Top ten novels (for adults) to cover your country's history and culture?

[Laura Corin]

I thought it might be fun to do this for other countries. I wouldn't mind doing a bit of in-depth learning through literature.

 

Laura

[NotSoObvious]

Oooh. Good thread.

[MrsMommy]

I'm too tired to think up 10, but here are a few important ones that immediately came to mind for U.S. history:

 

The Scarlet Letter (mid-1600s)

 

The Grapes of Wrath (Great Depression)

 

To Kill a Mockingbird (1930s--racial injustice/civil rights)

 

If I ever come out of the Benadryl fog, I'll be back with more suggestions.

[Laura Corin]

I'm too tired to think up 10, but here are a few important ones that immediately came to mind for U.S. history:

 

The Scarlet Letter (mid-1600s)

 

The Grapes of Wrath (Great Depression)

 

To Kill a Mockingbird (1930s--racial injustice/civil rights)

 

If I ever come out of the Benadryl fog, I'll be back with more suggestions.

 

 

But, but.... I've read all of those! Gimme more!

 

(hope you are feeling better).

 

Laura

[Twigs]

Great Gatsby / Gone With the Wind / Johnny Tremain

[TeacherZee]

Thinking of Sweden

 

The City books by Per Anders Fogelström, unfortunately I think only the first three have been translated to English

[Rosie_0801]

I'm attempting to compile such a list for Australia, because it is probably the only way to make Australian history palatable. The going is very slow because I'm still scarred from Australian history at school.

 

I'll have to have a think and come back to this later, but for starters:

 

First half 19th century- convicts- 'For the Term of His Natural Life' by Marcus Clarke.

 

Mid 19th century- bushrangers- 'Wild Colonial Boys' by Frank Clune. (I think this might be a bit tedious for a non-Australian, in which case 'Robbery Under Arms' by Rolf Boldrewood.)

 

Early 20th century- autobiography (possibly the only one I've ever enjoyed reading :p) - 'Alice on the Line' by Doris Bradshaw Blackwell

 

WW2 and post war- remote areas- 'A Town Like Alice' by Nevil Shute.

 

 

 

I suspect James Mitchener's 'Poland' covers more than any other novel written in English about Poland.

[Melissa in Australia]

Rosie I would like to add to your list A Fortunate Life ~ A B Facey, (early 20th century) On our Selection ~ Steele Rudd (late 19th century) I know more I just cannot think of them at the moment

[Laura Corin]

Thanks for the US, Swedish and Australian ideas. Anyone else?

 

Laura

[Mama2two]

Not sure if you are looking for non-fiction, but it is my favorite genre, so here are some of my picks: 1776 by McCullough, Theodore Rex by Morris (actually whole series), Flags of Our Fathers by Bradley, This Kind of War by Fehrenbech, We were Soldiers Once and Young by Moore Not all only US related, but definitely part of our history.

 

for fiction I would add My Antonia and Last of the Mohicans to the list already discussed

[Lucy in Australia]

France, mid-1900s: Marcel Pagnol's "My Father's Glory" and "My Mother's Castle" (I have them in French & I'm assuming the translation is literal) My mother is from that era & she often remarked on how the evocative these books were (she grew up in Provence)

[Susan in TN]

Norway - Kristen Lavransdatter, of course! (It's the only historical novel about Norway that I know of.) I suppose there must be a few Viking era and WWII novels.

 

China - I'd add The Red Scarf Girl (the 1960's Chinese Cultural Revolution)

 

Eastern Europe/Russia - Between Shades of Gray - Stalin/WWII

 

Laos - The Coroner's Lunch (and other books in the series) - a sort of detective series that takes place just after the communist revolution in the late 1970s.

 

I suppose I should only choose books for my country of origin?

[aug17girl]

Some suggestions for Canada:

 

Roughing it in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

 

The Book Of Negroes by Lawrence Hill sold in the United States under the title Someone Knows my Name http://www.guardian....llowedmybooktit

 

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

 

The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart

 

Bonheur d'occasion by Gabrielle Roy available in English translation as the Tin Flute

 

Edited to correct typo in title of Bonheur d'occasion

[Laura Corin]

Some suggestions for Canada:

 

Roughing it in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

 

The Book Of Negroes by Lawrence Hill sold in the United States under the title Someone Knows my Name http://www.guardian....llowedmybooktit

 

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

 

The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart

 

Bonheur O'ccasion by Gabrielle Roy available in English translation as the Tin Flute

 

Thanks for stepping in for Canada. I look forward to reading in French for the first time in years.

 

Laura

[TeacherZee]

Thought of another one that is Sweden/US. Vilhelm Mobergs Emigrants Four books in the series and all translated

[LostSurprise]

US history:

 

The Scarlet Letter

Cloudsplitter (pre-Civil War abolitionism and religion) and Gone with the Wind (not my favorite for post-CW history, but a good look at southern feeling and mythology)

Huckleberry Finn (pre CW coming of age)

Angle of Repose (western expansion, especially the mountains)

My Antonia (plains expansion)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (early 20th century New York)

The Grapes of Wrath (Depression)

The Brothers K (a more diffuse and IMO realistic look at the '60s, religion, talent, family)

The House on Mango Street (poetic coming of age, inner city)

[Matryoshka]

China - I'd add The Red Scarf Girl (the 1960's Chinese Cultural Revolution)

 

 

 

For adult rather than YA for that time period I'd recommend Wild Swans. It covers three generations, from feudalism to past the Cultural Revolution. Like Red Scarf Girl, it's based on author's (and in WS author's mother's/grandmother's) experiences.

 

 

For Chilean history, Isabel Allende's Portrait in Sepia, Daughter of Fortune, and House of Spirits cover a lot of territory.

[tammyw]

Great thread!!

[mysterious_jedi]

US history:

 

The Scarlet Letter

Cloudsplitter (pre-Civil War abolitionism and religion) and Gone with the Wind (not my favorite for post-CW history, but a good look at southern feeling and mythology)

Huckleberry Finn (post CW coming of age)

Angle of Repose (western expansion, especially the mountains)

My Antonia (plains expansion)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (early 20th century New York)

The Grapes of Wrath (Depression)

The Brothers K (a more diffuse and IMO realistic look at the '60s, religion, talent, family)

The House on Mango Street (poetic coming of age, inner city)

Just wanted to point out that Huck Finn is pre-war.

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books are good for late 1800s/pioneer era, but not so much for an adult man. He might enjoy Farmer Boy?

 

Nazi Germany--- The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

[chiguirre]

For Venezuela:

 

Las lanzas coloradas (The Red Lances) by Arturo Uslar Pietri is about Venezuelan independence.

 

Dona Barbara by Romulo Gallegos is the great Venezuelan novel. It's set in rural Venezuela just as oil and antibiotics have brought civilization to the plains.

 

Casas Muertas and Oficina No. 1 by Miguel Otero Silva are about the migration of rural peons to the oil fields.

 

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende is set in Venezuela in the 70s when she lived there.

 

I'd also read Bolivar's Letter from Jamaica and his speech to the Congress of Angosturas.

 

I think you'd have a pretty good sense of Venezuelan history's highpoints with just these few books and speeches.

[Violet Crown]

David Wilkinson, Not Between Brothers.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Not-Between-Brothers-David-Wilkinson/dp/1893448096

[kubiac]

Some novelized American memoirs that might suit:

 

* Sod and Stubble by John Ise (a family's 50 years of homesteading on the Kansas prairie)

* In Silence: Growing Up Hearing in a Deaf World by Ruth Sidrasky (NYC/Lower East Side Jewish deaf community)

* The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley (African American culture at the crossroads)

[LostSurprise]

Wild Swans is an excellent book, one of the best biographies/autobiographies I've ever read.

 

Another book that really helped me understand China was Pearl S. Buck's autobiography My Several Worlds. She was raised in China and lived there for many years as an adult. It does an amazing job explaining the early, pre-communist, 20th century to an outsider. She had a way of chatting up or befriending people from different walks of life.

[Lily_Grace]

Italy:

Shakespeare (R&J, The Merchant of Venice..)

The Travels of Marco Polo

A Bell For Adano

The usual ancient Rome stuff....

 

I'm sure I'll figure out more, it's just getting late here. I did enjoy The Glassblower of Murano and An Enchanted April, but those would hardly make the list. LOL I'll have to see what I can come up with overnight.

[Mrs Mungo]

I would add Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee to the American list.

[Hannah]

Most of these authors have many other titles also set in South Africa:

 

The Heart of Redness - Zakes Mda

Cry,The Beloved Country - Alan Paton

Selected Stories - Nadine Gordimer

A dry white season - Andre P Brink

Disgrace – JM Coetzee

Dance with a Poor Man's Daughter - Pamela Jooste

Fila’s Child – Daleen Matthee

Casspirs and Camparis – Ettienne van Heerden

The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay

When the Lion Feeds - Wilbur Smith

 

and for contemporary fun

Spud series– John van der Ruit

 

 

Non-fiction, but excellent reads

Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

My Traitor's Heart - Riaan Malan

Country of My Skull - By Antjie Krog

Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa - Mark Mathabane

The Elephant Whisperer – Lawrence Anthony

 

 

Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood is set in neighbouring Rhodesia.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith are set in another neighbour, Botswana.

[nd293]

South Africa:

 

Hannah included everything I'd though of on her list, except The Covenant by James Michener. He's obviously not South African himself, but I remember enjoying this saga when I read it many years ago, and it covers a huge portion of SA history and tries to look at the various racial groups in the historical context.

 

Australia:

 

Tim Winton's Cloudstreet is set in Perth, Western Australia from the 1940s to 1960s and is very well thought of.

 

 

 

[Farrar]

For China, you'd have to have something classic... Dream of the Red Chamber? Clearly too long for most, but I did feel it helped me really get something about Chinese culture. And, of course, Journey to the West.

 

And something republican... A collection by Lu Xun?

 

And Soul Mountain, definitely. There's a reason he won that Pulitzer. And Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress? Also, I do really like... Oh drat, she's a Chinese writer from the 80's and 90's... Argh, I'm not at home, so I can't check my shelves... Oh, and Mo Yan, definitely.

[Shahrazad]

Not my culture but I HIGHLY recommend "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Adichie. The book takes place in Nigeria during the Biafran War.

[Matryoshka]

For China, you'd have to have something classic... Dream of the Red Chamber? Clearly too long for most, but I did feel it helped me really get something about Chinese culture. And, of course, Journey to the West.

 

Yes, definitely. I should re-read Dream of the Red Chamber, haven't read it since the Chinese Lit class I took in college. We also read The Three Kingdoms, but I'm not sure how accessible that is. Maybe there's a better translation than the one we had...

 

A good, readable and highly enjoyable translation of Journey to the West is just titled Monkey, translated by Arthur Waley.

 

And Soul Mountain, definitely. There's a reason he won that Pulitzer. And Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress? Also, I do really like... Oh drat, she's a Chinese writer from the 80's and 90's... Argh, I'm not at home, so I can't check my shelves... Oh, and Mo Yan, definitely.

 

Oo, haven't heard of Soul Mountain or Mo Yan - have to look into those.

 

The other author you're thinking of... Amy Tan??