Recs if you like Pnin...

Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.

puts beret on a jaunty angle ‘why yes i went to Oxbridge and go skiing on my holibobs with papa, why do you ask?’ takes a hit of tobacco flavoured vape, puts asterisk in margin of the obscure classic i’m ‘reading’

the list for people who want to look ‘well read’ and need some books to name drop - look no further if you have read them, more power to you, but this is explicitly about the people who claim to have read them but can’t read instructions on pasta

consider this a shopping list 🖤

For when reading a classic feels too daunting. Classics under 200 pages!

As seen on Lithub

For pretentious academics, by pretentious academics, against pretentious academics.

Books referenced by name within the 15 books that make up the Men Loving Men in Literary Fiction Side Quest. I don't remember every single one, so please comment any I'm missing as you read the quest books!

"Turn me over, I'm done on this side!" —St. Lawrence, whilst roasting on a spit

Gallows humor, black comedy, l'humour noir — whatever you call it, this is the place for it. This list includes André Breton's seminal anthology of dark humor, a number of the works excerpted in this anthology, and beyond. You can find a link to the complete contents of Breton's anthology in the comments.

Want more weird humor? Check out my list Nitpicky Neuroticism (Comedy Edition)!

Mind you not just about academics or authors with a random abandoned PhD—more like the unbelievable people who manage to write bestsellers on a hundred notes stuck to their research paper drafts. Or at least worked long enough in the field to create believable fictional academics and niche academia jokes.

Unbound by fiction subgenres or personal ratings—feel free to propose more books in the comments!

broadly construed!