I'm running out of books - Literary fiction recommendations please.

[KStockHERO]

I'm rapidly reaching the end of my "To Read" book list. The problem is that I have no idea what to read next, nothing is really grabbing me.

I love literary fiction, especially if its depressing 😛

I'm not that keen on period classics. I'm not sure why, I just struggle to get into them. So I'm after something from C20 and beyond.

To give you an idea - I loved loved loved "The Luminaries" and "A Little Life". I'm waiting for Ngozi Adiche's new one to be out in paperback. I've read the whole of Ishiguro's back catalogue.

I hated "The Vegetarian", "Brotherless Night" was alright but "Enter Ghost" and "Orbital" both bored me to absolute tears.

What shall I read next? HELP!

Demon Copperhead
Shuggie Bain

The Secret River by Kate Grenville
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker

everything by Jennifer Egan

In Memoriam
Anything by Claire Keegan
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

What I Know About You by Éric Chacour
The Grass is Singing by Dorris Lessing
New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
All John Steinbeck - especially depressing!!!
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
Lanark by Alasdair Grey
I'm not the biggest fan but people seem to like Hilary Mantel

Sarah Waters' books are quite dark and beautifully written. My favourite is 'The Night Watch' but I also really like 'Affinity'. Also really like Elizabeth Jane Howard's books. The Cazalets books are her most famous series but I think 'Falling' is good. It's based on her experiences with a romantic conman later in life.

Elizabeth Taylor & Nina Bawden are also excellent writers often overlooked. And if you haven't already, do read Vera Brittain's 'Testament of Youth' about her experience of WW1. 'South Riding', by Winifred Holtby, is also worth reading.

I second A Fine Balance for depressing! Also The Road (Cormac McCarthy) and Disgrace (J M Coetzee) if you enjoy the bleak side

Do not go gentle by futhi ntshingila

'the white hotel' D M Thomas

Another recommendation for The Bee Sting! Also Demon Copperhead, Shuggie Bain, His Bloody Project.

Beryl Bainbridge is good for a dark novel.

Another vote for A Fine Balance, I absolutely adored that book. Agree with Sarah Waters, particularly her 20th century novels. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is heartbreaking.

I also adored the Luminaries. On that basis I think you should read:

• North woods by Daniel Mason (if you ignore everything else I say please read this one!)
• Wolf Hall and sequels
• Sarah Moss, any of her books but especially Night Waking
• Stone blind by Natalie Haynes

Anything by Elena Ferrante
Under the skin or The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Wifedom by Anna Funder
Wasp Factory (any of them really) Iain Banks
The Power by Naomi Alderman

Second JM Coetzee. Damon Galgut is also a good one if you like Bleak South African fiction. Ditto Andre Brink and Nadine Gordimer.

I would class these as depressing (or having depressing elements), although I've not read anything as utterly depressing a A Little Life 🤦🏻‍♀️

Although maybe Normal People by Sally Rooney (but it depressed me because I hated it).
I'm not good on genres, I don't actually know what is classed as literary fiction!

Stoner, John Williams
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Beartown, Frederik Backman
The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

Also maybe The Little Liar by Mitch Ablom?

Pillars of the Earth

The Bee Sting - epic.
Intermezzo - found it incredibly readable unlike Rooney's others.
Butter - quite hard work but thought it worth the effort.

Another vote for James by Percival Everett, I just read it and it's one of those books that reshaped my view of the world.

Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman

Depressing nonfiction? I'm reading We Wish To Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevich, about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. And recently I read Gomorra by Roberto Saviano about the Naples Comorra. Both intensely depressing but very good.

Apologies, you did specifically stick to fiction.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Water Music. Another vote for A Fine Balance, too.

All My Mothers and The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen
Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twiggy
Currently reading The Measure by Nikki Elrick, which I'm enjoying.
This Motherless Land by Nikki May

I think my taste is similar to yours, and my three favourite authors of recent years have been Sarah Hall, Kate Atkinson and Sebastian Barry. Haweswater is my absolute favourite book of the last few years. A less well know book that I often recommend to people who like bleak fiction is The Short Day Dying by Peter Hobbs - it's short but brilliant.

Loved Goon Squad!

I'm currently reading Nathan Hill's Wellness and its astounding.

A Prayer for Owen Meany? I really enjoyed it although it took me a while to get in to it.

Sophie's choice

On the Beach / A town like Alice