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If you loved
Books like Small World
A globe-trotting, laugh-out-loud farce that skewers the egos and libidos of the academic elite. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Small World.
- chaotic
- globe-trotting
- lighthearted
- intellectually dizzying
- 01
Changing Places
David Lodge · 1975
A wry, transatlantic comedy of errors that skewers the absurdities of university life and midlife restlessness.
- 02
Foreign Affairs
Borisch, Sarah Allan
A witty and poignant comedy of manners about lonely academics finding dizzying, unexpected romance while abroad in London.
- 03
A history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters
Julian Barnes
An unsettling yet exhilarating literary journey that sweeps from the ancient floods to the gates of heaven.
- 04
Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis · 1998
A hilarious, cringe-inducing descent into the petty absurdities of institutional life and the desperate urge to burn it all down.
- 05
Fury
Salman Rushdie
A kaleidoscopic plunge into the paradox of modern prosperity, where endless urban wealth masks a profound existential barrenness.
- 06
White Teeth
Zadie Smith
A sprawling, riotous tragicomedy that captures the messy, vibrant collision of cultures and generations in modern London.
- 07
Iris in winter
Elizabeth Cadell
A warm, bustling English social comedy where a quiet winter retreat inevitably turns into a delightful three-ring circus of family and romance.
- 08
Black Swan Green
David Stephen Mitchell · 2006
A bittersweet, sharply observant plunge into the muddy, anxious, and secretly poetic world of a thirteen-year-old boy in 1980s England.
- 09
Flaubert's Parrot
Julian Barnes · 1984
A playful, postmodern scavenger hunt through literary history that slowly reveals a deeply moving portrait of personal grief.
- 10
Cat's Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut
A darkly hilarious, bite-sized spiral into the inevitable end of the world.
- 11
The Big U
Neal Stephenson
A chaotic, hyper-nerdy descent into institutional madness that transforms a mundane college campus into a literal war zone.
- 12
Close relations
Susan Isaacs · 1980
A sharp, martini-dry romp through New York politics, messy romances, and the loving suffocation of family expectations.
