LitQueuelitqueue

After

We Keep the Dead Close

Becky Cooper2020

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Aftershocks

    Nadia Owusu2021

    A woman raised across multiple countries by a diplomat father struggles with her identity after parental abandonment and death.

    Same meditative register, still memoir

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Argonauts

    Maggie Nelson2015

    A memoir of the author's relationship with her partner and her pregnancy. It mixes personal narrative with academic theory on gender and family.

    Same meditative register, still memoir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

  • The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.

    meditative → bleak, still memoir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Education of Henry Adams

    Henry Adams

    A man writes a sardonic third-person account of his life and his failure to adapt to the technological shifts of the late 19th century.

    meditative → sardonic, still memoir

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Tuesdays with Morrie

    Mitch Albom1994

    A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.

    meditative → tender, still memoir

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Untamed

    Glennon Doyle2020

    A woman recounts leaving her marriage and rebuilding her life after falling in love with another woman. It is a series of personal manifestos.

    meditative → earnest, still memoir

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Ghost Ship

    Clive Cussler2014

    Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

    Bill O'Reilly

    A minute-by-minute narrative of John Wilkes Booth's plot to kill Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent manhunt for the conspirators.

    meditative → propulsive, still true crime

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • American Kingpin

    Nick Bilton2017

    This account follows Ross Ulbricht as he builds the Silk Road dark web market and the federal agents who spend years tracking him down.

    meditative → propulsive, still true crime

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

    Jon Krakauer

    A journalist recounts the 1996 Everest disaster. He details the logistical failures and the storm that killed several climbers.

    meditative → tense, still memoir

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Braiding Sweetgrass

    Robin Wall Kimmerer2013

    A botanist and member of the Potawatomi Nation weaves together indigenous legends and scientific study. It focuses on ecological interconnectedness.

    Same meditative register, still memoir

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

  • A river runs through it

    Norman Maclean1976

    A man recalls his youth in 1920s Montana. He and his brother bond with their father through the technical details of fly fishing.

    meditative → elegiac, still memoir

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • A Writer's Diary

    Virginia Woolf1953

    Selected entries from twenty-seven years of the author's personal journals. The text focuses on her creative process and daily writing habits.

    Same meditative register, still memoir

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Broken

    Shy Keenan2008

    The author recounts years of severe physical and sexual abuse by her parents. It follows her journey toward survival and activism.

    meditative → bleak, still true crime

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Fact of a Body

    Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich2017

    A lawyer investigates a 1992 murder case while confronting her own history of childhood trauma. It blends true crime with personal memoir.

    Same meditative register, still true crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • A Child Called "It"

    Dave Pelzer1987

    A memoir of the author's childhood survival against severe physical and psychological abuse by his mother in California.

    meditative → bleak, still memoir

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1