2026 Reading Challenge

Listopia > Postmodern Book Lists

Infinite Jest by David Foster WallaceSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas PynchonCatch-22 by Joseph HellerThe Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Postmodern Genius
519 books — 585 voters
Framed & Hunted by Edward WilliamsA Very Bad Thing by J.T. EllisonMean Spirited by Nick RobertsThe Witches of Scotland by Steven P. AitchisonWayward Spirits by Wendy Wang
Transgressive and Bizzaro Fiction
319 books — 131 voters

The Sound and the Fury by William FaulknerSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Ulysses by James JoyceIf on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo CalvinoHouse of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Style as Text
251 books — 129 voters
Infinite Jest by David Foster WallaceSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas PynchonCatch-22 by Joseph HellerHouse of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Postmodern Novels
102 books — 111 voters

1984 by George OrwellThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerFight Club by Chuck PalahniukSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Postmodern cult classics
87 books — 99 voters
1984 by George OrwellCatch-22 by Joseph HellerDeath of a Salesman by Arthur MillerAnimal Farm by George OrwellThe Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
White Collar Holler
128 books — 96 voters

Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Com... by MultatuliDe donkere kamer van Damokles by Willem Frederik HermansThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Discovery of Heaven by Harry MulischNooit meer slapen by Willem Frederik Hermans
Dutch Literary Canon
122 books — 91 voters
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeHouse of Leaves by Mark Z. DanielewskiGood Omens by Terry PratchettInfinite Jest by David Foster WallaceThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Footnotes!
102 books — 75 voters

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken LiuWhat It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka ArimahStories of Your Life and Others by Ted ChiangA Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia BerlinNight at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade
Book Riot's 100 Must-Read Contemporary Short Story Collections
122 books — 74 voters
House of Leaves by Mark Z. DanielewskiS. by J.J. AbramsThe Unfortunates by B.S. JohnsonThe Raw Shark Texts by Steven HallIf on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Ergodic Literature
60 books — 63 voters

Beloved by Toni MorrisonThe Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonCitizen by Claudia RankineCane by Jean ToomerJazz by Toni Morrison
WHERE IS OUR BLACK AVANT GARDE?
30 books — 29 voters
Rhinocéros by Eugène IonescoMémoires d'Hadrien by Marguerite YourcenarL'Amant by Marguerite DurasBonjour tristesse by Françoise SaganUne si longue lettre by Mariama Bâ
French literature 1950-2000
90 books — 28 voters

Seven Beyond by Stella AtriumThe Consolation of Philosophy by BoethiusPhilosophy of Evil by Lars Fredrik Händler SvendsenThe Art of War and Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy by Sun TzuPhilosophy as Passion by Karen Vintges
books with ‘philosophy’ in title
250 books — 15 voters
Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael ReedBeloved by Toni MorrisonErasure by Percival EverettOreo by Fran RossNegrophobia by Darius James
African-American Post–Civil Rights Experimental Literature
24 books — 14 voters

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis BorgesSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo CalvinoPale Fire by Vladimir NabokovThe Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
61 Essential Postmodern Reads: Los Angeles Times
66 books — 12 voters
Whole Whale by Karen YinZ Is for Moose by Kelly BinghamYou Might Be Special! by Kerri KokiasOpen This Little Book by Jesse KlausmeierMix It Up! by Hervé Tullet
KidBox Reads: Postmodern Picture Books
12 books — 12 voters

Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund KrzhizhanovskyCrash by J.G. BallardThe Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria RilkeThe Book of Disquiet by Fernando PessoaEmilio's Carnival by Italo Svevo
Innovative Fiction
35 books — 9 voters
Точка нуль by Artem ChekhХто ти такий? by Artem ChekhМузей покинутих секретів by Oksana ZabuzhkoІнтернат by Serhiy ZhadanЗабуття by Tanja Maljartschuk
Ukrainian modern fiction
50 books — 8 voters

The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon StoneHarold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett JohnsonOlivia by Ian FalconerKnuffle Bunny by Mo WillemsYou Might Be Special! by Kerri Kokias
Playful Picture Books
50 books — 6 voters
Karel ende Elegast by UnknownVan den vos Reynaerde by UnknownOeroeg by Hella S. HaasseNooit meer slapen by Willem Frederik HermansLiederen by Hadewijch
Flemish-Dutch Literary Canon
51 books — 5 voters

Beautiful Macabre by Thomas NegovanThe Art of the B-Movie Poster by Adam NewellIt's a Man's World by Adam ParfreyTrash by Jacques BoyreauGraphic Thrills by Robin Bougie
A Bad Case Of The Sposdas
226 books — 4 voters
Mason & Dixon by Thomas PynchonMilkman by Anna BurnsTyll by Daniel KehlmannVineland by Thomas PynchonThe Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie by Ágota Kristóf
Postmodernist Historical Fiction
26 books — 4 voters

The Poetics of Murder by Glenn W. MostHow to Write a Mystery by Lee ChildAngel of Death by Brian O'HareCritical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction by Carl RollysonGardening Can Be Murder by Marta McDowell
Detective Fiction: The Theory
62 books — 3 voters
A Thousand Plateaus by Gilles DeleuzeSpecters of Marx by Jacques DerridaDifference and Repetition by Gilles DeleuzeDiscipline and Punish by Michel Foucault
Post-structuralist philosophy
4 books — 2 voters

White Noise by Don DeLilloThere Is No Antimemetics Division by qntmPersephone in the Late Anthropocene by Megan GrumblingHigh-Rise by J.G. BallardThe Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley
Existential Horror
23 books — 2 voters
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo CalvinoThe Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Postmodernist Literature
3 books — 1 voter

Browse By Tag