations in the universe. But even the scariest fantasies about aliens pale in comparison to who they really are. This novel raises rather unexpected questions about man as a system of views and beliefs, and about the nature of human consciousness itself. In addition, the background for this theme is a beautifully written entourage with vampirism and space travel.

Historical novels

Sarah Waters Fine Work. A classic example of a historical novel, where the outline of the plot is spread against the backdrop of real historical events, which are described with such meticulousness that it makes one admire the author's vision.

- a reconstruction of the events of the Battle of Agincourt - a turning point in the Hundred Years War, the story is told from the perspective of an ordinary archer.

About love

Jojo Moyes "Me Before You". A touching love story that has already managed to become a bestseller and "acquire" a film adaptation.

Jacqueline Susan "Valley of the Dolls" Three different destinies, three women who are just looking for their place in this world and, of course, looking for love. This novel has become a cult classic.

Books by contemporary authors for teenagers

Today, a large number of publishers focus on the young adult segment - for young people. Obviously, young people who have already finally said goodbye to childhood, but have not yet managed to become adults to the full extent, want to read literature that would raise topics that are close to them in spirit. This list contains the most notorious new genre works aimed at a young audience.

All This World by Nicola Yoon is a book about loneliness, self-discovery and love. The main character Madeline never leaves the house. She has a rare disease and weak immunity. A collision with the outside world could result in her death. IN next door from Madeline lives a young guy who wants to make friends with her. What will the girl choose? - long life four walls or short, but happy story?

Andrei Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak "While I'm on the edge" is a novel about those sharp corners of teenage experiences that are rarely spoken about, as well as about people who find themselves in atypical situations.

is a coming-of-age novel that tells about a new stage in the life of a teenager and all the difficulties and experiences that are associated with it.

Lauren Oliver "Before I Fall" Imagine that you have made many mistakes, but you are given a chance to change everything. The main character... is dead, but something unfinished keeps her among the living. And Samantha lives the same day over and over again, trying to save herself. This is a novel in in which the theme of an objective look at yourself and their human qualities are intertwined with whimsical storyline.

Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why is a suicide novel. 17 year old a schoolgirl who left her boyfriend 13 cassettes, according to which he must figure out the reasons why she decided to commit suicide.

- the book, the adaptation of which shocked the world, tells about the love between two teenagers who are sick, but at the same time do not stop challenging the whole world.

Rating of books by modern authors

Of course, most of the tops are compiled from a rather subjective point of view, because the preferences in literature are extremely different for both readers and literary critics. And the top presented here is no exception. It is also worth considering the increasing popularity of various authors over time in a wide readership. Below are the top 10 books that have already earned recognition from a wide audience.

Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale. With the release of the first season of the film adaptation on Netflix, interest in this book has grown tremendously. And this is not surprising, because the language in which it is written, and the atmosphere of a dark dystopia about a world in which a group of religious radicals seized power in the country and created a totalitarian state where human rights are worthless, is definitely worth reading.

One of the most striking works of the representative of "dirty realism" Charles Bukowski may be a little repulsive with the excessive naturalism of individual scenes, but this makes this type of prose even more interesting. If in previous books that tell about the biography of the alter ego of the author Henry Chinaski, various everyday situations were mainly described, then this novel focuses on the relationship of the protagonist with women in all details.

An autobiographical book, the main character of which is a fugitive who went to India in an attempt to change his life for the better. According to the degree of development of the plot, the protagonist goes through all stages of cleansing from his own sins, and all this in the entourage of Bombay with the corresponding specifics.

Elchin Safarli "I was promised you". A novel that has become a bestseller and is gaining more and more popularity in recent years. This book tells about the pain of loss and what a person who has been overtaken by something like that faces when trying to cope with it. This novel can only be appreciated by a mature person who has had to lose something dear in his life.

The book, based on a true story, tells the story of a man with multiple personality disorder. There are 24 separate personalities in one person, and each has its own story and its own views on the world. Among them are adults and children, men and women, criminals and subtle artistic natures. And each of the personalities wants to take the body of the hero.

A book that tells about a gloomy world where society is strictly divided into castes. The problem of the book is that as the story progresses, all the vices of such an imperfect world are revealed with an eye to modern realities, which is extremely interesting to observe based on your own life experience.

A cult countercultural novel that tells about the hidden abomination of the consumer society and about human self-knowledge, which leads to complete catharsis. This novel has gained wide popularity among sophisticated readers and "acquired" its own adaptation.

The novel, which became famous after the cult film adaptation, tells the story of a man who developed his own theory about the essence of love as a mechanism strictly associated with time limits. However, over time, he becomes convinced of the inconsistency of this theory, but doubts still gnaw at him.

Abraham Perin at accused of rape of a minor and sentenced to prison. But the author allows us to get acquainted with the past of this hero: first childhood, then his student years, after life among the natives on one of the most mysterious islands. The tribe in which Perina lives knows the secret of longevity. To find out, any company will do anything, but is our civilization ready for such a discovery?

A novel that tells about the measured life of a married couple. Everything changes dramatically when the wife disappears on the eve of the anniversary. This novel reveals such a problem as mutual distrust in relationships, and will also please with an unexpected ending.

Modern literature has different reviews. As they say, there are no comrades for the taste and color. But wondering what to read interesting from the works that have been published in recent years, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the list above. There you will definitely find a book that will captivate you.

Modern writers also write books that critics recognize, if not masterpieces of literature, then very good and interesting works worthy of their popularity. Let's talk about some of these authors.

Modern foreign writers

Modern writers and their works are not only Janusz Wisniewski or the Twilight saga. We have selected the TOP 5 internationally recognized foreign authors whose popularity really matches the content of their work.

Haruki Murakami is one of the most famous writers of our time, as well as a Japanese translator. Murakami's books often describe the modern tragedy of all mankind - loneliness. The themes of love and death, time and memory, the nature of evil, travel to the unknown and changes in traditional Japanese society are also touched upon in the works.

A feature of Murakami's work is an interesting mixture of styles in his works, where he uses elements of a detective, dystopia, and even science fiction.

You can start your acquaintance with the work of Haruki Murakami with the novel Wonderland without Brakes and the End of the World. It contains two storylines at once, the connection between which is not immediately apparent. This is a book about immortality, about consciousness and subconsciousness, perhaps the most mysterious and mysterious among the books of the writer, which, nevertheless, can be read in one breath.

The best modern writers will not do without this name in their list, because Stephen King in the field of literature is a truly remarkable figure. It was Stephen who was dubbed the King of Horrors, because in his genre he is considered truly the best of the best. King's name is known all over the world, his books are always successfully sold, and films based on his works are chosen among the best by both Runet users and foreign ones (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and others).

He began writing in this genre as a teenager. The characters of the works are ordinary people, with whom, however, out of the ordinary and chilling stories begin to happen. Although not everyone knows that Stephen King writes not only in the style of horror - both westerns and historical fiction come from the author's pen.

It is perhaps impossible to choose the best book from King, but one of the most famous (in particular, thanks to the popular film adaptation with Jack Nicholson, which King himself was not very pleased with) can be called The Shining.

The novel tells about a writer who got a job as a watchman for the winter in a distant mountain hotel "Overlook" and arrived there with his family - his wife and young son. The boy's psychic abilities help him understand that the hotel is inhabited by ghosts, and terrifying things are happening in it, but even more terrible is how he affects his inhabitants and what kind of monster he can turn even a loving father into.

About ten years ago, no one had even heard of a writer like Dan Brown, but now this name is rattling around the world. Having released the book "The Da Vinci Code", the writer hardly imagined that such a resounding success would await him.

Dan Brown was born into the family of a mathematics professor and musician, and from childhood he loved to solve riddles, solve puzzles and collect puzzles. Years later, this inclination, as well as an interest in religion and philosophy, allowed him to start a writing career, and subsequently to create one of the most published and popular books in the world.

In fact, the main character of The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon, had already appeared in the novel Angels and Demons, written by Brown in 2000, but the circulation was not large enough and did not draw public attention to the person of the writer.

The abundance of secret messages, mystical ciphers and signs instantly attracted readers from all over the world, even though the Church began to protest against this novel, and critics began to notice inaccuracies. The excitement after the release of The Da Vinci Code could perhaps be compared only with the release of JK Rowling's books about Harry Potter.

After the release of The Da Vinci Code, they even began to talk about the emergence of a new genre - an intellectual detective story. Brown's latest book, Inferno, is a logical continuation of the story begun in the author's previous novels.

More recently, a young American author in the genre of Young-adult fiction (books for youth) John Green has shone among modern writers.

In 2006, he won The Michael L. Printz Award for his first novel, Looking for Alaska, and Greene's most recent book, The Fault in Our Stars, became a number one US bestseller. This novel and another, Paper Towns, were adapted into Hollywood films, with Greene guest-writing on both films.

The best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars tells the story of Hazel, a 16-year-old girl who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer long ago. She attends a support group with the same sick guys, and at one of the sessions she meets a newcomer named Augustus. They fall in love with each other, but what's next for them? Read this book if you want to know why teenagers choose to read it, how it hooked thousands of readers and brought John Green such fame.

Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award for his collection of short stories "First Love, Last Anointing" and six-time Booker Prize nominee, one of the best writers of his generation, and at the same time one of the most controversial.

Known primarily as a novelist and short story writer, McEwan has also written three television plays published as The Imitation, a children's book, the libretto Or Shall We Die? sweet".

McEwan's work is focused on the theme of human misunderstanding, the inability of a person to sympathy, empathy, unwillingness to put oneself in someone else's place and feel responsible for the suffering of another.

McEwan's most famous book is Atonement, written in 2001, which tells how the slightest misunderstanding can lead to tragic consequences. The popularization of the novel was facilitated by a fairly accurate 2007 film adaptation with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in the lead roles.

Modern Russian writers

It is worth mentioning Russian literature - there are also modern Russian writers, whose works should please lovers of reading. Here are a few of them.

Victor Pelevin

Modern writers in Russia now they are multiplying like mushrooms after the rain, but for many years Viktor Pelevin has been at the top of the honor. During his creative activity, he was awarded numerous prizes, and French Magazine recognized Pelevin as one of the thousand most influential cultural figures in the world.

The popularity of Pelevin's work is great even abroad, and almost all of his works have been translated into the main languages of the world.

Combining reality, unreality and deep philosophy in his works, Pelevin, who is fond of oriental mysticism, managed to interest the general public, especially young people, with his phantasmagoric work. He often uses stories from mythology in his books.

You can start your acquaintance with Pelevin with one of his most famous works - "Generation "P"". Few people have been able to portray the modern consumer society, the power of advertising and the cult of objects so well, when the first and most important thing that people seek to surround themselves with is things.

Boris Akunin

The real name of this writer, literary critic and Japanist is Grigory Chkhartishvili. And although the author's works were often criticized by art historians and philologists, Boris Akunin's popularity in the domestic literary arena is very high.

Akunin's works have been translated into 35 other languages, and some of them have even been screened, some of which can eventually be called one of the best modern Russian films.

The most famous books of this writer are books from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin", written in the style of a historical detective story. From the very beginning, it will be difficult not to be fascinated by the determined, courageous and intelligent protagonist, not to mention the adventures that await him further.

Under this bright pseudonym is the artist and philologist Svetlana Martynchik (and at first it was Svetlana's tandem as the author of texts with the artist Igor Stepin, who is the author of many ideas). The first cycle of the writer's books was published back in 1996, but the identity of the author was kept secret until 2001.

Initially, readers were often attracted by the pseudonym and the mysterious personality of the writer, and subsequently the content itself was invariably captured. The original plots of the books, the amazing realism of fantasy worlds, the curious author's philosophy and the special writing style of Max Frei add more and more people to the army of devoted admirers of the writer every year.

The first and so far the biggest success for Max Fry was a cycle of eleven books, united under the title "Labyrinths of Exo", which tells about the adventures of the author's alter ego - Sir Max - in a parallel world. These books have been translated into English, German, Spanish, Czech, Lithuanian and Swedish.

If you want to unwind, cheer yourself up and plunge into a completely new magical world, then try to take on these books - and you are guaranteed easy, pleasant reading.

And what modern children's writers will appeal to children and teenagers - find out from the following video: