Friday Mood Recs: Novels by poets that feature lush language and engaging plots
In this week’s Reading in Public, I shared three reasons to read poetry. I think they’re good reasons, but, readers, I know most of us still aren’t going to read poetry this month. So today, I’ve rounded up my favorite novels written by poets. I’m very picky about these types of books. There have been novels by poets that I really haven’t enjoyed because I’m finicky about how figurative language operates in my reading. This is purely an element of personal taste. I don’t like a lot of similes in my books and if a simile or metaphor is too intangible, that will take me out of the story as much as any plot hole.
So, in these books, you get all of the linguistic depth, figurative language, and emotional evocation of a poem alongside well-developed characters and enough of a plot to keep you turning the pages. But, I’ve avoided the sort of impressionistic, subtext dependent writing that I personally shy away from. If you are looking for poetic writing without reading poetry, these are some books for you.
