Little, Big
by John Crowley · first published 1981
79% recommend14% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Multigenerational family fantasy set in a hidden magical world inside ours. Its prose style stands out, and it is accessible to readers who are lukewarm on fantasy. Several rank it among the best in the genre.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Winner of the 1982 World Fantasy Award for best novel.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2009–2026Titus Groan
Mervyn Peake
Recommended by 9 · mentioned by 139 recommend · 13 mention9 recommend · 139 recommend
2010–2026The Western canon
Harold Bloom
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 146 recommend · 14 mention6 recommend · 146 recommend
2012–2025Dream Park
Larry Niven, Steven Barnes, Grover Gardner narrator
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 65 recommend · 6 mention5 recommend · 65 recommend
2007–2026Book of the New Sun
Gene Wolfe
Recommended by 64 · mentioned by 9364 recommend · 93 mention64 recommend · 9364 recommend
2010–2026Dying Earth - Baen
Jack Vance, Arthur Morey
Recommended by 22 · mentioned by 3722 recommend · 37 mention22 recommend · 3722 recommend
2017–2026The Bobiverse
Dennis E. Taylor
Recommended by 36 · mentioned by 4036 recommend · 40 mention36 recommend · 4036 recommend
2011–2026The Third Policeman
Flann O'Brien
Recommended by 9 · mentioned by 169 recommend · 16 mention9 recommend · 169 recommend
2009–2024Why don't students like school?
Daniel T. Willingham
Recommended by 11 · mentioned by 1511 recommend · 15 mention11 recommend · 1511 recommend
In no particular order, except that #1 is #1. 1. Adventures of Huckelberry Finn 2. Little, Big 3. Winter's Tale 4. Titus Groan 5. Gormenghast 6. Titus Alone 7. Dune 8. The manuscript found in saragossa 9. The Three Musketeers 10. A Scanner Darkly 11. The Man in the High Castle 12. Do…
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗"Little, Big" by John Crowley, a fantasy novel about several generations of a family connected to a hidden world of magic within our world. Could not be less like Harry Potter (even though I'm also a fan of that series).…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why” ↗If you have read a lot of fantasy, there's a good chance that your favorite is a book that was popular at some time. My favorite, for example, is John Crowley's Little, Big. It's not obscure! It won critical acclaim and wide readership in 1981. Most popular books become obscure books, given enough time. (Reading Les Miserables, I had to consult the footnotes repeatedly…
on “Read “Data and Reality”” ↗Did you ever read Crowley's Little, Big? If those series you name form different columns in the periodic table of fantasy, I would say this one novel is in its own column.
on “The Earthsea Trilogy (2003)” ↗The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, PKD Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (the BBC miniseries was not good) Little, Big, John Crowley
on “Ask HN: Which fantasy and/or SF literary works you would like to see on screen?” ↗I enjoyed your comment and explanation, as I just finished reading John Crowley's book "Little, Big" in which this idea is explained and made into a kind of magic. Brilliant book and the bits that deal with the memory arts are fantastic.
on “The $10K Memory Competition: learn to remember a shuffled deck of cards” ↗I just want to add that, if you like this article, the author, John Crowley, is an amazing and underread novelist. Little, Big is the best fantasy novel I've read for people who are sort of lukewarm about fantasy (and one of the greatest novels of the last half century in my opinion).
on “Stranger Things: The Rise and Fall of UFOs and Life on the Moon” ↗The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien Ubik, Philip K. Dick 900 Grandmothers, R.A. Lafferty Moderan, David R. Bunch Radiance, Carter Scholz Little, Big, John Crowley Lizard Music, Daniel Pinkwater Camp Concentration, Thomas Disch Peace, Gene Wolfe
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite sci-fi book?” ↗The one book is probably actually three books that were read more or less at the same time: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick, Little, Big by John Crowley, and Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe. These books led to a change of reading habits in way that led eventually to working in publishing.
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗Check out Little, Big by John Crowley, another good one that digs into this stuff.
on “In the Halls of the Mountain Kings” ↗For a fantasy classic, you could try John Crowley's Little, Big, which was reputedly the late lit critic Harold Bloom's favorite novel. Bloom notoriously hated most fantasy novels - the Harry Potter series in particular - so that's a noticeable endorsement. For an…
on “Ask HN: I only read tech/business books – recommend me some fiction?” ↗There is a beautiful bit in Little, Big by John Crowley. At the start of the book one of the characters is working checking entries in the telephone directory and is amused that the system has confused saint and street to produce Church Of…
on “HackerFM – An AI Generated HN Podcast Using the New ChatGPT API” ↗I would check out John Crowley, starting with Little, Big. One of the great American prose stylists. Hilary Mantel is very good. I haven't read the Wolf Hall books, but A Place of Greater Safety is beautiful and deserves to be better known. I would also nominate…
on “Don't be terrified of Pale Fire” ↗…post. John Crowley was a rare breed among American writers in that he was an accomplished science fiction and fantasy writer who was also recognized by the mainstream establishment. Harold Bloom included Little, Big in his "The Western Canon", for example. I've not read the later Crowley works, but The Deep, Engine Summer, and Little, Big are all among my favorite books.
on “John Crowley Has Died” ↗Little, Big by John Crowley. Also everything else he's written.
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗