swap_horiz Possession: A Romance Alternatives

1

Stoner

John Williams’ *Stoner* chronicles the life of Edwin “Stoner” Grant, a Midwestern student at Midwestern State Teachers C...

1960S Literary Fiction Tragic Professorial

9.4 Excellent

2

Lucky Jim

Kingsley Amis’s *Lucky Jim* chronicles the chaotic life of James Baldwin, a young lecturer at Bretton Hall College in Yo...

Comedy 1950S Academic Satire UK University

9.2 Excellent

3

Kokoro

Kokoro is a significant literary work by Natsume Soseki set in Japan’s Meiji Era. The novel centers on the evolving rela...

Literary Fiction 1910S Meiji Era Japanese University

9.1 Excellent

4

Doctor Faustus

Doctor Faustus is Thomas Mann’s sprawling 1947 novel exploring themes of ambition and morality through the story of Adri...

Intellectual Literary Fiction 1940S German Music School

8.9 Great

5

Fifth Business

Robertson Davies's 1970 novel, first in the Deptford trilogy, is narrated by a retired Canadian schoolmaster reflecting...

1970S Literary Fiction Professorial Robertson Davies

8.8 Great

6

A Prayer for Owen Meany

John Irving's 1989 novel set partly at a New Hampshire prep school and college, in which an extraordinary boy convinces...

Coming Of Age 1980S Literary Fiction Boarding School

8.7 Great

7

No Longer Human

Osamu Dazai's 1948 semi-autobiographical Japanese novel tracing a young man's alienation, alcoholism, and moral collapse...

Coming Of Age Literary Fiction 1940S Japanese University

8.7 Great

8

Villette

Charlotte Brontë's 1853 novel drawing on her years as a teacher in Brussels, following an Englishwoman who forges an ind...

Coming Of Age Victorian Literary Fiction Bronte

8.6 Great

9

Sanshiro

Natsume Soseki's 1908 novel following a naive provincial youth who arrives at Tokyo Imperial University and is gradually...

Coming Of Age Literary Fiction Meiji Era Japanese University

8.6 Great

10

The Club Dumas

Arturo Pérez-Reverte's 1993 Spanish novel in which a mercenary rare-book dealer investigates a 17th-century manuscript r...

Mystery 1990S Rare Book Scholars Intellectual Thriller

8.5 Great

11

The History Man

1975 novel by Malcolm Bradbury following radical sociologist Howard Kirk at fictional University of Watermouth, later ad...

1970S Literary Fiction Academic Satire UK University

8.3 Great

12

Nice Work

1988 novel by David Lodge contrasting academic and industrial life in England through two Rummidge characters, shortlist...

1980S Literary Fiction Academic Satire UK University

8.2 Great

13

Mating

Norman Rush's 1991 National Book Award–winning novel narrated by an American female anthropologist in Botswana who journ...

Intellectual 1990S Literary Fiction Academic Fieldwork

7.8 Good

14

The House of Sleep

Jonathan Coe's 1997 British novel set partly at a seaside university, structured around sleep disorders, which won Franc...

Coming Of Age 1990S Literary Fiction UK University

7.7 Good

15

The Cunning Man

Robertson Davies's 1994 novel, his last completed work, unfolds through a Toronto doctor's memoirs and examines the inte...

Intellectual 1990S Literary Fiction Robertson Davies

7.6 Good

16

Thinks...

2001 novel by David Lodge in which a cognitive scientist and a novelist debate the nature of consciousness at a fictiona...

2000S Literary Fiction Academic Satire UK University

7.5 Good

17

The Sleep of Reason

C.P. Snow's 1968 Strangers and Brothers novel, loosely inspired by the Moors murders, examines the limits of liberal hum...

1960S Literary Fiction UK University Academic Milieu

7.2 Good

18

For Kings and Planets

Ethan Canin's 1998 novel about a rural Midwestern student who befriends a charismatic, privileged New Yorker during thei...

Coming Of Age 1990S Literary Fiction Columbia University

7.1 Good

19

The Murther & Walking Spirits

The Murther & Walking Spirits is a 1991 novel by Canadian author Robertson Davies that uniquely combines a murder myster...

1990S Literary Fiction Ghost Story Robertson Davies

6.9 Fair

20

The Final Club

Geoffrey Wolff's 1990 novel set at Princeton University, exploring class anxiety and moral compromise within the univers...

Ivy League 1990S Literary Fiction Secret Society

5.8 Mediocre