'Sons and Lovers' D H Lawrence
The centenary of its publication.
If you'd been brought up in Eastwood you'd have been miserable Lucy.
Will look out for that! Might appeal more than a doom and gloom novel! :-)
Have a look at 'Apocalypse and the Writings on Revelation' which is his last published work from immediately before he died. It looks at his view on society, civilisation, religion and so on. Not a novel but incredible for its time and perhaps explains why he was such a sombre, serious man and it is often said reflected as that in his novels and poetry.
I read a bunch of his books one after the other - can't quite remember how old I was at the time - but somewhere between 17 and 25 I think! I am sure that they are well written - but they always seemed to me to be so miserable! The main characters seemed to be miserable, and various things happened, which may or may not have changed things for them, but they always seemed to end up miserable!
Perhaps I am mis-remembering and need to revisit - but have too many other things to read at the moment that I am really looking forward to reading ..... I am prepared to be persuaded to re-prioritise but it will need some strong arguments ....
Chatterleyed into inaction ;-)
Thinking about D H Lawrence's books bring me back to a certain period in my life that I still haven't figured out. I was studying advertising art at the University of Maryland when for some reason I stopped going to class. I instead spent hours of my time sitting on a bench reading D H Lawrence books.
Another author I bought because of controversy - I have 'Lady Chatterley' and 'Apocalypse', never got round to others...
I haven't read that since I was about 18. Maybe it is time to revisit it....