I love quiet books and am thankful for the agents that champion them in a world of “high stakes” and “high concept.” I’m in Lynn Steger Strong’s novel generator workshop and recently she described plot as shape and I appreciated that immensely.
✅ A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by László Krasznahorkai ✅ Audition by Kitamura ✅ Indelicacy by Amina Cain ✅ The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler
As a self-proclaimed lover of "nothing books" I couldn't agree more. Books where we really dig deep into the meatiness behind someone's character, books where you get to see how people build trust and love over time, books where characters aren't tortured and get to experience bliss will forever be my fave
Love this. Kelly Reichardt’s films hold a special place in my heart for this reason too. In Wendy and Lucy there’s an intense scene where, if it was another movie, Wendy probably would have been attacked, but in that movie she’s not. But we still are with her and her fear and complete aloneness. “Nothing happens,” but she’s still hurt by it.
I resonated with so much of this. Sometimes watching a person grow, evolve, change like Frances did IS the journey. And hers was pretty fantastic and completely relatable. I love a great character-driven story. I love a great plot. Not a lot needs to happen to make a story truly memorable.
I hear you! Though I do feel encouraged by some of the comments on this thread because there are so many other book recs for "soft stories" that I haven't read yet. Maybe you'll find some good ones in there, too!
I love books like this. Three that immediately come to mind are Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett, Topics of Conversations by Miranda Popkey, and Outline by Rachel Cusk. Give me a good ruminative novel any day of the week!
I justttt finished Outline and wow, I loved it. I read it on a plane funny enough. I wonder if certain books are meant to find you at certain points in your life. Have you read the rest of the trilogy? (It's a trilogy right...?)
I'll have to add Pond and Topics of Conversations to my list!
Oh wow, reading Outline on a plane. That's an ideal situation for that book. Love when books/reading locations have synchronicity like that. I haven't read the rest of the trilogy, though the others are currently on my bedside table. I hope you like the others I recommended... and I thought of another one: Skunks by Fiona Warnick :)
I love a quiet novel… and yes the anthropologists is such a good example. Perfection also recently reminded me of that novel though through a very different lens
I had the same exact experience querying for the first time! Now that I’m writing a true plot I can totally feel the difference. A story can still be quiet while moving somewhere.
That’s a great way to frame it! Quiet while still moving. 💙 Also, I love how you can feel the difference in your draft now. Even a little momentum goes a long way.
I love quiet books and am thankful for the agents that champion them in a world of “high stakes” and “high concept.” I’m in Lynn Steger Strong’s novel generator workshop and recently she described plot as shape and I appreciated that immensely.
Oh wow, I really love that idea of plot as a shape 💙 that makes a lot of sense to me!
I loved The Anthropologists! I also really liked her book White on White. I think of Kitamura’s Intimacies this way too.
I’ll have to check out White on White and Intimacies! I’ve heard good things about both, but didn’t realize they fit in this “soft plot” category 💙
✅ A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by László Krasznahorkai ✅ Audition by Kitamura ✅ Indelicacy by Amina Cain ✅ The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler
Adding these all to my list! Thank you for sharing
As a self-proclaimed lover of "nothing books" I couldn't agree more. Books where we really dig deep into the meatiness behind someone's character, books where you get to see how people build trust and love over time, books where characters aren't tortured and get to experience bliss will forever be my fave
This is a great way to frame these stories. Watching characters build trust overtime is really lovely!
Yes! One that comes to mind is Still Life by Sarah Winman. Highly recommend if you haven't already read!
I haven't read Still Life but I just looked it up and it sounds really lovely. I'll definitely add to my list. Thank you for the rec!
Love this. Kelly Reichardt’s films hold a special place in my heart for this reason too. In Wendy and Lucy there’s an intense scene where, if it was another movie, Wendy probably would have been attacked, but in that movie she’s not. But we still are with her and her fear and complete aloneness. “Nothing happens,” but she’s still hurt by it.
Thanks for sharing!
Oh wow, I need to add these to my list. That’s a perfect example and feels more “real”
I resonated with so much of this. Sometimes watching a person grow, evolve, change like Frances did IS the journey. And hers was pretty fantastic and completely relatable. I love a great character-driven story. I love a great plot. Not a lot needs to happen to make a story truly memorable.
Aw thank you for reading! And totally agree, some of the most memorable stories are the Frances ha type, at least for me ❤️
Yeah, I’ve been feeling a little lost when all I hear high concept is everywhere. It makes me sad that more simple stories are being sought.
I hear you! Though I do feel encouraged by some of the comments on this thread because there are so many other book recs for "soft stories" that I haven't read yet. Maybe you'll find some good ones in there, too!
I love that this is actually a thing and that others love them too! Yes I’ll be stacking them all on my reading list!
Same <3 <3
I love books like this. Three that immediately come to mind are Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett, Topics of Conversations by Miranda Popkey, and Outline by Rachel Cusk. Give me a good ruminative novel any day of the week!
I justttt finished Outline and wow, I loved it. I read it on a plane funny enough. I wonder if certain books are meant to find you at certain points in your life. Have you read the rest of the trilogy? (It's a trilogy right...?)
I'll have to add Pond and Topics of Conversations to my list!
Oh wow, reading Outline on a plane. That's an ideal situation for that book. Love when books/reading locations have synchronicity like that. I haven't read the rest of the trilogy, though the others are currently on my bedside table. I hope you like the others I recommended... and I thought of another one: Skunks by Fiona Warnick :)
Ohh I’ve heard this is good! I’ll add it to my list :)
I love a quiet novel… and yes the anthropologists is such a good example. Perfection also recently reminded me of that novel though through a very different lens
Oh wow... just looked Perfection up and it seems like a good one. I've been meaning to read more translated books recently, too. Thanks for sharing!
I had the same exact experience querying for the first time! Now that I’m writing a true plot I can totally feel the difference. A story can still be quiet while moving somewhere.
That’s a great way to frame it! Quiet while still moving. 💙 Also, I love how you can feel the difference in your draft now. Even a little momentum goes a long way.