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Modern & Literary Fiction Books

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    Stoner: A Novel by John Williams

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    Read the greatest rediscovered classic of recent years 'A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life' Ian McEwanWilliam Stoner en...

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    The Overstory: A novel from the Vintage Earth collection by Richard Powers

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    ** WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION **A wondrous, exhilarating novel about nine strangers brought together by an unfolding natural catastro...

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    The Housekeeper and the Professor (Vintage Classics Japanese Series) by Yoko Ogawa

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    This is one of those books written in such lucid, unpretentious language that reading it is like looking into a deep pool of clear water...Dive...

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    The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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    The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and wh...

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    The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

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    As a girl, Clara del Valle can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future. Following the mysterious...

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    The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

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    Escape to the ocean with the entrancing, unforgettable winner of the Costa Book of the Year - as read on BBC Radio 4. On a quiet day, near the Ca...

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    The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

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    **NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS**Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th...

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    Sugar by Bernice McFadden

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    **A RICHARD AND JUDY AUTUMN BOOK CLUB PICK AND THE MOST POWERFUL BOOK YOU'LL READ THIS YEAR** 'Poignant and bittersweet, this novel is a joy' Richa...

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    The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir

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    The lost novel from the author of The Second SexWhen Andree joins her school, Sylvie is immediately fascinated. Andree is small for her age, but wa...

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    In Praise of Shadows: Vintage Design Edition by Junichiro Tanizaki

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    A fully illustrated, beautifully produced edition of Junichiro Tanizaki's wise and evocative essay on Japanese culture. 'We find beauty not in t...

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    The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Vintage Classics Japanese Series) by Haruki Murakami

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    Enter the surreal and enchanting world of Haruki Murakami. Toru Okada's cat has disappeared. His wife is growing more distant every day...

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    Slaughterhouse 5: 50th Anniversary Edition by Kurt Vonnegut

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    50th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITIONAs a young man and a prisoner of war, Kurt Vonnegut witnessed the 1945 US fire-bombing of Dresden in Germany, which...

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    The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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    ** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ****A BBC BETWEEN COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ**Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the a...

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    Desire: Vintage Minis by Haruki Murakami

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    You've just passed someone on the street who could be the love of your life, the person you're destined for - what do you do? In Murakami's world, ...

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    The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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    ** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER **Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon before you read the Booker Prize-winning sequel The T...

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    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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    'Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.' Atticus Finch gives this advice to his child...

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    The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

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    **NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS**Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th...

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    The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

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    WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BRENDA BOWENMrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, cowed and neglected by their husbands, make a daring plan: they will have a holi...

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    Blindness by Jose Saramago

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    No food, no water, no government, no obligation, no order. Discover a chillingly powerful and prescient dystopian vision from one of Europe's gre...

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    What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

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    This powerful collection of stories, set in the mid-West among the lonely men and women who drink, fish and play cards to ease the passing of time,...

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    Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

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    Discover Thomas Pynchon's brilliant writing in this postmodern literature classic. ...

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    The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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    ** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER **Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon before you read the Booker Prize-winning sequel The T...

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    Beloved by Toni Morrison

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    Discover Toni Morrison's most iconic work in this Pulitzer-prize winning novel that exemplifies her powerful and important place in contemporary Am...

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    To Sir With Love by E. R. Braithwaite

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    **A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ PICK**'A milestone in the campaign for racial equality' GuardianIn 1945, Rick Braithwaite, a smart, hig...

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    As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

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    The death and burial of Addie Bundren is told by members of her family, as they cart the coffin to Jefferson, Mississippi, to bury her among her pe...

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    The Quiet American by Graham Greene

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    Discover Graham Green's prescient political masterpiece'The novel that I love the most is The Quiet American' Ian McEwanInto the intrigue and viole...

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    The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

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    A complex, intense American novel of family from the winner of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureWith an introduction by Richard HughesEver since the f...

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    I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

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    'This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met' J K Rowling ...

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    In Watermelon Sugar by The Estate of Richard Brautigan

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    'A charming and original work... The parable itself is extremely relevant' The TimesiDEATH is a place where the sun shines a different colour every...

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    Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

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    'A subtle and beautiful meditation' Sunday TimesIn Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler ...

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    The Sound Of Waves by Yukio Mishima

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    'A work of art...altogether a joyous and lovely thing' New York TimesSet in a remote fishing village in Japan, The Sound of Waves is a timeless sto...

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    For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

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    Hemingway's great novel of the Spanish Civil War'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it'High in the pine...

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    The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

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    Because of the boyhood trauma of seeing his mother make love to another man in the presence of his dying father, Mizoguchi becomes a hopeless stutt...

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    The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

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    A band of savage thirteen-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callous...

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    In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki

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    An intimate reflection on Japanese art and architecture from one of the country's greatest novelists. This is an enchanting essay on aesthetics b...

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    Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

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    Tokyo, 1912. The closed world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders - rich provincial families, a new and po...

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    Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima

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    Read this classic exploration of political violence, traditional samurai values and right wing nihilism. ...

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    A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

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    Ernest's Hemingway's powerful autobiographical story of war. 'I don't live at all when I'm not with you'In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war. He ...

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    The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

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    The book that won Ernest Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature'It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought'Set in the Gulf Stream off the coas...

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    Beloved by Toni Morrison

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    An American masterpiece' AS ByattWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY BOOKER PRIZE WINNER BERNARDINE EVARISTOSethe is now miles away from Sweet Home - the fa...

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    Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

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    As Cabaret returns to the West End, revisit the KitKat Club in the book that introduced Sally Bowles to the world. Set in the 1930s, Goodbye to Ber...

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    Slaughterhouse 5: The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut

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    Read Kurt Vonnegut's powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published. 'An extraordinary success. A book to read and rer...

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    To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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    Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.' Atticus Finch gives this advice to his childre...

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Creative, 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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