Anita Brookner and The Quiet Novels I Adore

Source: bbc.com

I am not sure how I stumbled upon the English novelist Anita Brookner, but I am so glad that I did.

I kept seeking out novelist and novels that just felt like me. 

When I learned that she was an unmarried dedicated novelist who didn't publish until her early 50s, I was like, YES YES YES all the things YES.

She started publishing her novels at age 53 and pretty much wrote one a year until she died.

I demand A LOT from my literature. I need it to touch my soul in some way- or I consider it a waste of time. 

I stumbled upon her novels after I kept DNFing the Furrowed Middle Brow novels that I purchased for my kindle. At about $2.99 to $4.99 each, I loaded up when I first learned of them- big mistake. I've been DNFing them ever since :(

Along came an amazon recommendation for Hotel du Lac- the 1984 Booker Prize winner and holy hell, I was BLOWN AWAY.

The longing... the passion... the internal struggle... the deceit... the feminism- all in one 184 page Booker winner package. I was smitten.

In true me fashion, I purchased another 5 of her novels ON THE SPOT. 

I closed Hotel du Lac... thought about my life. My past relationships. ALL of existence, and I said to myself:

I have to read every single thing this woman has ever written.

My goal is to read each of her novels (not in publication date order or anything) and to always have one going. 

When I am done with them, I will start over. Yes I am that obsessed dedicated.  

The Anita Brookner novels I've read:

1. Hotel du Lac
2. The Misalliance
3. Fraud
4. Providence - currently reading

The Anita Brookner novels I've purchased:

1. The Debut
2. The Rules of Engagement
3. A Closed Eye
4. Latecomers
5. Brief Lives
6. A Friend From England
7. Altered States
8. Incidents in the Rue Laugier
9. Dolly
10. Lewis Percy

Anita wrote 29 novels (including 1 novella) and I will read single one of them so help my soul.

If you have been scouring for a novelist that writes quiet, mundane novels that reveal and reflect the truly deep lived experience of what it means to be alive, check out Anita Brookner.

If you only want to commit to one, pick up Hotel du Lac. It's well worth the price of admission into a world of love, lust, loyalty, and awakening.

Happy reading my slow living friends.