Books like 'Dwelling'
Readers who enjoyed Dwelling by Emily Hunt Kivel also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy magical-realism literary-fiction humor dystopia absurdism myths philosophical gothic
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Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka, John Updike
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe only available collection that brings together all of Kafka's storiesthose published during his lifetime and those released after his death...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction magical-realism philosophical 20th-century adult anthologies -
![Cronopios and Famas by Julio Cortázar]()
Cronopios and Famas by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 25 ratings"The Instruction Manual," the first chapter, is an absurd assortment of tasks and items dissected in an instruction-manual format. "Unusual Occupations," the second chapter, describes the obsessions and predilections of the narrator's family, including the lodging of a tiger-just one tiger- "for the sole purpose of seeing the mechanism at work in all its complexity...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary -
![Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson]()
Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland's most beloved novelists. A man comes to awareness in a church in rural Iceland, not knowing why he’s there or how he arrived... -
![Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila]()
Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWinner of the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize In the utterly original, genre-defying, English-language debut of Finnish author Juhani Karila, a young woman’s annual pilgrimage to her home in Lapland to catch an elusive pike in three days is complicated by a host of mythical creatures, a murder detective hot on her trail, and a deadly curse hanging over her head... -
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![Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett]()
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake. The Starlings live in Everton, an ordinary enough New Hampshire town... -
![The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley]()
The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsA rich odyssey of transformation in the tradition of "The Inferno" In "The Descent of Alette," Alice Notley presents a feminist epic, a bold journey into the deeper realms. Alette, the narrator, finds herself underground, deep beneath the city, where spirits and people ride endlessly on subways, not allowed to live in the world above... -
![The Buying of Lot 37 by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor]()
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... -
![Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme]()
Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis collection of pithy, brilliantly acerbic pieces is a companion to Sixty Stories, Barthelme's earlier retrospective volume. Barthelme spotlights the idiosyncratic, haughty, sometimes downright ludicrous behavior of human beings, but it is style rather than content which takes precedence...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction philosophical 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary -
![That's All I Know by Elisa Levi]()
That's All I Know by Elisa Levi
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNineteen-year-old Little Lea lives in a rural town where life ends at the edge of the forest.When a stranger loses his dog on the first day after the end of the world, Little Lea warns him not to follow it into the forest, that people who enter never come out. Over a shared joint, she tells him about the burning in her gut, winding a tale of loss, desire, and conspiracies...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism dystopia fiction contemporary audiobook season-autumn fantasy -
![Oração para Desaparecer by Socorro Acioli]()
Oração para Desaparecer by Socorro Acioli
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPrimeiro romance de Socorro Acioli após A cabeça do santo, Oração para Desaparecer conta a história de uma mulher que, sem lembrança nenhuma de seu passado, precisa reconstruir a vida em um lugar completamente desconhecido, apenas com a língua portuguesa como porto seguro.Cida, uma mulher sem identidade nem memória, reconstrói pouco a pouco uma nova vida em um lugar completamente desconhecido...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction romance fiction fantasy contemporary audiobook book -
![Sredni Vashtar and Other Stories by Saki]()
Sredni Vashtar and Other Stories by Saki
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBorn in Burma in 1870, Scottish writer H.H. Munro (his pseudonym is from FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) satirized the social conventions, cruelty and foolishness of the Edwardian era with a highly readable blend of flippant humor and outrageous inventiveness, often overlaid with a mood of horror... -
![Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino]()
Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSafe as Houses, the debut story collection of Marie-Helene Bertino, proves that not all homes are shelters. The titular story revolves around an aging English professor who, mourning the loss of his wife, robs other people's homes of their sentimental knick-knacks. In "Free Ham," a young dropout wins a ham after her house burns down and refuses to accept it...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author female-mc fiction -
![Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth]()
Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTen witty and enchanting animal fables in verse which, like a modern Aesop's Fables, can be enjoyed by young and old... -
![Murphy’s Luck by Benjamin Laskin]()
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... -
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![Timeskipper by Stefano Benni]()
Timeskipper by Stefano Benni
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the author of Margherita Dolce Vita One late-winter morning as he is "hop-hiking" downhill toward his character-building destination, a vomit-yellow cube surrounded by a garden of barbarously unkempt weeds known as the Bisacconi elementary school, Stefano Benni's young hero encounters a peculiar man--as big as a mountain and as filthy as a garbage dump, with a vast beard the color of a...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism adult book coming-of-age contemporary fiction -
![Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff]()
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... -
![Harvey by Mary Chase]()
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 Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano]()
The Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“A Dante/Beckett reduction of human struggle to its lowest common denominator.”— Michael Mirolla, author of The Formal Logic of Emotion and Berlin“One of the most original and thought-provoking stories I have ever read...true literary art...Not a word is wasted in this masterpiece. Yes, I call it that... -
![Daydreams of Angels by Heather O'Neill]()
Daydreams of Angels by Heather O'Neill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsInventive, outlandish, and tender fairy tales from a bestselling authorThe fantastic has always been at the edges of Heather O'Neill's work. In her bestselling novels Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, she transformed the shabbiest streets of Montreal with her beautiful, freewheeling metaphors...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary fairy-tale female-author -
![The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons]()
The Wrong Heaven by Amy Bonnaffons
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"In her amazing, wildly inventive collection, Amy Bonnaffons writes about transformation, each story further complicating the world as we know it. With a style that blends humor and sincerity in such strange, perfect ratios, Bonnaffons reveals the mysteries inside of us, just waiting to make themselves known. The Wrong Heaven, so wondrous, will alter you in all the necessary ways...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary feminism -
![Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski]()
Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this beautiful, grounded, and darkly magical modern-day reimagining of J. M. Barrie's classic, to save her daughter's life one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan--who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be . . . Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy--yes, that Wendy... -
![1997 by Kirsty McManus]()
1997 by Kirsty McManus
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAnna Matthews is moving on. After a tumultuous year where her life took an unexpected turn, she is now looking to the future with the help of a few old friends. Everything gets off to a great start with Anna and her high school friend Kelsey planning a new business together...Categorized as:
magical-realism humor literary-fiction romance womens-fiction time-travel fiction young-adult -
![May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks]()
May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings***Best Small Press Debut of 2012 -- The Atlantic Wire***May We Shed These Human Bodies peers through vast spaces and skies with the world's most powerful telescope to find humanity: wild and bright and hard as diamonds...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction fantasy -
![Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan]()
Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsConspiracies, memes, and therapies of various efficacy underpin this beguiling short-story collection from Elizabeth Tan.In the titular story, a cat-shaped oven tells a depressed woman she doesn’t have to be sorry anymore. A Yourtopia Bespoke Terraria employee becomes paranoid about the mounting coincidences in her life...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies comedy -
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![The Jade Cabinet by Rikki Ducornet]()
The Jade Cabinet by Rikki Ducornet
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMade speechless by her eccentric father, the beautiful Etheria is traded for a piece of precious jade. Memory, her sister, tells her story, that of a childhood enlivened by Lewis Carroll and an orangutan named Dr. Johnson and envenomed by the pernicious courtship of Radulph Tubbs, Queen Victoria's own Dragon of Industry...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book contemporary female-author fiction -
![Instruction Manual for Swallowing by Adam Marek]()
Instruction Manual for Swallowing by Adam Marek
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA new North American edition of an acclaimed short story collection, Instruction Manual for Swallowing explores what happens when ordinary people collide with bizarre, fantastical situations... -
![Verdigris by Michele Mari]()
Verdigris by Michele Mari
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAt the tail end of the 1960s, the thirteen-year-old Michelino spends his summers at his grandparents’ modest estate in Nasca, near Lake Maggiore, losing himself in the tales of horror, adventure, and mystery shelved in his grandfather’s library... -
![Man Seeking Woman by Simon Rich]()
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 -
![Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell]()
Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the Pulitzer Finalist and universally beloved author of the New York Times best sellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a stunning new collection of short fiction that showcases Karen Russell's extraordinary, irresistible gifts of language and imagination...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
![Man V. Nature by Diane Cook]()
Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA refreshingly imaginative, daring debut collection of stories which illuminates with audacious wit the complexity of human behavior, as seen through the lens of the natural worldTold with perfect rhythm and unyielding brutality, these stories expose unsuspecting men and women to the realities of nature, the primal instincts of man, and the dark humor and heartbreak of our struggle to not only...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary -
![Tales of Falling and Flying by Ben Loory]()
Tales of Falling and Flying by Ben Loory
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 11 ratings“Mesmerizing and magical. . . . A stunning book.” —NPR.org“Short stories so imaginative — and yet so perplexingly familiar — they could have formed in a dream. . . . Taut, meticulously balanced and written in Loory’s direct, witty prose, his own stories take a page from Aesop: high-flying tales nonetheless boiled down to the essentials... -
![Flying Leap by Judy Budnitz]()
Flying Leap by Judy Budnitz
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis surreal collection features such storylines as: a young man is persuaded to donate his heart to his dying mother; a girl comes of age in strange suburbia; and a man and a woman conduct a passionate love affair on a park bench...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author feminism -
![We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser, Olivier Culmann]()
We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser, Olivier Culmann
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Every reader knows of writers who are like secrets one wants to keep, and whose books one wants to tell the world about. Millhauser is mine.”—David Rollow, Boston Sunday GlobeFrom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author: the essential stories across three decades that showcase his indomitable imagination... -
![A Better Angel by Chris Adrian]()
A Better Angel by Chris Adrian
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe stories in A Better Angel describe the terrain of human suffering—illness, regret, mourning, sympathy—in the most unusual of ways. In “Stab,” a bereaved twin starts a friendship with a homicidal fifth grader in the hope that she can somehow lead him back to his dead brother...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary death fiction low-fantasy -
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![A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan]()
A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn their tiny, sea-beaten cottage on the north coast of Scotland, Liska and Ruth await the birth of their first child.Each passes the time by telling the baby stories, trying to pass on the lessons they’ve learned: tales of circuses and stargazing, selkie fishermen and domestic werewolves, child-eating witches and broken-toothed dragons...Categorized as:
gothic literary-fiction magical-realism myths 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary -
![The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor]()
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs Rafi Zabor's PEN-Faulkner Award-winning novel opens, the Bear shuffles and jigs with a chain through his nose, rolling in the gutter, letting his partner wrestle him to the ground for the crowd's enjoyment. But as soon becomes clear, this is no ordinary dancing bear. "I mean, dance is all right, even street dance... -
![Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyōko Nakajima]()
Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyōko Nakajima
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratings'If we want to understand what has been lost to time, there is no way other than through the exercise of imagination ... imagination applied with delicate rather than broad strokes'...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction -
![O Fallen Angel by Kate Zambreno, Lidia Yuknavitch]()
O Fallen Angel by Kate Zambreno, Lidia Yuknavitch
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe haunting debut novel that put Kate Zambreno on the map, O Fallen Angel , is a provocative, voice-driven story of a family in crisis—and, more broadly, the crisis of the American family—now repackaged and with a new introduction by Lidia Yuknavitch... -
![Ghost Mountain by Ronan Hession]()
Ghost Mountain by Ronan Hession
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGhost Mountain is a simple fable-like novel about a mountain that appears suddenly and the way in which its manifestation ripples through the lives of characters in the surrounding community.It looks at the uncertain fragile sense of self we hold inside ourselves, and our human compulsion to project it into the uncertain word around us, whether we’re ready or not...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism dystopia europe british-isles ireland fiction fantasy -
![Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey, محمد غفوری]()
Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey, محمد غفوری
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOnce the Orme family’s magnificent ancestral estate, Observatory Mansions is now a crumbling apartment complex, home to an eccentric group of misfits. One of them is Francis Orme, who earns his livelihood as a living statue. When not practicing “inner and outer stillness,” Francis steals the cherished possessions of others to add to his private museum... -
![Swansong by Kerry Andrew]()
Swansong by Kerry Andrew
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this stunningly assured, immersive and vividly atmospheric first novel, a young woman comes face-to-face with the volatile, haunted wilderness of the Scottish Highlands.Polly Vaughan is trying to escape the ravaging guilt of a disturbing incident in London by heading north to the Scottish Highlands... -
![The Wrestler's Cruel Study by Stephen Dobyns]()
The Wrestler's Cruel Study by Stephen Dobyns
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWrestling, kidnapping, subplots from the Brothers Grimm, and a young man's search for his missing fiancee are only some of the elements of Stephen Dobyns's dazzling new novel.Fun and puns mingle with daring make-believe...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction magical-realism action-adventure adult book contemporary fiction -
![The Bizarro Starter Kit (blue) by Steve Aylett, Bradley Sands]()
The Bizarro Starter Kit (blue) by Steve Aylett, Bradley Sands
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThere's a new genre rising from the underground. Its name: BIZARRO. For years, readers have been asking for a category of fiction dedicated to the weird, crazy, cult side of storytelling that has become a staple in the film industry (with directors such as David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Tim Burton, and even Lloyd Kaufman) but has been largely ignored in the literary world, until now...Categorized as:
gothic humor literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary fiction graphic-violence -
![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 magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction -
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![The Woman Behind the Waterfall by Leonora Meriel]()
The Woman Behind the Waterfall by Leonora Meriel
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHeartbreak and transformation in the beauty of a Ukrainian villageFor seven-year old Angela, happiness is exploring the lush countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her into birds and flowers, and into the waters of the river.All that changes when, one morning, she sees her mother crying... -
![Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee]()
Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn immortal Knight of the Round Table faces his greatest challenge yet—saving the politically polarized, rapidly warming world from itself—in this slyly funny contemporary take on Arthurian legend.Legends don’t always live up to reality... -
![Rubik by Elizabeth Tan]()
Rubik by Elizabeth Tan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe dead aren’t really gone, they persist as phone numbers, social media accounts, newsletter recipients, and as members of fan-fiction forums. Digital ghosts move and connect us: we feel we know people we have only seen online just as corporations masquerade as familiar friends... -
![Heartsnatcher by Boris Vian, Raymond Queneau]()
Heartsnatcher by Boris Vian, Raymond Queneau
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsSet in a bizarre and slightly sinister town where the elderly are auctioned off at an Old Folks Fair, the townspeople assail the priest in hopes of making it rain, and the official town scapegoat bears the shame of the citizens by fishing junk out of the river with his teeth. Heartsnatcher is Boris Vian's most playful and most serious work... -
![The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns]()
The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsIn their idyllic garden, Gertrude and Bernard forge a perfect triangle of friendship with Bella, the scarred mother of an illegitimate child. Then Gertrude conceives the child which has long eluded her, and the spell breaks into foreboding, menace and madness... -
![Headhunter by Timothy Findley]()
Headhunter by Timothy Findley
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt all starts when Lilah Kemp - librarian, spiritualist, schizophrenic - inadvertantly lets Kurtz out of page 92 of Heart of Darkness and is unable to get him back in.While Kurtz is stalking the streets of Toronto, Lilah frantically begins her search for Marlow to help her deal with the literary villainMeanwhile, the city is becoming increasingly chaotic and terrifying...
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