One book I absolutely love that I think does a great job at balancing the indulgent enjoyability of a guilty pleasure and the epic eloquence of a great literary work is Memoirs of a Geisha. I know some people have beefs with this novel because of historical accuracy quibbles or the fact that it was written by a middle-aged white male from Tennessee and not, in fact, a geisha … but as far as pure storytelling and powerful emotional experience go, it really is extraordinary and beautiful.

A book that I consider to be very literary and yet very entertaining is JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It’s a masterpiece and yet the plot is very engaging. (unlike the Silmarillion which is more literary, less engaging)

1.Vikram Seth’s “A Suitable Boy” - a critically acclaimed gripping Indian family drama of more than 1100 pages!

2.Amitav Ghosh’s “The Glass Palace” - a historical drama about kings and elephants

3.Khushwant Singh’s “Train to Pakistan” - A gripping tale of the horrors of the partition of India during a fateful train journey.

4.Arvind Adiga’s “White Tiger” - an extraordinary story of an ordinary Indian cab driver, with is both a Booker winner and a commercial success in India. A masterpiece of “black humor”.

Yeah Randy, I agree with you that literary fiction need not be boring or commercial fiction need not be trashy. It’s just that sometimes I become doubtful because of the immense popularity of a few authors (both American and Indian), whom I don’t want to name.

I just read a proposed novel that qualifies. It’s set in WWII and can compete with John LeCarre’s Spy on equal terms. I can hardly wait for it to be published. And there is at least one sequel in the works. I get goose-bumps just thinking about it.

I’ve been promised that I can read the sequel. I’m absolutely salivating. During the read, my editing eye found only about three minor tweaks/word usages that I’d change were I editing.

There is no reason fiction cannot be both commercial and literate. It’s a shame to waste trees on schlock.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time has a very interesting literary foundation. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will recognise the title as a quote from one of Sherlock’s mysteries, Silver Blaze, the story of a missing race horse.

Haddon’s book is a remarkable ‘flip’ of Silver Blaze. All the elements of the story are there, but some are turned backward on themselves. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but if you like Curious Incident, download Silver Blaze (it’s out of copyright) and read it. You will find another dimension to one of the remarkable books of recent years.

It’s as if Haddon set the title in place as a clue, but only Sherlock Holmes fans will get it and pursue it to the end.

An author who I think does a good job blending great story with great word craft is Athol Dickson. I read River Rising and now have a fav new author. He does break a few craft rules, and I don’t give a rip. When I crack a book and there is something mesmerizing about the flow of words, something sparkly and lyrical and engaging, I’ll read on. If the story isn’t there, I’ll drop it sooner or later. I will read a book that seems intent on throwing me into a story with all the correct commercial tools, but I don’t usually enjoy the read as well as I do those with that extra something that comes from beautifully woven words. To me, that’s a treat. I guess to others, it’s a flat out bore. Go figure.

Another new writer with beautiful style is Kerry Nietz, whose A STAR CURIOUSLY RISING, and THE SUPERLATIVE STREAM (two of a trilogy of speculative genre from Marcher Lord Press). I doubt the genre would ever be called literary, but this writer is, proving Randy’s point that quality overrides classification.

Randy sez: My definition of literary fiction is that the language is beautiful. I’m not sure if this is true of all literary fiction, but it seems to cover most of it. Yes, Tosca’s a good friend of mine. I’d classify her writing as being highly literate. Tosca writes for the Christian market, which has grown explosively since the early 1990s, but she tends to transcend her market niche and I think just about anybody who likes good writing would enjoy her work. If you like Chaim Potok, you’ll probably like Tosca Lee. Her work is interesting to me because it explores dark themes.

As Randy very clearly points out Literary is length and Entertainment is breadth and a nice square has both dimensions strong.

I am reading “Wild Seed” by Octavia butler, which while being a literary novel is also very entertaining. And actually I read it in reviews and wikipedia that it is regarded as literary. But most important to me the reader is that it is every bit worth the time I spent reading it.

Another novel “Dune - Frank Herbert” is widely regarded as very entertaining best seller, but clearly reading it gives ever sense of literary.
There is really no hard and fast dividing line.

A novel is all interesting story first and foremost, it is always forward moving in motion, and everything ties in with the story, that is Fiction. literay, non-fiction research info, themes and implications, opinions, comparisons, allegory all are secondary(which are on another dimension and should be put if wanted, and they many time crop out themselves.

Also I will suggest to read wide variety from Indian Premchand, R K Narayanan, German Franz Kafka, British Harry Potter J K Rowling, American Gone with the wind. Figure how many of this are literary and how many are entertainment things.(As you have pointed all the 4 books of Indian writers which while being good, some of them are not very high in Global rankings)

There are cheap novels which are published in massive quantities, whose writers are also not paid much which are just produced in fanatical numbers, but the good ones can be easily distinguished as they are regarded as good by majority and you will certainly know about them by news, word of mouth etc.

Just write the best story, work every bit hard on it to make it good and if you want it to be literary too, go about it. Literary and entertaining are both can be together and stand-alone as you want. Good stories will find place in people’s heart.

I am reading “Drenai - Legend” and it has sense in every dialogue and event. And it just fuses with my heart. In such a case who cares about literary.

LOR is more entertaining and close to my heart, while being literary(for which I do not care).

Silmarillion is just plain history textbook according to Tolkien(though of middle earth or “Arda”) and as such feels like well, history textbook.

I love these books so much, fills my heart with joy:)

It seems like you are writing more for “popularity” instead of “writing”. Do not fall into that pitfall, as “writing” done with all the heart for the sake of “writing” becomes “popular”. Their is no secret formula here except hard work. Learn the craft well and tell your story with all of your talent, and work hard on it. If you write your best work, and give it 100% you will definitely become successful.

“My definition of literary fiction is that the language is beautiful. I’m not sure if this is true of all literary fiction, but it seems to cover most of it.”
- is the major difference which I also have noticed. There seems nothing different. Literary may have flowery language whereas non - literary generally have straight forward to the point but GOOD language. Non-Literary does not mean cheap. It is every bit entertaining, respectable and good. I also noted the flowery language in “Dune - Frank Herbert” first and my mind signaled me it was literary and then I was lost in the story and did not remember anything else:)

For anyone who isn’t familiar with her work, I’d like to recommend the fantasy writer Patricia A. McKillip, in particular The Book of Atrix Wolfe, The Changeling Sea and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (her first published novel). The first two are YA; all are written beautifully. Now I don’t know if they’re considered ‘literary’ or not and it makes no difference to me because her books are works of art. They’re thrilling, with characters you genuinely care about, her language is poetic and mesmerising - I would be overjoyed if I were able to write with even half her skill.