A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020 by David Sedaris: There’s no right way to keep a diary, but if there’s an entertaining way, David Sedaris seems to have mastered it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background—new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet.
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman: In July 2019, Nick took a hiking trip to Glacier National Park with his friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders. The trip, and the conversations between the three men, began a study and exploration of both the American West and its National Parks that addresses so many of the important issues that affect America today. This book is a humorous and rousing tour of America’s nature spots as well as a mission statement about loving, protecting, and truly experiencing the outdoors.
Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perotta: Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy. Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal. But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be.
Vacuuming in the Nude: And Other Ways to Get Attention by Peggy Rowe: Peggy Rowe has been writing all of her adult life. In fact, she doesn’t know how not to write—even through those years of constant rejection from publishing houses. But between her tenacity and the encouragement of her family, Peggy’s breakthrough finally came—at the age of eighty! Vacuuming in the Nude is most likely her funniest prose to date as she shares her journey and honing her ability to see humor in everyday situations.
The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick: Mother of two Liv Green barely scrapes by as a maid to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book while daydreaming of becoming a writer herself. So she can’t believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero, bestselling author Essie Starling, a mysterious and intimidating recluse. The last thing Liv expected was to be the only person Essie talks to, which leads to a tenuous friendship.
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur: Most people think of themselves as “good,” but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad”–especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, and more so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman: The Nineties is a wise and funny reckoning with the decade that gave us slacker/grunge irony about the sin of trying too hard, during the greatest shift in human consciousness of any decade in American history. Cult author Chuck Klosterman makes a home in every element of 90s culture: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, and changes regarding race and class.
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabelle Monaghan: Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.