Books like 'The Devil I Know'
Readers who enjoyed The Devil I Know by Claire Kilroy also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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The Little Golden Calf by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe name The Little Golden Calf comes from the Bible, the Book of Exodus 32:1-4 Delighted applause from both sides of the Atlantic greeted the first publication of this comic clasic about Soviet life in the early years after the Revolution. Social changes then were so drastic and came so thick and fast that even most Russians were confused...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
The Complete Yes Prime Minister by Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPresented in the form of diaries, official documents, and letters, rather than simply transcribed scripts, this book is a companion to the successful BBC series, "Yes Prime Minister... -
The Compromise by Sergei Dovlatov
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBased on Dovlatov's experiences as a journalist in the Soviet Republic of Estonia, this is an acidly comic picture of ludicrous bureaucratic ineptitude, which obviously still continues... -
The Suitcase by Sergei Dovlatov
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSergei Dovlatov’s subtle, dark-edged humor and wry observations are in full force in The Suitcase as he examines eight objects—the items he brought with him in his luggage upon his emigration from the U.S.S.R...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult audiobook book -
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The Short Novels of John Steinbeck by John Steinbeck
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsCollected here for the first time in a deluxe paperback volume are six of John Steinbeck's most widely read and beloved novels...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century anthologies classics contemporary drama -
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe story of a train filled with toys and gifts for little boys and girls that breaks down before reaching the children. After asking several passing trains for help over the hill, a little blue train agrees to help the stranded toys. Even though she is small, the blue train tries her best to bring the toys to the children on the other side of the hill...Categorized as:
animals friendship literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure book children children-books -
The Collected Stories by Lorrie Moore
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSince the publication of Self-Help, her first collection of stories, Lorrie Moore has been hailed as one of the greatest and most influential voices in American fiction...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction fiction contemporary female-author anthologies classics 20th-century -
Revenge of the Lawn / The Abortion / So the Wind Won't Blow it All Away by Richard Brautigan
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThree unforgettable Brautigan masterpieces reissued in a one-volume omnibus edition. REVENGE OF THE LAWN: Originally published in 1971, these bizarre flashes of insight and humor cover everything from "A High Building in Singapore" to the "Perfect California Day." This is Brautigan's only collection of stories and includes "The Lost Chapters of TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies comedy contemporary -
JR by William Gaddis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJ R is the long-awaited novel from William Gaddis, author of The Recognitions, that tremendous book which, in the twenty years since its publication, has come to be acknowledged as an American masterpiece... -
Everything is Illuminated & Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratings[NB: 2-in-1 edition]Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer's stunning debut, tells the story of a young Jewish American's quixotic journey into an unexpected past... -
The Dream Songs by John Berryman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis edition combines The Dream Songs, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1965, and His Toy, His Dream, His Rest, which won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1969 and contains all 385 songs. Of The Dream Songs, A. Alvarez wrote in The Observer, "A major achievement. He has written an elegy on his brilliant generation and, in the process, he has also written an elegy on himself... -
The Brotherhood of the Grape by John Fante
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHenry Molise, a 50 year old, successful writer, returns to the family home to help with the latest drama; his aging parents want to divorce. Henry's tyrannical, brick laying father, Nick, though weak and alcoholic, can still strike fear into the hearts of his sons. His mother, though ill and devout to her Catholicism, still has the power to comfort and confuse her children... -
Whose Turn for the Stairs? by Robert Douglas
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis is an utterly charming story about twelve families and their tightly knit street in 1950s Maryhill. Following the end of the war, the close rebuilds its ties and the strong sense of community and friendly neighbourhood bonds are soon back in place... -
The Healers by Ayi Kwei Armah
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFiction. African Studies. THE HEALERS tells a story of the conflict and regeneration focused on replacing toxic ignorance with the healing knowledge of African unity...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction fiction contemporary 20th-century romantic-love poc-mc medical -
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Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pišťanek
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsPeter Pišt'anek’s reputation is assured by Rivers of Babylon and by its hero, the most mesmerizing character of Slovak literature, Rácz, an idiot of genius, a psychopathic gangster. Rácz and Rivers of Babylon tell the story of a Central Europe, where criminals, intellectuals and ex-secret policemen have infiltrated a new ‘democracy’... -
Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo, Joseph Farrell
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn its first two years of production, Dario Fo's controversial farce, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, was seen by over half a million people. It has since been performed all over the world and is widely recognised as a classic of modern drama... -
Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories by Raymond Carver
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMore than sixty stories, poems, and essays are included in this wide-ranging collection by the extravagantly versatile Raymond Carver. Two of the stories—later revised for What We Talk About When We Talk About Love—are particularly notable in that between the first and the final versions, we see clearly the astounding process of Carver’s literary development... -
The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis novel in verse about a group of California yuppies was one of the most highly praised books of 1986 and a bestseller on both coasts...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult book classics contemporary -
Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A. by Eve Babitz
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsEve Babitz captured the voluptuous quality of L.A. in the 1960s in a wildly original, totally unique voice. These stories are time capsule gems, as poignant and startling today as they were when published in the early 1970s. Eve Babitz is not well known today, but she should be. Her first hand experiences in the L.A...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies audiobook -
Last of the Curlews by Fred Bodsworth
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"The story of this migration is magnificent, informative, breathtaking and exotic". Los Angeles TimesMore than three million readers around the world have been touched by this conservation classic, the story of a solitary Eskimo curlew's last perilous migration and search for a mate. The lone survivor comes to stand for the entirety of a lost species...Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthropomorphism book classics -
1982: Maneater by Cambria Hebert, Crystal Bryant
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom three-time UTOPiA Award-winning author Cambria Hebert. Watch out, girls. Here she comes.There's always that girl. She's popular, beautiful, and has everything together. The one with the perfectly teased hair, arms full of colorful (but coordinated) bangles, and expertly painted bright-pink lips.A teacher's pet. Daddy's girl.Everyone loves her.Because everyone is afraid to challenge her...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction humor 20th-century anthologies contemporary fiction high-school -
The Daughter of the Manor by Betty Neels
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhy did James keep helping her? It was deeply irritating to Leonora Crosby that she was always caught out in awkward moments by the new village doctor, James Galbraith. It shouldn't have mattered—she was engaged to Tony, after all!—but James proved a stalwart support as Leonora did her best to keep her parents' decrepit but much-loved manor house running smoothly... -
All My Sins remembered by Rosie Thomas
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDesperate to escape from under the shadow of her more glamorous, aristocratic cousin, Grace, Clio Hirsh chooses a bohemian life in London, where tragedy and heartbreak brings the two women together. Reprint... -
Reader’s Block by David Markson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this spellbinding, utterly unconventional fiction, an aging author who is identified only as Reader contemplates the writing of a novel. As he does, other matters insistently crowd his mind - literary and cultural anecdotes, endless quotations attributed and not, scholarly curiosities - the residue of a lifetime's reading which is apparently all he has to show for his decades on earth...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book contemporary fiction philosophy -
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Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWritten as a letter from a Zimbabwean mother to her daughter, a student at Harvard, J. Nozipo Maraire evokes the moving story of a mother reaching out to her daughter to share the lessons life has taught her and bring the two closer than ever before...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction fiction contemporary epistolary family 20th-century book -
The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story about the Hard Life by Flann O'Brien
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Poor Mouth relates the story of one Bonaparte O'Coonassa, born in a cabin in a fictitious village called Corkadoragha in western Ireland equally renowned for its beauty and the abject poverty of its residents. Potatoes constitute the basis of his family's daily fare, and they share both bed and board with the sheep and pigs... -
The Wine of Youth by John Fante
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsContains the stories in Dago Red, first published in 1940, together with seven new stories, including "A Nun No More" and "My Father’s God... -
Rosy Is My Relative by Gerald Durrell
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRosy, the elephant bequeathed to young Adrian Rookwhistle by a reprobate relative, turned out to be a handful: not alone because of her size but also because of her fondness for strong drink. To Adrian she represented the chance to get away froma City shop and a suburban lodging by exploiting her theatrical talent and experience...Categorized as:
animals humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure anthropomorphism book children -
Fup by Jim Dodge
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFirst published in 1983, this story is set in the coastal hills of Northern California between 1880 and the present. The tale revolves around three characters: two humans and one duck. Jim Dodge is the author of "Not Fade Away" and "Stone Junction"... -
Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOffering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Indecent Exposure... -
In a Single Moment by Imogen Clark
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom million-copy bestselling author Imogen Clark comes a story of two families, two babies and one maddeningly hot day that will change their lives forever.It’s the hottest day of the 1976 heatwave and there’s not a breath of fresh air in the labour ward at Lincoln County Hospital. Michelle is having her fourth child, a girl, while beloved husband Dean is sipping a cold pint in the pub...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction friendship fiction audiobook contemporary family womens-fiction -
Love Is a Dog from Hell by Charles Bukowski
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsCollection of poems rising from and returning to Bukowski's personal experiences reflect people, objects, places, and events of the external world, and reflects on them, on their way out and back... -
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsAt the centre of Music for Chameleons is Handcarved Coffins, a ‘nonfiction novel’ based on the brutal crimes of a real-life murderer. Taking place in a small Midwestern town in America, it offers chilling insights into the mind of a killer and the obsession of the man bringing him to justice...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult anthologies classics -
Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn this humorous and heartfelt novel from Newbery Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary, the bond between a boy and his dog proves strong, as Henry vows to stick up for Ribsy…even if he is a trouble-maker!From the first moment Henry found Ribsy, the curious mutt was poking his nose into things he shouldn't be...Categorized as:
animals friendship historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
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El Camino by Miguel Delibes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsUpon entering the Royal Spanish Academy in 1975, Miguel Delibes delivered an address which reclaimed El Camino (1950) for the emerging Green movement...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century audiobook book classics coming-of-age -
Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary, Tracy Dockray
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNewbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary gives readers a hero they'll relate to—and root for—in this comical and inspiring novel about Henry Huggins's mission to prove himself worthy of his very own paper route. All the older kids work their own paper route, but because Henry is not eleven yet, Mr. Capper won't let him...Categorized as:
animals friendship historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down: Stories by Alice Walker
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Alice Walker’s second story collection, women stand their ground in the midst of crisisThis collection builds on Alice Walker’s earlier work, the much-praised In Love & Trouble. But unlike her first collection of stories, the women in these tenderly wrought tales face their problems head on, proving powerful and self-possessed even when degraded by others—sometimes by those closest to them...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary -
The Lover by A.B. Yehoshua, Philip Simpson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“Elusive, haunting.”— New York Times Book Review A husband’s search for his wife’s lover, lost amid the turbulence of the Yom Kippur War, is the heart of this dreamlike novel. Through five different perspectives, Yehoshua explores the realities and consequences of the affair and the search, laying bare deep-rooted tensions within family, between generations, between Jews and Arabs...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book contemporary family fiction -
West of Rome by John Fante
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWest of Rome's two novellas, "My Dog Stupid" and "The Orgy," fulfill the promise of their rousing titles. The latter novella opens with virtuoso description: "His name was Frank Gagliano, and he did not believe in God. He was that most singular and startling craftsman of the building trade-a left-handed bricklayer... -
Meet Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Mulliner collectionIn the Angler's Rest, drinking hot scotch and lemon, sits one of Wodehouse's greatest raconteurs...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult audiobook book classics -
A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAll about love, lust, and loneliness, the book introduces Vic Brown, a young working-class Yorkshireman. Vic is attracted to the beautiful but demanding Ingrid, and as their relationship grows and changes, he comes to terms the hard way with adult life and what it really means to love...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics 20th-century book classics contemporary fiction -
Descent of Man by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn seventeen slices of life that defy the expected and launch us into the absurd, T.C. Boyle offers his unique view of the world. A primate-center researcher becomes romantically involved with a chimp; a Norse poet overcomes bard-block; collectors compete to snare the ancient Aztec beer can, Quetzacoatl Lite; and Lassie abandons Timmy for a randy coyote... -
The Swell Season: A Text on the Most Important Things in Life by Josef Škvorecký
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSix tales which trace the libidinous ardours of a young man in wartime Czechoslovakia. His fantasies obstinately refuse to become reality, and in a world of unyielding girls and ruthless Nazi invaders, jazz is his only solace. By the author of "The Bass Saxophone" and "The Engineer of Human Souls"...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary fiction -
Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWith great narrative inventiveness and emotional amplitude, Allan Gurganus gives us artistic Manhattan in the wild 1980s, where young artists--refugees from the middle class--hurl themselves into playful work and serious fun. Our guide is Hartley Mims Jr., a Southerner whose native knack for happiness might thwart his literary ambitions...Categorized as:
literary-fiction friendship humor historical-fiction fiction lgbtq 20th-century realistic -
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Tea and Destiny: Tea and Destiny\Light the Stars by Sherryl Woods, RaeAnne Thayne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDoes she have anything left to give? Ann Davies was always giving away her heart—to her therapy patients, and to the dolphins she used to help them. For any stray kid that needed a home, she opened her arms in welcome. She never hesitated to give herself to anyone who asked. Until Hank Riley. The big contractor demanded everything—her body, her heart, her life... -
Hôtel Splendid by Marie Redonnet
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThese three short novels are the first works to appear in English by a remarkable contemporary French author, Marie Redonnet. Born in Paris in 1947, Redonnet taught for a number of years in a suburban lycée before deciding to pursue a writing career full time... -
The Harpole Report by J.L. Carr
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Harpole Report is the third novel by J. L. Carr, published in 1972. The novel tells the story mostly in the form of a school log book kept by George Harpole, temporary Head Teacher of the Church of England primary school of "Tampling St. Nicholas". Like all of Carr's novels, it is grounded in personal experience... -
The Age of Miracles by Ellen Gilchrist
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn observation of family life at its least conventional. These stories portray human longing and love as an elderly couple find joy and recognition, a physician tries to mould his lover into the image of his dead wife and some children kidnap their mother to stop her having a facelift...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction -
Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn epic spanning three generations, Leaves of the Banyan Tree tells the story of a family and community in Western Samoa, exploring on a grand scale such universal themes as greed, corruption, colonialism, exploitation, and revenge. Winner of the 1980 New Zealand Wattie Book of the Year Award, it is considered a classic work of Pacific literature...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics fiction 20th-century journey classics male-author -
The Franchiser by Stanley Elkin, William H. Gass
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBen Flesh is one of the men "who made America look like America, who made America famous." He collects franchises, traveling from state to state, acquiring the brand-name establishments that shape the American landscape. But both the nation and Ben are running out of energy...
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