Thursday 30 May 2013

Armchair BEA: Literary Fiction


Literary fiction for me is when books are about the writing as well as the plot.  Genre fiction can be absolutely fantastic, but it's all about the story and what is going to happen next.  Literary fiction is more than that, to me it can come from any genre but it has to impress with beautiful writing in addition to a good story.  Sometimes in literary fiction the story can take a back-seat and you get more introspective, character driven novels.

I enjoy literary fiction, and read a fair amount of it.  Lots of my favourite literary fiction books come from the Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize).  I don't tend to get along with Booker prize winning books, but I've yet to be let down by an Orange winner.  Here are some literary fiction books that I would most definitely recommend:

  

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - This could be classified as historical fiction, but the beautiful writing of this retelling of the Trojan War from the point of view of Achilles' companion, Patroclus, make this definitely literary.
2. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan - This is a short and simple book about two newlyweds, Florence and Edward, on their wedding night in 1962. It's packed full of emotion.
3. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Regular readers will know that I love Adichie, and this was the first book of hers I read.  It's about the Nigerian civil war, in which the fledgling state of Biafra was created.  If you've not read it, you must!

  

4. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth - Yes, I know, this is a long book.  But it's completely wonderful - through the story of four families in post-Independence India, Seth manages to write completely about what it means to be a human being.
5. Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - Yes, I know, there's a lot of historical fiction set in WW2 out there, but Half Blood Blues is different.  It's told from the perspective of a black jazz player in France and completely immerses you into his character.
6. Purge by Sofi Oksanen - This is one creepy book!  An old woman in Estonia, Aliide Truu, is disturbed one morning by the discovery of a badly beaten woman, Zara, in her garden.  Nothing is quite what it seems.

It appears that I like my literary fiction in the same way I like my genre fiction - set in a different time or place!  Have you read any of these titles?

42 comments:

  1. Ah, Sofi Oksanen. Since I'm an Estonian living in Finland, and she's half Estonian - half Finnish, her writing is close to my heart. I am currently gathering strength to read her latest in Finnish (I am not that good at Finnish yet :) )

    Half Blood Blues sounds absolutely wonderful, I'll go read your review and check it out on GR.

    My latest most memorable experiences with literary fiction have been Life After Life and I also want to say Cloud Atlas, though it probably doesn't fit that genre, but I did find it so beautifully written.

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    1. I need to read more by Sofi Oksanen - is there anything else she has written that you would recommend?

      I think Cloud Atlas is literary fiction (and I loved it too). It's such a unique book, which makes it hard to classify.

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    2. Surprisingly - and to my shock - her other novels have not been translated into English (yet?). Otherwise I'd definitely recommend Stalin's Cows (Stalinin Lehmät), which is set in Finland and Soviet Estonia and includes the theme of eating disorder. But it looks like the translation of her newest book is in progress (When the Doves Disappeared), so maybe soon there will be something more in English available.

      I agree on Cloud Atlas, I just bought "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" a few days ago and am curious to see how his writing has developed :)

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    3. The translators need to get working, asap, because I love the sound of Stalin's Cows.
      I own Thousand Autumns too, but haven't read it yet.

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  2. This is a great list! I've got to add to my tbr :) Literary fiction is something that I'm planning to get into more this year!

    Fahima @ I Read, Ergo I Write

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    1. Hope you enjoy them if you do get a chance to read any of them, Fahima :)

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  3. Great list, many books to add to my TBR - as I haven't read any of them :)

    Here's my Literary Fiction post.

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    1. My TBR is suffering from Armchair BEA, glad to see I'm not the only one!

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    2. It's amazing how many books I've added, good think I mostly read e-books... so that if I buy books now, they're all hidden in my computer :)

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  4. I loved Song of Achilles and have most of the rest of these already on my TBR list. I've never seen Purge before, though. I'll have to see if I can find a copy as it sounds like something I would enjoy reading. I love those not-quite-what-they-seem type of stories - they can be deliciously creepy indeed!

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    1. I challenge anyone NOT to love Song of Achilles, it's so good.
      I think you would enjoy Purge, Trish, if you like deliciously creepy books.

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  5. I haven't read any of these books. Half Blood Blues looks interesting to me.

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  6. The Orange Prize has never failed me either. I also often have luck with the Whitbread Prize (i think it may now be the Costa Prize).
    Thanks,
    tanya

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    1. The Costa prize is another good one, I think The Innocents won it recently, if I'm thinking of the right prize?

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  7. I still haven't read Half Blood Blues, but I have heard such great things about it. I'm not sure why I haven't picked it up yet!

    The Ian McEwan book sounds interesting. I loved Atonement but haven't read any of his other books, so perhaps this will be my next McEwan read.

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    1. Go on, pick it up, you know you want to!
      On Chesil Beach is the only McEwan I've read, my expectations have been seriously raised for the next one.

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  8. Well said on what literary fiction is. You made me realize that I sometimes don't have patience for literary fiction when it's more about the writing and less about the story. I really want to read Half Blood Blues and The Song of Achilles. Kudos to you for making it through A Suitable Boy!

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    1. Sometimes I don't have the patience too, it depends on my mood. When I'm busy / stressed, I need genre fiction!

      A Suitable Boy is actually a very easy read, it's just extremely long. I read it in three months in a read-a-long.

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  9. A spot-on definition of literary fiction! Thanks for the list - I haven't read most of these and they all look interesting.

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    1. Hope you enjoy them if you do get a chance to read any of them :)

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  10. I haven't read a single one of these but Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is on my to-read list, and I'll definitely try and check out the others!

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  11. I read quite a bit of literary fiction and generally enjoy it. Besides the awards mentioned, another good source of literary fiction (in English) is the IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards. The shortlist is a great way to find interesting books of "high literary merit". Purge sounds really interesting and A Suitable Boy has been on my tbr list for a while. The best work of literary fiction I have read recently is A Land More Kind than Home (Cash is the author's name) which is a story set in the American south. Another great one from the same setting is Salvage the Bones. It does seem like literary fiction has a tendency to be bleak. The Rules of Civility was also excellent and is less bleak.

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    1. Thanks Mary, I hadn't heard of that award and it sounds like it is worth looking in too.

      I enjoyed Rules of Civility too, the main character was so engaging.

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  12. I will have to read Half Blue Blood..... I LOVE WWII stories!

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  13. Look away, look away! I don't need more books to put on my wishlist, lol.

    The Song of Achilles was fantastic! The best love story I've ever read.

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    1. My wishlist has suffered since the start of Armchair BEA, and we're only on day three! My library is going to be kept busy with all the holds I'm going to be putting in soon....

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  14. LOOOOOVED On Chesil Beach. Seriously loved. I wish I'd put it in my own post. I need to get off my butt and read Song of Achilles. And OMG, Purge sounds crazy-amazing.

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    1. It was great, wasn't it? A really quiet but powerful novel.

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  15. I haven't read a single book from your list but I really like the sound of a few of them! I'll have to find Song of Achilles and Purge sounds amazing.

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    1. Purge is such an under-rated book, I'm glad people are liking the sound of it.

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  16. Amazing list -- I haven't read any, but I really really really want them all. Especially The Song of Achilles!

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    1. Song of Achilles is just awesome, I know you'd love it as like me, you enjoy historical fiction.

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  17. Hi Sam!
    I remember you having a giveaway for Song of Achilles and I honestly still have it listed on my TBR. I'll read it if you read The Shadow of the Wind (it's utter blasphemy to have not read it! Feel the peer pressure :D. I took a class called Human Geography and I remember my teacher showed me a speech that Adichie gave that was really brilliant, about prejudices I think. I tried reading one of her books, The Thing Around Your Neck, but I couldn't get through it. Perhaps another one of books will capture my interest :)I've never heard of Purge and it looks amazing!

    -Kirthi

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  18. I haven't read any of those books but I would love to read Half of a Yellow Sun. I did give Suitable Boy a go but that was at a time when I wasn't reading much, so that book stayed unfinished. :D

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  19. I haven't read anything on your list, but a lot of them sound really compelling. The closest thing to literary fiction I've read lately is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - it really challenged me and a lot of what I thought I knew about myself!

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  20. I think most of what I read can be counted as Literary Fiction. I just kind of peg any novel that is character/emotion driven as well as plot driven that doesn't fit into a particular genre as literary fiction. I love a book that sucks you in through character development.

    Half Blood Blues is excellent. It popped up somewhere on my twitter the other day that Esi's debut novel has just come back into print - going to have to check that out.

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  21. Late again, but adding all of these to my monstrously long TBR list. They all look so good! I haven't read any Ian McEwan

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  22. I don't know how I missed your blog before Armchair BEA, but I love this list of books! A Suitable Boy and On Chesil Beach were amazing, and I need to read all of the others!

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  23. I recently read Half of a Yellow Sun and I still cannot get over the perfection of it!

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