Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Satirical
The Sellout
by Paul Beatty
An outrageous satire of race and civil rights in modern America.
The novel concerns a narrator, referred to by his childhood nickname "Bonbon" or his last name, "Me," who attempts to reintroduce segregation and keep a slave named Hominy in Dickens, his Los Angeles ... (Wikipedia)
Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source
by Scott Dikkers
A humorous collection of fake news headlines poking fun at the events of the past century.
The Onion has quickly become the world's most popular humor publication, misinforming half a million readers a week with one-of-a-kind social satire both in print (on newsstands nationwide) and ... (Goodreads)
A Modest Proposal
by Jonathan Swift
A satirical essay that mocks British policies in Ireland and offers a shocking solution.
Dead Souls
by Nikolai Gogol
A satirical tale of a man's quest for wealth, exposing the corruption of 19th century Russian society.
The story follows the exploits of Chichikov, a middle-aged gentleman of middling social class and means. Chichikov arrives in a small town and turns on the charm to woo key local officials and ... (Wikipedia)
The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
by Ambrose Bierce
Collection of satirical definitions of everyday words, offering a cynical take on humanity.
If we could only put aside our civil pose and say what we really thought, the world would be a lot like the one alluded to in The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. There, a bore is "a person who talks ... (Goodreads)
Deadeye Dick
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A darkly comic story of a man's quest for redemption from a tragic past.
The novel's main character, Rudy Waltz, nicknamed Deadeye Dick , commits accidental manslaughter as a child (he carelessly shoots a gun out of a window and fatally strikes a pregnant woman) and lives ... (Wikipedia)
Galápagos
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A journey to the Galápagos Islands revealing secrets of evolution, humanity, and the future.
Galápagos is the story of a small band of mismatched humans who are shipwrecked on the fictional island of Santa Rosalia in the Galápagos Islands after a global financial crisis cripples the world's ... (Wikipedia)
The Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Intergalactic odyssey exploring the meaning of life and the human condition.
Malachi Constant is the richest man in a future North America. He possesses extraordinary luck that he attributes to divine favor which he has used to build upon his father's fortune. He becomes the ... (Wikipedia)
Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A satirical exploration of human folly, exposing the dangers of unchecked science and technology.
Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ... Dr Felix Hoenikker, ... (Goodreads)
Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A humorous exploration of life's absurdities, through a madcap journey of a protagonist.
Kilgore Trout is a widely published, but ignored and virtually invisible writer who is invited to deliver a keynote address at a local arts festival in distant Midland City. Dwayne Hoover is a ... (Wikipedia)
Survivor
by Chuck Palahniuk
A darkly humorous look at the trappings of modern society and the state of human existence.
The novel opens, in medias res, to Tender Branson, who has just hijacked an airliner, released its passengers, and is now sitting in the cockpit telling his life story to the cockpit voice recorder . ... (Wikipedia)
Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
by Jonathan Swift
A fanciful journey to lands of tiny people, giant people, talking horses, and other strange creatures.
The travel begins with a short preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver gives a brief outline of his life and history before his voyages. During his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck ... (Wikipedia)
Diary
by Chuck Palahniuk
An exploration of the depths of human depravity, exposing the darkest aspects of society.
Diary takes the form of a "coma diary" telling the story of Misty Marie Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. The story is not exactly told by Misty but through ... (Wikipedia)
Cold Comfort Farm
by Stella Gibbons
A young woman moves to the countryside to bring order to the chaotic lives of her relatives.
Following the death of her parents, the book's heroine, Flora Poste, finds she is possessed "of every art and grace save that of earning her own living". She decides to take advantage of the fact ... (Wikipedia)
The God of Carnage
by Yasmina Reza
Two sets of parents meet to discuss a playground fight between their sons, but their civilized facade quickly crumbles into chaos.
Before the play begins, two 11-year-old children, Ferdinand Reille and Bruno Vallon (Benjamin and Henry in the Broadway production), get involved in an argument because Bruno refuses to let Ferdinand ... (Wikipedia)
Native Tongue
by Carl Hiaasen
A family of environmental activists take on a powerful corporation intent on destroying the Everglades.
When the precious blue-tongued mango voles at the Amazing Kingdom of Thrills on North Key Largo are stolen by heartless, ruthless thugs, Joe Winder wants to uncover why, and find the voles. Joe is ... (Goodreads)
The Good Soldier
by Ford Madox Ford
A chronicle of the lives of two couples, weaving together tragedy, deceit, and self-deception.
The Good Soldier is narrated by the character John Dowell, half of one of the couples whose dissolving relationships form the subject of the novel. Dowell tells the story of those dissolutions, plus ... (Wikipedia)
Gargantua and Pantagruel
by François Rabelais
An epic tale of two giants and their humorous adventures.
The full modern English title for the work commonly known as, Pantagruel, is, The Horrible and Terrifying Deeds and Words of the Very Renowned Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant ... (Wikipedia)
Look Who's Back
by Timur Vermes
A satirical novel about a fictional Adolf Hitler, who wakes up in modern-day Germany.
Berlin, Summer 2011. Adolf Hitler wakes up from a 66-year sleep in his subterranean Berlin bunker to find the Germany he knew entirely changed: Internet-driven media spreads ideas in minutes and ... (Goodreads)
My Man Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse
A series of humorous adventures featuring a bumbling English gentleman and his ever-resourceful valet.
Who can forget our beloved gentleman's personal gentleman, Jeeves, who ever comes to the rescue when the hapless Bertie Wooster falls into trouble. My Man Jeeves is sure to please anyone with a taste ... (Goodreads)
Martin Chuzzlewit
by Charles Dickens
A satirical tale of a young man's trials and tribulations of greed, deception, and redemption.
Martin Chuzzlewit has been raised by his grandfather and namesake. Years before Martin senior took the precaution of raising an orphaned girl, Mary Graham, to be his companion and nursemaid, with the ... (Wikipedia)
Wilt
by Tom Sharpe
A hilarious comedy of errors, as an Englishman struggles to keep his sanity while escaping his chaotic life.
Henry Wilt, tied to a daft job and a domineering wife, has just been passed over for promotion yet again. Ahead of him at the Polytechnic stretch years of trying to thump literature into the heads of ... (Goodreads)
Feet of Clay
by Terry Pratchett
A mysterious death leads to the uncovering of secrets and treachery in a fantasy world.
Twelve of the city golems, clay creatures forced to obey the written instructions placed inside their heads, decide to create a "king" golem. They fashion a golem from their own clay and place in his ... (Wikipedia)
Day of the Oprichnik
by Vladimir Sorokin
A dystopian novel set in a futuristic Russia where the Oprichniks, a group of state-sponsored thugs, terrorize the population.
The novel begins with protagonist Andrei Komiaga dreaming of a white stallion, a recurrent symbol of freedom that progressively slips away from the Oprichnik (the real Oprichniks of the 16th century ... (Wikipedia)
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Dark satire of the medical industry, exposing the consequences of unchecked power and greed.
From Slapstick's "Turkey Farm" to Slaughterhouse-Five's eternity in a Tralfamadorean zoo cage with Montana Wildhack, the question of the afterlife never left Kurt Vonnegut's mind. In God Bless You, ... (Goodreads)
The Misfortunates
by Dimitri Verhulst
A coming of age story of a boy dealing with poverty, drugs, and family strife.
In De helaasheid der dingen keert de schrijver terug naar zijn geboortegrond in Reetveerdegem. We maken kennis met zijn vader, Pierre, die zijn paar uur oude zoontje in een postzak op zijn fiets ... (Goodreads)
Bluebeard
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A woman's exploration of her husband's dark past, uncovering secrets and shocking truths.
At the opening of the book, the narrator, Rabo Karabekian , apologizes to the arriving guests: "I promised you an autobiography, but something went wrong in the kitchen..." He describes himself as a ... (Wikipedia)
Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions
by Christian Lander
Satirical exploration of the lifestyle preferences and cultural quirks of white people in the United States.
They love nothing better than sipping free-trade gourmet coffee, leafing through the Sunday New York Times , and listening to David Sedaris on NPR (ideally all at the same time). Apple products, ... (Goodreads)
Transmetropolitan, Vol. 0: Tales of Human Waste
by Warren Ellis
A collection of short stories set in a dystopian future, featuring journalist Spider Jerusalem and his encounters with the corrupt and depraved society he lives in.
TALES OF HUMAN WASTE completes the TRANSMETROPOLITAN library, collecting the two Prestige-format one-shots TRANSMETROPOLITAN: I HATE IT HERE and TRANSMETROPOLITAN: FILTH OF THE CITY , as well as the ... (Goodreads)
Life Among the Savages
by Shirley Jackson
A humorous and witty memoir of a mother's chaotic life raising four children in rural Vermont.
Jackson—speaking as the nameless mother who serves as narrator—relates a period of roughly six years in the life of her family, focusing particularly on her attempts to keep peace and domestic ... (Wikipedia)
Death on the Installment Plan
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
A darkly humorous and satirical novel about a young boy's life in poverty-stricken Paris.
Published in rapid succession in the middle 1930s, Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan shocked European literature and world consciousness. Nominally fiction but more ... (Goodreads)
Platform
by Michel Houellebecq
Satirical exploration of the modern world and its discontents.
The story is the first-person narrative of a fictional character named Michel Renault, a Parisian civil servant who, after the death of his father and thanks to a hefty inheritance, engages in sexual ... (Wikipedia)
The Day of the Locust
by Nathanael West
A study of the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the disappointments and struggles of the have-nots.
Tod Hackett is the novel's protagonist. He moves from the east coast to Hollywood, California in search of inspiration for his next painting. The novel is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression ... (Wikipedia)
Non-Fiction
by Chuck Palahniuk
A collection of stories exploring modern life, each with its own unique twist.
Chuck Palahniuk's world has been, well, different from yours and mine. The pieces that comprise Non-Fiction prove just how different, in ways both highly entertaining and deeply unsettling. ... (Goodreads)
The Fatal Eggs
by Mikhail Bulgakov
A scientist invents a machine that can accelerate the growth of living organisms, leading to disastrous consequences for Moscow.
The Fatal Eggs can be described as a satirical science fiction novel. Its main protagonist is an aging zoologist, Vladimir Ipatyevich Persikov, a specialist in amphibians . The narration begins in ... (Wikipedia)
War with the Newts
by Karel Čapek
The story of a colony of intelligent newts, who are exploited and ultimately fight for their independence.
Only the last four of the book's 27 chapters deal with the eponymous war. The rest of the book is concerned with the discovery of the Newts, their exploitation and evolution, and growing tensions ... (Wikipedia)
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
by Spike Milligan
A humorous memoir of Spike Milligan's experiences as a soldier during World War II, including his encounters with Adolf Hitler.
Adolf Hitler: My Part on His Downfall is volume One of Spike Milligan's outrageous, hilarious, legendary War Memoirs. 'At Victoria station the R.T.O. gave me a travel warrant, a white feather and a ... (Goodreads)
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
by George Carlin
A collection of humorous essays and observations on modern society, politics, and culture from the legendary comedian George Carlin.
Now in paperback, the New York Times bestseller that takes readers on a riotous journey through the mind of one of America's premier comics George Carlin's legendary irreverence and iconoclasm are on ... (Goodreads)
Razor Girl
by Carl Hiaasen
A wild and wacky crime caper, set in the Florida Keys.
Merry completes her latest abduction on the Overseas Highway , only to find that she and her accomplice "Zeto" have snatched the wrong person: Lane Coolman, a talent manager from Los Angeles on his ... (Wikipedia)
The Long Utopia
by Terry Pratchett
The fourth book in the Long Earth series, exploring parallel worlds and the evolution of humanity.
The Long Utopia further follows the adventures of Joshua Valienté and Lobsang, as well as delving into Joshua's ancestry. After faking his death, Lobsang and his wife settle on an unexplored Earth, ... (Wikipedia)
Harrison Bergeron
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A dystopian future where equality is enforced through handicapping citizens.
In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than ... (Wikipedia)
Maskerade: The Play
by Stephen Briggs
A hilarious play about two witches who try to make it big in the opera world. Chaos and hilarity ensue.
The story begins with Agnes Nitt leaving Lancre to seek a career at the Opera House in Ankh-Morpork . When Granny Weatherwax realizes Nanny Ogg has written an immensely popular "cookbook" but has not ... (Wikipedia)
The Miser
by Molière
A wealthy miser's refusal to share his fortune, leading to an unexpected change of heart.
Harpagon est un vieillard odieux et avare. Avare jusqu'au ridicule, puisqu'il fait comparaître en justice le chat d'un de ses voisins pour lui avoir mangé le reste d'un gigot ! Avare jusqu'au sordide ... (Goodreads)
While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A collection of unpublished short stories by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that explore the human condition with his signature wit and insight.
Foreword by Dave Eggers Smart, whimsical, and often scathing, the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut influenced a generation of American writers—including Dave Eggers, author of this volume’s Foreword. In ... (Goodreads)
Dead Babies
by Martin Amis
A group of hedonistic friends gather for a weekend of drugs, sex, and debauchery, leading to a shocking and violent climax.
If the Marquis de Sade were to crash one of P.G. Wodehouse's house parties, the chaos might resemble the nightmarishly funny goings-on in this novel by the author of London Fields . The residents of ... (Goodreads)
The Sot-Weed Factor
by John Barth
A satirical novel following Ebenezer Cooke's journey to Maryland in the late 1600s, filled with bawdy humor and social commentary.
The novel is a satirical epic of the colonization of Maryland based on the life of an actual poet, Ebenezer Cooke , who wrote a poem of the same title. The Sot-Weed Factor is what Northrop Frye ... (Wikipedia)
Thank You for Smoking
by Christopher Buckley
A satire of the tobacco industry, exploring the power of corporate lobbying.
Nick Naylor is the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a tobacco industry lobbying firm that promotes the benefits of cigarettes. He utilizes high-profile media events and ... (Wikipedia)
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
by George Saunders
A satirical novella about a small country that is invaded and taken over by a tyrannical leader named Phil.
The story focuses on the border disputes between the countries of Inner and Outer Horner, the former of which is "so small that only one Inner Hornerite at a time could fit inside, and the other six ... (Wikipedia)
Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A collection of unpublished short stories by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that explores the human condition with his signature wit and satire.
Look at the Birdie is a collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories from one of the most original writers in all of American fiction. In this series of perfectly rendered vignettes, ... (Goodreads)
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