Books like 'Significant Objects'
Readers who enjoyed Significant Objects by Rob Walker, Nicholson Baker, Jonathan Lethem, Gary Panter, William Gibson, Kurt Andersen, Myla Goldberg, Ben Katchor, Meg Cabot, Mark Frauenfelder, Ben Greenman, Sheila Heti, Shelley Jackson, Heidi Julavits, Neil LaBute, Tom McCarthy, Lydia Millet, Ann Nocenti, Ed Park, Curtis Sittenfeld, Bruce Sterling & Jason Grote also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
psychological humor human-condition literary-fiction
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The Complete Short Novels by Anton Chekhov
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAnton Chekhov, widely hailed as the supreme master of the short story, also wrote five works long enough to be called short novels. Here, brought together in one volume for the first time, in a masterly new translation by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky... -
![Life Goes On by Kelly Moore]()
Life Goes On by Kelly Moore
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHappy go lucky Olivia McDill adores her fairy-tale life, married to the man of her dreams. It’s a love that should’ve lasted a lifetime…then in the blink of an eye, everything changed. She learns too quickly that life can be unfair, and she’s left trying to pick up the pieces and make sense of things on her own... -
![Final Hour by Dean Koontz]()
Final Hour by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Following Last Light comes Final Hour, the second of two standalone eBook original novellas leading in to Ashley Bell, the highly anticipated new novel of suspense from Dean Koontz! Just by touching others, Makani Hisoka-O’Brien can see the darkest secrets they keep. The troubling talent has made the Southern California surfer wary of casual contact... -
![Saint Richard Parker by Merlin Franco]()
Saint Richard Parker by Merlin Franco
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHis search for love and enlightenment across India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia...Ace businessman, writer, and investigative journalist Richard Parker loses his job when he exposes the vegetarian CEO of his newspaper as a beef exporter. Accused of misconduct and forced to dissolve his company, he retreats to his wretched little village... -
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![The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson]()
The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Here is how monstrous humans are."A sentient, murderous prosthetic leg; shadowy creatures lurking behind a shimmering wall; brutal barrow men: of all the terrors that populate The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell, perhaps the most alarming are the beings who decimated the habitable Earth: humans... -
![Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad]()
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA pop-saturated epic novel about the second man on the moon, and the quiet thirty-year-old gardener who idolizes him. A story of unconventional psychiatry, the Faroe Islands, amateur boat building, and the journey across the space that divides us from other people: a journey as remote and dangerous as the trip to the moon itself... -
![The Smart Cookie by Jory John]()
The Smart Cookie by Jory John
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsAn Instant New York Times Bestseller!Be a smart cookie—and don’t miss the fifth picture book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Food Group series from creators Jory John and Pete Oswald! This cookie has never felt like a smart cookie no matter how hard she tries, especially in comparison to all the clever cupcakes and brilliant rolls in the bakery... -
![Vladimir Nabokov: Novels 1955–1962 by Vladimir Nabokov]()
Vladimir Nabokov: Novels 1955–1962 by Vladimir Nabokov
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis Library of America volume is the second of three volumes that contain the most authoritative versions of the English works of the brilliant Russian émigré, Vladimir Nabokov.Lolita (1955), Nabokov’s single most famous work, is one of the most controversial and widely read books of its time...Categorized as:
literary-fiction humor fiction classics 20th-century psychological politics historical -
![Auto-da-Fé by Elias Canetti]()
Auto-da-Fé by Elias Canetti
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"Auto-da-Fé" is the story of Peter Kien, a distinguished, reclusive sinologist living in Vienna between the wars. With masterly precision, Canetti reveals Kien's character, displaying the flawed personal relationships which ultimately lead to his destruction... -
![Among the Missing by Dan Chaon]()
Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this haunting, bracing new collection, Dan Chaon shares stories of men, women, and children who live far outside the American Dream, while wondering which decision, which path, or which accident brought them to this place. Chaon mines the psychological landscape of his characters to dazzling effect. Each story radiates with sharp humor, mystery, wonder, and startling compassion... -
![Woman Lit by Fireflies by Jim Harrison, Ray Porter]()
Woman Lit by Fireflies by Jim Harrison, Ray Porter
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAcross the odd contours of the American landscape-Jim Harrison's country--its natives search for that which isn't quite irretrievably lost, for the incandescent beneath the ordinary... -
![The Empathy Problem: It's never too late to change your life by Gavin Extence]()
The Empathy Problem: It's never too late to change your life by Gavin Extence
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPerfect for fans of Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project and Gavin Extence's debut novel THE UNIVERSE VERSUS ALEX WOODS, comes a wild and witty, searing and true novel about life's ups and downs.Driven by money, power and success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He's not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way... -
![The Beasts of Success by Jasun Ether]()
The Beasts of Success by Jasun Ether
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this dog-eat-dog world, three friends find themselves getting nowhere in their careers despite their education and work skills. They decide to make their own rules to the game of life and play dirty to get ahead. Each of them concoct schemes to sabotage colleagues and clear the path for their swift advancement... -
![Scouting for the Reaper by Jacob M. Appel]()
Scouting for the Reaper by Jacob M. Appel
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEach of the characters in Scouting for the Reaper faces an unanticipated challenge: transporting a truckload of penguins across the country, arranging a proper Jewish burial for the remains of Gregor Samsa, selling tombstones dressed as a Girl Scout. These stories explore the domestic and professional adventures of people in over their heads, while leavening their struggles with humor.Jacob M... -
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![Autumn in Peking by Boris Vian]()
Autumn in Peking by Boris Vian
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBoris Vian was a jack of all trades - although unfortunately his name was Boris and "Boris of all trades" never took off as a turn of phrase. But nevertheless Vian was a great songwriter, playwright, singer, jazz critic and, of course novelist so it should have been Boris instead of Jack... -
![The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán]()
The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“A kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room... -
![Don't Try This at Home by Angela Readman]()
Don't Try This at Home by Angela Readman
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA girl repeatedly chops her boyfriend in half but, while her other half’ multiplies, she is still not satisfied. Love transforms a mother working down the chippie into Elvis. Clary’s father puts antlers on stuffed rabbits to make jackalopes, but when her mother walks out on them, Clary has to help her father if they are to survive...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction haunted-places -
![Museums & Women and Other Stories by John Updike]()
Museums & Women and Other Stories by John Updike
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis is John Updike’s largest and most various collection of short stories. Some, such as the title story, have the tone and personality of essays; others objectify the chimeras of middle-class existence; a number of vignettes reflect the face of America in the fictional microcosm of Tarbox; the longest story, a hallucinatory trip up the Nile, allegorizes our foreign policy... -
![Night of the Golden Butterfly: A Novel by Tariq Ali]()
Night of the Golden Butterfly: A Novel by Tariq Ali
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe final volume in Tariq Ali’s acclaimed cycle of historical novels. Night of the Golden Butterfly concludes the Islam Quintet—Tariq Ali’s much lauded series of historical novels, translated into more than a dozen languages, that has been twenty years in the writing... -
![Spadework for a Palace by László Krasznahorkai]()
Spadework for a Palace by László Krasznahorkai
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSpadework for a Palace bears the subtitle “Entering the Madness of Others” and offers an epigraph: “Reality is no obstacle.” Indeed...Categorized as:
literary-fiction humor fiction contemporary philosophy existentialism urban psychological -
![The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford]()
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrank Bascombe returns, with a new lease on life (and real estate), more acutely in thrall to life’s endless complexities than ever before. A holiday, and a novel, no reader will ever forget—at once hilarious, harrowing, surprising, and profound... -
![The Carousel of Desire by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt]()
The Carousel of Desire by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCelebrated short-story writer, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's ("The Most Beautiful Book in the World") first full-length novel to appear in English is a literary tour de force, a magnificent cathedral of contemporary eroticism...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary fiction industrial-era psychological -
![Things that Fall from the Sky by Kevin Brockmeier]()
Things that Fall from the Sky by Kevin Brockmeier
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWeaving together loss and anxiety with fantastic elements and literary sleight-of-hand, Kevin Brockmeier’s richly imagined Things That Fall from the Sky views the nagging realities of the world through a hopeful lens. In the deftly told “These Hands,” a man named Lewis recounts his time babysitting a young girl and his inconsolable sense of loss after she is wrenched away... -
![My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories by Frank O'Connor]()
My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories by Frank O'Connor
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis Collection of Stories includes the following:The GeniusMy Oedipus ComplexFirst ConfessionThe Study of HistoryThe Man of the WorldGuests of the NationMachine-Gun Corps in actionSoirée Chez une Belle Jeune FilleJumbo's WifeThe Cornet-Player Who Betrayed IrelandThere is a Lone HouseNews for the ChurchThe Mad LomasneysUprootedThe Majesty of the LawThe LuceysAfter Fourteen YearsPeasantsThe...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies fiction historical psychological -
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![The Favorite Game by Leonard Cohen]()
The Favorite Game by Leonard Cohen
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this unforgettable novel, Leonard Cohen boldly etches the youth and early manhood of Lawrence Breavman, only son of an old Jewish family in Montreal... -
![We're Flying by Peter Stamm]()
We're Flying by Peter Stamm
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFollowing the publication of the widely acclaimed novel Seven Years comes a trove of stories from the Swiss master Peter Stamm. They all possess the traits that have built Stamm’s reputation: the directness of the prose, the deceptive surface simplicity of the narratives, and deep psychological insight into the existential dilemmas of contemporary life... -
![The Other Shulman by Alan Zweibel]()
The Other Shulman by Alan Zweibel
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShulman, a chubby, middle-aged stationery-store owner from New Jersey, has always claimed that he's been gaining and losing the same thirty-five pounds since junior high-and that if you added all of that discarded weight together, he had lost an entire person. Another Shulman. A Shulman he never really cared for. A Shulman he'd always tried to lose by dieting and exercising... -
![Shriver by Chris Belden]()
Shriver by Chris Belden
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this charming, clever, and darkly satiric novel set at a writers' conference, one man finds himself caught in a whirlwind of literary pretention, a suspect in a criminal investigation, and hopelessly in love with a woman who thinks he's someone else... -
![The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel by Alain de Botton]()
The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel by Alain de Botton
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn The Romantic Movement , Alain de Botton explores the progress of a love affair from first meeting to breaking up, intercut with musings on the nature of art of love... -
![From the Shadows by Juan José Millás]()
From the Shadows by Juan José Millás
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA petty thief finds himself stuck acting as the butler to a seemingly idyllic home and becomes deeply and disastrously involved with his unknowing host family... -
![My German Brother: A Novel by Chico Buarque, Alison Entrekin]()
My German Brother: A Novel by Chico Buarque, Alison Entrekin
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn uproarious novel about a man’s often sordid, lifelong search for his possibly imaginary half brother My German Brother is the renowned Brazilian musician and author Chico Buarque’s attempt to reconstruct through fiction his obsessive lifelong search for a lost sibling.In 1960s São Paulo, the teenage car thief and budding lothario Ciccio comes home each day to a house stuffed with books... -
![The Full Ridiculous by Mark Lamprell]()
The Full Ridiculous by Mark Lamprell
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe important thing is to position yourself so you go over the car when it hits. If you go under, most likely you get stuck on some sticky-out bit of the engine, dragged along and de-skinned, then kidney-squishingly, eye-poppingly, brain-squeezingly run over by one or more wheels. You go over, at least you've got a chance if you land right.Michael O’Dell is hit by a car... -
![Diary of a madman (English Edition) by Nikolai Gogol]()
Diary of a madman (English Edition) by Nikolai Gogol
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDiary of a Madman is a farcical short story by Nikolai Gogol. Along with The Overcoat and The Nose, Diary of a Madman is considered to be one of Gogol's greatest short stories. The tale centers on the life of a minor civil servant during the repressive era of Nicholas I. Following the format of a diary, the story shows the descent of the protagonist, Poprishchin, into insanity... -
![Mount Misery by Samuel Shem]()
Mount Misery by Samuel Shem
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the Laws of Mount There are no laws in psychiatry.Now, from the author of the riotous, moving, bestselling classic, The House of God, comes a lacerating and brilliant novel of doctors and patients in a psychiatric hospital. Mount Misery is a prestigious facility set in the rolling green hills of New England, its country club atmosphere maintained by generous corporate contributions. Dr...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction fiction medical psychological mental-illness contemporary audiobook -
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![The Dilemmas of Working Women by Fumio Yamamoto]()
The Dilemmas of Working Women by Fumio Yamamoto
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA spiky, edgy collection of five wickedly funny stories spotlighting clear-eyed and "difficult" women who are navigating their identities as workers and women in contemporary Japan--a feminist, anti-capitalist modern classic published outside Asia and in English for the first time... -
![The Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein]()
The Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsWhen Renee Feuer goes to college, one of the first lessons she tries to learn is how to liberate herself from the restrictions of her orthodox Jewish background. As she discovers the pleasures of the body, Renee also learns about the excitements of the mind. She enrolls as a philosophy graduate student, then marries Noam Himmel, the world-renowned mathematician... -
![Welcome to the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik]()
Welcome to the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMegastar of stage, screen, and television, Geneva Jordan now has a command performance in Minnesota, where she agrees to look after her thirteen-year-old nephew, a boy with Down’s syndrome, while his parents take a long-overdue vacation... -
![Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames]()
Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the creator of the HBO series Bored to Death, the story of a young alcoholic writer and his personal valet, a hilarious homage to the Bertie and Jeeves novels of P.G. Wodehouse.Alan Blair, the hero of Wake Up, Sir!, is a young, loony writer with numerous problems of the mental, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and physical variety. He's very good at problems... -
![Don't Sleep With Your Drummer by Jen Sincero]()
Don't Sleep With Your Drummer by Jen Sincero
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAt twenty-eight, Jenny Troanni has decided to become the rock goddess she was always meant to be. Items on her new to-do list include: 1) Quit going-somewhere copywriting job and get going-to-band-practice job. 2) Break up with Hootie and the Blowfish-lovin' boyfriend. 3) Hang out in skanky bars. Meet musicians. 4) Cash in pension and buy kickass guitar amp...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction book contemporary female-author fiction new-adult psychological -
![Six Foot Six by Kit de Waal]()
Six Foot Six by Kit de Waal
Rated: 3.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt's an exciting day for Timothy Flowers. It's the third of November, and it's Friday, and it's his twenty-first birthday. When Timothy walks to his usual street corner to see his favourite special bus, he meets Charlie. Charlie is a builder who is desperate for Timothy's help because Timothy is very tall, six feet six inches...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction contemporary psychological family fiction female-author young-adult -
![Notes From a Coma by Mike McCormack]()
Notes From a Coma by Mike McCormack
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMerging sci-fi with an affectionate portrait of small-town Ireland, this cleverly imagined and constructed novel is both the story of a man cursed with guilt and genius and a look at how our identities are safeguarded and held in trust by those who love us... -
![Mine All Mine by Adam Davies]()
Mine All Mine by Adam Davies
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA dazzling comic and romantic heist story from the author of The Frog King and Goodbye Lemon. Otto Starks is a "pulse"— -- a highly specialized security guard who has hyperdeveloped senses and a nervous habit of popping tabs of cyanide. Otto was once a rising star but then he was rolled three times by the notorious Rat Burglar... -
![Sleepless Summer by Bram Dehouck]()
Sleepless Summer by Bram Dehouck
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSeasons come and go in provincial Blaashoek, where the town’s superficial harmony is upended by the arrival of a wind farm—a blessing for some, a curse for others. The irritating hum of the turbines keeps butcher Herman Bracke, known far and wide for his delicious "summer pâté," awake at night... -
![The Zygote Chronicles by Suzanne Finnamore]()
The Zygote Chronicles by Suzanne Finnamore
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSuzanne Finnamore's universally applauded Otherwise Engaged followed one woman's whirlwind ride from diamond ring to altar. The Zygote Chronicles is her singular take on the next leg of the journey -- a riotous and poignant novel in journal form that takes us from conception to delivery room...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction fiction womens-fiction family romantic-love psychological book -
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![Emporium by Adam Johnson]()
Emporium by Adam Johnson
Rated: 3.66 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn ATF raid, a moonshot gone wrong, a busload of female cancer victims determined to live life to the fullest—these are the compelling terrains Adam Johnson explores in his electrifying debut collection...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary fiction magical-realism -
![Look at the Harlequins! by Vladimir Nabokov]()
Look at the Harlequins! by Vladimir Nabokov
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA dying man cautiously unravels the mysteries of memory and creation. Vadim is a Russian emigre who, like Nabokov, is a novelist, poet and critic. There are threads linking the fictional hero with his creator as he reconstructs the images of his past from young love to his serious illness... -
![Room Temperature by Nicholson Baker]()
Room Temperature by Nicholson Baker
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA story in which the author examines the little details of home life. The action takes place in the moments before, during and after the feeding of Bug, the baby. Nicholson Baker is the author of Vox, The Mezzanine, The Fermata, U & I and Thoughts... -
![Sugar by Kimberly Stuart]()
Sugar by Kimberly Stuart
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAfter realizing her coworkers at L’Ombre, a high-profile restaurant in NYC, will never appreciate or respect her, Charlie Garrett allows her ex-boyfriend, Avery Michaels, to convince her to work for him as executive pastry chef at his new Seattle hotspot, Thrill. She’ll have her own kitchen, her own staff—everything she ever wanted professionally... -
![How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets by Garth Stein]()
How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets by Garth Stein
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFathers never forget seeing their kids for the first time. But Evan is greeting his son, Dean, fourteen years late. The boy had been shuttled secretly to another city, along with his teenaged mother, while still a newborn. Now his mother has passed away, and Evan is it—Dad. An instant single parent... -
![Thinks . . . by David Lodge]()
Thinks . . . by David Lodge
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDavid Lodge's novels have earned comparisons to those of John Updike and Philip Roth and established him as a cult figure on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times). Thinks . .
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