LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Accidental

Ali Smith2005

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Edge of Sadness

    Edwin O'Connor1961

    A recovering alcoholic priest returns to his home parish and reconnects with an old friend's family. He reflects on his past and his faith.

    playful → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Don Quixote

    Kathy Acker1986

    A woman undergoes an abortion and adopts the persona of Don Quixote to pursue a quest in a fragmented, postmodern landscape.

    playful → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Shroud

    John Banville2002

    An aging scholar with a stolen identity meets a woman who knows his secret. They travel to Turin to confront his past.

    playful → cold, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Going Cowboy Crazy

    Katie Lane2011

    A woman travels to a small Texas town to find her secret twin sister and is mistaken for her by the local residents and her sister's ex-flame.

    Same playful register

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Marrying Mr. Wrong

    Claire Kingsley

    Two rivals wake up married in Las Vegas and decide to stay together to help their respective careers.

    Same playful register

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Hot Number

    Carly Phillips

    A sports publicist undergoes a physical makeover to shed her tomboy image. She attempts to catch the attention of a professional ballplayer.

    Same playful register

    pace+1·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.

    playful → 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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    playful → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Waters of Kronos

    Conrad Richter1960

    An elderly man travels back in time to his childhood Pennsylvania town, which in his present day is submerged beneath a reservoir.

    playful → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • The story of a brief marriage

    Anuk Arudpragasam2016

    Two refugees enter an arranged marriage in a Sri Lankan camp during the final days of the civil war. It focuses on the physical details of survival.

    playful → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    Same playful register, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • A Distant Shore

    Caryl Phillips2003

    A retired teacher and an African refugee form a quiet bond in a xenophobic English village. Their past traumas emerge through alternating stories.

    playful → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • A Little Life

    Hanya Yanagihara2015

    Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.

    playful → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Nickel Boys

    Colson Whitehead2019

    A studious black teenager in 1960s Florida is sent to a brutal reform school where physical abuse is systemic.

    playful → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2