Books like

Books like Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?

12 books with a reading profile close to Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast. Inward-looking and contemplative; an easy read.

1

Paula

by Isabel Allende

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Isabel Allende began writing this chronicle in 1991 while sitting bedside in a Spanish hospital where her daughter, Paula, lay in a porphyria-induced coma.
2

Truth & Beauty

by Ann Patchett

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Ann Patchett narrates the decades-long friendship between herself and the writer Lucy Grealy, beginning at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
3

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me

by Patrick Bringley

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

After the sudden death of his older brother, Patrick Bringley left his high-pressure job at The New Yorker to work as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
4

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

by Dani Shapiro

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In 2016, Dani Shapiro submitted a DNA kit for analysis, expecting to confirm her Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.
5

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

by Jeanette Winterson

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Jeanette Winterson’s memoir returns to her upbringing in a strict Pentecostal household in Northern England, expanding on the lived reality behind her debut novel.
6

The End of Eddy

by Édouard Louis

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Eddy Bellegueule grows up in a poor village in northern France, in a family where men are expected to be tough and unemployment and alcohol are common.
7

M Train

by Patti Smith

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In this memoir, Patti Smith tracks her daily routines, centered on her singular habit of visiting the same Greenwich Village café to drink black coffee and write.
8

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

by James McBride

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

James McBride alternates between his own upbringing in a Brooklyn housing project and the oral history of his mother, Ruth Jordan.
9

When All Is Said

by Anne Griffin

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Maurice Hannigan, an elderly Irish farmer, sits in a pub in a small town one evening and orders five drinks, one for each person who has been important in his life.
10

Wat ik nooit eerder heb gezegd

by Celeste Ng

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Set in 1970s Ohio, the narrative begins with the death of Lydia Lee, the favorite daughter of a mixed-race couple.
11

Stitches: A Memoir

by David Small

Also inward-looking · memoir, narrative

David Small’s graphic memoir recounts his childhood in 1950s Detroit, living in a household defined by emotional withdrawal and medical negligence.
12

Happening

by Annie Ernaux

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In 1963, when abortion remained illegal in France, Annie Ernaux, then a university student, discovered she was pregnant.

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