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If you loved
Books like The gum thief
A wry, fluorescent-lit exploration of retail drudgery and the unexpected connections forged between aisles of office supplies. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The gum thief.
- fluorescent-lit
- mundane
- quietly intimate
- melancholic
- 01
Generation X
Douglas Coupland · 1991
A sun-baked, hyper-articulate retreat into the desert to escape the crushing weight of consumerism and corporate ladders.
- 02
Shampoo planet
Douglas Coupland · 1992
A hyper-stylized, neon-soaked snapshot of 90s youth culture, where hair products and brand names mask a deep yearning for connection.
- 03
Shopgirl
Steve Martin · 2000
A tender, wry, and quietly devastating portrait of urban loneliness and the unequal geometry of modern romance.
- 04
Attachments
Rainbow Rowell
A warm, witty exploration of loneliness and connection set against the dial-up hum of a 1999 newsroom.
- 05
The mezzanine
Nicholson Baker · 1988
A hyper-focused, footnote-laden love letter to the overlooked mechanics of everyday life that turns a simple escalator ride into a philosophical odyssey.
- 06
Diary of an Oxygen Thief
Anonymous
A raw, cynical confession of emotional terrorism that forces you into the mind of a deeply unlikable but magnetic narrator.
- 07
Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe
Jenny Colgan
A warm, humorous exploration of finding the courage to bake up a brand new life after a sudden career detour.
- 08
The Broom of the System
David Foster Wallace · 1987
A dizzying, hilarious plunge into a world where language dictates reality and everyone is talking but no one is communicating.
- 09
Diary
Chuck Palahniuk · 2003
A hypnotic, dread-soaked descent into the dark, parasitic relationship between suffering and artistic genius.
- 10
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby · 2000
A sharp, hilarious, and painfully relatable dive into the mind of a pop-culture obsessive terrified of growing up.
- 11
Then we came to the end
Joshua Ferris
A brilliantly deadpan, hive-mind chronicle of the absurdities, anxieties, and unexpected intimacies of modern office life.
- 12
The Portable Door
Tom Holt · 2003
A delightfully absurd collision of soul-crushing corporate bureaucracy and chaotic magical realism.
