Books like 'Checkpoint'
Readers who enjoyed Checkpoint by Nicholson Baker also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary comedy literary-fiction politics demons humor satire dark
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The Bluff by Emma St. Clair
Rated: 5.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt's hard to be professional when you hate and are attracted to your boss in equal measure... -
The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsRevised from the rather long original complete works of Shakespeare, this abridged version is written by three Americans, with no qualifications worth speaking of. The playtext is reproduced here with footnotes which will be of no help to anyone and a letter from the authors to the Queen... -
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... -
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The Kangaroo Chronicles by Marc-Uwe Kling
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMarc-Uwe lives together with a kangaroo. The kangaroo is a communist and it is really into Nirvana... -
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... -
Die Känguru-Apokryphen by Marc-Uwe Kling
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSensation, Sensation: Archäologen haben in einem Geheimfach in Marc-Uwes Schreibtisch neue Geschichten vom Känguru und seinem Kleinkünstler gefunden! Dies ist nicht die Fortsetzung der Fortsetzung der Fortsetzung der Känguru-Chroniken. Triologie bleibt Triologie. Aber ein anständiger Kleinkünstler hat natürlich eine Zugabe vorbereitet... -
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... -
Sergeant Sexypants by Tawna Fenske
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBree Bracelyn doesn’t date cops. It’s a personal rule that quavers when Austin Dugan flashes his baby blues—and his badge—at Ponderosa Resort’s grand opening. Bree’s the family fixer, running the resort’s PR and her siblings’ lives with cheerful efficiency. But one thing in Bree’s past can’t ever be fixed, which is why she’s staying the hell away from Officer Hottie... -
Stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsT. C. Boyle is one of the most inventive and wickedly funny short story writers at work today. Over the course of twenty-five years, Boyle has built up a body of short fiction that is remarkable in its range, richness, and exuberance... -
Running the Light by Sam Tallent, Doug Stanhope
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA bona fide “instant classic” (Doug Stanhope) novel that tells the story of a road comic crashing and burning by acclaimed comedian Sam TallentBilly Ray Schafer stepped off the plane in Amarillo, Texas, with twenty-six hundred dollars tucked down the leg of his black ostrich-skin cowboy boot... -
The Garbage Times/White Ibis: Two Novellas by Sam Pink, Tom Fria
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the freezing alleys of Chicago to the dew-blanketed bayou of Florida. From bouncing drunks and cleaning up puke to biking through the swamp laughing at peacocks. Freeze to thaw. Filth and broken glass and black water backed up in showers; lizards and Girl Scouts and themed birthday parties... -
Peas, Carrots and Six More Feet by Hannah M. Lynn
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis family is about to go nuclear Following straight on from the climatic events of Peas, Carrots and a Red Feather Boa, Eric Sibley faces a completely new landscape. As he struggles to come to terms with his new situation he finds support and help in some of the most unlikely places... -
Snowbound Squeeze by Tawna Fenske
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGable Judson needs a hideout. A safe place to escape the shambles of his Hollywood life. When college pal James Bracelyn offers a secret cabin an hour from Ponderosa Resort, Gable’s got the car pointed toward Oregon faster than paparazzi pouncing on a nip slip. Gretchen Laslo needs a retreat...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction satire 21st-century anthologies comedy contemporary female-mc -
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Einstein's Beach House by Jacob M. Appel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA couple adopts a depressed hedgehog; a stranger shows up, claiming to be the father of a girl's imaginary friend; a woman kidnaps her ex-husband's turtle; a family is evicted from their home, but was it ever really theirs? Heartbreaking and hilarious, the eight stories of Einstein's Beach House examine how we deceive ourselves and others, all to arrive at something far more real... -
The Gospel According to Blindboy by Blindboy Boatclub
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Gospel According to Blindboy is a surreal and genre-defying collection of short stories and visual art exploring the myths, complacencies and contradictions at the heart of modern Ireland... -
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... -
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... -
The Best of Saki by Saki
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsThe short stories of Saki give brief but dazzling glimpses into the lives of the Edwardian rich; a class that virtually disappeared with the advent of the First World War. With delicious malice, Saki portrays the follies, eloquence, tradition and foibles of his characters... -
Haute Couture by Joslyn Westbrook
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBreaking News: Mr. Right Is Always Mr. Wrong... Lauren Blake, fashionista extraordinaire, has what almost every woman wants: Glamour. Fortune. Prestige. Plus a new driver who she finds terribly annoying, despite his good looks. As the creator of the popular clothing line she's worked years to build, Lauren's got no time for love... -
No One Wants That by Donna Schwartze
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA steamy enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy. A newly single woman who’s just looking for a good time. A chronic playboy who’s finally ready to settle down. KitThere are two things you should know about me up front. First, my boyfriend broke up with me a minute before I left on vacation. Second, I’m a huge fan of the rebound man. Huge fan...Categorized as:
literary-fiction humor satire contemporary enemies-to-lovers steamy comedy friendship -
Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA touching and deeply funny debut about starting over sober only to discover life’s biggest messes are still waiting right where you left them. The very last person anyone should worry about is Emma. Yes, hi, she’s an alcoholic. But she’s officially been sober for one entire year. That’s twelve months of better health...Categorized as:
literary-fiction humor satire fiction contemporary mental-illness comedy coming-of-age -
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... -
תקלה בקצה הגלקסיה by Etgar Keret, אתגר קרת
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThere's no one like Etgar Keret. His stories take place at the crossroads of the fantastical, searing, and hilarious. His characters grapple with parenthood and family, war and games, marijuana and cake, memory and love... -
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Indecent Exposure by Tom Sharpe
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA blazing satire of South African apartheid, Indecent Exposure is Tom Sharpe's brilliant follow-up to his Riotous Assembly. Once again the setting is Piemburg, the deceptively peaceful looking capital of Zululand, where Kommandant van Heerden, Konstabel Els, and Luitenant Verkramp continue to terrorize true Englishmen and even truer Zulus in their relentless search for a perfect South Africa... -
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... -
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 Answer Is No: A Short Story by Fredrik Backman
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much... -
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... -
The High Road by Terry Fallis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA brilliant follow-up to the Stephen Leacock Award-winner The Best Laid Plans , this deeply funny satire continues the story of Honest Angus McLintock, an amateur politician who dares to do the unthinkable: tell the truth... -
Mr. Mulliner Speaking by P.G. Wodehouse
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Mulliner collectionIn the bar-parlour of the Angler's Rest, Mr Mulliner tells his amazing tales, which hold his audience of drinkers (referred to only as Pints of Stout and Whiskies-and-Splash) in the palm of his expressive hand... -
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... -
We Have Lost The Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLondon, 2046. The British Republic has a new First Lady. She’s Californian, ‘in-your-face, for sure’ and she’s got big plans for a Buckingham Palace refurb. When her three Chihuahuas go missing, one man is determined to avoid getting dragged into it all. His name is Pond. Howie Pond – presidential spokesperson, retired secret agent and cat lover... -
This Champagne Mojito Is the Last Thing I Own by Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, Paul Howard
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWe don't think we can improve on the author's own summary of his book: I am many things, roysh -- unbelievable babe magnet, red-hot lover, loyal kind of goy, best forward who never played for Ireland -- but there's a few things I was basically sure I'd never be, related to a jailbird for storters, or listening to the old dear getting randier than a goat in heat, or even a father, for that matter... -
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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 Orange Mocha-chip Frappuccino Years by Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, Paul Howard
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSo there I was, roysh, enjoying college life, college birds and, like, a major amount of socialising. Then, roysh, the old pair decide to mess everything up for me. And we're talking totally here. Don't ask me what they were thinking. I hadn't, like, changed or treated them any differently, but the next thing I know, roysh, I'm out on the streets... -
The Oh My God Delusion by Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, Paul Howard
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThat risk assessor ex of Sorcha's turned out to be right - it really was the end of the world as we knew it ...See, I thought the porty was going to last forever. I certainly didn't believe the current economic blahdy blah was going to affect people like me... -
Up and Down by Terry Fallis
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn his first day at Turner King, David Stewart quickly realizes that the world of international PR (affectionately, known as "the dark side") is a far cry from his previous job with the Canadian government. For one, he missed the office memo on the all-black dress code; for another, there are enough acronyms and jargon to make his head spin... -
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA burnt-out political aide quits just before an election — but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock — an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers — to let his name stand in the election... -
Marrying Mr. Darcy: A romantic comedy by Kate O'Keeffe
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIs it a truth universally acknowledged, that a girl can humiliate herself on reality TV and still get her fairy tale ending?Emma Brady is in shock. She fell in love with Sebastian Huntington-Ross on national television, showing everyone that opposites can most definitely attract. Now, he's asked her to marry him and live happily ever after in his fancy English manor. It's a fairy tale ending... -
Quelqu'un pour qui trembler by Gilles Legardinier
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLa seule chose qui compte, c'est d'avoir quelqu'un pour qui espérer mieux. L'essentiel, c'est d'avoir quelqu'un pour qui trembler. Pour soigner ceux que l'on oublie trop souvent, Thomas a vécu des années dans un village perdu en Inde. Lorsqu'il apprend que la femme qu'il a autrefois quittée a eu une fille de lui, ses certitudes vacillent... -
After the Workshop by John McNally
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsYou graduate from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop with a short story published in The New Yorker and subsequently Best American Short Stories. You stay in town and work on your novel. And work on your novel. Until, finally, twelve years have passed and you are working as a media escort for author tours and your unfinished novel sits in a box under your bed. Your girlfriend has left you... -
Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy by Pawan Mishra
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCoinman is one of life's victims, the receiver of subtle bullying in an office environment and thinly disguised control in his own home, but remains true to his desire to be polite and accepting of how he is treated by everyone. Then an incident at work changes all that.Huffington Post: One of the best literary fiction books of 2016 (Independently Published)... -
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAdrian Mole, now age thirty-four and three quarters, needs proof that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction so he can get a refund from a travel agency of the deposit he paid on a trip to Cyprus. Naturally, he writes to Tony Blair for some evidence. He’s engaged to Marigold, but obsessed with her voluptuous sister... -
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The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe characters of The Rotters’ Club—Jonathan Coe’s nostalgic, humorous evocation of adolescent life in the 1970s—have bartered their innocence for the vengeance of middle age in a story that is very much of the moment, charged with such issues as 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq... -
Blott on the Landscape by Tom Sharpe
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAll is picturesquely typical of rural England at its best. Sir Giles, an MP of few principles and curious tastes, plots to destroy all this by building a motorway smack through it, to line his own pocket and at the same time to dispose of his wife, the capacious Lady Maude... -
Hits and Misses by Simon Rich
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratings'Simon Rich is outrageously, lavishly gifted'- Caitlin Moran'Simon Rich is the funniest writer alive'- Matt Haig'How fabulously funny'- Lauren Laverne'One of my favourite authors'- B J NovakFrom a bitter tell-all by a horse who made a man famous and then got left behind to a gushing magazine profile of one of your favorite World War II dictators, these stories trawl through history to skewer our... -
The English Experience by Julie Schumacher
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJason Fitger may be the last faculty member the dean wants for the job, but he’s the only professor available to chaperone Payne University’s annual “ Abroad” (he has long been on the record objecting to the absurd and gratuitous colon between the words) occurring during the three weeks of winter term... -
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... -
Waiting for the Galactic Bus by Parke Godwin
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsImagine two brothers off on an intergalatic Spring Break. When their friends leave them behind on Earth, they've got a few millenia to kill before they'll manage to get back to school. So, as an experiment, mind you, they decide to give evolution a bit of a nudge... And that's when all hell breaks loose... a little more literally than either of them planned..
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