The literary middle: Loving books that don't go viral

In the age of algorithmic discovery, it often feels like the same ten books are everywhere. You open Instagram, you see Fourth Wing. You open TikTok, it's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Twitter/x? Something about Babel or The Secret History. 

There’s nothing wrong with loving a popular book. The best ones resonate for a reason. But in all the noise, it can be hard to hear the quieter voices. The books that didn’t land on a major award shortlist or trend on BookTok, but still left something behind in you.

The mid-list novel is an endangered species. These are the books that arrive with little fanfare, sell modestly, and disappear from the new releases table before you ever knew they were there. They are often literary, often strange, and often quietly astonishing.

Loving a book that didn’t go viral can feel like a secret. A personal gift. You get to keep it to yourself a little longer. There’s no discourse to wade through. No expectation of having a take. Just the slow intimacy of a story unfolding.

These books are also, often, where the best writing lives. Free from market pressures to perform or trend, authors take risks. They write uneven, ambitious, beautiful things. Books with odd pacing and unforgettable characters. Books that bruise.

And when you do stumble across someone else who’s read one of these books? It’s like recognising a friend across a crowded room. You get to say: you too?

So in defence of the literary middle, here are a few titles that didn’t set the internet on fire but absolutely deserved to. Maybe one of them will find you when you need it most.

Quietly brilliant books worth seeking out:

1. Assembly by Natasha Brown – A taut, razor-sharp novella about race, class, and bodily autonomy in contemporary Britain.

2. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson – Lyrical, intimate, and quietly devastating, it captures Black love and vulnerability with grace.

3. The Harpy by Megan Hunter – Surreal and feral, a mythic look at female rage and betrayal.

4. The End We Start From by Megan Hunter – Sparse and poetic, an apocalyptic tale told with breath-like brevity.

5. Lanny by Max Porter – Unclassifiable and eerie, full of strange voices and aching beauty.

6. Nightshift by Kiare Ladner – A tense, obsessive exploration of identity and desire.

7. All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews – Quietly shattering, deeply humane.

8. Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett – Fragmented, bold, and gloriously interior. A book about books, and the act of becoming.

These books may not trend, but they linger. They wait. And when you find them, you may wonder how you ever missed t