I read Zola's Germinal pretty recently and I thought it

>>9299504
Yeah, lots of it. Germinal is top tier Zola, however. Some other strong ones are La Terre, Nana, The Debacle -and- one I rather liked but not as good as the others mentioned- The Human Beast. Generally, if you want something fun to read, Zola, like Tolstoy, almost never lets you down.

>>9299504
Thérèse Raquin and La Bête Humaine are both good

>>9299504
Im reading La Debacle soon, Germinal was a truly great book though. I hope it becomes meme tier here.

>>9300602
I picked Germinal up from Barnes and Noble on a whim just because I liked the cover and was pleasantly surprised. It was awfully compelling.

>>9299504
Read Giovanni Verga if you liked Zola

>>9300639
Any novels or stories in particular?

File: germinal.jpg (66KB, 618x410px) Image search: [Google]

66KB, 618x410px

>>9300635
The set piece action sequences and political meetings are very compelling, as is Etienne as a character. But I think the best parts were the detached scenes with the bourgeois family and their delightful bouncing daughter. Also, the opening as a "day in the life" was great.

>>9300654
I thought the description of work in the mines and the degenerating state of the town during the strike, fueled only by their revolutionary fervor, even when it was becoming apparent their suffering was all for naught were the best bits.

>>9300652
I Malavoglia
Little Novels of Sicily
Rosso Malpelo

The last one is a short story about mines, like Germinal

>>9300667
much obliged stranger

Don't read Au Bonheur des Dames
Had to read it in middle school, it's fucking awful
Never read any Zola again

>>9300863

Same here. Au bonheur des dames was terrible. I had to read it when I was 13 or something, got bored to death. It's about department stores and women buying expensive stuff.

Later on, I read "La Fortune des Rougon" which is the first of the Rougon-Macquart series, and it was surprisingly good. Not a masterwork, just a good novel, with a love story and social issues.