Books like 'Smart Ovens for Lonely People'
Readers who enjoyed Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy comedy magical-realism literary-fiction humor dystopia low-fantasy
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Good Omens by Dirk Maggs, Terry Pratchett
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman’s celebrated apocalyptic comic novel, with bonus length episodes and outtakes.According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday in fact. Just after Any Answers on Radio 4….Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days...Categorized as:
dystopia humor low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure angels apocalyptic audiobook -
Merry Witchmas by Amanda M. Lee
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s a Christmas from the past but the usual players aren’t all that different. Tillie Winchester is annoyed with the world – what else is new, right? – and she’s fraying under the pressure. Her nieces believe she’s a bad influence on the youngest Winchester generation – especially an acerbic Thistle – and they want her to set a good example... -
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn this new Zamonian adventure, Optimus Yarnspinner, a young writer, inherits from his beloved godfather an unpublished short story by an unknown author. His search for the author’s identity takes him to Bookholm the so-called City of Dreaming Books. On entering its streets, our hero feels as if he has opened the door of a gigantic second-hand bookshop...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure audiobook book children -
Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe incomparable Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves children good or bad and never scolds but has positive cures for Answer-Backers, Never-Want-to-Go-to-Bedders, and other boys and girls with strange habits...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century audiobook book children children-books -
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The Witchstone by Henry H. Neff
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn unforgettable, high-stakes, laugh-out-loud funny novel, The Witchstone blends the merciless humor of The Good Place with the spellbinding fantasy of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.Meet Laszlo, eight-hundred-year-old demon and Hell’s least productive Curse Keeper. From his office beneath Midtown, he oversees the Drakeford Curse, which involves a pathetic family upstate and a mysterious black stone... -
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsThere was a terrible mistake - Wayside School was built with one classroom on top of another, thirty stories high (The builder said he was sorry.) Maybe that's why all kinds of funny things happened at Wayside-especially on the thirteenth floor...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book children -
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsEveryone loves Mrs. Piggle-WiggleMrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.The incomparable Mrs...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century audiobook book children children-books -
Demon Dentist by David Walliams
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThis New York Times bestseller from David Walliams, the UK’s #1 bestselling children’s author and “the heir to Roald Dahl” (The Spectator), launched his books stateside in a big way!Walliams makes going to the dentist a wacky adventure with his signature humor—this is one dentist appointment you don’t want to miss.Something strange is happening in Alfie's town...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book children children-books -
Finally by Wendy Mass
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA humorous look at what it means to FINALLY turn twelve years old.NARRATOR: TBAFORMAT: 5 CDs, UnabridgedYou can pierce your ears when you're twelve. You can go to the mall with your friends when you're twelve. You can babysit little Timmy next door when you're twelve. You can get a cell phone when you're twelve. Hey, you can even ride in the front passenger-side seat when you're twelve...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book children children-books -
Joy to the World by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA Frogmorton Farm short story from the bestselling author of the Chronicles of St Mary's.It's Christmas time again and all is not well at Frogmorton Farm.Jenny and Russell's daughter, Joy, is growing up. Not quickly enough as far as she's concerned but far too quickly according to Russell.Father and daughter are at odds and suddenly the outlook is very dark indeed... -
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:
dystopia humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure adult -
Have a Nice Day by Billy Crystal
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHave a Nice Day features a live multi-cast script reading captured over two evenings at Minetta Lane Theatre in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village... -
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm by Betty MacDonald
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMs. Piggle-Wiggle's left her upside-down town house and has moved to a farm in the country. With the help of her cows and pigs and horses, she's still curing girls and boys of their bad habits. So whatever the problem-from pet forgetter-itis to fraidycat-ness-the parents all exclaim, "Better call Mrs... -
Lemonade & Love Potions by Bella Falls
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMagic and mystery are only part of the Southern Charms of Honeysuckle Hollow… Charli Goodwin can’t help herself when it comes to helping out her friends, especially a failed cupid trying to earn his way back into the matchmaking ranks... -
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Into the Forest by Mark Z. Danielewski
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Familiar, Volume 1 Wherein the cat is found . . .The Familiar, Volume 2 Wherein the cat is hungry . . . From the universally acclaimed, genre-busting author of House of Leaves comes the second volume of The Familiar, a "novel [which] goes beyond the experimental into the visionary, creating a language and style that expands the horizon of meaning . .Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century adult animals -
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsDetective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities as the Bellman in Jurisfiction. Packing up her son, Friday, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet... -
The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, Jefferson Mays
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe definitive edition of Calvino’s cosmicomics, bringing together all of these enchanting stories—including some never before translated—in one volume for the first timeIn Italo Calvino’s cosmicomics, primordial beings cavort on the nearby surface of the moon, play marbles with atoms, and bear ecstatic witness to Earth’s first dawn...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
The Buying of Lot 37 by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the authors of the New York Times bestselling novels It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a collection of episodes from Season Three of their hit podcast, featuring an introduction by the authors, a foreword by Dessa, behind-the-scenes commentary, and original illustrations...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult book -
Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsFor the first time in twenty-five years, Wayside School is back in session in this brand-new, fourth installment in the perennially beloved and bestselling series by Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar.Welcome back to Wayside School!Your favorite students and teachers are all here...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book children children-books -
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsShades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means... -
Murphy’s Luck by Benjamin Laskin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSometimes rotten luck is better than no luck at all.Jinxed from birth with mystifying bad luck, Murphy Drummer hasn’t ventured beyond the safety of his backyard since he was a little boy. To remedy his loneliness, he became the master of a thousand hobbies and as amazing as his crazy luck... -
Kneller's Happy Campers by Etgar Keret
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsKneller's Happy Campers is a strange, dark but funny tale set in a world very much like our own but it's an afterlife populated by people who have killed themselves - many of them are young, and most of them bear the marks of their death... bullet wounds, broken necks...(those who have over-dosed are known as 'Juliets')... -
Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt is a literary event when a genuinely new fictional voice comes along. When that voice achieves its newness not through a certain formal facility but through the freshness of its vision, there is truly something to celebrate. Matt Ruff was only twenty-two when Fool on the Hill was first published, but with his novel he gave us a story that won over readers of every persuasion... -
Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe trouble started when Howard Sykes came home from school and found the "goon" sitting in the kitchen. He said he'd been sent by Archer. But who was Archer? It had to do with the 2,000 words that Howard's author father had failed to deliver...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure book children children-books -
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Harvey by Mary Chase
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend Harvey, a six and a half foot rabbit, to guests at a dinner party, his sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter, Myrtle Mae, and their family, from future embarrassment... -
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe BookWorld's leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you'd expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple... -
Everybody's Fool: A Novel by Richard Russo
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNATIONAL BESTSELLER • The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls returns to North Bath, the Rust Belt town first brought to unforgettable life in Nobody’s Fool . • "Irresistible.... Very funny.... A joy... -
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsIf Thursday thought she could avoid the spotlight after her heroic escapades in the pages of Jane Eyre, she was sorely mistaken. The unforgettable literary detective whom Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times calls "part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew and part Dirty Harry" had another think coming. The love of her life has been eradicated by Goliath, everyone's favorite corrupt multinational... -
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsProtecting the world's greatest literature—not to mention keeping up wit Miss Havisham—is tiring work for an expectant mother. And Thursday can definitely use a respite... -
Terms May Apply by Keith A. Pearson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat would you give for a wish to come true? Your left arm? Your most cherished possession? Your last crumb of integrity?Kyle Hammond is suffering a surprise birthday party he really didn’t want. As he blows out the candles on his cake, he makes a token wish. Three days later, to his utter astonishment, that wish comes true... -
The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsPeter Knox lives quietly in one of those small country villages that's up for the Village Garden of the Year award... -
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...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult book classics -
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsIn the second adventure by the bestselling author of the Thursday Next novels, nursery crime characters Jack Spratt and Mary Mary take on their most dangerous case so far, as a murderous cookie (The Gingerbread Man) menaces the streets of Reading... -
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt's been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday's got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Reichenbach Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well... -
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Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Contemporary fairy tales, cushioned by goofy humor and a deep tenderness for her characters, that aren't always as dark or as sinister as they initially appear." --The New York Times Book Review Aimee Bender s Willful Creatures conjures a fantastical world in which authentic love blooms...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies comedy contemporary -
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...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook -
The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man by W. Bruce Cameron
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man introduces my favorite kind of flawed cynical protagonist in Ruddy McCann, former football star, now Repo Man in a small town full of memorable weirdos. It's suspenseful, action-packed, romantic, and above all, truly funny. I loved it...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism action-adventure adult amateur-sleuth animals audiobook -
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... -
Sophie Dreams Big by Keke Palmer, Jasmine Guillory
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsStarry-eyed Janet is enchanted by her new wig, but Lady Miss knows her dear friend will soon be caught in a tangle of doubts in this whimsical short story about courage, self-worth, and confidence.For former pushover Janet, her Sophie curls appear to be a balanced and beautiful new addition to her magical, life-changing wig collection...Categorized as:
humor magical-realism low-fantasy audiobook fiction contemporary fantasy womens-fiction -
Book of Souls by Brad Magnarella
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsEVERY WIZARD'S STORY HAS A BEGINNING Let’s go back to the night I turned thirteen, the night Grandpa filleted my finger with his cane sword. I can’t say what terrified me more, the cold anger in his eyes or the crazy things in his locked study. A talking trunk. Squirming coats. A bookshelf whose titles shifted before my eyes. And one chilling title in particular: Book of Souls...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult audiobook book -
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.. -
Rose's Run by Dawn Dumont, Daniel Grenier
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRose Okanese, a single mother with two kids, has been pushed into a corner by Rez citizens to claim some self-respect, and decides that the fastest way to do that is to run the reserve’s annual marathon. Though Rose hasn’t run in twenty years, smokes, and initially has little motivation, she announces her intention to run the race... -
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsLeonora Carrington, the distinguished British-born Surrealist painter is also a writer of extraordinary imagination and charm. Exact Change launched a program of reprinting her fiction with what is perhaps her best loved book...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult aging -
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe newest tour de force from The New York Times bestselling author of Thursday Next and Shades of Grey. Jasper Fforde's exuberant return to the fantastical BookWorld opens during a time of great unrest. All-out Genre war is rumbling, and the BookWorld desperately needs a heroine like Thursday Next...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure adult -
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Man Seeking Woman by Simon Rich
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 19 ratings"No matter how zany things get, there's an endearing simplicity at the heart of these inventive tales.... Love doesn't always conquer all, but these stories suggest Rich thinks its certainly ought to."--Daily Beast Love can be messy, painful, and even tragic. When seen through the eyes of Simon Rich it can also be hilarious...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century anthologies audiobook comedy contemporary -
Floors by Patrick Carman
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCharlie had his chocolate factory. Stanley Yelnats had his holes. Leo has the wacky, amazing Whippet Hotel.NARRATOR: TBAFORMAT: 5 CDs, UnabridgedThe Whippet Hotel is a strange place full of strange and mysterious people. Each floor has its own quirks and secrets. Leo should know most of them - he is the maintenance man's son, after all... -
The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere's nothing unusual about the Brockets. Normal, respectable, and proud of it, they turn up their noses at anyone strange or different. But from the moment Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it's clear he's anything but ordinary. To his parents’ horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity - and floats...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure book children children-books -
The Twits by Roald Dahl
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsHow do you outwit a Twit? Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything -- except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds to put in their Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. But the Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don't just want out, they want revenge...Categorized as:
humor low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure animals audiobook book -
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century absurdism action-adventure adult -
Keri on the Loose by Keke Palmer, Jasmine Guillory
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThere’s a bold new Janet in town. Let Lady Miss Jacqueline spell it out for you: F-I-E-R-C-E. But there’s a lesson to be learned in this fabulously off-the-wall short story about life on the edge.After her latest life-altering wig switch, Janet slips into leather leggings, quits her job, goes full advance on her barista crush, and makes a career commitment to her bestie, Candace...Categorized as:
humor magical-realism low-fantasy audiobook fiction contemporary fantasy womens-fiction
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