Top 10 Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish, head over there to participate.
1-Haruki Murakami: To this day, he's still considered like an exotic fantasy. Japanese people are fighting over the copies of his novels, while we're sleeping on the job. He is one of the best writers I had the chance to read in my life, and he should be recognized as such. All his novels are great, but Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are flying even higher.
2-Allan Guthrie: Quite frankly, I don't get why people don't fight over copies of his books yet. He's a brutal noir writer, yet his creativity allows him to get away with the most complex plots. And you know, what happens when brutal characters have to deal with complex problems right? *insert evil smiley here*
3-Colin Bateman: I would qualify his work of magical realism, if it wasn't so deep in crime fiction territory. I Predict A Riot is exactly what it promises, an uplifting display of violence and destruction. He's getting decent success in Europe (so I heard), but I have no idea why North American people don't even know his name.
4-Réjean Ducharme: A literary myth that never really pierced through the language barrier. He's barely even know in his hometown. He is difficult, but his work reads like a fountain of fury, a celebration of life and yet, his tone is dark and gloomy. Ducharme is the most successful secretive writer I know, so maybe he doesn't want recognition.
5-Alessandro Baricco: A dumb, egghead director butcher the adaptation of one of his novel and that was it. No more momentum for Baricco. Too bad, because he has the most unique, light-hearted style. His stories are tales, his characters are heroes without noble quests, characters of their times, with modern preoccupation. Read Silk, Ocean Sea and please, don't watch that awful, awful film.
6-Joan Didion: I see women read Atwood, Austen, Woolf, Smith, Hurston and the Brontë sisters, but I have never seen one read Didion. And it's a travesty, she has one of the strongest, most graceful style. Her essays cast a light on the myths of the Californian dreamscape. A sad and melancholic light that is.
7-Edogawa Rampo: A mysterious pulp writer from Japan, with slightly demented horror/crime stories. He is a forgotten glory of the land of the rising sun, his style is unique and barbaric. Supposedly, his name is an alliteration of "Edgar Allan Poe". His fiction sure reads like a more modern twist on the master.
8-Sean Ferrell: Ferrell is a debut author, so you might have not heard of him yet. But it's still time for you to hit the bandwagon before it trails off. Numb was greatly emotional, despite the book being about lack of feeling. It's a very Palahniuk-esque ride.
9-Henry Rollins: I'm kind of cheating here. Rollins is a celebrity, but his writing is way underrated. Most people doesn't even know he wrote books. That's due to the small size of his publishing house and quiet promotion around them, but they are really good. It's somewhat of a work-in-progress memoir, made out of journal entries and strange micro fiction bits. Think Thoreau on adrenaline.
10-Heath Lowrance: Another debut writer that you need to get your hands on. The Bastard Hand is a violent shakedown. Lowrance has a gift for a conceptual approach to noir. It's clearly not for everyone, but it's impossible to leave out. He has the crushing power of a steamroller, yet finds a way to have perspective on his characters.
