5 Contemporary Authors You Must Read

When looking at suggested ‘must reads for men’, it becomes increasingly apparent that the ‘must read’ part is all too often eclipsed by the addendum ‘for men’. The same authors crop up, housed under recurring paradigmatic themes. Men like adventure. So, men will like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, set in the wild Congo. Men also like war. Cue the recommendation of Heller’s Catch-22. Indisputably a cult classic, Heller sets his gruesome tale in the midst of World War II; what man could resist? When men aren’t after tales of war and adventure, the only other thing on their mind is sex. Brave New World appears on many literary lists geared towards men, with Huxley’s dystopian vision of a world consumed by hedonistic pleasures indiscriminately appealing to the sensibilities of the male half of the population.

Cynicism aside, by all means, read the books above; they are classic examples of contemporary fiction and if you have already encountered these books on previous lists, here’s another list of five contemporary authors who have written some things you might enjoy, not because you are a man, but because you like to read…

1. David Foster Wallace, Foster Wallace is most famous for his novel Infinite Jest, a darkly comic behemoth of a book, formally dense and intricately tinged with sci-fi. It is almost defensively post-modern, but possesses extraordinary depth of emotion. And for those who are daunted by its gargantuan size, Foster Wallace has some incredible collections of short stories, including The Girl with Curious Hair and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

2. Philip Roth, As a contemporary American Jewish writer, he focuses on his experience in this minority group. He adopted an alter-ego called Zuckerman in the 1970s, who served as a vehicle for the inclusion of much of the personal and self-referential elements of Roth’s writing.

3. Margaret Atwood, A writer of both poetry and prose, Atwood is perhaps most famous for her chillingly dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, which, as is true of many of her novels, is a social criticism in the simulacrum of speculative fiction.

4. Toni Morrison, Critically acclaimed for her novel Beloved, Morrison is a writer renowned for the power of her dialogue and the depth of her expression. Beloved is a haunting tale invested with supernatural undertones that illustrate the devastating nature of slavery.

5. Haruki Murakami, Murakami has claimed the category of ‘magical realism’ as his own, creating ethereal and beautiful atmospheres in his novels which are rendered almost realistic by his command of language. The most surreal of his works, and thought by many to be his best, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, is a good place to start.

By Emily Gallagher