LitQueuelitqueue

After

Schopenhauer's Telescope

Gerard Donovan2003

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Last Hundred Days

    Patrick McGuinness2011

    An English teacher in 1980s Bucharest watches the Ceaușescu regime collapse. He navigates a city of bread lines, informants, and demolition crews.

    Same tense register, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive, still historical fiction

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike, still philosophical 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Thoughtful

    S.C. Stephens2015

    Kellan Kyle falls for his best friend's girlfriend, Anna. The story retells the events of Thoughtless from Kellan's perspective.

    tense → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Child 44

    Tom Rob Smith2008

    A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

    Same tense register

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    tense → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

Slower

tense → meditative, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • Elizabeth Costello

    J. M. Coetzee2003

    An elderly novelist travels the world giving academic lectures on animals, realism, and evil. The book is structured as a series of formal speeches.

    tense → meditative, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·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.

    tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

    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.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2