swap_horiz Pimp Alternatives

1

The Adventures of Augie March

Saul Bellow’s *The Adventures of Augie March* chronicles a young man's unconventional journey through early 20th-century...

Classic American 20TH Century Rogue

9.1 Excellent

2

A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole’s *A Confederacy of Dunces* is a celebrated 20th-century American novel exploring the eccentric lives...

Classic American Comic 20TH Century

8.9 Great

3

Portnoy's Complaint

Philip Roth’s *Portnoy’s Complaint* offers a candid, confessional narrative following Alexander Portnoy’s exploration of...

American Satire 20TH Century Confessional

8.5 Great

4

The Sot-Weed Factor

The Sot-Weed Factor is John Barth's 1960 picaresque satire of colonial Maryland and the poet Ebenezer Cooke, marking his...

American Satire 20TH Century Historical

8.4 Great

5

The Dog of the South

The Dog of the South is Charles Portis's 1979 comic road novel, following Ray Midge from Arkansas toward Belize in pursu...

American Comic Satire 20TH Century

8.2 Great

6

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

James Weldon Johnson’s *The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man* chronicles the life of a man navigating racial prejudice...

American 20TH Century Identity Race

8.2 Great

7

Two Serious Ladies

Two Serious Ladies is Jane Bowles's 1943 modernist novel, her only novel, following Christina Goering and Frieda Copperf...

American Satire 20TH Century Surreal

8.0 Great

8

Moon Palace

Moon Palace is Paul Auster's 1989 picaresque novel about Marco Stanley Fogg, linking Manhattan, the U.S. Southwest, and...

Quest American 20TH Century Postmodern

8.0 Great

9

Tortilla Flat

Tortilla Flat is John Steinbeck's 1935 novel about Monterey paisanos after World War I, his first clear critical and com...

Classic American Comic 20TH Century

7.8 Good

10

Rubyfruit Jungle

Rubyfruit Jungle is Rita Mae Brown's 1973 debut novel, a coming-of-age account of Molly Bolt notable for its open portra...

American Satire 20TH Century Queer

7.8 Good

11

The Reivers

The Reivers is William Faulkner's 1962 final novel, a lighthearted Yoknapatawpha picaresque that won the 1963 Pulitzer P...

Classic American Comic 20TH Century

7.7 Good

12

Henderson the Rain King

Henderson the Rain King is a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow about a wealthy, discontented American pig farmer whose picaresqu...

American 20TH Century Self Discovery Saul Bellow

7.7 Good

13

A Cool Million

A Cool Million is Nathanael West's 1934 American novel, a bleak parody of Horatio Alger success stories centered on Lemu...

American Satire 20TH Century Parody

7.5 Good

14

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters is Robert Lewis Taylor's 1958 novel about a boy on an 1849 wagon train, winner of the 1...

Adventure American Youth 20TH Century

7.5 Good

15

Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me

Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me is Richard Farina's 1966 comic campus picaresque, a counterculture novel publis...

American Satire 20TH Century Counterculture

7.2 Good

16

Kinflicks

Kinflicks is Lisa Alther's 1976 debut novel, following Ginny Hull through 1960s identity crises and noted for frank femi...

American Satire 20TH Century Coming Of Age

7.1 Good

17

Letty Fox: Her Luck

Letty Fox: Her Luck is Christina Stead's 1946 sixth novel, a New York first-person account often described as both picar...

American Satire 20TH Century Urban

7.0 Good

18

My Search for Warren Harding

My Search for Warren Harding is Robert Plunket's 1983 debut novel, a comic picaresque about historian Elliot Weiner hunt...

Quest American Comic Satire

7.0 Good

19

The Moosepath League

The Moosepath League is Van Reid's comic historical saga set in 1890s Maine; its first book, Cordelia Underwood, was a 1...

Adventure American Comic 20TH Century

6.6 Fair

20

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople is Willard Manus's 1966 comic novel about Norman Mott, best known for giving its name to the British roc...

American Comic Satire 20TH Century

6.2 Fair