Alright,
I'm looking for something to read, but would like to read something a little more like literature. The only thing I've read in a while like this is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I liked the mystery and the atmostphere of this book. It's pretty dark, and while it seems like something supernatural is going on there really isn't. Also, I thought the pacing was excellent.

I prefer great characters to complex plots, but I have no problem with complex plots as long as the characters aren't too boring. GRRM is one of my favorite authors, as well as Stephen Erikson.

I'm sorry if this seems a little vague, but I don't read too much non-fantasy stuff, and I don't really know what exactly I'm looking for. I'm definitely not looking for any thriller stuff like Dan Brown (hate that guy) or anything like that.

You might enjoy some magical realism. Just for a start, here are the books in my library that I've tagged that way.

Literary fiction with perhaps a hint of supernatural, eh? I'd suggest the following:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield,
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova,
The Seance by John Harwood,
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood,
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte,
Angelica by Arthur Phillips, and
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.

The Thirteenth Tale looks like the kind of thing I'm looking for. I think it will be the first one I check out. The descriptions on the others didn't grab my attention. Maybe a little gothic for my tastes.

You might want to try the 2008 YA novel Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve. It's a very different take on the Arthurian legend, told from the perspective of a young girl whose family is killed and whose village is destroyed by a bandit gang. It's also got a couple interesting transgender twists along the way.

And along Jim53's suggestion of magical realism, don't forget Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita if you've never read it.

Something by Zoran Zivkovic maybe? The Last Book (not touchstoneable) is a detective story with a slight fantasy twist. Impossible Stories is also recommended.

City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

The Facts Of Life and The Limits Of Enchantment by Graham Joyce.

I cannot second that rec for The Master and Margarita enthusiastically enough. *_*

Also, maybe try Veronica? Or many of Haruki Murakami's books, like Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

Jim53 is right. It sounds like magical realism.

have you tried A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and maybe even The Life of Pi by Martel?

Personally, I would avoid The Historian. I found it turgid.

Isabelle Allende writes wonderful magical realism. I'd especially recommend The House of the Spirits.

These are some excellent suggestions. The Master and Margarita in particular looks like something I must read, as well as Last Book. Looks like I have some serious reading ahead of me. Thank you all for your help. I knew that this was the right place to ask.

You may want to check out some Guy Gavriel Kay works, especially The Lions of al-Rassan. His books range from pure fantasy (The Fionavar Tapestry) to works that could almost be straight historical fiction -- Lions is set in a close analog of Moorish Spain, with minimal fantastic elements (some true dreams, but nothing else).

How about Shardik by Richard Adams? (Or, for that matter, Watership Down?) Adams' prose has a very literary quality to it; very lush and descriptive. Shardik is set in an entirely fictional land, which is mostly what makes it considered 'fantasy'. Watership Down is a bit more fantastical, being about rabbits, but is set in 20th century England. Both very good books.

How about the Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake? This stuff is very much like literature. The plot moves veeery slowly, but the characters are extremely well-drawn and memorable.

#12 well, except for that second moon...

but I agree, Kay's work could fit very well, and IMHO, Lions is his best written.

#13> I definitely second both Watership Down and Shardik (the latter of which seems never to get the recognition it deserves, maybe because a Great Bear God isn't as cuddly as rabbits). One Adams novel I've made numerous futile attempts to get through, though, is Maia.

Looks like you've already read Tolkien, so there goes that recommendation. I would add Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to the list; like The Historian, it's not for all tastes, but you might very well love it. I know I did. (For some reason, Susanna Clarke's novel is not linking.)

Message edited by its author, Aug 20, 2009, 6:02pm.

#16> I join you on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but one I like even more is Jonathan Stroud's "Bartimaeus" trilogy (starting with The Amulet of Samarkand), which has the same use of footnoting that Susanna Clarke uses, though I think with a more humorous touch.

#12 I agree on The Lions of al-Rassan ~ it's one of my all-time desert-island favorites ever. Tigana is also an exceptionally good one of Kay's, but it has a bit more magic in it than I think was wanted.

I think most of John Crowley's novels fit the bill: literary with subtle fantasy elements. His classic book is Little, Big.

Master and Margherita is a great suggestion, as is Haruki Murakami; for the latter I'd suggest Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Another vote for Shardik. A brilliant book! Maia I really like as an exploration of its themes but (if sexuality and slavery and what you would do for love bother you) not for every one. It is also much longer! (I will let you investigate - unless you want to ask!). I really appreciate what Adam's has done by providing different POV characters (rabbits and horses {Travellerany historians here?} that I will at least look at what he writes!)
Kay - love Lions, Tigana and Arbonne . I believe that all 3 explore "relationships" in the context of society.

#21> Sorry about Traveller, but I really found it boring. One that I've got to take another stab at, though, is The Plague Dogs, which I started reading quite a number of years ago and put it down for some reason (not dislike, just too busy at the time, I guess).

And another Adams in my TBR pile is The Girl in a Swing, which I've heard a lot of good comments about (but please, no SPOILERS folks). I'm not sure The Girl in a Swing fits into what the OP was asking for, though, but I'm not sure since I haven't read it.

#22 CurrerBell
It doesn't answer the OP (why I mentioned historian's) but I must disagree on Traveller- how events are interpreted from Traveller's point of view (WOW!)
Plague Dogs is brilliant but very disturbing, The idea of researchers messing with how I might think and understand the world. Shudder time! Worth reading but very, very uncomfortable to read (IMO)!

Girl in a Swing is more about human relationships - does what you think about someone match who they are? (Hope not a spoiler!) Very Good but I actually find his animal or fantasy books easier to read. Maybe a filter - this is not how I want people to behave thing

Also none of those really fit what I understand to be the original question. Interesting though!

Message edited by its author, Aug 21, 2009, 5:59pm.

i'll jump on the bandwagon for Haruki Murakami, as well as Isabel Allende. but i'm surprised no one else has mentioned Neil Gaiman! particularly American Gods or Good Omens. Plenty of reality with some fantasy/surreal elements.

24>

I would have thought that Gaiman had much too much fantasy to count as "barely fantasy". Gods walking around and driving the entire plot are a pretty major fantasy element, after all.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It features college students studying ancient Greece who decide to hold a real bacchanal and see what happens.

Richard Adams' Girl In a Swing is very good, almost a contemporary fantasy; a lot of day to day stuff punctuated with some moments of terror and the supernatural. It's one of three books my dad recommends to pretty much everyone he knows (along with Pillars of the Earth and Ender's Game.)

I would suggest:

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein

and YA lit:

How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson

and I must second Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

24 > I believe the poster is mostly looking for something original and of strong literary qualities. And though I'm not a fan of his, Gaiman would most certainly count.

It seems that things have gotten a little off track. My almost complete unfamiliarity with the content is probably to blame. While I agree with ncgraham's statement that I'm looking for something original and of strong literary quality, I also am skeptical that a book with gods as main characters will count as barely fantasy. While it does look like something I'll read sooner or later, it's probably not what I'm looking for in this thread.

Yes...having read both "The Shadow of the Wind" and "American Gods," I would never suggest the latter to someone looking for a book like the former. Both are quite good, but are also quite different.

Drood is about Charles Dickens and narrated by Wilkie Collins, and has a very dark, gothic feel to it. It's pretty unclear for most of the book whether something supernatural is going on or if everything can be explained by one or both of those characters going insane.

There are absolutely tons of great books that are quite literary but that have that pinch of fantasy. For some of the books listed below, it's more like a dollop than a pinch, but only when accompanied by a heaping serving of literary merit.

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey
Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Carter
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. by Robert Coover
The Translator by John Crowley
House of Leaves by Danielewski
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
Lanark by Alasdair Gray
Waking the Moon by Hand
The Chess Garden by Brooks Hansen
The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
American Goliath by Harvey Jacobs
Palace of Dreams by Kadare
Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle
The Great Bagarozy by Helmut Krausser
The Other Side by Kubin
Magic for Beginners by Link
Blood Meridian by McCarthy
The Knife Thrower BY Steven Millhauser
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
The Third Policeman by O'Brien
Homo Zapiens by Pelevin
The Prestige by Priest
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
Flicker by Theodore Roszak
The Moor's Last Sigh by Rushdie
All the Names by Jose Saramago
A Handbook of American Prayer by Shepard
Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer
Larque on the Wing by Nancy Springer
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
The Secret Service by Wendy Walker
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe

Many of these have multiple books that could be listed, but I limited it to the one that seemed most appropriate. Just let me know if that any books in particular that you'd like feedback on.

Enjoy!

Garden Spells & The Sugar Queen by, Sarah Addison Allen are both great magical realism.

That's a great list BehomothCat.

many thanks.

I'm still not sure if I like UF. I really enjoyed Perdido Street Station, but I'm put off by some of the pseudo-romantic, semi-erotic vampire drivel that is guised as Urban Fantasy.

You might try the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon - she writes excellent characters, as well as an excellent plot with lots of twists. It involves time travel, although it's not strictly based on fantasy.

I'm a bit surprised Midnight's Children hasn't been mentioned yet. Fantastic book.

You might try something by Roger Zelazny. He wanted to be a poet, but decided he couldn't make a living at it. He writes a lot of SF/Fantasy often blended with myth. His books are often better on a re-read since the first time through you're busy figuring out what is going on.

This Immortal is fairly short. It's post-apocalyptic Earth with Greek mythology tossed in for seasoning.

Lord of Light is longer & was written in 6 or 7 sections. Another world where humans become Hindu 'gods'.

Jack of Shadows is a short, but good introduction to his work. If you can find it, A Night in Lonesome October is a wonderful Halloween read. He also has quite a few short story collections.

There are a trilogy of novels that I recommend that are historical fiction and not-quite-realistic -- but I wouldn't call them magical realism:
* God's Fires by Patricia Anthony
* Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler - particularly beautifully written
* Wild Life by Molly Gloss
Anthony's book takes place in Inquisition-era Spain; Sarah Canary in 19th century Northeast; and Gloss's book in late 19th/early 20th century northeast. Each feature some plausible encounter with the not-quite-historical: Real or not real? Hard to say. None are what I would call fantasy. Another historical novel of the same bent that takes place at Louis XIV's court -- Vonda McIntyre's The Moon and the Sun.

You might also be interested in The Steerswoman books by Rosemary Kirstein (The Steerswoman's Road, etc.). They are science fiction that looks like fantasy, initially, but are not -- well written, characterized, and so forth. This is definitely more off the beaten path -- one really suspects some kind of bog-standard fantasy at first. But the unfolding of the underlying reality is, I think, of interest.

I think all three of those books are nominally SF - although I haven't read Wild Life it did win the Tiptree Award. Sarah Canary I have read and I would call it SF and it was nominated for the Nebula. I would agree with your assessment of it.

Others that might or might not be classed as genre are.

Hav by Jan Morris. Not read yet but on my TBR shelf.
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amtiav Ghosh. I can highly recommend this.
Nearly everything written by Christopher Priest. The Glamour, The Affirmation, The Quiet Woman, Dream Archipelago, The Separation in addition to the previously mentioned Prestige.

Alice Hoffman has some books I think of as somewhere between fantasy and magical realism - The Probable future and Practical magic.
Barbara Kingsolvers books may not have magic in them, but they are magical - especially The Bean Trees.

Other than that there are:

Mama Day by Gloria Naylor

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Troll: by Johanna Sinisalo

Forever: a novel by Pete Hamill

Message edited by its author, Oct 1, 2009, 3:35am.

> 41 - Those are great suggestions.

#42 - Thanks - I am glad you like them.
I've been inspired by this thread to seek out new authors, too.

Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night is also a barely-fantasy recommendation. And, Sarah Waters' books have a lot of barely- or maybe-not-really-there supernatural elements. Tipping the Velvet has the least but there's something there. Affinity and Fingersmith have more. I haven't read her latest two -- The Night Watch and The Little Stranger but I gather there are also again some ambiguous potentially fantastic elements.

Message edited by its author, Oct 1, 2009, 4:22pm.

She by H. R. Haggard

I actually read this one in a Victorian Lit college course.

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

You can't get more classic than Wilde. :)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

A staple of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre.

How about The Divine Conjuror by Miguel Ruiz Montanez
If On A Winter's Night, A Traveller...
The Castle of Crossed Destinies both by Italo Calvino

Message edited by its author, Nov 21, 2009, 4:34pm.

Try American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Beautifully written and very funny.

If you can look past the part about ancient Roman gods sending a modern day woman back into the past to inhabit the body of one of her ancestors... Household Gods is a pretty good book.

Its a bit graphic at times about how "wonderful" Roman cities were as it describes her day to day life but as historical fiction it was quite good.

Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but I thought I'd chime in.