Wanted: The BEST literary fiction you’ve ever read in your life! (no presh)

Hi guys. I’m in the market for the absolutely best literary fiction in the entire world, ever. I am a writer and editor and my standards are honestly quite unrealistically high (except that they’re not, really, because I know what I’m looking for DOES exist, as I keep finding it – it’s just that I’ve just found this community, and I’ve had an insane week, so why not try outsourcing my book decisions, for once?!).

Here are some qualities it must have:

* LITERARY fiction (I know, I’m an unbearable snob, whatcha gonna do)
* Nice and girthy (although short books not ruled out)
* Not too much plot! I like books that focus on one person, or a couple, or a small group of people, over a long period of time – a whole life, even – and in which the main focus is the emotional minutiae and relationships that only a novel can provide (if I wanted a film, I’d watch a film, iykwim?!)
* Nothing that’s explicitly political or ABOUT identity. I work in human rights. The world is a hellfire. I don’t want a book that’s basically Disneyland, but nor do I want it to be ABOUT politics. Nor do I want, e.g., any gay characters to be all ABOUT their gayness (I am gay, I am allowed to say this lol)
* Beautiful sentences. A novel written by a poet is my idea of a good time.
* Big themes. Love, death, family, loss, etc.
* Late c20th / c21st

Here are some of my favourite books:

* *Fugitive Pieces* by Anne Michaels
* *The Hours* by Michael Cunningham
* *Written on the Body* by Jeanette Winterson
* *The History of Love* by Nicole Krauss
* *If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things* by Jon McGregor
* *The Only Story* by Julian Barnes
* *Burntcoat* by Sarah Hall
* *What I Loved* by Siri Hustvedt
* *The Great Believers* by Rebecca Makkai
* *Spill Simmer Falter Wither* by Sara Baume

Here are some of my other favourite writers:

* Melissa Febos
* Maggie Nelson
* Jo Ann Beard
* Ali Smith
* Garth Greenwell
* Rachel Cusk
* Milan Kundera
* Marilynne Robinson
* Annie Erneaux
* Gwendoline Riley
* Toby Litt
* Joan Didion

Thanks so much in advance!

by DigitalAnalogue84