LitQueuelitqueue

After

Property of a Noblewoman

Danielle Steel2010

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Damage control

    J. A. Jance2008

    Sheriff Joanna Brady investigates a fatal car plunge and the discovery of dismembered remains while managing her family and a newborn baby.

    Same earnest register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    earnest → playful

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • The Doves Necklace

    Raja Alem2014

    A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

    earnest → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Niccolò Rising

    Dorothy Dunnett1986

    A dyer’s apprentice in 15th-century Bruges uses his intellect to navigate the world of international trade. He builds a mercantile empire.

    earnest → wry

    pace0·prose+3·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Red, White & Royal Blue

    Casey McQuiston2019

    The son of the US President and a British Prince move from a public rivalry to a secret romance. They navigate international diplomacy and fame.

    earnest → playful, still contemporary romance

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Romancing Mister Bridgerton

    Julia Quinn2002

    A long-time wallflower and her friend's brother discover each other's secrets in Regency London. The plot centers on the identity of a gossip writer.

    earnest → warm, still historical romance

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • For the Roses

    Julie Garwood1995

    Four brothers who raised an abandoned girl in Montana must protect her when an English lord arrives with news of her true heritage.

    earnest → warm, still historical romance

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

Faster

earnest → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    pace+2·prose0·bleak0

  • Dark Matter

    Blake Crouch2016

    A physics professor is kidnapped and wakes up in an alternate reality where he chose career over family. He must navigate the multiverse to return.

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak0

  • You

    Caroline Kepnes2014

    A bookstore manager becomes obsessed with a customer and uses social media to orchestrate a relationship. He removes obstacles through murder.

    earnest → sardonic

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    earnest → playful

    pace-1·prose+3·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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • A maça no escuro

    Clarice Lispector1961

    A man flees into the Brazilian interior believing he killed his wife. He works on a remote farm while navigating his own internal monologue.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote1965

    A reconstruction of the 1959 murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation. It follows both the victims and the killers.

    earnest → clinical

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Lord of the Flies

    William Golding1954

    Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

    earnest → tense

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane2003

    earnest → tense

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2