Anticipated 2018 Literary Fiction
Based on listed USA release dates

NOTE: I am including only titles already associated with book covers since it will be no fun to use this list in future years with no pictures, or conversely to have to change votes later to any new editions showing the image.
1

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3.54 avg rating — 2,792 ratings
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2

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3.92 avg rating — 20,168 ratings
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3

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3.48 avg rating — 7,180 ratings
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4

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4.24 avg rating — 4,437 ratings
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5

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3.71 avg rating — 219,166 ratings
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6

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3.16 avg rating — 1,834 ratings
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7

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4.22 avg rating — 1,324,816 ratings
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8

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4.45 avg rating — 1,150,143 ratings
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9

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3.70 avg rating — 122,696 ratings
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10

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3.97 avg rating — 355 ratings
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11

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3.74 avg rating — 5,635 ratings
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12

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3.79 avg rating — 24,033 ratings
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13

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3.30 avg rating — 38,027 ratings
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14

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3.93 avg rating — 383,837 ratings
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15

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4.11 avg rating — 193,240 ratings
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16

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3.77 avg rating — 25,268 ratings
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17

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3.83 avg rating — 217,481 ratings
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18

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3.66 avg rating — 25,051 ratings
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19

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3.97 avg rating — 7,366 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 3,010 ratings
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21

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3.83 avg rating — 442,003 ratings
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22

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3.60 avg rating — 46,616 ratings
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23

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3.67 avg rating — 2,416 ratings
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24

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3.79 avg rating — 3,015 ratings
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25

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4.21 avg rating — 6,148 ratings
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26

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3.85 avg rating — 5,072 ratings
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27

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3.49 avg rating — 59,852 ratings
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28

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3.94 avg rating — 9,499 ratings
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28

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3.68 avg rating — 1,572 ratings
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30

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3.57 avg rating — 162,311 ratings
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31

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3.45 avg rating — 17,984 ratings
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31

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3.53 avg rating — 2,577 ratings
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31

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3.54 avg rating — 5,890 ratings
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31

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3.92 avg rating — 15,293 ratings
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35

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3.28 avg rating — 6,363 ratings
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35

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3.09 avg rating — 461 ratings
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37

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3.34 avg rating — 20,052 ratings
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38

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3.72 avg rating — 58,507 ratings
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39

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3.53 avg rating — 615 ratings
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40

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3.34 avg rating — 5,656 ratings
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41

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3.63 avg rating — 1,474 ratings
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42

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3.74 avg rating — 2,887 ratings
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43

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3.92 avg rating — 9,803 ratings
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44

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3.47 avg rating — 165 ratings
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45

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3.79 avg rating — 3,720 ratings
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45

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liked it 3.00 avg rating — 7,105 ratings
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47

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3.68 avg rating — 2,784 ratings
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48

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3.21 avg rating — 6,160 ratings
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49

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3.18 avg rating — 787 ratings
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49

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4.24 avg rating — 56,889 ratings
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51

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3.90 avg rating — 4,811 ratings
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51

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3.66 avg rating — 7,800 ratings
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51

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3.65 avg rating — 2,355 ratings
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51

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4.04 avg rating — 11,503 ratings
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55

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3.88 avg rating — 19,090 ratings
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55

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3.88 avg rating — 16,423 ratings
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55

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3.60 avg rating — 551,334 ratings
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58

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3.09 avg rating — 27,339 ratings
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59

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3.21 avg rating — 25,231 ratings
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60

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3.56 avg rating — 57,922 ratings
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61

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3.64 avg rating — 346,424 ratings
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62

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3.33 avg rating — 3,503 ratings
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62

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3.72 avg rating — 1,361 ratings
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62

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3.52 avg rating — 254 ratings
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62

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3.21 avg rating — 4,491 ratings
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62

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3.29 avg rating — 933 ratings
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67

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3.37 avg rating — 908 ratings
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68

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3.80 avg rating — 446 ratings
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69

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4.01 avg rating — 449 ratings
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70

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4.31 avg rating — 504 ratings
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71

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2.98 avg rating — 696 ratings
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72

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3.54 avg rating — 7,889 ratings
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72

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4.11 avg rating — 55,440 ratings
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74

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3.59 avg rating — 1,009 ratings
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75

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4.28 avg rating — 3,078 ratings
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75

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3.15 avg rating — 5,742 ratings
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77

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4.22 avg rating — 45,809 ratings
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78

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3.62 avg rating — 66,714 ratings
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79

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3.59 avg rating — 5,250 ratings
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80

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3.39 avg rating — 17,978 ratings
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81

by
4.37 avg rating — 3,566,913 ratings
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82

by
3.97 avg rating — 4,462 ratings
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82

by
4.09 avg rating — 137 ratings
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82

by
3.81 avg rating — 12,514 ratings
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82

by
4.14 avg rating — 2,442 ratings
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82

by
4.49 avg rating — 242 ratings
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82

by
3.86 avg rating — 22 ratings
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82

by
4.40 avg rating — 10 ratings
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82

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,511 ratings
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82

by
4.63 avg rating — 19 ratings
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82

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3.50 avg rating — 24 ratings
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82

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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82

by
3.94 avg rating — 4,714 ratings
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93

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4.21 avg rating — 8,839 ratings
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93

by
3.83 avg rating — 77 ratings
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93

by
3.69 avg rating — 5,961 ratings
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93

by
4.47 avg rating — 77 ratings
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93

by
3.53 avg rating — 62,573 ratings
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98

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2.84 avg rating — 1,376 ratings
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98

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3.96 avg rating — 2,263 ratings
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217 books · 197 voters · list created October 24th, 2017 by Kara (votes) .
62 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mollie 6 books
0 friends
C 568 books
18 friends
Piedmont University Library 5402 books
9 friends
Xhenet 49 books
178 friends
Laura 1528 books
285 friends
Clarissa 239 books
1 friend
Chris 2021 books
583 friends
Suanne 10625 books
308 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Kara (new)

Kara There is an obvious error in the list description -- the year 2016 is mentioned, and I certainly mean 2018.


message 2: by Donna (new)

Donna Davis The system found and removed 1 duplicate.


message 3: by Raluca (last edited Feb 06, 2018 10:32AM) (new)

Raluca Lupei Kara wrote: "There is an obvious error in the list description -- the year 2016 is mentioned, and I certainly mean 2018."

I changed the year 2016 to 2018 in the description.


message 4: by Donna (last edited Feb 06, 2018 11:29AM) (new)

Donna Davis Kara, I am seeing one title with no cover, and also wonder about Thomas Perry's The Bomb Maker, which is listed as literary fiction by nobody ever. What do you think? I can pull them down if you want me to.


message 5: by Kara (new)

Kara Raluca wrote: "Kara wrote: "There is an obvious error in the list description -- the year 2016 is mentioned, and I certainly mean 2018."

I changed the year 2016 to 2018 in the description."


Many thanks, Raluca.


message 6: by Kara (last edited Feb 11, 2018 06:43PM) (new)

Kara Donna wrote: "Kara, I am seeing one title with no cover, and also wonder about Thomas Perry's The Bomb Maker, which is listed as literary fiction by nobody ever. What do you think? I can pull them down if you wa..."

-Touche, Donna; I actually listed that title myself. My justification is the Kirkus starred review, etc. as well as an excerpt which point to literary execution of this genre fiction. That is, genre fiction and literary fiction are certainly not mutually exclusive.

More fundamentally, the category literary fiction is rarely as exclusive as it probably ought to be (based on bookstore listings, etc.). Stephen King's listings in this category were the first to shock me when I started reading modern fiction after a long time focusing exclusively on classics in both my leisure and academic reading. For the purposes of this popular opinion exchange site/forum, I just find it more fun to apply a very liberal definition.

What do you think of a starrred review in PW or Kirkus as a mark of literary qualities of some note among fiction released in a given year? I am open to tightening my own standards. What sort of criteria are legitimate? Publisher categorization? Bookseller listing? Authorial reputation and/or critical acclaim? How much & what kind?

Should a list of the best literary fiction of a given year be as tight as say, the best literary ficton of an era or even a decade? I am inclined to think not. What would you propose as a good standard?

Thanks for this smart response, Donna!


message 7: by Donna (new)

Donna Davis Kara wrote: "Donna wrote: "Kara, I am seeing one title with no cover, and also wonder about Thomas Perry's The Bomb Maker, which is listed as literary fiction by nobody ever. What do you think? I can pull them ..."

Sorry, Kara. I probably ought to have looked to see whose contribution it was, but it didn't occur to me. Your choice seems appropriate to me.


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