100 Books Like The Animal Family

Nothing much seems to happen in this remarkable novella, which describes a single lunch break of a man at work.

Actually, though, the reader gets to eavesdrop on the man’s ruminations about everyday things—shoelaces, bathroom blow dryers, vending machines, office supplies, and so much more.

These ruminations are practically Proustian; they start with something ordinary (a milk carton), followed by a digression (memories of having milk delivered to his home), interrupted by another digression (about his sister’s milk allergy), and veering into philosophical territory (pondering the nature of all childhood memories).

Reading this novella is both exhausting and exhilarating. It’s like wandering haphazardly through a maze of ideas and memories. Luckily, the novella is short enough that the reader never grows bored or tired.

I stumbled upon this incredible book that explored the parallels between ancient Eastern philosophy and Western psychology.

Thinkers like Zhuangzi and Laozi understood that not trying paradoxically can improve performance and focus. Indolence can be another way to release one’s mind to the ebbs and flows of the outside world. Honestly, it was a delicious surprise to realize that the ancient philosophers had so much to say about human indolence.

A fiction writer instinctively overthinks what he is writing about, but this book helped me to stop worrying about word counts or writer’s block and just accept that words come out eventually… sometimes as a trickle and sometimes as a roar.

This is one of my all-time favorite reads.

Ideally, novels are supposed to provide escape and insight, but sometimes a hefty novel can seem too ponderous a commitment for lazy people.

As an alternative, flash fiction can accommodate people who have failing attention spans or inflexible schedules. Sure, it won’t be as engrossing or uplifting as a 900-page novel, but it’s easy to dive into a random page and enjoy the magical possibilities of prose.

Yourgrau’s flash fictions are more playful than plausible. (Example: “A man comes home and finds his wife in bed with a squirrel.”) Good flash fiction doesn’t need a lot of action, just surrealistic touches and a surprising moment or two.

Eventually, after a few good laughs, you’ll be ready to read something longer and meatier.

I love Andersen because his stories almost out-Kafka Kafka.

His animal characters are not exactly philosophers, but they observe, they dread, they dream. Animals—like humans—rarely challenge the natural order of things, but they must deal with the world as it actually is.

One Danish critic said that Andersen wrote more self-portraits than Rembrandt ever painted. Andersen’s great contribution to literature is recognizing how little is needed to produce a story and how little a great story really needs to say. 

One story tells of a chance meeting and spurned friendship between two toys in a drawer. Andersen seems capable of turning anything into a story.

This annotated hardback edition by a folklore scholar is one of the most beautiful-looking books I own.

This is another favorite series, but this book in particular is a pivotal story.

The secrets of Duncan's ex-wife are fascinating in their own right but also in how they impact the relationship of the central series characters, Duncan and Gemma. The mystery is resolved in this book, but the personal revelations ripple through the series in fascinating ways and raise the stakes going forward.

This book had me cracking up. I would recommend this book for kids aged seven to ten but I also think adults would love reading it. Oliver is the child of adventurers who now want to settle down. Well, the itch to adventure is still pretty powerful. So, of course, off they go again. Oliver has to find them so he too goes off to search for them. On his journey, he meets some other creatures, including a mermaid, an albatross, a depressed island, and some very obnoxious weeds. I’m being super non-spoilery and vague here because I want you to happen upon the silly puns and wordplay by yourself. I will also resist the urge to tell you what sea wigs are. 

What I like about this story is that Oliver is a normal kid. His sense of adventure came about second-hand, and he had no great urge to go… show more.

The Mermaid of Black Conch takes a mythological creature and gives her extraordinary life, as a very real, young woman, called Aycayia.

She is caught – hooked like a prize fish - by greedy anglers, and hauled from the sea, bringing with her an already fascinating and tragic history of injustice and misunderstanding. But, she is also an object of love.

Not all fishermen are commercial opportunists… Not all men are eager to exploit beautiful and unusual women, and so begins an extraordinary rescue, and a life-affirming relationship, with many unpredictable, literally magical, and truly remarkable twists.

This enchanting book, written with breath-taking originality, is likely to spell-bind you – permanently. You’ll never again think of mermaids in the same way.

Clara knows two things about her adopted sister: one, she’s the best friend Clara has ever had and, two, once she turns into a mermaid, she’ll rejoin her birth family in the sea and be gone forever. Nothing Clara does can stop the process, and once Maren is fully transformed, longing for the sea begins to kill her. But it’s a dangerous journey from the hills of Pennsylvania to the Atlantic—especially when there are nefarious characters who would love to get their hands on a real mermaid. Personally, as a mother of two sons, the theme of choosing to help someone you love fulfill their own destiny rather than keeping them back to complete your own happiness is a bittersweet one to ponder. 

Before I began to write my own cycle of flash fiction and microfiction, I decided to study virtuosos of the form. Bender’s book was my first encounter with fast fiction. Her surreal, emotionally raw flashes and short-shorts walk a tightrope between the absurd and the profound. Her characters often exist in dreamlike states—wearing prosthetic arms, dating monsters, or grieving through magical realism. These compact stories don’t just surprise; they haunt.

As a novelist who leans towards conventional storytelling, I found this book foundational for taking risks to be weird and brief.

I really enjoyed this book for so many reasons! The small-town coastal Maine setting was so atmospheric, and the author pulled you right into the setting. The mystery at the start of the book was very well done as to who Lorelei really is.

I absolutely adored the romance between her and Killian! Their chemistry was palpable, and they had healthy, mature communication with one another. I also loved how supportive Killian was toward her. I also really liked and related to Lorelei and her struggle to fit between two worlds and coming to accept who she is: a mermaid who craves flesh and blood—and I thought it was a great twist on traditional mermaid lore.