If you loved

Books like The World According to Garp

The World According to Garp by John Irving: what to read next, and why.

A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 · Literary The author's other great novel, more spiritual and sentimental, with a similar mix of comedy and loss.
The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 · Literary Another large American family comedy with a dark, observant edge.
Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 · Classics A war-time comedy in which the absurd and the horrible are inseparable.