Spring 2024 Book Club

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Years ago, Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love was the book you couldn’t get on a subway, bus, metro, or tube without seeing in someone’s hands. Well, hats off to Dolly, because her latest literary endeavor, Good Material, is shaping up to share the same fate. The eye-catching cover is all over Instagram, but it’s more than just a picture that looks pretty in your feed. Good Material is a book about heartbreak–from a man’s perspective.

Moderately (emphasis on moderately) successful stand-up comedian Andy has just been dumped by his long-term girlfriend, Jen. He feels blindsided, heartbroken, and unable to get on with his life. The story, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, details the year following the breakup, and then flips the narrative on its head at the very end, when you finally get to hear Jen’s side of the story. It’s a unique look at a topic so often explored from the female perspective, and it’ll have you feeling frustrated at first, and then totally empathetic by the end. We loved it.

Outlive by Peter Attia

You may not have seen Outlive everywhere lately, but that’s only because it’s too heavy to carry on a commute. Clocking in at 496 pages, Outlive is something of a manifesto by medical doctor Peter Attia, which he refers to as an “operating manual for longevity.” Attia lays out all the science of aging healthfully and gives you actionable tips for what to do to take care of your mental and physical health, long-term. It’s a fascinating book worth your attention.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

One of our favorite books of the year, Demon Copperhead might be fiction, but it’s an essential read for anyone looking to understand some of America’s most pressing issues through the lens of compassion, from the foster care and education systems to the devastating opioid crisis. Demon Copperhead follows Damon (who goes by Demon), a boy growing up in rural Virginia attempting to find his feet in different foster homes until his high school football coach recognizes his potential and takes him in. Just when it seems like Demon is living the American dream, a difficult relationship and devastating injury take him down a different path. It’s the type of book that would almost be “too sad” to read if it weren’t for the narrative voice of Demon, one of the brightest and most charming–but also realistic–characters Kingsolver has ever crafted. It’s a magnificent book, one of our favorites we’ve read in the last few years.

The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler

Do you think of yourself as a perfectionist? Then The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control is for you. Or are you the opposite, the type of person who is definitively not a perfectionist, and scoffs at those who are? Surprise, surprise: this book is also for you. Psychologist and author Katherine Morgan Schafler’s book theorizes that most of us are perfectionists. Though many of us many not identify with the “classic perfectionist” trope, there are three others she defines as different forms of perfectionism: the intense perfectionist, who holds everyone to the same high–and often impossible–standard that they hold themselves to; the procrastinator perfectionist, who struggles to start projects because they’re waiting for the conditions to be perfect–which, of course, they never will be–in order to do so; and the messy perfectionist, a creative type that’s full of ideas, and constantly starting new things, but typically struggling to finish them. Schafler identifies strengths, weaknesses, and strategies for each perfectionist type (though many “classic perfectionists” may struggle with the fact that they aren’t delivered in a bulleted list, but more so concepts to consider). It’s the type of book we find ourselves thinking about–and returning to–often.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

There are so many incredible new books out there, sometimes we find ourselves overwhelmed with choice–only to realize that there are also tons of classics we still haven’t read. For every new fiction and nonfiction book we read, we attempt to incorporate a classic. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, a banned book in the Southern United States as recently as 2013 (!), deals with Black identity in America. It’s told from the perspective of a nameless (read: invisible) narrator, in America during the Civil Rights movement. It’s a powerful, thought-provoking and important read about Black identity and the horrors of racism in America.