But for my part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short - Jane Austen

The Armchair BEA topic for today: LITERARY FICTION

For me, literary fiction - and the closely linked classics - are my favourite reads. My comfort zone. That take me out of my comfort zone. That make me think, and react. Question. Muse.

Because in literary fiction, there's not just a tale to tell. But a whole journey to experience while the tale is being told. The tale being almost incidental to the journey being experienced. 

And quality counts. Luxurious expressions and challenging ideas all wrapped up in the choicest words and most delightful prose. Does that sound snobby? Maybe. I'm not dissing fast food. There's a time and place for everything. But when I'm dining I do like good food, presented well, stimulating all the senses at once.

I’m heavily into my Classics Club challenge at the mo, so my main reading this year has been the big boys. But if asked, I’d venture the following suggestions / recommendations to anyone who’d care to listen: 

Marilyn French (The Women's Room, In the Name of Friendship), Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader),  Edith Wharton (pretty much anything, but particularly: The House of Mirth), Evelyn Waugh (Scoop), Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale), Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist), Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner), Solzhenitsyn (Cancer Ward, One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich).  And short stories: Saki, F Scott-Fitzgerald, Thomas Hardy.