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
4 Comments
– “The magic mountain” by Thomas Mann
– “Steppenwolf” by Hermann Hesse
– “The neverending story” by Michael Ende
_The Tunnel_ by William Gass
_Infinite Jest_ by DFW
_Miss MacIntosh My Darling_ by Young
_Women and Men_ by Joseph McElroy
_JR_ by William Gaddis
_The Lime Twig_ by John Hawkes
I know you didn’t ask for classics but given what you said about the type of book you like (which I do too), if you haven’t already then you have to read Middlemarch. It hits that spot perfectly.
Other than that I’d suggest Barbara Kingsolver. Demon Copperhead and The Poisonwood Bible are wonderful.
Maybe The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton?
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout?
I think Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin meets most of your requirements. Follows 3 friends throughout the years, beautifully written, deals with love, death, and loss, no politics, and is over 400 pages. Tied for my favorite book of the year.