Sorting The Wheat From The Chaff!
Whilst the evolution of self-publishing has proved a genuine boon for readers the bar for publishing has been notably lowered and in no genre more obviously than Literary Fiction. Yes there are a lot of great covers out there and carefully penned book blurbs hailing the masterful use of language and thought-provoking explorations about the human condition but the best literary fiction is often hard to find with far too many novels failing to meet expectations. So how do literary fiction books become hailed as great novels to read?
Are Readers Confused?
We are always looking for the best novels to read. Fans of literary fiction tend to lean away from fast-paced or tightly plotted novels with a preference for good prose, complex characterisation and challenging themes but whilst literary and commercial fiction have their own distinct conventions readers are still often confused about what the terms mean. Perhaps it is irrelevant and the only worthwhile distinction between books is whether they are good or bad. After all, arguing the merits of one genre over the other is fraught with contention but one thing is for sure and that is historically literary fiction has embraced a greater level of intellectual and psychological sophistication whilst rejecting formulaic book tropes and cliché.
On this level, literary fiction embraces novels which tend towards the formally innovative and are preoccupied with a deeper understanding of the human condition as opposed to serving up an instantly gratifying story. Of course, there are other genre reads with literary merit too but perhaps we have veered too far from our original question.
Captivating A Reader’s Thoughts
We asked what’s the best literary fiction and how do literary fiction books become great novels to read and when it comes down to it the answer is extremely simple. It doesn’t matter what genre a reader leans towards a good novel should always engross and captivate a reader’s thoughts because in the final analysis beautiful writing is no substitute for a compelling story.
What we always aim to do with our blog posts is to provide a point of reference upon which you can build. We hope we’ve given you something to reflect upon. Whatever your thoughts we are always open to comments.