Literature

Literary novels.

Literature is a genre.

You can view all genres, or you can search by language/region, editor/translator, era/movement, book authors, or year of edition.

Kaputt

Curzio Malaparte
Wartime Italian Literature Memoir

Malaparte uses his position to detail the extravagances and depravity of the Nazi party and the Axis powers and generally to paint a portrait of Europe on the brink of destruction.

The Invention of Morel

Adolfo Bioy Casares
Wartime Argentinian Literature

This novella’s setting of an opulent but derelict and rotting mansion infected with the suggestion of long-ago deaths and violence ticked all of the spooky season boxes for me.

A Dark Corner and A Helping Hand

Celia Dale
Contemporary UK Horror Literature

Both A Helping Hand and A Dark Corner are well under two hundred pages, but each of them packs a disturbing punch and were well ahead of their time.

Thus Were Their Faces

Silvina Ocampo
20th Century Argentinian Horror Literature Short Story

This book is a selection of work spanning multiple decades, and particularly has a focus on showcasing Ocampo’s tendency to be both insightful and at the same time grotesque, haunting, and fantastic.

The Adversary, The Class Trip, and The Mustache

Emmanuel Carrère
Contemporary 21st Century French Crime Literature

I still do not find myself drawn to Carrère’s memoir or autobiographical work. But I am glad that I gave his fiction and true crime a chance.

The White Album and Notes to John

Joan Didion
Contemporary 21st Century American Literature Memoir Non-Fiction

I appreciate that her work seems to be suddenly available and back in print. I often find it on shelves and see it arriving at my local independent bookstore.

Gary Indiana

Gary Indiana
21st Century American Essay Literature Memoir

This collection of essays is written with the air of Indiana looking back at his life and taking an inventory of sorts as he acknowledges that he is living in a time that is closer to the end than to the beginning.

Animal Farm

George Orwell
Post-War UK Literature

This novel is one of the ones that showed me what a literary statement could be and how vital writing is during the darkest times. It also showed me the absolute striking beauty of the allegorical tale.