LitQueuelitqueue

After

A Spool of Blue Thread

Anne Tyler2015

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • So Many Ways to Begin

    Jon McGregor2006

    A museum curator discovers a secret about his birth that forces him to re-examine his life. The story follows his marriage over several decades.

    Same tender register, still domestic 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.

    tender → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • A Brief History of Seven Killings

    Marlon James2014

    A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    tender → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Murder boogies with Elvis

    Anne George2001

    Two sisters attend a charity event where an Elvis impersonator is stabbed on stage, prompting them to find the killer.

    tender → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Secrets

    Fern Michaels2022

    Siblings who restore antiques find a locked diary and a carnival flyer in a mysterious steamer chest. They work to find the owner.

    tender → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Redhead by the Side of The Road

    Anne Tyler2020

    A routine-obsessed man's life is disrupted when a teenager appears claiming to be his son. He must navigate social expectations and his own habits.

    Same tender register, still domestic fiction

    pace0·prose-1·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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    tender → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Blackouts

    Justin Torres2023

    A young man cares for a dying elder in a medical facility. They use a 1930s study on homosexuality to reconstruct their personal histories.

    tender → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2