Who recommends it
- Pedro DomingosInterview
The novel I’m writing is a satire, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov come to mind. It’s a satire of the tech industry and its collision with politics. The goal is to entertain while giving readers a window into how the world of tech, and AI in…
- The Funniest Books of All TimeReading list
My first nomination for one of the funniest books I’ve read is A Confederacy of Dunces. Ignatius J. Reilly is certainly one of literature’s unforgettable characters, and so are many of the supporting cast of this farcical morality play, written by a writer who committed suicide in his 32nd year, winning the Pulitzer…
- Matthew A. CroninInterview
YES! A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. Those are my favorites but again, there are so many wonderful books that are each great for their own reasons. The classics are classics for a reason. And I have some…
- Tamler SommersInterview
10-12 year-olds: Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It was my daughter’s favorite book for a long time. High school: The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino because it’s beautiful and can introduce them to novel ways of understanding meaning and purpose. College: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole because it’s the…
- Laurie KilmartinInterview
For 16, I think I’d give myself The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. I’m not sure my 16 year old self would appreciate it, but I’d like her to know that life can be very long, and this too shall pass. For 25, perhaps A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I found that book way too late.
- Rob AutonInterview
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones, Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway, Miles The Autobiography by Miles Davis, The First Forty-Nine Stories by Ernest Hemingway, and The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron.
- Matt MaddenInterview
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. There’s something very satisfying to me about the shambolic, eccentric humour of that book that feels very American—I see it also in Pynchon, Salinger, William Gaddis’ JR, or in Dr. Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick. At the same time, I see a kinship to Raymond Queneau’s…
- Ramsey CampbellInterview
At twenty-five, I was really pretty well-read, and I’m not sure what I would add. Well, it’s never too soon to read A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole or The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman – I hadn’t then read these great comedies, and the comic aspect of my tales might have developed sooner if I had.
- Lawrence GrobelInterview
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride; The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus; Beatlebone by Kevin Barry; A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; Hunters and Gatherers by Geoff Nicholson; Search Sweet Country by B. Kojo Laing; No Sweetness Here by Ama Ata Aidoo; The Moviegoer by Walker Percy and Another…
- Daniel RigbyInterview
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace; Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke; A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; The Ask by Sam Lipsyte; The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
- Sage FrancisInterview
Yes, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I feel like I personally know every character in that book, and no book has literally made me laugh out loud every other page. I’m doing my best to forget everything about that book so I can go back and read it again.
- B. DolanInterview
I associate God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens with my epic beard brother Sage Francis, as I had the pleasure of reading his copy complete with underlined passages. He’s also been pushing Tom Robbins and Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole on me quite aggressively lately.
Often recommended alongside
The Catcher in the Rye
Lolita
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