LitQueuelitqueue

After

Guard of Honor

James Gould Cozzens1948

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

    James McBride2023

    Black and Jewish residents of a Pennsylvania neighborhood protect a deaf boy from the state. The story begins with a skeleton in a well.

    clinical → warm, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Gravity's Rainbow

    Thomas Pynchon1973

    During the end of WWII, an American lieutenant's sexual encounters seem to predict where German V-2 rockets will fall. The narrative is fragmented.

    clinical → sardonic, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Mirror and the Light

    Hilary Mantel2020

    Thomas Cromwell navigates the final four years of his life in Henry VIII's court. He attempts to maintain power as his allies and influence erode.

    clinical → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    clinical → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

    A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

    clinical → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Playing with Fire

    Gena Showalter2006

    A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

    clinical → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Digital Fortress

    Dan Brown1998

    The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Candide

    Voltaire

    A naive young man travels the world while his tutor insists that everything is for the best. He encounters a series of global catastrophes.

    clinical → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    clinical → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

clinical → elegiac, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    clinical → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Umbrella

    Will Self2013

    A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.

    Same clinical register

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    clinical → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Ghost Road

    Pat Barker1995

    During the final months of WWI, an officer returns to the front while his doctor reflects on the war. It concludes the Regeneration Trilogy.

    clinical → elegiac, still war

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • Tree of Smoke

    Denis Johnson2007

    An ensemble cast navigate the Vietnam War through CIA operations and ground combat. The narrative spans years and multiple countries.

    clinical → elegiac, still war

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Undertaking

    Audrey Magee2014

    A German soldier and a woman marry by proxy to secure leave and a pension. The narrative follows his time at the front and her life in Berlin.

    clinical → cold, still war

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2