Books like 'Life: A User's Manual'
Readers who enjoyed Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary 20th century comedy mystery supernatural classics literary-fiction postmodernism humor magical-realism
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Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 64 ratingsSusan had never hung up a stocking . She'd never put a tooth under her pillow in the serious expectation that a dentally inclined fairy would turn up. It wasn't that her parents didn't believe in such things. They didn't need to believe in them. They know they existed. They just wished they didn't.There are those who believe and those who don't. Through the ages, superstition has had its uses... -
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsThis is not a fairy-tale. This is about real witches. Real witches don't ride around on broomsticks. They don't even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, cunning, detestable creatures who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies... -
The Golden Apple by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNausea, then microamnesia, then the laughing jag, then sex. Be patient. The clear light comes next. Then we can discuss Truth. As if we haven't been discussing it all along. -Hagbard Celine, The Golden Apple Illuminatus! Part II, from the original and genuine trilogy of conspiracies, is performed in all its unabridged brilliance by a full ensemble cast... -
The Stranger by Max Frei
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe millions-selling fantasy epic of the new Russian literary icon-a freeloading freebooter who finds a new home in a magical world Max Frei's novels have been a literary sensation in Russia since their debut in 1996, and have swept the fantasy world over. Presented here in English for the first time, The Stranger will strike a chord with readers of all stripes... -
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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsWhen a passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the explosion is deemed an act of God... -
Leviathan by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always existed. Every man, every woman, and every child owns it. It's the ability to say No and take the consequences. - Hagbard Celine, LeviathanIlluminatus! Part III cheerfully ushers in the apocalyptic high-camp conclusion of the Illuminatus! Trilogy... -
Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRupert Venables is a Magid.It's a Magid's job to oversee what goes on in the vast Multiverse. Actually, Rupert is really only a junior Magid. But he's got a king-sized problem. Rupert's territory includes Earth and the Empire of Korfyros. When his mentor dies Rupert must find a replacement. But there are hundreds of candidates...Categorized as:
humor 20th-century action-adventure alternate-universe audiobook book children comedy -
Cosmos by Witold Gombrowicz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA dark, quasi-detective novel, Cosmos follows the classic noir motif to explore the arbitrariness of language, the joke of human freedom, and man’s attempt to bring order out of chaos in his psychological life.Published in 1965, Cosmos is the last novel by Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969) and his most somber and multifaceted work... -
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsThere is an alternate cover edition here.Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book california comedy -
Bunnicula by Deborah Howe, James Howe
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsBEWARE THE HARE!Is he or isn't he a vampire? Before it's too late, Harold the dog and Chester the cat must find out the truth about the newest pet in the Monroe household -- a suspicious-looking bunny with unusual habits..Categorized as:
classics humor magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure animals anthropomorphism audiobook -
Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThere are good witches and bad witches, but the law says that all witches must be burned at the stake. So when an anonymous note warns, "Someone in this class is a witch," the students in 6B are nervous -- especially the boy who's just discovered that he can cast spells and the girl who was named after the most famous witch of all... -
Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsLandover was a genuine magic kingdom, complete with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement had promised. But after he purchased it for a million dollars, Ben Holiday discovered that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention. Such as the fact that the kingdom was falling into ruin. The barons refused to recognize a king and taxes hadn't been collected for years...Categorized as:
humor 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book children-books comedy contemporary -
Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Dial-a-Ghost Agency finds good homes for ghosts. And Fulton and Frieda Snodde-Brittle are looking for a few frightening ghosts to "accidentally" scare their young cousin and heir, Oliver, to death. The ladies at the Dial-a-Ghost Agency have the perfect match: the Shriekers, two bloodstained and bickering horrors... -
The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western by Richard Brautigan
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe time is 1902, the setting eastern Oregon. Magic Child, a fifteen-year-old Indian girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse looking for the right men to kill the monster that lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's yellow house. What follows is a series of wild, witty, and bizarre encounters. The book was originally published in 1974...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction magical-realism postmodernism 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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Pronto by Elmore Leonard
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe feds want Miami bookmaker Harry Arno to squeal on his wiseguy boss. So they're putting word out on the street that Arno's skimming profits from "Jimmy Cap" Capotorto—which he is, but everybody does it. He was planning to retire to Italy someday anyway, so Harry figures now's a good time to get lost. U.S... -
Azazel by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis story collection contains: The Two-Centimeter Demon; One Night of Song; The Smile That Loses; To the Victor; The Dim Rumble; Saving Humanity; A Matter of Principle; The Evil Drink Does; Writing Time; Dashing Through the Snow; Logic is Logic; He Travels the Fastest; The Eye of the Beholder; More Things in Heaven and Earth; The Mind's Construction; The Flights of Spring; Galatea; and Flight... -
My Teacher Is an Alien by Bruce Coville
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsSixth grade is just out of this world!Susan Simmons can tell that her new substitute teacher is really weird. But she doesn't know how weird until she catches him peeling off his face -- and realizes that "Mr. Smith" is really an alien! At first no one will believe her except Peter Thompson, the class brain. When Peter and Susan discover Mr... -
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWinner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2011 Flaubert's Parrot deals with Flaubert, parrots, bears and railways; with our sense of the past and our sense of abroad; with France and England, life and art, sex and death, George Sand and Louise Colet, aesthetics and redcurrant jam; and with its enigmatic narrator, a retired English doctor, whose life and secrets are slowly revealed... -
The Green Man by Kingsley Amis
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMaurice Allington, landlord of the Green Man Inn, is the sole witness to the ghostly existence of Dr. Thomas Underhill, a notorious seventeenth-century sexual deviant and practitioner of the black arts. A desire to vindicate his sanity leads Allington to uncover the key to Underhill's satanic secrets...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult animals audiobook -
Other People by Martin Amis
Rated: 3.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe wakes in an emergency room in a London hospital, to a voice that tells her: "You're on your own now. Take care. Be good." She has no knowledge of her name, her past, or even her species. It takes her a while to realize that she is human — and that the beings who threaten, befriend, and violate her are other people. Some of whom seem to know all about her... -
Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 by Naoko Takeuchi
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsLibrarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.One of the most-beloved of all Japanese manga titles, Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon has enthralled millions of readers worldwide since its debut in book form in early 1992... -
Preacher, Volume 3: Proud Americans by Garth Ennis
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe third amazing new edition in the PREACHER series, collecting issues #18-26.Jesse Custer heads for France to rescue Cassidy, the Irish vampire, from the clutches of religious fanatics. His search leads him into a no-holds-barred battle against the forces of the Grail. Also told here is the story of how Cassidy became a vampire in the first place... -
Preacher, Volume 2: Until the End of the World by Garth Ennis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsContinuing the new editions of the classic PREACHER trade paperbacks! This volume contains PREACHER #8-17.In this continuing saga of the bizarre life of a faithless Texas preacher, Jesse Custer heads to the south to confront the extremely dysfunctional family that abused him as a child and planted the original seeds of his disillusionment with the world... -
Cardcaptor Sakura, Vol. 1 by Clamp
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsFrom Clamp comes the thrilling adventures of Sakura, a fourth-grader who accidentally finds an enchanted book called The Clow. The book once contained a set of magical Clow Cards, but they all escaped while the guardian of the book fell asleep... -
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Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTake a quantum leap into the universe of Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy. It's a wise and wacky look at our recent past seen through a fun-house mirror...it's a satire on our violent, inexplicable, wonderful world...and it's a mind trip inward to expose our deepest hopes and fears... -
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt was a deadly mistake. Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, had snooped into rumors about an ancient secret society that was still alive and kicking. Now his offices have been bombed, he's missing, and the case has landed in the lap of a tough, cynical, streetwise New York detective...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction postmodernism 20th-century adult alternate-history assassins -
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsDirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a ghost-horror-detective-time travel-romantic comedy epic.Dirk Gently is a private detective who isomer interested in telekinesis, quantum mechanics and lunch than fiddling around with fingerprint powder, so his investigations tend to produce startling and unexpected results... -
I segreti delle mummie by R.L. Stine
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhen twins Lindy and Kris find a ventriloquist's dummy in a Dumpster, Lindy decides to "rescue" it, and she names it Slappy. But Kris is green with envy. It's not fair. Why does Lindy get to have all the fun and all the attention? Kris decides to get a dummy of her own. She'll show Lindy. Then weird things begin to happen. Nasty things. Evil things...Categorized as:
classics humor 20th-century action-adventure audiobook children children-books comedy -
Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsIn Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets. Behind the fake Tudor facade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century absurdism action-adventure adult audiobook -
Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsTake a wonderfully crazed excursion into the demented heart of a tropical paradise—a world of cargo cults, cannibals, mad scientists, ninjas, and talking fruit bats. Our bumbling hero is Tucker Case, a hopeless geek trapped in a cool guy's body, who makes a living as a pilot for the Mary Jean Cosmetics Corporation...Categorized as:
drama humor literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century absurdism action-adventure adult
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