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 was also going to recommend this, or any of Chris Whitaker’s books. I also love John Boyne though some are quite upbeat, A History of Loneliness is brilliant and quite miserable!

So many people mentioned Burial Rites that I Googled it and realised I had read, and enjoyed it, some time ago! I hope you enjoy it too, it is about a very different society and is supposedly very accurate in its depiction of lives in a bleak environment, so nice and gloomy for you!

You might like Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
also The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

possibly one of the saddest books I’ve ever read was The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

@24Dogcuddler which Frieda McFadden book should I start with? Been looking at The Housemaid and The boyfriend

The Covenant of Water
Goldfinch
Larchfield

I discovered Iris Murdoch this year and have spent the summer immersed in her books. I read seven in two months (and I'm a slow reader). Can't recommend her highly enough.

Munichs is literary and miserable but also uplifting. It's brilliant.

I have only 3 books left on my pile so am in a perilous situation.

A beloved book on MN is This Thing of Darkness. Wonderful.

I'm a bit late to the party but
The book of chocolate saints - Jeet Thayil
Frankenstein in Baghdad - Ahmed Saadawi tr Jonathan Wright
Kindred - Octavia Butler

Someone mentioned Stoner upthread, and anything by John Boyne. I’m way behind the times but have just finished Atonement and Engleby and highly recommend both.

Beryl Bainbridge is nasty and miserable and brilliant?

Ooh yes, An Awfully Big Adventure is horrendously bleak and interesting.

Atonement and Engleby are excellent. I also really enjoyed The Children Act, On Chesil Beach, and recently read Lessons, I thought it was the best book I've read in years.

Ann Patchett's The Dutch House is another really good read.

This is a fabulous book.

“I Who Have Never Known Men” by Jaqueline Harpman is pretty bleak but it’s a fascinating book.

I actually felt quite bleak myself towards the end of that book!

The Virgin Suicides is the worst book I've ever attempted so I'm not sure if any of my suggestions will work for you 😂

But some books I've read that I think might match your description are Ponti, Hot Milk, Small Pleasures (might not enjoy this but you would enjoy the ending), Stoner, Corrag, I Who Have Never Known Men. Possibly Conversations With Friends or other Sally Rooney. Sorry for lack of authors, I am bad at remembering them.

On a similar thread I recommended Mary Lawson, who tends to write fairly bleak books set in Northern Ontario. Often dealing with problematic families, farming communities etc. But they are so well written. Can't remember any having particularly happy endings! 'Crow Lake' and 'The other side of the bridge' are two I enjoyed.
Also, anything Sue Gee wrote!

After the misery fiesta. I'd like to suggest Peter Grainger's books if you like crime series and have a Kindle as they are not available on paper. Really well written, great character development and plotting that never descends into cliches. 15 delightful novels and no re-treads.

I thought I was going to end up in your situation, OP. I was really glad when I stumbled across books from abroad! I now have quite a small, but growing, selection of books from America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, plus a few that have been translated. Some of them cost a small fortune to import, occasional ones get lost in the post, and most of them take aaaaaaaages to arrive, but it's usually worth it in the end!

I'm afraid that I don't have any useful suggestions of titles for you, as I read mainly non-fiction nowadays, but good luck with your on-going search!

If you are interested in Greek mythology at all try The Song of Achilles or Circe by Madeline Miller. They are both the retelling of minor Greek mythology characters stories and are a real escape read.
Not sure if you like biographies but Andre Agassi's (One) is a fantastic read, especially if you remember the 90s!

Affinity is my least favourite Sarah Waters, I'd give The Night Watch or The Little Stranger a go.

Before the Women of Troy series, Pat Barker wrote the wonderful Regeneration Trilogy: Regeneration, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road (which won the Booker).

The Narrow Road to the Deep South - deeply harrowing (so I've not watched the adaptation)

The Lewis Trilogy by Peter May - dark and much his best writing