Properly literary fiction vs just fiction

OP - I'm struggling with this too. I've read about 15 books so far this year, and none of them have been anything special.

Susan Howatch is my benchmark for brilliance in a modern novel. I love her racy style. I struggle to think of any other writer who rises above the mundane in the way that she does.

For comfort and a guaranteed good read, I'm reading my way through the Wallander novels by Henning Mankell. The dialogue is only great if you can tolerate the laconic style and the plotting is a bit slow - but the writing is intelligent and most are a satisfactory 350 plus pages.

I'm currently reading 'We Never Had It So Good' by Linda Grant: the story of Stephen and Andrea through their experience as students in Oxford in the 1960 , next as lovers, newly married, building careers, being parents etc etc. Essentially, a distillation of family life in the late twentieth century. At least it is as far as page 106, which is as far as I've got. Readable, but lacking something. So far it's reminding me a little of Margaret Drabble's 'The Pure Gold Baby' and making me wonder if reflecting on the experience of the late twentieth century is something that established modern writers feel a need to do. I almost wish they wouldn't as there seems to be a distinct absence of either flair or originality. It's as if they are writing from a place of satisfaction.

I've got my eye on 'A Little Life' to try next - I'm quite hopeful that that might fit the bill.

"A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies" by John Murray is a truly remarkable, enchanting, well-crafted collection of (fiction) short stories.

Another vote for Rohinton Mistry, I love Family Matters.

My go to people for intelligent writing are

Muriel Spark
Garrison Keillor
Lucretia Grindle
Anne Tyler
Jonathan Coe

I hate stuff like Austen, Dickens etc

I find the more I read the harder it is to find a book that blows me away. I was the same when I used to see lots of plays. It takes something spectacular to have an impact.

David Mitchell is a high quality I find, and the last really great book I read was Sweetland by Michael Crummey. Crummey by name but not by nature.

Not terribly recent (60s) but I'm just rereading Ursula Le Guin's 'The Left Hand of Darkness'. Lovely writing, solid plot, great characters, loads to think about. Sci-Fi but also proper, serious literature.

Ann Tyler fans should have a look at Elizabeth Strout.

She's brilliant - particularly My Name Is Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge.

Both fantastic books - especially the latter.

I'm on holiday and appreciating the pleasure of just fiction. I had to restart Maggie O'Farrell's Instructions for a Heatwave as I put it down half way through a couple of years ago for some reason. Finished it today the went back to Margaret Drabble's The Dark Flood Rises which I'm finding dull.

I now have a hankering for something along the lines of O'Farrell although I didn't rate This Must be the Place

Agree re A Spool of Blue Thread, it's great. Might look up some more Anne Tyler.

Rohinton Mistry is a delight! Anything by him.

Rohinton Mistry - A fine Balance

Utterly brilliant and enthralling. Beautifully written as well.

Following with interest...

I also love Sebastian Barry. He has a brilliant way with language. Try his most recent, Days Without End, but almost anything he writes is worth attention.

David Mitchell, yes, any thing by Ian McEwan - The Children (not Children's - sorry, pedant alert!) Act was fab and I'm reading Sweet Tooth at the minute. There's so much, but I'm going to make one, big, fat recommendation, because since I discovered him a couple of years ago I think he surpasses almost everything else that everyone else has written. He's an American (don't be put off), called Richard Powers. Now, some people say he overwrites massively, and I can see why, but, for me, he really stretches the boundaries of what can be attempted in fiction, he's really into neuroscience and the brain and manages to bring it in in ways that feel completely natural. I must out myself as a retired psychotherapist and now a writer myself, and I never read rubbish - at least not in books, I spend enough time on Mumsnet and Facebook! Try Orfeo or The Echo Maker. He is seriously brilliant - and that's just my personal opinion, he's really not to everyone's taste and he's not always easy.

Remains of the Day is one of the recent greats for me. I was also profoundly moved by A Thousand Splendid Suns and Half of a Yellow Sun. I couldn't put down We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves but I know that's a Marmite book on here.

I found The Virgin Suicides very readable as well.

Exactly that Myro. I'm a passable writer, have had some shorts published so I don't want to read rubbishy drivel. I want to read clever, thinking stuff.

Anne Tyler is usually very good, as is Jonathan Coe and Garrison Keelor (?)

I really would recommend The Childrens Act though, I couldn't read it fast enough

I recommend Atwood. Also Pat Barker, and then maybe Barry Unsworth.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing is brilliant.

I read The Children's Act and was stunned at how different it was in terms of ability of the author. It made me realise how sludgy my reading has become.

I'm reading Do Not Say We Have Nothing. I'm loving it so far. It got a rave review from DH.

Another vote for The Goldfinch.

Try Moonglow by Michael Chabon. He has an amazing way with language. I love Kavalier and Clay by him as well.

David Mitchell - any of his books but particularly The Bone Clocks and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

Personally I think reviews can be very misleading. It often feels as though the reviewer has fallen for the publisher's hype. I'm not sure what the best way to work out what's worth reading. Other than from on here. . There's also often a fashion, "everybody's reading this so you should too!" in newspapers, word of mouth etc. this is the author/type of book for the zeitgeist. Then you find it's the emperor's new clothes. The downside to reading contemporary fiction is it hasn't stood the test of time. But I'd hate to not try new writing.

I agree with "A Little Life". It was breathtaking.

Not that recent but I'd nominate Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

Agreed. One of the best books I have read ever.