Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Wry
Underworld
by Don DeLillo
A sweeping narrative of two people, their pasts and their parallel paths through history.
The prologue is a fictionalized account of The Shot Heard 'Round the World , a home run by Bobby Thomson on October 3, 1951, that won the National League pennant for the New York Giants against their ... (Wikipedia)
Naked
by David Sedaris
Collection of humorous essays exploring the absurdities of everyday life.
Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked , Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, ... (Goodreads)
Lady Windermere's Fan
by Oscar Wilde
A comedic tale of scandal, gossip, and hypocrisy set in high society.
The play opens in the morning room of the Windermeres' residence in London. It is tea time and Lady Windermere—who is preparing for her coming of age birthday ball that evening—has a visit from a ... (Wikipedia)
The Clown
by Heinrich Böll
A young man's reflective journey through post-war Germany, exploring the consequences of war.
Hans Schnier is the "Clown" of the novel's title. He is twenty-seven years old from a very wealthy family. At the beginning of the story he arrives in Bonn, Germany. As a clown, he had to travel ... (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 Pale King
by David Foster Wallace
A group of IRS workers battle tedium and boredom in a quest for meaning and purpose in life.
The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to newly arrived trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and ... (Goodreads)
Al Franken, Giant of the Senate
by Al Franken
A comedic memoir about Franken's unlikely journey from Saturday Night Live to the US Senate.
From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved, SNL, alum - comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians ... (Goodreads)
Holidays on Ice
by David Sedaris
Collection of humorous essays, exploring the absurdities of the holiday season.
David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two ... (Goodreads)
Sleeping Arrangements
by Madeleine Wickham
Two families on vacation in Spain, secrets and lies unravel as they share a villa.
Chloe needs a holiday. She's sick of making wedding dresses, her partner Philip has troubles at work, and the whole family wants a break. Her wealthy friend Gerard has offered the loan of his luxury ... (Barnes & Noble)
Wise Blood
by Flannery O'Connor
A darkly comic Southern Gothic tale of faith and sin, and a man's struggle to find redemption.
Recently discharged from service in World War II and surviving on a government pension for unspecified battle wounds, Hazel Motes returns to his family home in Tennessee to find it abandoned. Leaving ... (Wikipedia)
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
by Ben Fountain
Billy Lynn and his fellow soldiers are hailed as heroes during a football halftime show, but the reality of war and their uncertain future loom over them.
19-year-old Specialist Billy Lynn is part of an eight-man unit, Bravo Squad, fighting in Iraq. After key moments of a brief but intense fight anointed as "the Battle of Al-Ansakar Canal" are filmed ... (Wikipedia)
Sex and the Single Vampire
by Katie MacAlister
A humorous romance novel about a vampire who falls in love with a mortal woman, but their relationship is complicated by his vampiric nature.
An undying classic from Katie MacAlister, Sex and the Single Vampire is a paranormal romance lover’s delight, ideal for fans of Lynsay Sands and her Argeneau vampire family novels. This perennial New ... (Goodreads)
Rich People Problems
by Kevin Kwan
An exploration of the luxurious and scandalous world of the ultra-wealthy.
In 2015, two years after the events that take place in China Rich Girlfriend , Nick and Rachel Young (née Chu), an economics professor at New York University (NYU), are happily married and living ... (Wikipedia)
Norwegian by Night
by Derek B. Miller
An elderly veteran's journey of redemption and transformation, set amidst the backdrop of Norway's war-torn history.
He will not admit it to Rhea and Lars - never, of course not - but Sheldon can't help but wonder what it is he's doing here.. Eighty-two years old, and recently widowed, Sheldon Horowitz has ... (Goodreads)
Thief of Time
by Terry Pratchett
A humorous fantasy adventure to save time from being stolen.
The Auditors hire young clockmaker Jeremy Clockson to build a perfect glass clock, without telling him that this will stop time and thereby eliminate human unpredictability from the universe. Death ... (Wikipedia)
Without Feathers
by Woody Allen
Collection of humorous short stories, exploring the absurdities of life.
Here they are–some of the funniest tales and ruminations ever put into print, by one of the great comic minds of our time. From THE WHORE OF MENSA, to GOD (A Play), to NO KADDISH FOR WEINSTEIN, old ... (Goodreads)
A Horse Walks into a Bar
by David Grossman
A stand-up comedian's harrowing story of trauma, told over the course of one explosive performance.
A Horse Walks into a Bar is narrated by a retired district court judge, Avishai Lazar, who is invited out of the blue by a local comedian to attend his show, a stand-up routine in a bar in the ... (Wikipedia)
Insane City
by Dave Barry
A hilarious satire of a destination wedding in Miami, filled with absurd characters and situations.
A dark comic masterpiece—the first solo adult novel in more than a decade from the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times–bestselling author. Seth Weinstein knew Tina was way out of his league in ... (Goodreads)
A Widow for One Year
by John Irving
A complex story of love, loss and redemption told across four different time periods.
The year is 1958 and Ruth Cole is 4 years old. Although she is a loved child, her parents do not have a happy marriage. Her two older brothers died several years earlier in a tragic accident, and she ... (Wikipedia)
May We Be Forgiven
by A.M. Homes
After a tragic accident, a man's life spirals out of control as he navigates family drama and personal crises.
The central character is Harry Silver, a professor based in New York City whose specialty is "Nixonology", the study of former US President Richard Nixon . , His brother George is a TV executive who ... (Wikipedia)
Exit Wounds
by Rutu Modan
A graphic novel about a young woman who travels to Tel Aviv to unravel the mystery of her father's death.
The book follows a search of a young woman, Numi, for her old lover, who disappeared just before a suicide bomb that left an unidentified body. Numi calls Koby, a cab-driver and the missing person's ... (Wikipedia)
The Last Good Kiss
by James Crumley
Private investigator C.W. Sughrue searches for a missing writer, encountering violence and betrayal along the way.
An unforgettable detective story starring C.W. Sughrue, a Montana investigator who kills time by working at a topless bar. Hired to track down a derelict author, he ends up on the trail of a girl ... (Goodreads)
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)
Coin Locker Babies
by Ryū Murakami
Two abandoned boys grow up in a Tokyo train station locker, leading to a twisted journey of self-discovery and revenge.
It is the surreal story of two boys, Hashi and Kiku, who were both abandoned by their mothers during infancy and locked in coin lockers at a Tokyo train station in the summer of 1972. Both boys ... (Wikipedia)
Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A collection of essays on war and peace, exploring the human experience of conflict.
To be published on the first anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut's death, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace, imbued with Vonnegut's trademark ... (Goodreads)
The Last Hero
by Terry Pratchett
A daring quest to save the world from an immortal tyrant, with a unique twist.
A message, carried by pointless albatross, arrives for Lord Vetinari from the Agatean Empire. The message explains that the Silver Horde (a group of aged barbarians introduced in, Interesting Times, ... (Wikipedia)
She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana
by Haven Kimmel
A memoir of growing up in a small town in Indiana, where the author finds inspiration in the women around her who defy societal expectations.
The # 1 New York Times bestseller A Girl Named Zippy was a rare and welcome treat: a memoir of a happy childhood. Spunky, strong-willed, and too smart for her own good, Zippy Jarvis brought readers ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Women
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
A fictionalized account of Frank Lloyd Wright's life, told through the perspectives of the women who loved him.
Welcome to the troubled, tempestuous world of Frank Lloyd Wright. Scandalous affairs rage behind closed doors, broken hearts are tossed aside, fires rip through the wings of the house and paparazzi ... (Goodreads)
Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems
by Billy Collins
Collection of poems exploring the beauty of everyday life.
Sailing Alone Around the Room , by America’s Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, contains both new poems and a generous gathering from his earlier collections The Apple That Astonished Paris , Questions ... (Goodreads)
Possible Side Effects
by Augusten Burroughs
A humorous, darkly satirical look at the pharmaceutical industry and its effects on individuals.
National Bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Running with Scissors comes Augusten Burroughs's most provocative collection of true stories yet. From nicotine gum addiction to ... (Goodreads)
The Tailor of Panama
by John le Carré
A British spy enlists a tailor in Panama to gather intelligence, but the tailor's lies spiral out of control.
Harry Pendel is a British expatriate living in Panama City and running his own successful bespoke tailoring business, Pendel and Braithwaite . His wife and children are unaware that almost every ... (Wikipedia)
Vernon God Little
by D.B.C. Pierre
A teenage boy's struggle to survive after being wrongfully accused of a school shooting.
Named as one of the 100 Best Things in the World by GQ magazine in 2003, the riotous adventures of Vernon Gregory Little in small town Texas and beachfront Mexico mark one of the most spectacular, ... (Goodreads)
The Far Side
by Gary Larson
A collection of hilarious and absurd cartoons featuring animals, humans, and aliens in bizarre situations.
The Far Side was syndicated in more than 1,900 daily newspapers from 1980 to 1995, when Gary Larson retired. During its run, the cartoon spawned 22 books from AMP, which were translated into a total ... (Goodreads)
Decline and Fall
by Evelyn Waugh
A satirical comedy of manners, exploring the fall of an irresponsible young man in the British social class system.
Modest and unassuming theology student Paul Pennyfeather falls victim to the drunken antics of the Bollinger Club and is subsequently expelled from Oxford for running through the grounds of Scone ... (Wikipedia)
A Hologram for the King
by Dave Eggers
A businessman's quest for redemption and a new start in Saudi Arabia.
The novel tells the story of a washed-up, desperate American salesman, Alan Clay, who travels to Saudi Arabia to secure the IT contract from the royal government for a massive new complex being built ... (Wikipedia)
The Fuck-Up
by Arthur Nersesian
A young man's life spirals out of control as he struggles with addiction, relationships, and finding his place in the world.
Arthur Nersesian's underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life. This is the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He's a perennial couch-surfer, ... (Goodreads)
Sunset Park
by Paul Auster
A group of young people's search for purpose and identity amidst the struggles of life.
Set during the American financial recession in 2008, the college dropout Miles Heller, who has been running from his past for seven years, is forced to leave his new girlfriend in Florida and return ... (Wikipedia)
A Bone to Pick
by Charlaine Harris
Small town librarian and amateur sleuth, Aurora Teagarden, investigates a murder mystery involving a missing skull.
THE SECOND AURORA TEAGARDEN MYSTERY—NOW A HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERY ORIGINAL STARRING CANDACE CAMERON BURE!,Death comes calling on small-town librarian Aurora Teagarden in this entertaining mystery ... (Barnes & Noble)
Bark
by Lorrie Moore
A collection of short stories exploring the complexities of human relationships and the struggles of everyday life.
A new collection of stories by one of America’s most beloved and admired short-story writers, her first in fifteen years, since Birds of America (“Fluid, cracked, mordant, colloquial . . . Will stand ... (Goodreads)
It's So Easy: And Other Lies
by Duff McKagan
A story of rock-n-roll excess, and a cautionary tale of redemption.
A founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, ... (Goodreads)
Sellevision
by Augusten Burroughs
A satirical novel about the behind-the-scenes drama of a home shopping network and its dysfunctional hosts.
Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited,, Sellevision, explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network.,Welcome to the troubled world of ... (Goodreads)
Diary of a Provincial Lady
by E.M. Delafield
A humorous and satirical account of the daily life of a middle-class woman in rural England during the 1930s.
When Diary of a Provincial Lady was first published in 1930, critics on both sides of the Atlantic greeted it with enthusiasm. This charming, delightful and extremely funny book about daily life in a ... (Goodreads)
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