It's happened, I've run out of books 😱

[IceIceBabyBump]

Help!
I've reached the end of my "To Read" list. I've been desperately looking but I can't find anything that piques my interest.

I have nothing left to read*

I love miserable literary fiction (think Hanya Yanagihara or Donna Tartt).

I hate feel-good books and/or books with happy endings or neat resolutions.

I love good stories (think Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche or Isbael Allende).

I'm generally not keen on the classics (started "Jude the obscure" last night and not gripped at all.

I don't like non-fiction.

Please suggest me some novels to get my mojo back!

*Slight caveat that I do have Mantel's "A place of greater safety" but it's so huge, I'm saving it for annual leave I September!

I'm reading and loving right now:

The Pillow Book, Sei Shonagon
The English Understand Wool, Helen DeWitt
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver

The Horrific Suffering of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot by Carl Johan Vallgren.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Have you read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy?

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan

I've read 'The God of Small Things' but I didn't enjoy it at all.

'Demon Copperhead'was brilliant.

I'm not sure about 'Middlesex', I've been trying to figure out it's tone and stance - I wouldn't at all enjoy reading a pro-trans sob story.

This isn't my kind of thing at all, sorry.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart definitely not a feel good book but so gripping and terribly sad.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff “The novel combines adventure and horror, exploring themes of survival, identity, and the brutality of nature through vivid and immersive prose”. It’s a much smaller book but I couldn’t stop reading it.

A Fine Balance is beautifully written but utterly heartbreaking. So possibly right up your street!

I am not really a fan, but given you like miserable literary fiction, how about The Beesting by Paul Murray? Again, not really a fan, but something by Anne Enright (falls into the miserable category imo).

Barrowburn by Andrew Hurley?

I loved Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy - a very intense read. When I lose my reading mojo I often turn to crime fiction, or something by Lisa Jewell.

Have you read Circe and Song ot Achilles both Madeleine Miller?

I've read and loved 'Young Mungo' (and 'Shuggie Bain')

'A Fine Balance is honestly one of the best books I've ever read. So much misery, it was fantastic!

I absolutely gobbled up 'Solider, Sailor'but I have quite mixed feelings about it. I was never bored through it but I really hated the characters. I did, though, then buy and read all Kilroy's back catalogue so....

I've never got on with Anne Enright- I find her books very boring.

Thanks so much for all these recommendations!

The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

Also the audiobook of A Place of Greater Safety is absolutely brilliant

Congratulations! Getting to the end of your must read pile is wonderful! You now have no excuse for not going back and re reading the ones that you loved best, only this time you can savour the writing, enjoy the journey, pick up the nuances and references you missed first time around. And while you are doing that you can indulge yourself by wandering round bookshops reading blurbs and trying out a few paragraphs ready to make a new list.

Ps have you read the Women of Troy trilogy by Pat Barker? I expect you have but wonderful reads for anyone who hasn’t come across them.

Brotherless Night by V V Ganeshananthan. A very hard read but amazing.

Seconded. Absolutely fantastic books.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
the Husband by Maud Ventura
Tess of the durbervilles is clearly the absolute perfect book for you, shame you don’t like the classics!!
His bloody project by someone Burnet
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
Birnam Wood by Eleanor someone

sorry for incomplete author names my phone keeps losing my messages if I switch away from the screen

I did, I read all the Women's Prize shortlisted books last year. I didn't enjoy it at all. I thought "River East, River West" was much, much better.

I haven't actually- I'll take a look

Fabulous recommendations here. Thank you!

It’s been out for a good while so you’ve probably already read it, but how about Burial Rites by Hannah Kent? Failing that, What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt.

Read any of Sally Rooney’s books?

I've just started The Safekeep - it's short but gripping so far, and Ive loved most of the ones you've mentioned OP!