Challenging writing.

Chuck, I think you might have to more narrowly define both "challenging" and "contemporary" to elicit the response that you are looking for. I offer the following post, that I gave once before, on the subject of authors. I hope it helps some. J.X.M Reading I can remember checking out my first book, from the public library, as a child.My library card was a passport to the imagination that took me on a magic carpet ride through the ages. Whole genres of fiction entertained me at different stages of my adolescence. Science fiction captured my imagination early and firmly. Robert Heinlin, Issac Asimov, Arthur Clark and others still capture my interest. J.K. Rowling is only the latest. Whole continents came within my reach. Wilbur Smith, Robert Ruark, and later Clive Cussler, introduced me to Africa. Pearl Buck, James Clavell and many others delved into the mists of the Orient. Colleen McCullough did a wonderful job with Australia. My favorite author is James Michener, whose epic series entertained me with the in depth histories of many arreas of the world. Solzhenitsin, Tolstoy, Dostoyevski,Lermontov, Mayakovsky and Pushkin played out the "Russian Experience" for me. Edward Rutherford has several excellent volumes detailing the history of "Britain." C.S. Forrester captured "Rule Britannia" with his "Hornblower series." Leon Uris, James Joyce, and scores of others, revealed the history of those who came before me in far away Eire. James T. Farrel, William Martin, William Kennedy, Edwin O'Connor and others shined light on the American political process. A list, too numerous to mention, detailed the sprawling history of the emerging American continent. The poets of course examine the human condition. Shelly, Keats, Byron and the Lake poets shine brightly.Even dour Miilton is of interest. In America, Wordsworth, Sandberg, Emerson and others speak from the past. Guinsberg, E.E. Cummings, A.E.Robinson, and many more, take up their tradition in modern times. Like most readers, I am loathe to start "mentioning favorites," lest I unintentionally slight some very fine spinners of tales. I thank them all for their craftmanship. They have much entertained me these many years. Anything I write is a pale comparison to those who have come before me. Bless them every one, as Dickens would say:) J.X.M

Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things Paulo Coelho - Eleven Minutes just two of my recent faves.

Joyce bores me to tears. Roy's style is very different from anything else - do try it!

Any *good* writing can be "challenging"! My favourite at the moment is "popular" sci-fi author, Stephen Baxter: challenging, poignant, interesting, exciting, intelligent... and fun!! :-))) pe ps oid "the progenitor" "the art of tea" "that's an odd courgette"

Now that I myself am trying to write I find many more books a challenge than before. How they manage to grip you and sway your emotions or place you with just a few words right in the thick of some other reality. For the sheer joy of reading words that just seem to glide beautifully off the page I recently read 'The Sea' by John Banville. I didn't even like the story that much but the way it was written was so perfect that I loved it.