A lonely, lovable, queer mountain lion narrates this star-making fever dream of a novel.

So it doesn't have the same sort of arm's-length abstraction and overly lyrical prose that made Poisonwood so annoying, but you still might not like it.

I don't really understand why she attracts so much praise, but it was the best novel of hers that I've read, and the least up its own butt.

I like Waiting for the Barbarians too.

I was just going to list the authors I like but it was nearly half the list, so just picked out some favorites. Didn't bother with well-known authors like E. M. Forster.

I read mostly older books and a lot of women authors, so the list skews that way, sorry. I assumed you were American, or at least not British, and I also discussed some publishers, so sorry if come off condescending if I explain something you already know.

• E. H. Young, Miss Mole - Would be considered a woman-ish, domestic book. Young is what I would call a "Virago author" - middlebrow, domestic settings, mostly British and Irish- I love 'em! (Not every author Virago published is a "Virago author" though)

• Kate O'Brien, Without My Cloak - Also a "Virago author", but the author's books aren't so domestic-y

• A. G. Macdonell, England, Their England - Funny book but unless you are British or read a lot of British books from that period, you probably won't get much out of it

• Winifred Holtby, South Riding - Middlemarch-esque, maybe a minor classic of 20th century fiction in Britain? (It's been adapted for TV twice)

• L. P. Hartley, Eustace and Hilda - Very good, but actually the third novel in a trilogy. The entire series has been collected in one volume and re-published by NYRB Classics (they re-issue books that are "forgotten classics", at least in America. Many good gems found in their catalog)

• Margaret Kennedy, Troy Chimneys - Kennedy is a "Virago author" but this book really rises above the genre (it's a historical novel about a man, for one). After I read it I was sad that it had been out-of-print since Virago re-published it in the '80s. I was so happy a couple years later when the New York bookstore McNally Jackson started to publish their own series of hidden gems and Troy Chimneys was one of the initial books offered.

• C. P. Snow, The New Men - hate Snow, and his little wife too

• Ivy Compton-Burnett, Mother and Son - You either love her or hate her. Books are very dialogue heavy, and the dialogue is funny and witty, but also mannered rather than natural. She's had two books from a long bibliography put out by NYRB Classics (as well as by Virago) and then they stopped, wonder if they didn't sell well. If you ever read one and don't like it, don't bother with anything else because her books are all very similar.

• Rose Macaulay, The Towers of Trebizond- Another author published by both NYRB Classics and Virago. Easily her most well-known book (but my favorite by her, and one of favorite books overall, is Told by an Idiot, sadly out-of-print)

• Angus Wilson, The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot - Wilson's books are wonderful black comedies. NYRB Classics has published one of his books, which is how I discovered him and am thankful for.

• Jennifer Dawson, The Ha-Ha - Probably one of the more obscure winners. Interestingly, had an old novel republished by Virago as well as two new ones. Of the two book of hers I got a hold of, I enjoyed The Ha-Ha and loved The Upstairs People.

• Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate - Not sure if Spark is considered too well-known to include but she's a favorite author of mine and I always recommend her

• Elizabeth Bowen, Eva Trout - I recommend Bowen but not this book, her work before the '50s is better.

• Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie - Nominated a lot for the Booker but never won. I prefer her books set in more contemporary times, but her historical novels, one of which is Master Georgie, seem very well-regarded.

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