Shrines of Gaiety

Flood of Fire

Amitav Ghosh2015

An ensemble of characters converges on a ship heading for the First Opium War. The story details the British military push into China.

wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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.

wry → sardonic, 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.

wry → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Briefing for a Descent into Hell

Doris Lessing1971

A man is found wandering London and placed in a psychiatric ward. The narrative shifts between the hospital and his internal cosmic hallucinations.

wry → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Artemis

Andy Weir2017

A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.

wry → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

An Offer From a Gentleman

Julia Quinn2001

The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

wry → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Four to score

Janet Evanovich1998

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum tracks a fugitive while competing with a rival. The story features slapstick humor and a romantic triangle.

wry → playful, still crime

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Extreme Prey

John Sandford2016

While working on a presidential campaign, Lucas Davenport tracks an armed man planning to assassinate the governor.

wry → propulsive, still crime

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Run Away

Harlan Coben2019

A father searches for his estranged, drug-addicted daughter in New York. The search uncovers a conspiracy involving a cult and multiple murders.

wry → propulsive, still crime

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Child 44

Tom Rob Smith2008

A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

wry → tense

pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

The English Patient

Michael Ondaatje1992

Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

pace-1·prose0·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.

wry → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Lila

Marilynne Robinson2014

A woman with a traumatic, nomadic past settles in a small Iowa town and marries a minister. She struggles to reconcile her history with his faith.

wry → tender, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

The Confessions of Nat Turner

William Styron1967

A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.

wry → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

The Known World

Edward P. Jones2003

A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.

wry → meditative, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

A Long Long Way

Sebastian Barry2005

A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.

wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2