Literary Fiction Books Novels & Stories

He returned his attention to the bookshelf at the rear of his office, the one he’d been browsing when he’d first heard the strange sounds outside, only being made by the cats, after all. The top shelf held purely “literary works.” Poetry collections of Blake, Yeats, Robert Frost, and Shakespeare. Prose collections of Zora Neal Hurston, Hemingway, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Flannery O’Connor, and folktales collected by the Brothers Grimm. Novels, from The Man in the Iron Mask to Madame Bovary, to Villette and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, to A Passage to India by E. M. Forster.

The specific and particular history of people who had been present at large events and had not been the people the large events were usually said to be about. She read novels. The novels were harder to characterize. They were not genre novels and not literary novels in the specific and self-conscious way of novels that were aware of being literary. They were simply good novels, or what appeared, from the evidence of the way she held them, the specific and attentive quality of a woman who was genuinely inside a book rather than processing it, to be good novels. She had read one I recognized. She had read several I did not.

I had never really observed them when I was here before. Most of the titles were academic—thick volumes on economics, finance, business strategy. But there were also novels tucked in between. Literary fiction, some thrillers, a few poetry collections. "Didn't know you read poetry," I called out. "Everyone needs a little beauty in their life," he called back. I smiled and continued browsing. Then I noticed something odd. There was a gap in the middle shelf, like several books had been removed. "Adam?" I walked toward the bedroom.

There were piles of books on her table, and there was a request for more books that she had drafted out. “My lady, let us leave.” Liora begged, following behind me impatiently. I checked through some of her books, and they were mostly fiction. My eyes caught a particular book under a pile of books, and I reached for it instantly. “My lady, you're going to get me killed.” Liora groaned as I picked up the book. “THE ADVENTURES OF LADY KILMARTIN.” I read out loud. “Huh?” Liora mumbled.

"Want a tour? You didn’t get one the last time." "Sure." He showed me around, a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows, kitchen that was clearly designed by someone who actually cooked, and a study with built-in bookshelves. "This is amazing," I said, running my fingers along the spines of the books. Literary fiction, business books, and, I smiled when I saw a few romance novels tucked in the corner. "Don't judge," he said from the doorway. "I'm not. I'm surprised." "You got me hooked on them," he admitted. "I needed something to read that reminded me of you."

“I know what you mean. I had one too—it was a family outing for us, going to the library. My mom insisted my brother and I read books if we wanted to play video games. I was that nerdy kid who actually preferred reading to gaming. I guess it carried over into adulthood.” Fiona’s gaze focused on his face, and one side of her mouth smirked. “Nothing wrong with that.” Handing the book back to him, she continued to investigate the books lining the shelves. “Do you have a favorite in here or in one of the boxes?” Chris chuckled. “Well, having a degree in English Literature, you’d think so. But I love so many of them. I’m partial to the classics—Keats and Shelley, Lord Byron, Shakespeare…”

I close the door quietly. I spend an hour in the smaller library looking at the books. He has everything. Fiction. Nonfiction. Art books. History. A whole shelf of poetry that looks like it has never been touched. I pull out a volume of Mary Oliver and flip through it. Someone has dog-eared a page. I read the poem. "Wild Geese." I read it twice.

“You should stop reading fiction books. They are just fiction. They don’t teach you anything worthwhile.” Iva smiled at him because she knew that he was upset due to her book-reading habit as she wouldn’t let him get close until she finished the book. “Non fiction does inform the mind, but fiction infiltrates it. One gives you the maps of the world, while the other lets you wander through many worlds from your home. You should try reading some fiction as it sparks original thinking, Dear.” “Pfft, original thinking? How?” Gareth turned his head and stared at her. “Give me one good example?”

I need great sets of eyes to evaluate it" "I'm sure we will have enough time to" i replied, denying his offer. I so much wanted to see it now, but i don't trust both of us alone in his mansion. If he wasn't dissapointed, he didn't let it show. "What sort of books do you read" He inquired I smiled sheepishly. “I like women’s fiction and books about gardening and gourmet cooking.” It's been so long i did, i haven't found the time. I hope i find the time to do so again.