The Industry of Souls

The Great Fire

Shirley Hazzard2003

An English veteran travels through occupied Japan and Europe in 1947. He falls in love with a teenager while observing the ruins of the war.

Same meditative register, still historical fiction

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The Wake

Paul Kingsnorth2014

A landowner in 1066 leads a guerrilla resistance against Norman invaders. The story is written in a modified version of Old English.

meditative → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

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.

meditative → 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.

meditative → elegiac, still historical fiction

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Simply Irresistible

Rachel Gibson1998

A runaway bride escapes her wedding with a professional hockey player. They spend a night together that leads to a surprise pregnancy.

meditative → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

The Best Man

Kristan Higgins2013

A woman returns to her family winery years after a public wedding disaster. She begins a relationship with the man who helped end her engagement.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

David and Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell2013

A series of case studies arguing that perceived disadvantages can become strengths. It covers topics from dyslexia to the civil rights movement.

meditative → earnest

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

meditative → sardonic

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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.

meditative → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

meditative → wry

pace+2·prose-2·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.

meditative → playful

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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.

meditative → clinical

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

Same meditative register, 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.

meditative → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

Brotherless Night

V. V. Ganeshananthan2023

A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.

meditative → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2