The World is Bad, Buy A Funny Book: Books I Love by Women in my Book, “Notes from the Bathroom Line”

The World is Bad, Buy A Funny Book: Books I Love by Women in my Book, “Notes from the Bathroom Line”

Guest Contribution By Amy Solomon

Amy Solomon is the editor of an amazing compendium of funny womxn: Notes From The Bathroom Line, available now everywhere books are sold.  Solomon has amassed all-new material from some of the funniest women in comedy today—award-winning writers, stand-up comedians, actresses, cartoonists, and more. Chelsea Peretti, Sasheer Zamata, Margaret Cho, Emily V. Gordon, Amber Ruffin, Cecily Strong, Rachel Bloom, Kristen Schaal, Maria Bamford, Riki Lindhome, Mary H.K. Choi, and Lauren Lapkus, are just a few of the authors who have contributed  lists, fiction, poetry, satire, cartoons, as well as quick-hit musings on everything from texts you sent to the wrong person, to pop culture your ex ruined for you, and everything in between. These are carefully sorted into categories including Entertainment, Family, Identity, Navigating Life among others.  This is an incredible gift to yourself, and to friends and to celebrate the release of the book, the book’s editor collaborated with us to share this list of even more great books you can read from the great authors of Notes From the Bathroom Line.

From ages eight to eighteen, I was in a mother-daughter book club. It included a few of my best friends from school and their moms, and we met monthly to discuss books by women, about women.

I hated it very, very much.

To be clear, they were asking teenage girls (famously the worst people in the world) to do extracurricular reading, and then discuss it thoughtfully with their mothers. I don’t know if the other girls put up as much of a fight as I did, but I was, let’s just say, less than gracious to my mom about it.

Now, all I care about is reading books by women, about women. HUGE bonus points if I get to discuss them with my mom.

Please don’t tell Teenage Amy: The book club…worked.

Also don’t tell her that now I run my own book club, in what has been described as “a tyrannical fashion.” And definitely don’t tell her that I’ve spent the last three years editing a book called Notes from the Bathroom Line: Humor, Art, and Low-grade Panic by 150 of the Funniest Women in Comedy. It’s chock full of essays, fiction, poetry, comics, cartoons, and much more by my favorite gals in comedy today. Many of the contributors in the book have books of their own that I love, so I’m here to recommend them to you so you can force them upon your own mothers, daughters, partners, friends, and book clubs. Someday they might even admit that you were right in a listicle. (Thank you, Mom. You were right: big time.)

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

(Grand Central Publishing)

It feels insane to scream “I LOVE THIS BOOK” when the subtitle is “crazy stories about racism,” but I do love it, and this is truly required reading. Amber and her sister Lacey somehow manage to keep this so light and fun while also illuminating and insightful. There’s a story about Lacey getting her makeup done at a beauty counter (they do it, um, a few shades too light) that had me cackling out loud. It’s also super fun on audiobook!

God I Feel Modern Tonight: Poems from a Gal About Town by Catherine Cohen

(Knopf)

Catherine Cohen is known first and foremost as a comedian but it turns out she’s also a poetic genius. It’s impossible to read this book without texting pictures of your favorite poems to all your pals, which is truly the ~modern~ way to read. I’m gonna let one of my favorite poems from the book speak for itself: “sometimes being an adult means washing your hair / sometimes the only way to know / if someone is definitely straight / is if they instagram a building / sometimes I feel like / if I look at my phone / I will die / or even worse, not die / it’s insane when you ask someone to give you space / and then they do”.

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom

(Grand Central Publishing)

I tend to be skeptical when people write memoirs in their thirties because it’s like, my dude, you’ve got a fair amount of left to live! But this is a lovely exception that rule. Rachel’s stories are funny and heartfelt and moving. Anyone who felt like a weirdo growing up (so, all of us?) will relate very deeply. I still laugh thinking about the story of when Rachel did a musical in high school and her dumb bully classmates were like “Wow, so you wrote that?” and she was like “…Into the Woods? No.” Also, a great audiobook!

Cheeky by Ariella Elovic

(Bloomsbury)

I would pay so much money to go back in time and hand this to my teenage self, but I’m also just so grateful to have it now. Ariella’s illustrated memoir of learning to love her body is so gorgeous and funny and honest. It will live on my coffee table forever because it’s just such a beautiful specimen. All of the art is hand-painted! I purchased this book for as many women as I could without going broke.

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story by Bess Kalb

(Knopf)

People always say “I laughed and I cried.” That never happens to me… but IT FINALLY DID WITH THIS BOOK. Bess saved every voicemail that her grandma ever left her, and uses all of them and more to retell the story of their family and the special bond they shared. As I am a girl who was obsessed with her grandma, too, this really struck a chord.

VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini by Nicole Byer

(Andrews McMeel)

Nicole Byer is one of earth’s greatest sources of joy. I read this book in one sitting— it’s an explosion of humor and the most joyous body positivity. Plus, the pictures are goooorgeous. A must-have and a great gift to give, too.

wow, no thank you. By Samantha Irby

(Vintage)

It’s unlikely that you need me to recommend Samantha Irby to you because she is a well-known genius, but I will list her here anyway on the off-chance that you haven’t read any of her books yet (what is wrong with you?!). wow, thank you, is just the most recent one but it’s impossible to pick a favorite between her newest, meaty and we are never meeting in real life. Might as well buy ‘em all!!

What to do When I’m Gone by Suzy Hopkins & Hallie Bateman

(Bloomsbury)

This came out a couple of years ago but it’s too special not to include. Hallie is an absurdly talented illustrator and writer, and she and her mom wrote this gorgeous, illustrated instruction manual for what Suzy (mom) says Hallie (daughter) should do when she passes away. It’s so, so beautiful!

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

I’m truly obsessed with Mary’s writing, to the point where I think I’ve freaked her out with my fandom. Her first two novels Emergency Contact and Permanent Record are YA but I’m a grown-ass adult and I loved them so much, and her newest can’t come soon enough. It’s about two sisters who don’t get along but have to swap identities to navigate the disaster that is the American health care system. Sorry to fangirl so hard, Mary!

Big Time: Stories by Jen Spyra

(Random House)

Jen’s debut collection of stories comes out the same day as my book so I should probably feel CUT-THROAT but I simply can’t, I’m too big of a fan. Instead, we will celebrate our #bookbirthday together. Jen has written for The Onion and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert but this is her most unfettered, brilliant format yet. It’s like George Saunders meets David Sedaris. And a foreword by Stephen Colbert?! The dream.

Good Dogs on a Bad Day by Rachel Wenitsky and David Sidirov

(G.P Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)

Wait, this also comes out the same day as NOTES and Jen Spyra’s book, so March 16th is officially a national holiday! Let everyone know! Rachel and her husband David have written this truly delightful middle-grade series about a group of doggie day-care buddies. The illustrations are amazing and you must buy it for all the young readers in your life.

How to Deal – With Fear, Failure, and Other Daily Dreads by Grace Miceli

(Voracious Books, o/s 5/4/21)

I would wallpaper my entire home with Grace’s gorgeous art. You’ll fall in love with the book from just the cover alone—her art is like middle school sleepover dreams but warped to be so current, adult, and relatable. The book is full of comics, diary entries, to-do lists, and way more, and it will take everything in my power not to tear pages out and eat them.

Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me into the Life of my Dreams by Yvonne Orji

(Worthy Books, o/s 5/25/21)

If you’ve ever seen the tv show Insecure, then you’re surely as obsessed with Yvonne as I am. This is an amazing advice book where Yvonne reflects on 25 lessons she’s learned that all tie back into her faith. I’m Jewish as hell but still can’t wait to read it. I’m ready to follow Yvonne to the ends of the earth.

She Memes Well: Essays by Quinta Brunson

(Houghton Mifflin, o/s 6/15/21)

Quinta is so damn funny so I was so excited when she announced that her book is coming out in June. Also the title She Memes Well is truly a 2021 chef’s kiss. There’s an excerpt on E!’s website about some of Quinta’s desperate forays into Craigslist jobs listings when she first moved to LA, and the stories are both deeply harrowing and hilarious. Read the excerpt and then get your copy!

This Will All Be Over Soon by Cecily Strong

(Simon & Schuster, o/s 8/10/21)

As of the writing of this, This Will All Be Over Soon doesn’t come out until AUGUST but I’m desperate to get my grubby little hands on this memoir. Odds are that you worship Cecily from SNL, but did you also know what a good writer she is? (Not fair to hoard all that talent, Cecily). She wrote about losing her dear cousin in early 2020 and she wrote it in quarantine. Accomplishing something in quarantine? Absurd. Cecily is royalty.

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