Manhattan Beach

In the Skin of a Lion

Michael Ondaatje1987

Patrick Lewis migrates to 1920s Toronto, working as a laborer on major infrastructure projects. The story focuses on the city's immigrant builders.

Same meditative register, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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

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

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond2011

A city woman moves to a remote cattle ranch after falling in love with a cowboy. She details her transition to country life and farm chores.

meditative → warm

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Body Movers

Stephanie Bond2006

A department store employee joins a body-transport service for a trip to Florida that involves a missing socialite and a loan shark.

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

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.

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

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.

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