Books like I was told there'd be cake

A wry and hilarious celebration of well-intentioned haplessness in the modern city. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with I was told there'd be cake.

chaotic
lighthearted
urban
reflective

01
Consider the lobster, and other essays
David Foster Wallace · 2005
A dizzying, hyper-articulate plunge into the absurdities and moral anxieties of modern American life.
Shares:
- wry
02
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
David Sedaris
A globe-trotting masterclass in finding the hilarious, grotesque, and surprisingly tender details hidden in everyday life.
Shares:
- wry
- self-deprecating
03
We are Never Meeting in Real Life
Samantha Irby
A wildly funny, unapologetically messy romp through the indignities of adulthood and the human body.
Shares:
- chaotic
- wry
- hilarious
- self-deprecating
04
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
David Sedaris · 2008
A masterclass in turning everyday mortifications and neurotic spirals into sharp, surprisingly tender comedy.
Shares:
- wry
- self-deprecating
05
How to be a woman
Caitlin Moran
A riotous, unapologetic manifesto disguised as a memoir that makes you laugh out loud while dismantling the patriarchy.
Shares:
- hilarious
- self-deprecating
06
Furiously Happy
Jenny Lawson
A wildly tangential, laugh-out-loud manifesto on fighting crippling depression with weaponized absurdity.
Shares:
- chaotic
07
Wow, No Thank You.
Samantha Irby
A laugh-out-loud, unapologetic ode to the exhaustion of getting older, leaving the house, and having a human body.
Shares:
- wry
- hilarious
- self-deprecating
08
Take the cannoli
Sarah Vowell
A deadpan, deeply nerdy road trip through the weird, haunted, and hilarious corners of American culture.
Shares:
- wry
- self-deprecating
09
Chelsea Chelsea bang bang
Chelsea Handler
A brisk, laugh-out-loud exploration of the ridiculous side of relationships, childhood, and navigating adulthood.
Shares:
- lighthearted
10
The Polysyllabic Spree
Nick Hornby · 2004
A laugh-out-loud, highly relatable chronicle of the eternal battle between the books we buy and the books we actually read.
Shares:
- lighthearted
- wry
- self-deprecating
11
I might regret this
Abbi Jacobson
A funny, vulnerable road trip through the messy realities of relationships and self-discovery.
Shares:
- reflective
- wry
12
Trick Mirror
Jia Tolentino
A razor-sharp, dizzying plunge into the funhouse mirror of modern internet culture and millennial self-delusion.
Shares:
- reflective
- wry

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