Books like 'Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Dark Room, The English Teacher'
Readers who enjoyed Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Dark Room, The English Teacher by R.K. Narayan & Alexander McCall Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure comedy classics poc-mc literary-fiction magical-realism historical-fiction epic humor
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The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov
27 ratingsOstap Bender is an unemployed con artist living by his wits in postrevolutionary Soviet Russia. He joins forces with Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, a former nobleman who has returned to his hometown to find a cache of missing jewels which were hidden in some chairs that have been appropriated by the Soviet authorities...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Granny, Iliko, Illarion, and I by Nodar Dumbadze, نودار دومبادزه]()
Granny, Iliko, Illarion, and I by Nodar Dumbadze, نودار دومبادزه
12 ratings"Granny, Iliko, Illarion and I" was the first book written by Nodar Dumbadze (1928-1984), a major Georgian writer. The book, which has a strong autobiographical element, tells about the wartime childhood of an orphaned Georgian boy, and about his youth and studies at Tbilisi University...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor action-adventure book children-books comedy fiction -
![Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser]()
Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser
18 ratingsOne of literature's most delightful rakes is back in another tale of rollicking adventure and tantalizing seduction. The plucky Flashman's latest escapades are sure to entertain devotees as well as attract new aficionados...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis, Enylton de Sá Rego]()
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis, Enylton de Sá Rego
26 ratingsFans of Latin American literature will be thrilled by Oxford University Press's new translations of works by 19th-century Brazilian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. His novels are both heartbreaking and comic; his limning of a colonial Brazil in flux is both perceptive and remarkably modern...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction magical-realism poc-mc action-adventure adult -
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![The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham]()
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
30 ratingsLarry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brillant characters - his fiancee Isabel, whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions, and Elliot Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure -
![Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan]()
Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan
24 ratings"There are writers—Tolstoy and Henry James to name two—whom we hold in awe, writers—Turgenev and Chekhov—for whom we feel a personal affection, other writers whom we respect—Conrad for example—but who hold us at a long arm's length with their 'courtly foreign grace...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure book children -
![Extinction by Thomas Bernhard]()
Extinction by Thomas Bernhard
14 ratingsThe last work of fiction by one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Extinction is widely considered Thomas Bernhard’s magnum opus. Franz-Josef Murau—the intellectual black sheep of a powerful Austrian land-owning family—lives in Rome in self-imposed exile, surrounded by a coterie of artistic and intellectual friends...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![The Great Brain Reforms by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer]()
The Great Brain Reforms by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer
16 ratingsThe year is 1898, and the best con man in Adenville, Utah, is the infamous twelve-year-old Tom Fitzgerald, "The Great Brain." A year at the Catholic Academy for Boys certainly hasn't dulled Tom's love for money—he's no sooner off the train than he begins scamming his own brother! By the end of his summer break, Tom has tricked all of his friends out of everything they own...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor action-adventure book children children-books comedy -
![Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser]()
Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser
16 ratingsHarry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Return of the Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer]()
The Return of the Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer
16 ratingsTom Fitzgerald, alias The Great Brain, is back, struggling to stay reformed now that his friends have threatened to ostracize him if he pulls even one more swindle. But his brother J.D. knows Tom's reformation is too good to be true, and as a reformed Great Brain makes for a dull life, J.D...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor action-adventure book children children-books comedy -
![The Great Brain Does it Again by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer]()
The Great Brain Does it Again by John D. Fitzgerald, Mercer Mayer
16 ratingsAs entertaining as ever...readers will fall happily under The Great Brain's spell."-- "School Library Journal...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor action-adventure book children children-books comedy -
![Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas And Other American Stories by Hunter S. Thompson]()
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas And Other American Stories by Hunter S. Thompson
16 ratingsDr. Thompson made the list of inspirational scribes when I polled in a recent writing workshop, and why not? Back in a spiffy Modern Library edition, replete with additional essays, I find in this iconographic work that HST both invoked--and provoked--an era that was not so much the '60s proper, but rather the mean, shadow-filled death of that time, which is still playing out...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult book comedy -
![Little Big Man by Thomas Berger]()
Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
18 ratings"I am a white man and never forget it, but I was brought up by the Cheyenne Indians from the age of ten."So starts the story of Jack Crabb, the 111-year old narrator of Thomas Berger's masterpiece of American fiction. As a "human being", as the Cheyenne called their own, he won the name Little Big Man...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure -
![Selected Stories by O. Henry]()
Selected Stories by O. Henry
24 ratingsO. Henry originated the humorous, energetic tale that ends with an ironic, even shocking twist. In "After Twenty Years," for example, two boys agree to meet at a particular spot exactly twenty years later. Both are faithful, but in the intervening years one boy has turned into a criminal, the other into a policeman...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure anthologies comedy -
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![Selected Stories by O. Henry]()
Selected Stories by O. Henry
24 ratings"Selected Stories of O. Henry," by O. Henry, is part of the "Barnes & Noble Classics"" "series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure anthologies comedy -
![The Great Brain Is Back by John D. Fitzgerald]()
The Great Brain Is Back by John D. Fitzgerald
14 ratingsThis classic trickster is back again, and he's up to no good in his eighth and final book of the series. Great mix of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Terrible Two series, and is perfect for fans of Roald Dahl.Tom D. Fitzgerald--better known as The Great Brain--has turned thirteen, and pretty Polly Reagan has put a spell on him. But when it comes to swindling his younger brother J. D...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor action-adventure book children children-books comedy -
![Manalive by G.K. Chesterton]()
Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
16 ratingsPerhaps the most light-hearted of all Chesterton's "serious" works, Manalive pits a group of disillusioned young people against Mr. Innocent Smith, a bubbly, high-spirited gentleman who literally falls into their midst. Later accused of murder and denounced for philandering everywhere he goes, Smith prompts his newfound acquaintances to recognize an important idea in most unexpected ways...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha II by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra]()
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha II by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
18 ratingsMany of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pomona Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult book comedy -
![My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, Azar Nafisi]()
My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, Azar Nafisi
18 ratingsA teenage boy makes the mistake of falling in love with the much-protected daughter of his uncle, mischievously nicknamed after his hero Napoleon Bonaparte, the curmudgeonly self-appointed patriarch of a large and extended Iranian family in 1940s Tehran... -
![Water Music by T. Coraghessan Boyle, James R. Kincaid]()
Water Music by T. Coraghessan Boyle, James R. Kincaid
18 ratingsAlternate Cover Edition can be found here and here.T.C. Boyle's riotous first novel, now in a new edition for its 25th anniversary Twenty five years ago, T.C. Boyle published his first novel, Water Music, a funny, bawdy, extremely entertaining novel of imaginative and stylistic fancy that announced to the world Boyle's tremendous gifts as a storyteller...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![Flashman's Lady by George MacDonald Fraser]()
Flashman's Lady by George MacDonald Fraser
18 ratingsFlashy, that lustful libertine, takes a round-the-world adventure that would shock Don Juan and make swingers of today green with envy. In an English mansion, he's not just doodling in the drawing room with a blue blood's red-hot-blooded mistress; in Africa, he's forced to serve a sultry queen who kills low-endurance lovers...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry, Shep O'Neal]()
The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry, Shep O'Neal
18 ratingsStarters are an introductory level to the new Oxford Bookworms Library, suitable for readers in their first or second years of learning English. The Starters series are original stories in a variety of formats: narrative, interactive, and comic strip. They contain glossaries and exercises and are carefully graded in structure and vocabulary. Cassettes are available for some titles...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure anthologies audiobook children -
![Fish Preferred by P.G. Wodehouse]()
Fish Preferred by P.G. Wodehouse
18 ratingsHugh Carmody loved Millicent, Lord Emsworth niece, but he was very good friends with Sue Brown - an attachment which Millicent, perhaps, could hardly be expected to enthuse over. Ronnie Fish loved Sue, and entertained feelings o unrestrained ferocity towards Pilbeam, a blister of the first water, who was pestering her with flowers...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![Bell Hammers: The True Folk Tale of Little Egypt, Illinois by Lancelot Schaubert]()
Bell Hammers: The True Folk Tale of Little Egypt, Illinois by Lancelot Schaubert
6 ratings"Schaubert recounts a mischievous man's eight decades in Illinois's Little Egypt region in his picaresque debut BELL HAMMERS. Remmy's life of constant schemes and a lifelong feud with the local oil drilling company proves consequential. This is a hoot."- Publisher's Weekly🏆 finalist for Glimmer Train's Fiction Open.PRANKS. OIL. PROTEST. JOKES BETWEEN NEWLYWEDS... -
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![Two Gentlemen of Lebowski: A Most Excellent Comedie and Tragical Romance by Adam Bertocci, Bernard Setaro Clark]()
Two Gentlemen of Lebowski: A Most Excellent Comedie and Tragical Romance by Adam Bertocci, Bernard Setaro Clark
10 ratingsWhat if William Shakespeare had written The Big Lebowski?The Dude has met the Bard, and he doth abide.Join the "Knave" and Sir Walter on a wild tale of mistaken identity, kidnapping, bowling, and a rug that, in faith, really tied the room together--in a sidesplitting Shakespearean comedy of errors and ninepins, told in five glorious acts of iambic pentameter and impeccable period prose...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![Emil's Pranks by Astrid Lindgren]()
Emil's Pranks by Astrid Lindgren
12 ratingsMischievous Emil tests out a pair of stilts, rides a horse, and goes on a sleigh ride, all with predictably disastrous results...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book children -
![The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant]()
The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant
14 ratingsPart love story, part utopian fantasy, part spiritual fable, The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You is "a beautiful, symbolic journey of the soul" (Berkeley Monthly). Into the world of the Ata comes a desperate man, running from a fast life of fame and fortune, drugs and crime. He is led by the kin of Ata on a spiritual journey that, sooner or later, we all must take...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction magical-realism poc-mc action-adventure adult -
![Jeeves and the King of Clubs by Ben Schott]()
Jeeves and the King of Clubs by Ben Schott
14 ratingsStorm clouds loom over Europe. Treason is afoot in the highest social circles. The very security of the nation is in peril. Jeeves, it transpires, has long been an agent of British Intelligence, but now His Majesty's Government must turn to the one man who can help . . . Bertie Wooster.In this magnificent new homage to P. G...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson]()
Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
16 ratingsAs two pals wander the streets of Belfast in search of something better--a better pint, a better job, a better woman, a better now--readers are treated to their hilarious misadventures, political intrigues, and outlandish schemes...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
![The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth]()
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
18 ratingsConsidered by critics to be Barth's most distinguished masterpiece, The Sot-Weed Factor has acquired the status of a modern classic. Set in the late 1600s, it recounts the wildly chaotic odyssey of hapless, ungainly Ebenezer Cooke, sent to the New World to look after his father's tobacco business and to record the struggles of the Maryland colony in an epic poem...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Borrowers by Mary Norton]()
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
40 ratingsBeneath the kitchen floor is the world of the Borrowers -- Pod and Homily Clock and their daughter, Arrietty. In their tiny home, matchboxes double as roomy dressers and postage stamps hang on the walls like paintings. Whatever the Clocks need they simply "borrow" from the "human beans" who live above them. It's a comfortable life, but boring if you're a kid... -
![Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare]()
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
6 ratingsThe Taming of the ShrewRobust and bawdy, The Taming of the Shrew captivates audiences with outrageous humor as Katharina, the shrew, engages in a contest of wills–and love–with her bridegroom, Petruchio, in a comedy of unmatched theatrical brilliance, filled with visual gags and witty repartee...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction magical-realism action-adventure adult book -
![Hell Hath Frozen Over by Annabelle Anders]()
Hell Hath Frozen Over by Annabelle Anders
6 ratingsThe Duchess of Prescott, now a widow, fears she’s experienced all life has to offer. Thomas Findlay, a wealthy industrialist, knows she has not...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction humor romance historical industrial-era regency fiction -
![Les Liaisons Dangereuses a Play by Christopher Hampton]()
Les Liaisons Dangereuses a Play by Christopher Hampton
10 ratings"Les Liaisons Dangereuses", A Play by Christopher Hampton, from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos. Produced on the Broadway Stage by James M. Nederlander, The Schubert Organization, Inc., Jerome Minskoff, Elizabeth I. McCann and Stephen Graham in association with Jonathan Farkas...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
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![Dreamspinner by Lynn Kurland]()
Dreamspinner by Lynn Kurland
12 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Lynn Kurland’s enthralling Nine Kingdoms saga brings together a weaver’s apprentice and the son of a mage, both fighting to save the Nine Kingdoms from peril. Aisling of Bruadair has lived a provincial life, heedless of the evil creeping over her land... -
![The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton]()
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton
14 ratingsEngland in the middle of World War II, a war that seems fated to go on forever, a war that has become a way of life. Heroic resistance is old hat. Everything is in short supply, and tempers are even shorter...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
![Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser]()
Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser
14 ratingsIt’s 1868 and Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., arch-cad, amorist, cold-headed soldier, and reluctant hero, is back! Fleeing a chain of vengeful pursuers that includes Mexican bandits, the French Foreign Legion, and the relatives of an infatuated Austrian beauty, Flashy is desperate for somewhere to take cover...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Around the World with Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III]()
Around the World with Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III
14 ratingsEncore, Encore! The brilliant sequel to the smash bestseller Auntie Mame is back and the reviews are in .. -
![Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto]()
Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
16 ratingsThe only unabridged prose translation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso - a witty parody of the chivalric legends of Charlemagne and the Saracen invasion of France - this version faithfully recaptures the entire narrative and the subtle meanings behind it... -
![A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd]()
A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
18 ratingsA beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana—the book that inspired the equally classic Yuletide film.The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure anthologies audiobook -
![I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal]()
I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal
18 ratingsFirst published in 1971 in a typewritten edition, then finally printed in book form in 1989, I Served the King of England is "an extraordinary and subtly tragicomic novel" (The New York Times), telling the tale of Ditie, a hugely ambitious but simple waiter in a deluxe Prague hotel in the years before World War II... -
![Just William by Richmal Crompton]()
Just William by Richmal Crompton
18 ratings[...]began as a wild young man in evening clothes drinking intoxicants and playing cards, he ended as a wild old man in rags still drinking intoxicants and playing cards. He had a small child with a pious and superior expression, who spent her time weeping over him and exhorting him to a better life, till, in a moment of justifiable exasperation, he threw a beer bottle at her head...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure animals anthologies -
![By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman]()
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
18 ratingsFor fans of the I Survived series, this classic rollicking adventure about the California Gold Rush and one determined twelve-year-old has sold nearly a million copies!When Jack's aunt is forced to sell her beloved mansion but is still unable to raise enough money to pay her debts, the twelve-year-old goes to California in search of gold to help her...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age historical-fiction humor action-adventure audiobook book children -
![Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse]()
Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse
24 ratingsOne thing that constantly disrupts the peace of life at Blandings is the constant incursion of impostors. Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice. Now there are two of them – both intent on a dangerous enterprise...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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![Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III]()
Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III
24 ratingsWildly successful when it was first published in 1955, Patrick Dennis' Auntie Mame sold over two million copies and stayed put on the New York Times bestseller list for 112 weeks. It was made into a play, a Broadway as well as a Hollywood musical, and a fabulous movie starring Rosalind Russell... -
![Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley]()
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
18 ratingsRoger Mifflin is part pixie, part sage, part noble savage, and all God's creature. With his traveling book wagon named Parnassus, he moves through the New England countryside of 1915 on an itinerant mission of enlightenment. Mifflin's delight in books and authors is infectious--with his singular philosophy and bright eyes, he comes to represent the heart and soul of the book world...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![The Notebooks of Lazarus Long by Robert A. Heinlein]()
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long by Robert A. Heinlein
17 ratingsToo young to fight in the First World War, but destined to lead the first successful expedition to another star system, the (literally) immortal Lazarus Long is the most popular and enduring character created by Robert A. Heinlein, author of numerous New York Times best sellers... -
![Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse]()
Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse
16 ratingsThe story begins with Psmith accompanying his fellow Cambridge student Mike to New York on a cricketing tour. Through high spirits and force of personality, Psmith takes charge of a minor periodical, and becomes imbroiled in a scandal involving slum landlords, boxers and gangsters - the story displays a strong social conscience, rare in Wodehouse's generally light-hearted works...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![Flashman and the Tiger by George MacDonald Fraser]()
Flashman and the Tiger by George MacDonald Fraser
14 ratingsFor the first time in four years comes a new book in George MacDonald Fraser's long-running series chronicling the adventures of Sir Harry Paget Flashman. Eleventh in the series, Flashman and the Tiger features not one, but three stories of international intrigue that find the fictional Flashman thrown headlong into historical events around the world...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure -
![Forrest Gump by Winston Groom]()
Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
35 ratingsMeet Forrest Gump, the lovable, herculean, and surprisingly savvy hero of this remarkable comic odyssey. After accidentally becoming the star of University of Alabama's football team, Forrest goes on to become a Vietnam War hero, a world-class Ping-Pong player, a villainous wrestler, and a business tycoon -- as he wonders with childlike wisdom at the insanity all around him...
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