Fiction and Literature

Gentle Reads - Gentle reads contain little sex or violence, and are generally set in small towns, where the triumphs and tragedies of everyday life take center stage.

Maeve Binchy

Elizabeth Cadell

Jennifer Chiaverini

R. F. Delderfield

Richard Paul Evans

Emily Grayson

Philip Gulley

Lynn Hinton

Hazel Hucker

Eve Ibbotson

Jan Karon

K. C. McKinnon

Jojo Moyes

Rosamunde Pilcher

James Michael Pratt

Miss Read

Ann B. Ross

Mary Sheepshanks

Nicholas Sparks

D. E. Stevenson

Sarah Woodhouse

K. C. McKinnon

Literary Fiction - Authors who write literary fiction emphasize character development, growth, morals, and philosophy, rather than focusing on action or plot.  They are often written in prose style.

Jorge Amado

Wendell Berry

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Raymond Carver

Fred Chappell

J. M. Coetzee

William Faulkner

Damon Galgut

Nadine Gordimer

Richard Grant

Oscar Hijuelos

Franz Kafka

Arthur Koestler

Allen Kurzweil

Clarence Major

Sharyn McCrumb

Christopher Moore

Toni Morrison

Gloria Naylor

Zore Neale Hurston

Achy Obejas

Arturo Perez-Reverte

Thomas Pynchon

Tom Robbins

Tim Sandlin

Vikram Seth

Nicholas Shakespeare

Kurt Vonnegut

John Edgar Wideman

Literary Fiction About Women - This sub-genre features novels from the literary fiction area, focusing on the lives of women.

Margaret Atwood

Robertson Davies

Margaret Drabble

Barbara Kingsolver

Lorna Landvik

Nella Larsen

Billie Letts

Penelope Lively

Marge Piercy

Sandra Jean Scofield

Carol Shields

Paule Marshall

Toni Morrison

Alice Walker

Dorothy West

Edith Wharton

Mainstream Fiction - The mainstream fiction genre can cover any topic, and tend to focus on story, though usually with a greater depth of characterization.  The stories are usually told in a straightforward manner, perhaps touching on some philosophical issues.  Generally, the endings are happy, problems are resolved, and all loose ends are “tied up.”

Jeffrey Archer

Elizabeth Adler

Dominick Dunne

Harold Robbins

Erich Segal

Sidney Sheldon

Mainstream Fiction Featuring Black Lives - This subgenre contains stories written about the African American community, usually by African American authors.

Bertrice Berry

Sheila Copeland

Eric Jerome Dickey

Lolita Files

Yolanda Joe

Linda Grosvenor

E. Lynn Harris

David Haynes

Kimberla Lawson Roby

Timothy B. McCann

Terry McMillan

Rosalyn McMillan

Karen E. Quinones Miller

Walter Mosley

Sister Souljah

Omar Tyree

Carl Weber

Satire - Satirists write literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work. While satire can be funny, its aim is not to amuse, but to arouse contempt.

Andrei Codrescu

James Morrow

Terry Pratchett

Jonathan Swift

Kurt Vonnegut

Jack Womack