7 Books with Lyrical Prose to Feed Your Soul

Hello, everyone! If you've been following my reviews, you might have noticed that I have a soft spot for lyrical and poetic prose. I'm always in awe of authors that can combine words to create such beautiful sentences. And even more, for authors that can convey strong feelings with their poetic prose.

Of course, I am aware that flowery prose is sometimes used to critic a book. I'm not going to deny that I've read books before where the beautiful language disrupted the flow of the narration and was devoid of any feeling. But, this is not the case for the books in this list. 

Every single one of the books I've selected here has outstanding prose that has moved me in one way or another. I'm hoping that you will find a great recommendation for books that will feed your soul.

#1 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

There are not enough words to describe how much On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous has affected me. Ocean Vuong is also a poet, and you can definitely tell while reading his first attempt at prose. It's not just that it's beautifully writing, but it's also full of raw emotions. It is no exaggeration to say that I was crying throughout the book. And, ever since I've read it, I regularly go back to it and read sentences, paragraphs, and sometimes pages at random. It's that good. 

Quote: I am thinking of beauty again, how some things are hunted because we have deemed them beautiful. If, relative to the history of our planet, an individual life is so short, a blink, as they say, then to be gorgeous, even from the day you're born to the day you die, is to be gorgeous only briefly.

#2 Snow Country, by Yasunari Kawabata

If you are looking for books with lyrical prose, then Yasunari Kawabata's novels should be on your TBR. The Japanese author has such a beautiful way of describing nature that left me in awe. At the same time though, you will also find studies of human nature, sometimes hinted behind silences and characters' actions. Snow Country is a perfect example of this in a winter backdrop. If you also want another recommendation for Kawabata, I would also suggest Beauty and Sadness. 

Quote: In the depths of the mirror the evening landscape moved by, the mirror and the reflected figures like motion pictures superimposed one on the other. The figures and the background were unrelated, and yet the figures, transparent and intangible, and the background, dim in the gathering darkness, melted into a sort of symbolic world not of this world. Particularly when a light out in the mountains shone in the centre of the girl's face, Shimamura felt his chest rise at the inexpressible beauty of it.

#3 Open Water, by Caleb Azumah Nelson

What can I say about Open Water! It's a gorgeous book, written in second person, which is something extremely difficult for me. Yet, the author has managed to make it poetical and full of emotions. It's one of the best books to describe the feelings of desire and fear of entering a new relationship. But, at the same time, it talks about the human experience of existing as a person of colour in the UK.  

Quote: You know that to love is both to swim and to drown. You know to love is to be a whole, partial, a joint, a fracture, a heart, a bone. It is to bleed and heal. It is to be in the world, honest. It is to place someone next to your beating heart, in the absolute darkness of your inner, and trust they will hold you close. To love is to trust, to trust is to have faith. How else are you meant to love? You knew what you were getting into, but taking the Underground, returning home with no certainty of when you will see her next, it is terrifying.

#4 Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

If you've been online, you've probably heard of Piranesi. This is one of the cases, where the hype is 100% justified. It's a fairly short book, full of descriptions and beautiful writing. The author manages to built such a fantastical setting that sucks you, so much so, that the setting itself becomes a character. I've never anything like it, and I can't recommend it enough. 

Quote: In my mind are all the tides, their seasons, their ebbs and their flows. In my mind are all the halls, the endless procession of them, the intricate pathways. When this world becomes too much for me, when I grow tired of the noise and the dirt and the people, I close my eyes and I name a particular vestibule to myself; then I name a hall.

#5 Orbital, by Samantha Harvey

When the shortlist for the Booker Prize in 2024 was announced, I immediately was drawn to Orbital. It ended up being the only book that I've read from that list, and the one ultimately was awarded the prize. And this is one of my biggest success. All jokes aside, Orbital is a book with some of the most lyrical prose you will ever read. It's an exploration of humanity, of the world, of climate change, all through the eyes of six astronauts orbiting Earth. 

Quote: Our lives here are inexpressibly trivial and momentous at once, it seems he’s about to wake up and say. Both repetitive and unprecedented. We matter greatly and not at all. To reach some pinnacle of human achievement only to discover that your achievements are next to nothing and that to understand this is the greatest achievement of any life, which itself is nothing, and also much more than everything. Some metal separates us from the void; death is so close. Life is everywhere, everywhere.

#6 Bluets, by Maggie Nelson

If you were to ask me what type of book is Bluets, I wouldn't know what to answer. It's a memoir, but containing vignettes with thoughts, feelings, memories, and explorations of the colour blue. Can it be considered poetry? It's definitely prose, but it's written so lyrically, so poetically. To me, it's more of an experience. This book contains one particular page that I always go back to just to read it. 

Quote: 212. If I were today on my deathbed, I would name my love of the color blue and making love with you as two of the sweetest sensations I knew on this earth.

“213. But are you certain—one would like to ask—that it was sweet?

214.—No, not really, or not always. If I am to enforce a rule of “brutal honesty,” perhaps not even often.

#7 I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman

This is my most recent addition to this list (and you can read my thoughts on my review). Even though this is a very popular book in recent years, I've never heard anyone talk of its lyrical prose. However, to me, it was extremely beautiful and poetic. Another book that is definitely worth the hype.

Quote: There's no continuity and the world I have come from is utterly foreign to me. I haven't heard its music, I haven't seen its painting, I haven't read its books... I know only the stony plain, wandering, and the gradual loss of hope. I am the sterile offspring of a race about which I know nothing, not even whether it has become extinct. Perhaps, somewhere, humanity is flourishing under the stars, unaware that a daughter of its blood is ending her days in silence. There is nothing we can do about it.

Which books you've read had the most lyrical prose?  
See more of my lists here!