Books like 'The Cockroach'
Readers who enjoyed The Cockroach by Ian McEwan also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy politics humor satire literary-fiction university retellings historical-fiction dystopia
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Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka, John Updike
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe only available collection that brings together all of Kafka's storiesthose published during his lifetime and those released after his death... -
![Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin]()
Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRussian novelist Victor Pelevin is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most brilliant young writers at work today. His comic inventiveness and mind-bending talent prompted Time magazine to proclaim him a "psychedelic Nabokov for the cyber-age...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics satire university 20th-century -
![Die Känguru-Offenbarung by Marc-Uwe Kling]()
Die Känguru-Offenbarung by Marc-Uwe Kling
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEndlich: Es geht weiter! Nach dem Manifest folgt die Offenbarung! Hier kommt die fulminante Fortsetzung der Fortsetzung: der »Känguru-Chroniken« dritter Teil. Das Beuteltier und der Kleinkünstler auf der Jagd nach dem mysteriösen Pinguin... -
![Dialogues with Leucò by Cesare Pavese]()
Dialogues with Leucò by Cesare Pavese
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA series of dialogues between mythological figures, treating the question of human destiny as the personal content of myths. In his foreword, Pavese elaborates on his method in the Dialogues: "What is more acutely disturbing than to see familiar scenes troubled into new life? . . . A true revelation, I am convinced, can only emerge from stubborn concentration on a single problem... -
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![The Last Days of Judas Iscariot - Acting Edition by Stephen Adly Guirgis]()
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot - Acting Edition by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom one of our most admired playwrights, an ambitious, complicated and often laugh-out-loud religious debate (Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer) Set in a time-bending, seriocomically imagined world between Heaven and Hell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a philosophical meditation on the conflict between divine mercy and human free will that takes a close look at the eternal damnation...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction retellings 21st-century adult book -
![Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o]()
Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the exiled Kenyan novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic--a magisterial comic novel that is certain to take its place as a landmark of postcolonial African literature.In exile now for more than twenty years, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has become one of the most widely read African writers of our time, the power and scope of his work garnering him international attention and praise...Categorized as:
classics dystopia historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics retellings satire -
![The Overcoat, and Other Tales of Good and Evil by Nikolai Gogol]()
The Overcoat, and Other Tales of Good and Evil by Nikolai Gogol
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsWith the publication of "The Overcoat" in 1842, Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) inaugurated a new chapter in Russian literature, in which the underdog and social misfit is treated not as a figure of fun or an object of charity, but as a human being with as much right to happiness as anybody else...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction university action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary -
![Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett]()
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake. The Starlings live in Everton, an ordinary enough New Hampshire town... -
![O Sítio do Picapau Amarelo by Monteiro Lobato]()
O Sítio do Picapau Amarelo by Monteiro Lobato
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNo Sítio do Picapau Amarelo as crianças descobrem um ninho de João-de-Barro na paineira grande. Durante vários dias os meninos se divertem, acompanhando de longe o trabalho dos passarinhos...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction retellings book children children-books contemporary fiction -
![The Clean House and Other Plays by Sarah Ruhl]()
The Clean House and Other Plays by Sarah Ruhl
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThis volume is the first publication of Sarah Ruhl, “a playwright with a unique comic voice, perspective, and sense of theater” (Variety), who is fast leaving her mark on the American stage...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction retellings 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary drama -
![Brand New Ancients by Kae Tempest]()
Brand New Ancients by Kae Tempest
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsYes, the gods are on the park bench, the gods are on the bus, / The gods are all here, the gods are in us. / The gods are timeless, fearless, fighting to be bold, / conviction is a heavy hand to hold, / grip it, winged sandals tearing up the pavement -- / you, me, everyone: Brand New Ancients... -
![Diary of a Cricket by Tô Hoài]()
Diary of a Cricket by Tô Hoài
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt is a bilingual edition of a children's book written in Vietnamese given to me by a student. His grandfather is the author...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction fiction children-books action-adventure fantasy animals -
![Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme]()
Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis collection of pithy, brilliantly acerbic pieces is a companion to Sixty Stories, Barthelme's earlier retrospective volume. Barthelme spotlights the idiosyncratic, haughty, sometimes downright ludicrous behavior of human beings, but it is style rather than content which takes precedence... -
![The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy]()
The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsBe terrified. It's you I love, perfect man, Greek God, my own; but I know you'll go, betray me, stray from home. So better by far for me if you were stone. from "Medusa"Stunningly original and haunting, the voices of Mrs...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor retellings university 20th-century adult audiobook -
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![The Book of Sand & Shakespeare's Memory by Jorge Luis Borges]()
The Book of Sand & Shakespeare's Memory by Jorge Luis Borges
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe acclaimed translation of Borges's valedictory stories, in its first stand-alone edition Jorge Luis Borges has been called the greatest Spanish-language writer of the twentieth century. Now Borges's remarkable last major story collection, The Book of Sand, is paired with a handful of writings from the very end of his life...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction university 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook -
![Nine Fairy Tales and One More Thrown in for Good Measure by Karel Čapek]()
Nine Fairy Tales and One More Thrown in for Good Measure by Karel Čapek
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKarel Čapek, author of the acclaimed War with the Newts, is one of the great Czechoslovak writers of the twentieth century. These fairy tales bear Čapek's combination of the fantastic and the satirical, offering fairies, elves, and talking animals alongside references to detectives, secret police agents, luxury automobiles, and Hollywood starlets...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction retellings anthologies children children-books contemporary -
![Sredni Vashtar and Other Stories by Saki]()
Sredni Vashtar and Other Stories by Saki
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBorn in Burma in 1870, Scottish writer H.H. Munro (his pseudonym is from FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) satirized the social conventions, cruelty and foolishness of the Edwardian era with a highly readable blend of flippant humor and outrageous inventiveness, often overlaid with a mood of horror... -
![Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth]()
Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTen witty and enchanting animal fables in verse which, like a modern Aesop's Fables, can be enjoyed by young and old... -
![Cent millions d'années et un jour by Jean-Baptiste Andrea]()
Cent millions d'années et un jour by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings‘On the mountain, the only monsters are the ones you take with you.’Summer 1954. Stan has been hunting for fossils since the age of six. Now, having made a career out of studying the remains of tiny lifeforms, he hears a story he cannot forget: the skeleton of a huge creature, a veritable dragon, lies deep in an Alpine glacier. And he is determined to find it...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction fiction drama action-adventure contemporary fantasy book -
![Kokoschka's Doll by Afonso Cruz]()
Kokoschka's Doll by Afonso Cruz
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAt the age of forty-two, Bonifaz Vogel begins to hear a voice.But it doesn't belong to the mice or the woodworm, as he first imagines. Nor is it the voice of God, as he comes to believe. It belongs to young Isaac Dresner, who takes refuge in the cellar of Vogel's bird shop on the run from the soldier who shot his best friend... -
![The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan]()
The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAs he did in the award-winning One Part Woman, in his newest novel, The Story of a Goat, Perumal Murugan explores a side of India that is rarely considered in the West: the rural lives of the country's farming community... -
![Rehepapp ehk november by Andrus Kivirähk]()
Rehepapp ehk november by Andrus Kivirähk
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRomaan eesti rahva raskest elust mõisahärrade rõhumise all. Rängas olukorras ei jää rahval muud üle, kui krabada endale kõike mida kätte saab, olgu siis naabri sahvrist, mõisaaiast või teede ristmikul vanakurja käest. Loomulikult on mängus ka kõiksugused kratid, tondid ja kollid, kes varitsevad põõsas, silmad põlemas, et paljukannatanud külainimestele veelgi kurja teha...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire retellings europe east-europe -
![The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Bernières]()
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe epic finale of the Latin American trilogy following The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and Senor Vivo and the Coca LordWhile the economy of his small South American country collapses, President Veracruz joins his improbable populace of ex-soldiers, former guerrillas, unfrocked priests and reformed - though by no means inactive - whores, in a bizarre search for sexual fulfilment... -
![World of Wonders by Robertson Davies]()
World of Wonders by Robertson Davies
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsHailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic," Robertson Davies’s acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven... -
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![The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: A Christmas Short-Story Collection by Jodi Taylor]()
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: A Christmas Short-Story Collection by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the always eventful worlds of Jodi Taylor, it's never Christmas without illegal expeditions, riotous misbehaviour and stories you just can't put down . . .This festive collection takes readers from Frogmorton Farm to Time Police HQ via the Institute of Historical Research at St Mary's in five (and a bit) short stories. A Bumper Bundle of Christmas tales all in print for the very first time...Categorized as:
humor historical-fiction literary-fiction time-travel fiction fantasy audiobook anthologies -
![Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins]()
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis is a gutsy, fun-loving, and provocative novel in which a bean can philosophises, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder discovers the lost god of Palestine... -
![The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King]()
The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThis is Thomas King’s first literary novel in 15 years and follows on the success of the award-winning and bestselling The Inconvenient Indian and his beloved Green Grass, Running Water and Truth and Bright Water, both of which continue to be taught in Canadian schools and universities. Green Grass, Running Water is widely considered a contemporary Canadian classic... -
![Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders]()
Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsMacArthur genius and Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with a collection of short stories that make sense of our increasingly troubled world, his first since the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist Tenth of DecemberThe "best short story writer in English" (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the... -
![The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God by Etgar Keret]()
The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God by Etgar Keret
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIsrael's hippest bestselling young writer today, Etgar Keret is part court jester, part literary crown prince, part national conscience. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God gathers his daring and provocative short stories for the first time in English... -
![The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières]()
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThis rambunctious first novel by the author of the bestselling Corelli's Mandolin is set in an impoverished, violent, yet ravishingly beautiful country somewhere in South America. When the haughty Dona Constanza decides to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, the consequences are at once tragic, heroic, and outrageously funny...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics satire 20th-century action-adventure -
![Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins]()
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 56 ratingsStill Life with Woodpecker is a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics satire university 20th-century -
![Oddjobs by Heide Goody, Iain Grant]()
Oddjobs by Heide Goody, Iain Grant
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt’s the end of the world as we know it, but someone still needs to do the paperwork. Incomprehensible horrors from beyond are going to devour our world but that’s no excuse to get all emotional about it. Morag Murray works for the secret government organisation responsible for making sure the apocalypse goes as smoothly and as quietly as possible... -
![The Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano]()
The Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“A Dante/Beckett reduction of human struggle to its lowest common denominator.”— Michael Mirolla, author of The Formal Logic of Emotion and Berlin“One of the most original and thought-provoking stories I have ever read...true literary art...Not a word is wasted in this masterpiece. Yes, I call it that... -
![Daydreams of Angels by Heather O'Neill]()
Daydreams of Angels by Heather O'Neill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsInventive, outlandish, and tender fairy tales from a bestselling authorThe fantastic has always been at the edges of Heather O'Neill's work. In her bestselling novels Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, she transformed the shabbiest streets of Montreal with her beautiful, freewheeling metaphors...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction retellings adult anthologies contemporary fairy-tale -
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![Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated by James Thurber]()
Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated by James Thurber
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJames Thurber has been called "one of our great American institutions' (Stanley Walker), "a magnificent satirist (Boston Transcript), and "a Joyce in false-face" (New York Times). The New York Herald Tribune submits that he is "as blithe as Benchley...as savage as Swift.. -
![Midnight Ash by Ana Ashley]()
Midnight Ash by Ana Ashley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIf I didn't know better, I'd think my life is a fairytale.Orphan? Check.Evil stepmom? Check.The only problem with my theory is the lack of a dashing prince coming to my rescue.That is until Xander comes along. He’s charming, gorgeous, and caring. With him my life doesn’t feel like a neverending list of chores... -
![Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan]()
Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsConspiracies, memes, and therapies of various efficacy underpin this beguiling short-story collection from Elizabeth Tan.In the titular story, a cat-shaped oven tells a depressed woman she doesn’t have to be sorry anymore. A Yourtopia Bespoke Terraria employee becomes paranoid about the mounting coincidences in her life... -
![The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino]()
The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsTwo novellas: the first, a parody of medieval knighthood told by a nun; the second, a fantasy about a nobleman bisected into his good and evil halves. “Bravura pieces... executed with brilliance and brio”(Chicago Tribune). Translated by Archibald Colquhoun. A Helen and Kurt Wolff BookOriginally published as two distinct volumes: 'Il visconte dimezzato' (1952) and 'Il cavaliere inesistente' (1959)...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire university 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Giant Dark by Sarvat Hasin]()
The Giant Dark by Sarvat Hasin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAida is the defining rock star of her age; her every move observed, examined and owned by a devoted, cultish fanbase. When she disappears without a trace into a complicated love affair they are determined to find her, uncover her truths and own her once more.Aida and Ehsan reconnect after a decade apart, hoping to recapture the innocent, lost love of their youth...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction retellings ancient-civilization book contemporary fiction literary -
![Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King]()
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsStrong, Sassy women and hard-luck hardheaded men, all searching for the middle ground between Native American tradition and the modern world, perform an elaborate dance of approach and avoidance in this magical, rollicking tale by Cherokee author Thomas King...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics satire university 20th-century -
![Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell]()
Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the Pulitzer Finalist and universally beloved author of the New York Times best sellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a stunning new collection of short fiction that showcases Karen Russell's extraordinary, irresistible gifts of language and imagination...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire adult anthologies audiobook -
![Elefant by Martin Suter]()
Elefant by Martin Suter
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe international bestseller about friendship, second chances, and a tiny glow-in-the-dark pink elephant‘The most enjoyable novel I’ve read all year’ Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen'I loved Elefant! It was a complete tonic' Seni Glaister, author of The Museum of Things Left Behind‘It's easy to fall in love with this novel because it's easy to fall in love with its main... -
![The Seventh Day by Yu Hua]()
The Seventh Day by Yu Hua
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of Brothers and To a major new novel that limns the joys and sorrows of life in contemporary China. Yang Fei was born on a moving train. Lost by his mother, adopted by a young switchman, raised with simplicity and love, he is utterly unprepared for the tempestuous changes that await him and his country... -
![The Wonderful O by James Thurber]()
The Wonderful O by James Thurber
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsConfusion reigns on the island of Ooroo when the letter O is banished...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction retellings satire 20th-century action-adventure anthologies -
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![Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike]()
Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe triumphant collection of short stories by America's most acclaimed novelist... -
![Tonguecat by Peter Verhelst]()
Tonguecat by Peter Verhelst
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTonguecat tells the story of a city's decline into chaos and violence upon the arrival of Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. In the Netherlands, the novel has been described as "a cross between Jorge Luis Borges's mystical labyrinth and William Gibson's futuristic sprawl" ("The Rights Report")... -
![Tales of Falling and Flying by Ben Loory]()
Tales of Falling and Flying by Ben Loory
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 11 ratings“Mesmerizing and magical. . . . A stunning book.” —NPR.org“Short stories so imaginative — and yet so perplexingly familiar — they could have formed in a dream. . . . Taut, meticulously balanced and written in Loory’s direct, witty prose, his own stories take a page from Aesop: high-flying tales nonetheless boiled down to the essentials...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction retellings adult anthologies contemporary fiction low-fantasy -
![We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser, Olivier Culmann]()
We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser, Olivier Culmann
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Every reader knows of writers who are like secrets one wants to keep, and whose books one wants to tell the world about. Millhauser is mine.”—David Rollow, Boston Sunday GlobeFrom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author: the essential stories across three decades that showcase his indomitable imagination... -
![The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor]()
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs Rafi Zabor's PEN-Faulkner Award-winning novel opens, the Bear shuffles and jigs with a chain through his nose, rolling in the gutter, letting his partner wrestle him to the ground for the crowd's enjoyment. But as soon becomes clear, this is no ordinary dancing bear. "I mean, dance is all right, even street dance... -
![O Fallen Angel by Kate Zambreno, Lidia Yuknavitch]()
O Fallen Angel by Kate Zambreno, Lidia Yuknavitch
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe haunting debut novel that put Kate Zambreno on the map, O Fallen Angel , is a provocative, voice-driven story of a family in crisis—and, more broadly, the crisis of the American family—now repackaged and with a new introduction by Lidia Yuknavitch...
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