State of Wonder

El enigma de París

Pablo de Santis2007

Twelve famous detectives gather at the 1889 Paris World's Fair, but they must use their skills when one of their own is murdered.

Same meditative register, still mentor and apprentice

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The Witch Elm

Tana French2018

After a traumatic assault, a man moves to his uncle's estate where a skull is discovered in a tree. He begins to doubt his own memories.

Same meditative register, still literary fiction

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A Letter of Mary

Laurie R. King1997

Mary Russell investigates the murder of an archaeologist who discovered a letter potentially written by a female apostle of Christ.

Same meditative register, still mentor and apprentice

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Portrait of an Unknown Lady

María Gainza2022

An art critic in Buenos Aires tracks a master forger of the artist Mariette Lydis. The book explores the nature of authenticity and copies.

Same meditative register, still literary fiction

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Amberes

Roberto Bolaño2002

A fragmented series of fifty-six short sections follows a police officer, a redhead, and a hunchback through a series of loosely linked crimes.

meditative → cold

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My Name Is Red

Orhan Pamuk

In 1591 Istanbul, miniaturists investigate a colleague's murder. Objects and colors narrate chapters alongside the human characters.

Same meditative register

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The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown2009

Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.

meditative → propulsive

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This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

meditative → earnest

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Medusa

Clive Cussler2009

The NUMA team investigates a missing undersea lab and a bathysphere attack. They uncover a corporate plot involving a deadly virus and jellyfish.

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The Jester

James Patterson2003

A man returns from the Crusades to find his village destroyed and his wife abducted. He assumes a new identity to hunt the killers.

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Moby Dick

Herman Melville1851

A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.

Same meditative register, still literary fiction

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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, still literary fiction

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2666

Roberto Bolaño2004

Five interconnected stories center on a series of unsolved murders in a Mexican border town and a reclusive German author.

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Páradais

Fernanda Melchor2020

Two teenagers in a luxury housing complex plot a crime to escape their lives. The prose consists of long, rhythmic, and breathless sentences.

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