From the provocative and challenging to the emotional and quiet, Japanese literary fiction tends to be nuanced, introspective, and minimalistic. These books contain layered cultural commentary and may lean on psychological, surreal, or fantastical elements to convey their message.

Masterpieces of Russian literature, attempting to cover a broad range of the most well known authors.

For those ready to dive deeper into the genre, these books offer a range of authors and topics. Brand new to this genre? Check out Volume I for the most popular texts.

Contemporary Literary Fiction where nothing out of the ordinary happens but the characters’ inner lives are rich, complicated, and layered.

This is an introduction to modern poetry, with a focus on breadth of voices and styles rather than depth. In the words of Leonard Cohen, "poetry is just the evidence of life...if your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash." This quest is for those who love poetry, hate poetry, want to write it, read it, or perhaps have nothing to do with it (or all of that at once)!