[Stewart]

Originally Posted by saliotthomas

First of all i hate the guts of Michel Houellebecq.He actully live in Irland for a taxe related raison.The guy is an ponpous jerk,and so are is books.An attitude.

That may be so - and let's face it, is - but I don't think the author's personality should matter so much when dealing with his work. That said, the only of his I read was Atomised (The Elementary Particles in the US) and it did little for me. The endless sex obviously had some meaning, but it was dull. But I'm never one to give up on an author based on a single book.

As an aside, there's a character in Florian Zeller's The Fascination Of Evil that is obviously based on Houellebecq, particuarly for his Islamic ignorance, echoing the furure surrounding Platform.

Francoise Sagan did interesting things.

I've read Bonjour Tristesse but I don't think much else by her is available. I know Bonjour Tristesse is being relaunched at some point this year as a Penguin Modern Classic, bundled with another novella. But most of her other works that I've seen (usually on eBay) are dogeared old copies from the seventies and eighties.