The Best Literary Fiction Books

Updated 2026-07-25 · 30 books

Editorial introduction coming soon.

1. 1

   Fieldwork as a Sex Object

   Meena Kandasamy

   Contemporary Fiction
2. 2

   Bunny

   Mona Awad

   American literatureFictionGeneral
3. 3

   Pachinko

   Min Jin Lee

   FictionFamiliesLiterary
4. 4

   Gravel Heart

   Abdulrazak Gurnah

   TanzaniansFictionLondon (england)
5. 5

   In the eye of the sun

   Ahdaf Soueif

   FictionEgyptiansRomance
6. 6

   The Memory of Love

   Aminatta Forna, Aminatta Forna

   Literary FictionPsychologistsDiaries
7. 7

   Thirst

   Benjamin Warner

   FictionScience FictionGeneral
8. 8

   Songs

   Charles Elton

   Jewish familiesFictionJewish
9. 9

   Our Young Man

   Edmund White

   Gay cultureMale modelsGay men
10. 10

    Signature of All Things

    Elizabeth Gilbert

    PaintersWomen botanistsEnlightenment
11. 11

    Peach

    Emma Glass

    WomenViolence againstPsychic trauma
12. 12

    Bright, Precious Days

    Jay McInerney

    The International DublinPublishers and publishingFiction
13. 13

    Blind Astronomer's Daughter

    John Pipkin

    Women astronomersFathers and daughtersFiction
14. 14

    House at Bishopsgate

    Katie Hickman

    AvariceFictionHistory
15. 15

    Oryx and Crake [Hardcover] Atwood, Margaret,

    Margaret Atwood

    Literary FictionFriendshipFantasy
16. 16

    I am an executioner

    Rajesh Parameswaran

    FictionHumorousShort Stories (single author)
17. 17

    Here Are the Young Men

    Rob Doyle

    LiteraryYoung menFiction
18. 18

    The legend of Jesse Smoke

    Robert Bausch

    Women football playersFictionSports
19. 19

    Please Do Not Disturb

    Robert Glancy

    Kings and rulersFictionEavesdropping
20. 20

    How to Pronounce Knife

    Souvankham Thammavongsa

    Shortlisted For The Women’SFictionShort Stories (Single Author)
21. 21

    How to Pronounce Knife

    Souvankham Thammavongsa

    FictionShort Stories (Single Author)English literature
22. 22

    At Certain Points We Touch

    Lauren J. Joseph

    FictionQueerLgbt
23. 23

    At Certain Points We Touch

    Lauren J. Joseph

    FictionQueerLgbt
24. 24

    Social Creature

    Tara Isabella Burton

    Young womenEnvyCompulsive behavior
25. 25

    Modes of Modern Writing

    David Lodge

    English fictionHistory And CriticismStyle
26. 26

    Madame Bovary

    Gustave Flaubert

    Literary FictionFrench literatureFiction
27. 27

    Oryx and Crake

    Margaret Atwood

    General & Literary FictionLiterary FictionFriendship
28. 28

    The Mothers

    Brit Bennett

    General & Literary FictionComing of AgeTeenage pregnancy
29. 29

    Mend the Living

    Maylis de Kerangal, Jessica Moore, Jordi Martín Lloret

    General & Literary FictionHeartOrgan donors
30. 30

    Manhattan Beach

    Jennifer Egan

    General & Literary FictionFictionGeneral

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