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Celebrating Fifty Years of Picador Books The wrath of God lies sleeping. It was hid a million years before men were and only men have power to wake...
View full detailsShortlisted for the Booker Prize Shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction Winner of Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Award...
View full detailsThe Cat Who Saved Books is a heartwarming story about finding courage, caring for others - and the tremendous power of books. 'Enchanting' - Observ...
View full detailsCELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF PICADOR BOOKSShortlisted for the Booker Prize 2015Shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction 2016Winner of Ficti...
View full detailsCELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF PICADOR BOOKS I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane? Patrick Bateman has it all: good looks, youth, char...
View full detailsWhat would you change if you could go back in time?In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee f...
View full detailsMaria, a trans woman in her thirties, is going nowhere. She spends her aimless days working in a New York bookstore, trying to remain true to a pun...
View full details'A glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet' - The Times'Taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka' - Irish TimesTo be a conten...
View full detailsThe Sunday Times bestselling, twenty-eighth and final novel in the thrilling, wickedly funny Inspector Montalbano Mysteries series by Andrea Camill...
View full details'An apocalyptic novel for our times' - Guardian'Horrifyingly resonant' - ObserverSuperbowl Sunday, 2022. A couple wait in their Manhattan apartment...
View full detailsThe Cook of the Halcyon is the penultimate novel in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series from the master of Sicilian crime, Andrea Camilleri. ...
View full details'Sunshine in book form' - Daily Mail'A joyfully escapist celebration of friendship and freedom' - Mail on Sunday'Delightful, heartwarming . . . An ...
View full detailsThe Sunday Times Bestseller 2021. As recommended by the BBC Radio 2 Book Club'The novel I've enjoyed most this year' - Hilary Mantel'A mystery, a l...
View full detailsA cult classic of Italian literature, published in English for the first time, with an afterword by Andre Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name. ...
View full detailsIn The Sicilian Method, Andrea Camilleri's twenty-sixth novel in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series, Montalbano finds his answers to a murder ...
View full details'[An] incredible debut' - Stylist'A novel about home, about belonging and exile; a compelling and complex insight into a recent past that still res...
View full detailsAkin is a tender tale of love, loss and family, from Emma Donoghue, the international bestselling author of Room. 'If Room forced home truths on ...
View full detailsThe Times top ten bestsellerScots Book of the Year 2021Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award & Betty Trask Award 2021'Trainspotting for a new ge...
View full details'Wickedly clever prose and a sense of humour that seems to loom up like a character in itself' - M John Harrison, GuardianIn her brilliantly invent...
View full details'Brilliant . . . A deeply unsettling, excellent read' - Daisy Johnson, author of Everything Under 'A potent contemporary fable . . . riveting' - Gu...
View full detailsShortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawak...
View full detailsFrom the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga, comes the story of an undocumented immigrant who becomes the o...
View full detailsWritten in precise, elegant prose, Garth Greenwell's Cleanness is an almost unbearably poignant book about a man whose life, like so many, has been...
View full detailsThe internationally bestselling novel that inspired the acclaimed film directed by Peter Jackson. With an introduction by Karen Thompson Walker, ...
View full details'Best novel. The big one . . . stands above all the others' - George R.R. Martin, author of Game of ThronesNow an HBO Max original TV series The Ne...
View full detailsA major film starring Brie Larson, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Best Actress BAFTAShortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the...
View full detailsWinner of the Booker Prize in 1985, Keri Hulme's The Bone People is the story of Kerewin, a despairing part-Maori artist who is convinced that her ...
View full detailsCELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS OF PICADOR BOOKSNow an HBO Max original TV seriesThe New York Times BestsellerWinner of the Arthur C. Clarke AwardLongliste...
View full detailsTHE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'After the painfully affecting [A Little Life] To Paradise gives us three stories far apart in space and time...
View full detailsBreathtaking' - Haruki Murakami author of Norwegian WoodA beguiling novel about three women struggling to determine their own lives in contemporary...
View full detailsTHE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back. After the extraordinary success of Shuggie Bain, his second...
View full detailsIn a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee sho...
View full detailsThe Sunday Times bestseller 'A mystery, a love story and a ghost story, all at once. Wonderful' - S. J. WatsonCornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish ...
View full detailsA book of pure fineness, exceptional.' - Diana Evans, Guardian'A taut, sharp, funny book about being young now. It's brutal-and brilliant.' - Zadie...
View full detailsThe Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2021From the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss'...
View full detailsExtraordinary . . . stunning' - Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory 'Vivid details, visceral prose and strong willful women' - Angie Cruz...
View full detailsWinner of the Booker Prize 2020Winner of 'Book of the Year' at the British Book Awards 2021Winner of 'Debut of the Year' at the British Book Awards...
View full detailsWinner of the Booker Prize 2020Winner of 'Book of the Year' at the British Book Awards 2021Winner of 'Debut of the Year' at the British Book Awards...
View full detailsA beautifully moving tale of loss and reaching out to the ones we love, of one man's journey to discover what really matters in modern life. Our na...
View full detailsA Sunday Times bestseller and Richard and Judy Bookclub pick, The Confession is an absorbing tale of secrets and self-discovery from Jessie Burton,...
View full detailsThe Sunday Times and New York Times BestsellerA couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo. They work at home...
View full detailsThe phenomenal number one bestseller and a major BBC TV series. Winner of the Specsavers National Book Award and Waterstones Book of the Year. A Ri...
View full detailsCreative, formula-bending, genre-defying, character-focused, and most importantly, a literary exploration of the human condition—contemporary & modern literary fiction is arguably the most experimental genre within literature.
The landscape of literary fiction is constantly being revolutionised by literary fiction authors; that are known to constantly push the boundaries of genre fiction and blur the lines of distinction between literary fiction and other genres of literature.
Given the creative ambiguity of contemporary literary fiction; the genre witnesses a dazzling lineup of highly acclaimed debuts and fresh progressive voices each year. From trailblazing memoirs to the cultural history of humanity—no other genre captures the exactness of our collective life experience more creatively than literary fiction.
The list of bestselling literary fiction is an exciting mix of very distinct literary techniques and contrasting voices. Precisely why, we at Books2Door bring you and a carefully curated collection of the best literary fiction books of all time whilst also helping you gain an acute understanding of what qualifies as modern & literary fiction.
Formula-bending, genre-defying, and experimental
Modern and Contemporary Literary Fiction or experimental fiction is possibly the literature’s most rebellious genre. It doesn’t follow any literary formulas, nor does it adhere to any rules. In that, literary fiction authors are free to build an unpredictable narrative. Anything can transpire; exciting or unnerving. In literary fiction, any established literary theme can be turned on its head. For instance, literary fiction authors have challenged the good-triumphs-over-evil theme; so common otherwise in genre fiction books.
George Orwell’s social satire Nineteen Eighty-Four is one example. A book best categorised as dystopian literature; (remember the recently trending hashtag #makeorwellfictionagain ?) Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four not only challenged the good vs evil theme but also blurred the lines of distinction between genre fiction and classic literary fiction.
Employees creative storytelling
Considering literary fiction doesn’t adhere to any rules of genre or sub-genre; every literary fiction author is free to be creative and create his own rules. This makes the storyline an adventure, that can take its readers by surprise.
Devoid of any rules, the literary fiction writer is free to break convention and employ his creativity. This practice has birthed some extraordinary literary works. For example, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife where Niffenegger’s uses dual narrators from the first person point of view, in the present tense.
Thought-provoking and introspective
Like we said earlier, no other genre captures the exactness of the human condition and our collective life experience more creatively than literary fiction. Whilst most genres are designed to entertain the readers, literary fiction is meant to do more than that. Literary fiction seeks to make sense of the world. It is meant to be thought-provoking, and introspective and is meant to push the reader to think critically of the human condition.
Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, for instance, explores the mind of a depressed, anxious, and neurotic young woman. Whilst the book has a coming-of-age plot line; it is the inner dialogue of this character that truly makes it a memorable book. This strong character study is what makes literary fiction a character-focused and introspective genre.
Explores the human condition
Stories in literary fiction do not shy away from dealing with difficult subjects and the realities of the human condition with artistic honesty. Literary fiction, therefore, is not always designed to help the reader escape. It can make the reader uncomfortable and push them to think about issues.
Literary fiction however is not non-fiction; so it doesn’t just report the truth. Instead, it relies on creative techniques and artsy symbolism to convey a deeper meaning. Literary fiction relies on metaphors and creative storytelling to convey meaningful messages. As a result, the takeaway from these stories is more than just the story, the takeaway is the experience, the message, and at times the characters.
Literary fiction is character-driven
Whilst genre fiction is focused on the story, plotlines, and on being an engaging read; literary fiction is more stressed on the characters or on conveying a meaningful message or idea. At times, it is focused on both. The characters in literary fiction can have layers, the depth of a character's actions and psyche are explored to forward the plot. Literary fiction doesn’t just show a character’s story, it shows how their actions and circumstances change the character.
Literary fiction can be as absurd and ambiguous as life itself
Literary fiction is experimental in nature much like absurd art, which means it doesn’t have to have a happy ending or an ending at all. Art movements like absurdism, dadaism and surrealism, are all, artsy cousins of experimental prose.
Literary fiction gives writers the liberty to let a story end abruptly or for the entire plot to be absurd. Stories in this genre don’t necessarily have to resolve but they have to have meaning. The meaning however is left to the reader’s interpretation.
Literary fiction is good for the reader
Because literary fiction pushes boundaries, employs a unique perspective, searches for meaning, and is designed for intellectual and emotional stimulus--it is much like the art you see hanging in galleries and the movies that bring meaningful conversations alive. Just like artsy movies and art itself, the creative genius of literary fiction is largely open to criticism. Some of the best contemporary literary fiction books have won critical acclaim and awards but missed out on winning the masses.
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