Humor & Satire Ebooks

The long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existence With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness. In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. Whether the stories take place in modern-day Japan, the future, or an alternate reality is left to the reader’s interpretation, as the characters often seem strange in their normality in a frighteningly abnormal world. In “A First-Rate Material,” Nana and Naoki are happily engaged, but Naoki can’t stand the conventional use of deceased people’s bodies for clothing, accessories, and furniture, and a disagreement around this threatens to derail their perfect wedding day. “Lovers on the Breeze” is told from the perspective of a curtain in a child’s bedroom that jealously watches the young girl Naoko as she has her first kiss with a boy from her class and does its best to stop her. “Eating the City” explores the strange norms around food and foraging, while “Hatchling” closes the collection with an extraordinary depiction of the fractured personality of someone who tries too hard to fit in. In these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Reese Witherspoon “Tom Perrotta is…one of the great writers that we have today. I love this book.” —Harlan Coben An “engrossing and mordantly funny” (People) novel about ambition, coming-of-age in adulthood, and never really leaving high school politics behind—featuring New York Times bestselling author Tom Perrotta’s most iconic character of all time. 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 to ascend to the top job. Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal, determined to prove her worth to the students, faculty, and School Board, while also managing her personal life—a ten-year-old daughter, a needy doctor boyfriend, and a burgeoning meditation practice. But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be. Her male colleagues’ determination to honor Vito Falcone—a star quarterback of dubious character who had a brief, undistinguished career in the NFL—triggers memories for Tracy and leads her to reflect on the trajectory of her own life. As she considers the past, Tracy becomes aware of storm clouds brewing in the present. Is she really a shoo-in for the principal job? Is the Superintendent plotting against her? Why is the School Board President’s wife trying so hard to be her friend? And why can’t she ever get what she deserves? A sharp, darkly comic, and pitch-perfect chronicle of the second act of one of the most memorable characters of our time, Tracy Flick Can’t Win “delivers acerbic insight about frustrated ambition” (Esquire).

Rachel Klein is sacked from her job at the White House after she sends an email criticizing Donald Trump. As she is escorted off the premises she is hit by a speeding car, driven by what the press will discreetly call "a personal friend of the President." Does that explain the flowers, the get-well wishes at a press briefing, the hush money offered by a lawyer at her hospital bedside? Rachel’s recovery is soothed by comically doting parents, matchmaking room-mates, a new job as aide to a journalist whose books aim to defame the President, and unexpected love at the local wine store. But secrets leak, and Rachel’s new-found happiness has to make room for more than a little chaos. Will she bring down the President? Or will he manage to do that all by himself? Rachel to the Rescue is a mischievous political satire, with a delightful cast of characters, from one of America’s funniest novelists.

“In She Memes Well, Quinta gives more than a peek behind the curtain. She invites us in, lets us poke around and offers a balm for our aching souls. She moves beyond the jokes into something much deeper, something we may not recognize we need. She is the friend, sister, lover, cool co-worker we all wished we had.” —Gabrielle Union, actress and New York Times bestselling author of We’re Going to Need More Wine  From comedian Quinta Brunson comes a deeply personal and funny collection of essays about trying to make it when you're struggling, the importance of staying true to your roots, and how she's redefined humor online.  Quinta Brunson is a master at breaking the internet. Before having any traditional background in media, her humorous videos were the first to go viral on Instagram’s platform. From there, Brunson’s wryly observant POV helped cement her status in the comedy world at large, with roles on HBO, Netflix, ABC, Adult Swim, BuzzFeed, the CW, and Comedy Central. Now, Brunson is bringing her comedic chops to the page in She Memes Well, an earnest, laugh-out-loud collection about this unusual road to notoriety. In her debut essay collection, Quinta applies her trademark humor and heart to discuss what it was like to go from a girl who loved the World Wide Web to a girl whose face launched a thousand memes. With anecdotes that range from the ridiculous—like the time she decided to go clubbing wearing an outfit she describes as "Gary Coleman meets metrosexual pirate"—to more heartfelt material about her struggles with depression, Quinta's voice is entirely authentic and eminently readable. With its intimate tone and hilarious moments, She Memes Well will make you feel as if you're sitting down with your chillest, funniest friend.

Written by Scribd Editors Black Buck, author Mateo Askaripour’s darkly funny satire, tells the story of unambitious twenty-two -year-old Darren, who is content to live with his mom in a Bed-Sty brownstone and work as a Starbucks barista in a New York office building, despite his high marks as the valedictorian of his high school. That all changes when he joins an elite sales team at a start-up tech company, where his position as the only Black employee gives him a new purpose in life. Darren reimagines himself as “Buck,” a ruthless salesman his friends and family don’t recognize. But a tragic turn of events at home makes Buck feel like he’s at his lowest point. In response he begins developing a plan to help young people of color infiltrate America’s sales force. Askaripour’s work aims to empower people of color to seize opportunities for advancement. He was a 2018 Rhode Island Writers Colony writer-in-residence, and his debut novel Black Buck was an instant New York Times bestseller. Black Buck is a razor-sharp skewering of America’s workforce, a sizzling debut work that explores race and ambition and sets the stage for a new vision of the American dream.

Written by Scribd Editors No One Asked For This is a collection of poignant and eerily relatable essays that speak to an entire generation of people struggling to live in our contemporary world. Cazzie David shares an array of darkly funny essays about growing up with unavoidable eccentricities, misanthropy, social media, anxiety, and relationships. Sharing firsthand experience of existential panic attacks to hookup-related spirals of disgrace, Cazzie David’s perspective paints the world in bold contrasting colors. Like a ferris wheel that never stops turning, David recounts her life’s most tumultuous moments with wit, bleak humor, and a mega-dose of self-awareness. Writer Cazzie David delivers a singular tour through her mind in this group of essays that deservedly jumped to the New York Times Bestseller list. The reader tags along as a friend as she explores family dynamics and purely modern dilemmas, like having your breakup shared across the web. Written with the macabre humor familiar to that of her famous father, Larry David, and covering affairs speaking to generational angst. No One Asked for This is the friend you never knew you needed.