Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like Catch-22
The best books like Catch-22 are Slaughterhouse-Five, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Things They Carried. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is about war and absurdity, institutional logic versus survival, sanity and madness. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Slaughterhouse-Five
01
Kurt Vonnegut · Literary fiction
Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - All Quiet on the Western Front
02
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque · History
All Quiet on the Western Front follows Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier who enlists with his classmates during the First World War after being swept up in patriotic speeches.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Things They Carried
03
Tim O'Brien · Memoir
Tim O'Brien served as a foot soldier in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Animal Farm
04
George Orwell · Literary fiction
When the animals of Manor Farm drive out their human farmer and establish a republic governed by the principle that all animals are equal, the revolution feels like liberation.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Farewell to Arms
05
Ernest Hemingway · Literary fiction
A Farewell to Arms is set during the First World War in northern Italy and follows Frederic Henry, an American serving as a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps, who falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Fine Balance
06
Rohinton Mistry · Literary fiction
A Fine Balance is set in an unnamed Indian city during Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–1977, a period of suspended democracy, forced sterilization, and slum clearances that is barely taught in the West and barely taught in India.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Little Life
07
Hanya Yanagihara · Literary fiction
A Little Life follows four men from college into middle age and beyond — Willem, an actor; JB, a painter; Malcolm, an architect; and Jude, a lawyer with a past that is revealed in increasingly devastating detail as the novel progresses.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
08
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce · Literary fiction
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man traces the intellectual and spiritual development of Stephen Dedalus from early childhood to the edge of adulthood, when he leaves Ireland to pursue life as an artist.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Thousand Acres
09
Jane Smiley · Literary fiction
A Thousand Acres retells King Lear on a thousand-acre Iowa farm in the 1970s.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Visit from the Goon Squad
10
Jennifer Egan · Literary fiction
A Visit from the Goon Squad is a novel told in thirteen chapters, each from a different point of view and sometimes in a radically different form — including one chapter composed entirely as a PowerPoint presentation.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
11
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain · Literary fiction
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins where Tom Sawyer left off — Huck Finn, the outcast son of the town drunk, has been taken in and given a respectable life he doesn't want.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - American Pastoral
12
Philip Roth · Literary fiction
American Pastoral opens with a narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, learning at a high school reunion about the life and death of Seymour "the Swede" Levov — a man who embodied postwar American success so completely he seemed almost allegorical.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like Catch-22: quick answers
What are the best books like Catch-22?
The best books like Catch-22 by Joseph Heller are Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Animal Farm by George Orwell, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Catch-22, such as war and absurdity, institutional logic versus survival, sanity and madness.
What should I read after Catch-22?
A natural next read after Catch-22 is Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Animal Farm by George Orwell.
What books are similar to Catch-22 by Joseph Heller?
Catch-22 centers on war and absurdity, institutional logic versus survival, sanity and madness. Books with a similar feel include Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Animal Farm by George Orwell, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
