The basics: Patricia Lockwood, a poet who gained fame with her piece “Rape Joke,” wrote a memoir about growing up with her priest father and what I would describe as eccentric mother. Lockwood has a talent for gorgeous description juxtaposed with dry, blunt humor. I found myself laughing out loud on numerous occasions while reading this book - and pausing to highlight a sentence or two that I found especially poignant. I even sent a copy to my mom, which is not something I do lightly (she is my original source of book recommendations).
Read if you’re into: humor, memoirs, comedic explorations of religion and family
Avoid if: Florid writing about banal things makes you roll your eyes.
Favorite excerpt: “Diapered, moody horses clopped by at all hours pulling carriages of kindhearted tourists, which is as good a metaphor for writing as any I can think of.”
If you liked this, try: Augusten Borroughs; David Sedaris; Roxane Gay, for that surprising combination of incisive commentary on the human condition and hilarity