11 must-read fiction books like Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon

Cover of Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon

Slow Learner

By: Thomas Pynchon

3.52

Format: 195 pages, Paperback

Slow Learner is a compilation of early stories written between 1959 and 1964, before Pynchon achiev…

"But as we all know, rock ‘n’ roll will never die, and education too, as Henry Adams always sez, keeps going on forever."

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

"But as we all know, rock ‘n’ roll will never die, and education too, as Henry Adams always sez, keeps going on forever."

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

"But as we all know, rock ‘n’ roll will never die, and education too, as Henry Adams always sez, keeps going on forever."

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

"It is simply wrong to begin with a theme, symbol or other abstract unifying agent, and then try to force characters and events to conform to it."

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

If you liked the fiction plot in Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon , here is a list of 11 books like this:

Cover of Oblivion: Stories by David Foster Wallace

1. Oblivion: Stories

By: David Foster Wallace

4.07

Format: 329 pages, Paperback

In the stories that make up Oblivion, David Foster Wallace joins the rawest, most naked humanity wi… read more

Similar categories in David Foster Wallace's Oblivion: Stories book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • the united states of america
  • literature
  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"She smelled of talcum powder and Big Red."

-David Foster Wallace, Oblivion: Stories

"The great myth is that the bad ones don't last long."

-David Foster Wallace, Oblivion: Stories

"Am I happy? is one of those questions that, if it has got to be asked, more or less dictates its own answer."

-David Foster Wallace, Oblivion: Stories

"It is a fact of life that certain people are corrosive to others' self esteem simply as a function of who and what they are."

-David Foster Wallace, Oblivion: Stories

Cover of The Recognitions by William H. Gass, William Gaddis

2. The Recognitions

By: William H. Gass , William Gaddis

4.20

Format: 976 pages, Paperback

The book Jonathan Franzen dubbed the "ur-text of postwar fiction" and the "first great cultural cri… read more

Similar categories in William H. Gass's The Recognitions book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • the united states of america
  • literature
  • fiction
  • 20th century
  • novels
"Women get desperate, but they don't understand despair."

-William H. Gass, The Recognitions

"That fever had passed; but for the rest of his life it never left his eyes."

-William H. Gass, The Recognitions

"Reading Proust isn't just reading a book, it's an experience and you can't reject an experience."

-William H. Gass, The Recognitions

"Most people are clever because they don't know how to be honest." William Gaddis, The Recognitions."

-William H. Gass, The Recognitions

Cover of Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon

3. Slow Learner

By: Thomas Pynchon

3.52

Format: 195 pages, Paperback

Slow Learner is a compilation of early stories written between 1959 and 1964, before Pynchon achiev… read more

Similar categories in Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • the united states of america
  • literature
  • collections
  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • 20th century
  • novels
"But as we all know, rock ‘n’ roll will never die, and education too, as Henry Adams always sez, keeps going on forever."

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

"It is simply wrong to begin with a theme, symbol or other abstract unifying agent, and then try to force characters and events to conform to it."

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

"Everybody gets told to write about what they know. The trouble with many of us is that at the earlier stages of life we think we know everything- or to put it more usefully, we are often unaware of t…"

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

"What I mean is something like a closed circuit. Everybody on the same frequency. And after a while you forget about the rest of the spectrum and start believing that this is the only frequency that c…"

-Thomas Pynchon, Slow Learner

Cover of The Body Artist by Don DeLillo

4. The Body Artist

By: Don DeLillo

4.81

Format: 539 pages, Paperback

The Barnes & Noble Review In whatever form Don DeLillo chooses to write, there is simply no other A… read more

Similar categories in Don DeLillo's The Body Artist book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
Cover of Mao II by Don DeLillo

5. Mao II

By: Don DeLillo

4.31

Format: 110 pages, Paperback

"One of the most intelligent, grimly funny voices to comment on life in present-day America" (The N… read more

Similar categories in Don DeLillo's Mao II book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • 20th century
  • novels
Cover of Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Foster Wallace, Steven Moore, David Markson

6. Wittgenstein's Mistress

By: David Foster Wallace , Steven Moore , David Markson

3.32

Format: 344 pages, Paperback

Wittgenstein's Mistress is a novel unlike anything David Markson - or anyone else - has ever writte… read more

Similar categories in David Foster Wallace's Wittgenstein's Mistress book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels

7. The Skating Rink

By: Roberto Bolaño , Chris Andrews

4.29

Format: 128 pages, Hardcover

Set in the seaside town of Z, on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, The Skating Rinkoscillates be… read more

Similar categories in Roberto Bolaño's The Skating Rink book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literature
  • novels
  • fiction
Cover of The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth

8. The Sot-Weed Factor

By: John Barth

3.81

Format: 320 pages, Paperback

Considered by critics to be Barth's most distinguished masterpiece, The Sot-Weed Factorhas acquired… read more

Similar categories in John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literature
  • novels
  • american
  • fiction
Cover of Agapē Agape by William Gaddis, Sven Birkerts, Joseph Tabbi

9. Agapē Agape

By: William Gaddis , Sven Birkerts , Joseph Tabbi

4.33

Format: 48 pages, Paperback

William Gaddis published four novels during his lifetime, immense and complex books that helped ina… read more

Similar categories in William Gaddis's Agapē Agape book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • american
  • the united states of america
  • literature
  • fiction
  • 20th century
  • novels

10. Libra

By: Don DeLillo

3.87

Format: 291 pages, Paperback

From the author of White Noise (winner of the National Book Award) and Zero K In this powerful, eer… read more

Similar categories in Don DeLillo's Libra book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

11. The Names

By: Don DeLillo

3.87

Format: 291 pages, Paperback

Set against the backdrop of a lush and exotic Greece, The Namesis considered the book which began t… read more

Similar categories in Don DeLillo's The Names book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

12. JR

By: William Gaddis , Frederick R. Karl

3.61

Format: 8 pages, Paperback

J R is the long-awaited novel from William Gaddis, author of The Recognitions,that tremendous book … read more

Similar categories in William Gaddis's JR book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

13. Whores for Gloria

By: William T. Vollmann

3.37

Format: 297 pages, Paperback

From the acclaimed author of The Rainbow Stories, The Ice Shirt, and Fathers and Crowscomes this fe… read more

Similar categories in William T. Vollmann's Whores for Gloria book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

14. Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me

By: Thomas Pynchon , Richard Fariña

3.93

Format: 40 pages, Paperback

Farina evokes the Sixties as precisely, wittily, and poignantly as F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the… read more

Similar categories in Thomas Pynchon's Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

15. Carpenter's Gothic

By: William Gaddis

3.50

Format: 200 pages, Paperback

This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vie… read more

Similar categories in William Gaddis's Carpenter's Gothic book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

16. Infinite Jest

By: David Foster Wallace

4.31

Format: 66 pages, Paperback

A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America. Set in an addicts' ha… read more

Similar categories in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

17. Lost in the Funhouse

By: John Barth

4.27

Format: 197 pages,

Barth's lively, highly original collection of short pieces is a major landmark of experimental fict… read more

Similar categories in John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

18. Snow White

By: Donald Barthelme

3.90

Format: None pages, Paperback

"This book first appeared, in slightly different form, in The New Yorker. Certain portions also app… read more

Similar categories in Donald Barthelme's Snow White book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

Cover of White Noise by Don DeLillo

19. White Noise

By: Don DeLillo

3.86

Format: 320 pages, Paperback

The National Book Award-winning classic from the author of Underworld and Libra, now a Netflix film… read more

Similar categories in Don DeLillo's White Noise book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • the united states of america
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • 20th century
  • novels
"The vast and terrible depth." “Of course,"

-Don DeLillo, White Noise

"You are the happy one. I am the doomed fool."

-Don DeLillo, White Noise

"Fear is self-awareness raised to a higher level."

-Don DeLillo, White Noise

"...the half-concealed disasters that constitute a life."

-Don DeLillo, White Noise

20. A Confederate General from Big Sur

By: Richard Brautigan

3.62

Format: 208 pages, Paperback

This is the story of Lee Mellon, whose great-grandfather was (or perhaps was not) a Confederate Gen… read more

Similar categories in Richard Brautigan's A Confederate General from Big Sur book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

Cover of The Passenger (The Passenger #1) by Cormac McCarthy

21. The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

By: Cormac McCarthy

3.58

Format: 385 pages, Kindle Edition

1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of… read more

Similar categories in Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger (The Passenger #1) book and Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner

  • literary fiction
  • american
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
"All of history [is] a rehearsal for its own extinction."

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

"...do you think if you died drunk you’d sober up before you met Jesus?"

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

"The evil has no alternate plan. It is simply incapable of assuming failure"

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

"She asked the girl what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said dead."

-Cormac McCarthy, The Passenger (The Passenger #1)

7 Top contemporary books like Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon

Transform Your Habits

Oblivion: Stories

David Foster Wallace

4.07

Transform Your Habits

Slow Learner

Thomas Pynchon

3.52

Transform Your Habits

The Body Artist

Don DeLillo

4.81

Transform Your Habits

Mao II

Don DeLillo

4.31

View all the books

21 best-selling fiction books like The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño, Chris Andrews

Transform Your Habits

Vertigo

Michael Hulse , W.G. Sebald

4.00

Transform Your Habits

The Recognitions

William H. Gass , William Gaddis

4.20

Transform Your Habits

Slow Learner

Thomas Pynchon

3.52

Transform Your Habits

The Tunnel

William H. Gass

4.17

View all the books

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