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The authenticity project (2020)
4.0/10on Open Library
Published
A notebook passed among strangers invites each owner to tell a truth in public. The wrong conclusions people draw from one another’s entries are the best conversation starters. Ask what fact you’d hesitate to leave on a café table.
More about The authenticity project23
Eligible (2016)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
A Pride and Prejudice update moves the Bennets to contemporary Cincinnati. Some readers will want to compare the reality television and family money jokes directly with Austen. Others can debate which sister gets the best new arc.
More about Eligible24
Vinegar Girl (2012)
7.3/10on Open Library
Published
A preschool teacher is asked to marry her father’s lab assistant to help his immigration status. Pair it with The Taming of the Shrew if your group wants to compare the two Kates. The comic premise leaves an uncomfortable question about family duty.
More about Vinegar Girl25
My sister, the serial killer (2018)
7.2/10on Open Library
Published
Korede has a painfully practical response whenever her sister Ayoola calls for help after a boyfriend dies. The clipped, dark comedy gives your group something specific to argue about. When does protecting a sister cease to be an act of care?
More about My sister, the serial killer26
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore (2012)
7.4/10on Open Library
Published
A night-shift clerk starts tracking the strange habits of people who come in for books. Let the people who love catalogs and the people who want to find an answer quickly argue about how they would approach his clues.
More about Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore27
Cold Comfort Farm (1932)
7.0/10on Open Library
Published
A poised visitor rearranges a farm household full of doom-laden relatives, as if its Gothic troubles were one big scheduling problem. Ask which character she frees to choose differently and which one she simply talks over.
More about Cold Comfort Farm28
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY (1938)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
A reserved governess knocks on the wrong door and finds herself giving advice in a showgirl’s glamorous circle. Ask which of Miss Pettigrew’s rules is worth keeping after her very entertaining one-day change of scene.
More about MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY29
Sourdough (2017)
7.8/10on Open Library
Published
A software engineer’s unusual starter sends her from office routines into a strange food market. Ask whether automating a baking task makes it less human, and which of Lois’s two workplaces takes its own traditions more seriously.
More about Sourdough30
The Guncle (2021)
9.3/10on Open Library
Published
A former sitcom star takes care of his niece and nephew after their mother dies. Patrick keeps trying to make things fun without knowing when to leave a silence alone. Ask which of his rules becomes genuinely helpful.
More about The Guncle31
Rachel Incident (2023)
Published
A Cork friendship starts in a bookshop and gets tangled in an affair. The sharpest arguments are about what you would lie about for a friend and who ultimately pays for a joke that keeps getting retold.
More about Rachel Incident32
How to Age Disgracefully (2024)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
A senior citizens’ group tries to save a community center, with members whose skills and pasts are much stranger than a polite conversation would suggest. Ask which person surprises you by being the most useful when the plans go wrong.
More about How to Age Disgracefully33
Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting (2022)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
A train mishap turns strangers with carefully negotiated seats and rituals into people who finally talk to one another. Ask which rule you’d want every commuter to follow and which rule is mostly there to keep its author comfortable.
More about Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting34
Today will be different (2016)
6.0/10on Open Library
Published
One day’s small goals go spectacularly wrong for a cartoonist with a talent for digression. Ask where Eleanor’s failures happen because she avoids people and where a more carefully planned morning still wouldn’t have saved her.
More about Today will be different35
Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (2012)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
A centenarian climbs out of his retirement home's window on his birthday and sets off on an improbable trip. The escapade alternates with equally improbable accounts of his earlier life. Ask which coincidence your group can most happily believe.
More about Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared36
Tidy Ending (2022)
Published
Linda’s fixation on catalogs and tidy domestic life is funny at first, then increasingly uncomfortable. A good pick for a group willing to compare which clues other characters overlooked and which ones the reader chose to overlook.
More about Tidy Ending37
Good Omens (1990)
8.8/10on Open Library
Published
An angel and a demon have grown rather fond of Earth, which is awkward when the end of the world is due. Ask which character understands humanity best, then compare the answer with who is actually responsible for averting disaster.
More about Good Omens38
Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000)
7.8/10on Open Library
Published
Read the essay about Sedaris’s French class if your group wants to start with a single shared piece. Compare which jokes depend on a misunderstanding everyone can recognize and which depend on the stance of the narrator. The short essays work well when the group reads at different speeds.
More about Me Talk Pretty One Day39
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
9.0/10on Open Library
Published
Arthur Dent keeps reaching for familiar comforts while the rules of the universe turn out to be absurd. Choose one entry from the guide to discuss, then ask why its brisk reference-book tone makes the joke land.
More about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy40
Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) (1889)
8.1/10on Open Library
Published
Three friends treat a rowing holiday as a cure for ailments they may not have. The packing, bad cooking, and digressions are as much fun as the trip. Ask which man you'd trust with planning a weekend.
More about Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)41
A Confederacy of Dunces (1980)
7.6/10on Open Library
Published
Ignatius Reilly keeps turning small jobs in New Orleans into elaborate disputes about civilization. Talk about whether you laugh at his inability to adapt or at the world that finds itself making room for him.
More about A Confederacy of Dunces42
Catch-22 (1961)
8.2/10on Open Library
Published
A bombardier can escape combat if he’s unfit to fly, but asking to be excused shows he’s sane. Discuss when the circular jokes first become frightening. Choose this for readers comfortable with war, cruelty, and a deliberately repetitive structure.
More about Catch-22
