Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site.

Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser

Literary Fiction Books

Discover the best literary fiction books to read today including bestselling classics, bookseller favorites, new releases & more.

Filter

New From Rumaan Alam

Shop Now

Entitlement: A Novel (Signed Book)

by Rumaan Alam

QUICK ADD

Entitlement: A Novel (Signed Book)

by Rumaan Alam

Reading a novel by Rumaan Alam (Leave the World Behind) is always a pleasure — sharp dialogue, surprising characters (even the ones that make us mad), and very smart observations about who we are and what drives us, from love and money to family and more.

New From Kevin Barry

by Kevin Barry

by Kevin Barry

Fans of Charles Portis and Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers: Don't miss this wildly funny western. Fans of Barry's acclaimed novel Night Boat to Tangier, same goes for you.

Featured Categories

Hardcover

Paperback

Signed Books

Buy One, Get One 50% Off

2024 B&N Discover Prize Finalists

See All

B&N Reads

College Chronicles: 10 Campus Novels to Read This Fall

Isabelle McConville

Discover Literary Fiction

Shop at Barnes & Noble for literary fiction books everyone is talking about, as well as the best literary graphic novels and literary classics to add to your reading list. Looking for literary fiction to read immediately? Download literary fiction eBooks to your smartphone, tablet, or NOOK device and start reading today!

What is considered literary fiction?

Literary Fiction is a type of fiction that focuses on introspection and human character. Whereas most types of fiction are driven by plot (romance, mystery, fantasy, etc), literary fiction is a fiction of ideas that puts the human condition under the microscope. Works of literary fiction are considered to be works of art.

What is literary fiction vs. fiction?

Literary fiction is a subgenre of fiction that focuses its attention on character development, the human condition or social commentary.

What are some examples of literary fiction?

Pride and Prejudice is a literary fiction novel that focuses in-depth on character development, one of the main aspects of literary fiction writing. The reader is introduced to famous literary fiction characters like Elizabeth Bennet and observes each of the Bennet sisters’ individual thoughts, dreams and aspirations. Literary fiction books such as Of Mice and Men explore and reflect on the human condition. Other literary fiction novels focus on political or social conditions of a given time-period or place. For example, Things Fall Apart, a popular work of literary fiction, describes political tensions between Nigeria’s colonial government and the indigenous Igbo people in the 1890’s. George Orwell’s 1984 not only explores the political state of the nation, but also social conditions of its people. Literary texts are more likely to have a darker tone and slower pace compared to genre or popular fiction. Famous literary authors not only include such bookcase staples as F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger, but modern literary fiction writers like The Kite Runners' Khaled Hosseini or Cloud Cuckoo Lands' Anthony Doerr.

Literary Fiction Books

Discover the best literary fiction books to read today including bestselling classics, bookseller favorites, new releases & more.

Barnes & Noble Holiday Gift Guide

Bookseller Favorites

New From Rumaan Alam

Barnes & Noble Exclusives

Coming Soon

New From Kevin Barry

Bestsellers

Essential Literary Fiction

Featured Categories

2024 B&N Discover Prize Finalists

New Releases

B&N Reads