Literary fiction served with a side of romance, please
March 11, 2012 2:53 PM
I'm looking for (at least borderline) Serious Literature published in the last 20 years with romantic elements.
I read a lot of genre fiction, and I'm kind of tired of the style. I'm not sure where to go next in the world of literary fiction, though. I have read and enjoyed:
Possession, A.S. Byatt
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
Ian McEwan
What do you guys pick up when you want fantastic storytelling, thoughtful writing, and romance?
I read a lot of genre fiction, and I'm kind of tired of the style. I'm not sure where to go next in the world of literary fiction, though. I have read and enjoyed:
Possession, A.S. Byatt
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
Ian McEwan
What do you guys pick up when you want fantastic storytelling, thoughtful writing, and romance?
I've heard great things about The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. The Time Traveler's Wife was quite popular among fans of the romance genre. Also, you might want to look at historical fiction (Sharon Penman's Here Be Dragons and pretty much everything by Elizabeth Chadwick spring to mind).
posted by artemisia at 3:17 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by artemisia at 3:17 PM on March 11, 2012
You might enjoy Sebastian Faulks. Both Birdsong and Charlotte Grey are, essentially, love stories embedded within a social/historical drama. Both are somewhat akin to McEwan's Atonement, though slightly more cumbersome and (in my opinion) less skillful treatments of similar themes. Really great casual reads, though!
In a very different vein, I don't think any contemporary author (within my very limited knowledge base) writes a love story as beautifully and viscerally as Michael Ondaatje (but maybe that's just the Canadian patriot inside me speaking). Try Divisadero or the less-rich but more popular The English Patient.
posted by Dorinda at 3:23 PM on March 11, 2012
In a very different vein, I don't think any contemporary author (within my very limited knowledge base) writes a love story as beautifully and viscerally as Michael Ondaatje (but maybe that's just the Canadian patriot inside me speaking). Try Divisadero or the less-rich but more popular The English Patient.
posted by Dorinda at 3:23 PM on March 11, 2012
I read A Visit from the Goon Squad recently and it reminded me of Let the Great World Spin. I prefered the latter.
posted by marais at 3:24 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by marais at 3:24 PM on March 11, 2012
That should be "Charlotte Gray", not "Grey". Damn you, British spelling.
posted by Dorinda at 3:25 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by Dorinda at 3:25 PM on March 11, 2012
Julian Barnes! Talking It Over, Love, etc., Before She Met Me.
posted by marais at 3:30 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by marais at 3:30 PM on March 11, 2012
The Passion or Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. If you like Byatt, you'll probably enjoy Winterson as well.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 5:23 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by Kitty Stardust at 5:23 PM on March 11, 2012
2nding Bel Canto, but it may break your heart
A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin was really lovely.
posted by Mchelly at 5:27 PM on March 11, 2012
A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin was really lovely.
posted by Mchelly at 5:27 PM on March 11, 2012
I've been on a bit of roll these last few years with just the type of book that you describe. (See my previous question about books to read on my honeymoon for a slightly different approach to the same idea.)
Above all others and with as much ardor as text can convey, I recommend Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire. It is a masterpiece.
Almost as good, and mentioned above, A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Passion, Bel Canto, Possession, and The Time Traveler's Wife. In addition, I think you might like The Great Man, The Imperfectionists, and Old Filth / The Man in the Wooden Hat. (The latter two are a diptych telling the story of one marriage.) On a different note then all of these, I found Kissing in Manhattan memorably, and oddly, romantic.
Finally, I would give The Age of Innocence a shot. Although almost 100 years old now, it seemed to me a fresh and biting and heartbreaking as anything in the above list.
posted by minervous at 6:10 PM on March 11, 2012
Above all others and with as much ardor as text can convey, I recommend Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire. It is a masterpiece.
Almost as good, and mentioned above, A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Passion, Bel Canto, Possession, and The Time Traveler's Wife. In addition, I think you might like The Great Man, The Imperfectionists, and Old Filth / The Man in the Wooden Hat. (The latter two are a diptych telling the story of one marriage.) On a different note then all of these, I found Kissing in Manhattan memorably, and oddly, romantic.
Finally, I would give The Age of Innocence a shot. Although almost 100 years old now, it seemed to me a fresh and biting and heartbreaking as anything in the above list.
posted by minervous at 6:10 PM on March 11, 2012
I'd give The Forbidden Garden by Kate Moton a shot, and Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund. Also, if you like Connie Willis, I'd keep reading her books, pretty much all of which I love. She's considered a sci fi writer, I guess, but many of her books are barely that - I'm thinking of Bellwether and Passage.
posted by cupcakemuffin at 7:00 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by cupcakemuffin at 7:00 PM on March 11, 2012
Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being if you can expand your time window a smidge.
posted by threeants at 7:55 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by threeants at 7:55 PM on March 11, 2012
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
posted by lewedswiver at 8:39 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by lewedswiver at 8:39 PM on March 11, 2012
nthing Bel Canto, also Sarah Waters- Tipping the Velvet
posted by costanza at 9:01 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by costanza at 9:01 PM on March 11, 2012
Corelli's Mandolin just squeaks into the list, from 1994. Reading it feels like falling in love.
posted by mochapickle at 11:20 PM on March 11, 2012
posted by mochapickle at 11:20 PM on March 11, 2012
Another vote for Oscar & Lucinda; that is a perfect suggestion for what you are looking for.
Half of a Yellow Sun has a side of romantic elements, but it's definitely a side. It's also fantastic, and wrenching.
As for Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, it is definitely an excellent work (and exhausting --- the detail, man), but the romantic element, though present, and fuzzy in the moment, feels inconsequential to the other issues that come up later, I think.
posted by phonebia at 12:21 AM on March 12, 2012
Half of a Yellow Sun has a side of romantic elements, but it's definitely a side. It's also fantastic, and wrenching.
As for Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, it is definitely an excellent work (and exhausting --- the detail, man), but the romantic element, though present, and fuzzy in the moment, feels inconsequential to the other issues that come up later, I think.
posted by phonebia at 12:21 AM on March 12, 2012
Have you read The Colony by Jillian Weise?
The romance (which is not the main focus but at the same time plays an important role) is less romantic and more sexy. And technically, it is genre fiction (sci-fi). But, I would also count it as literary fiction. The author is a poet, and I think this comes across in a great way in the language/voice.
posted by phonebia at 12:30 AM on March 12, 2012
The romance (which is not the main focus but at the same time plays an important role) is less romantic and more sexy. And technically, it is genre fiction (sci-fi). But, I would also count it as literary fiction. The author is a poet, and I think this comes across in a great way in the language/voice.
posted by phonebia at 12:30 AM on March 12, 2012
I've heard great things about The Invisible Bridge but haven't yet read it myself. And I find myself recommending The Last Werewolf (genre in name only, fits at least one of your main criteria but I don't want to say more) quite a bit.
posted by Currer Belfry at 8:41 AM on March 12, 2012
posted by Currer Belfry at 8:41 AM on March 12, 2012
The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe was spellbinding- a work of literary fiction that has one of the oddest romances I have ever seen.
Set The House in Order, by Matt Ruff, features two protagonists who have multiple personality disorder in love. Some of the passages are disturbing, but this is a book I love and would come back to in a second.
As a romance reader, I would also recommend the Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber-- don't know if you enjoy Regency romances, but this one has all the trappings. And there is a Masterpiece Theater movie version of it.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is certainly romantic but a bit sad.
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Wilson features a lesbian romance (but I think that might be more than 20 years old at this point).
The Jane Austen Book Club will rock your world, there is also a movie. Karen Joy Fowler, the author, is an awesome female writer in that she writes both literary fiction and science fiction, and this delightful read is a must.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (someone upthread recommended her Tipping the Velvet) is another lesbian romance novel set in Victorian England and is a definite page turner.
Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding may be pushing the "literary" label, but I adored it, and don't know anyone who didn't enjoy it at least a little bit.
Finally A Room With A View by E.M. Forster is way too old to be on this list, but I have to put it, because it's so good.
posted by kettleoffish at 5:32 PM on March 12, 2012
Set The House in Order, by Matt Ruff, features two protagonists who have multiple personality disorder in love. Some of the passages are disturbing, but this is a book I love and would come back to in a second.
As a romance reader, I would also recommend the Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber-- don't know if you enjoy Regency romances, but this one has all the trappings. And there is a Masterpiece Theater movie version of it.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is certainly romantic but a bit sad.
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Wilson features a lesbian romance (but I think that might be more than 20 years old at this point).
The Jane Austen Book Club will rock your world, there is also a movie. Karen Joy Fowler, the author, is an awesome female writer in that she writes both literary fiction and science fiction, and this delightful read is a must.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (someone upthread recommended her Tipping the Velvet) is another lesbian romance novel set in Victorian England and is a definite page turner.
Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding may be pushing the "literary" label, but I adored it, and don't know anyone who didn't enjoy it at least a little bit.
Finally A Room With A View by E.M. Forster is way too old to be on this list, but I have to put it, because it's so good.
posted by kettleoffish at 5:32 PM on March 12, 2012
The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
Anything by Michael Ondaatje, i would think
The Quiet American, Graham Green
The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
The Patron Saint of Liars, Ann Patchett
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Letter from Paraguay, blanking on the author... Lily something
Restoration, Rose Tremain
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, Michael Chabon...unconventional but rich
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova ... More filial love than romance, but compelling
posted by elizeh at 8:48 PM on March 12, 2012
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
Anything by Michael Ondaatje, i would think
The Quiet American, Graham Green
The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
The Patron Saint of Liars, Ann Patchett
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Letter from Paraguay, blanking on the author... Lily something
Restoration, Rose Tremain
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, Michael Chabon...unconventional but rich
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova ... More filial love than romance, but compelling
posted by elizeh at 8:48 PM on March 12, 2012
More:
The Ha Ha by Dave king
Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
posted by elizeh at 8:56 PM on March 12, 2012
The Ha Ha by Dave king
Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
posted by elizeh at 8:56 PM on March 12, 2012
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst won the Booker Prize and is essentially a political gay romance. I liked it an awful lot.
posted by mippy at 5:48 AM on March 14, 2012
posted by mippy at 5:48 AM on March 14, 2012
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posted by hot soup girl at 3:16 PM on March 11, 2012