Books like 'Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear'
Readers who enjoyed Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear by Carl Hiaasen also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary comedy psychological humor politics crime satire personal-growth coming-of-age
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No, David! by David Shannon
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsWhen author and artist David Shannon was five years old, he wrote a semi-autobiographical story of a little kid who broke all his mother's rules. He chewed with his mouth open, jumped on the furniture, and he broke his mother's vase... -
![Running the Light by Sam Tallent, Doug Stanhope]()
Running the Light by Sam Tallent, Doug Stanhope
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA bona fide “instant classic” (Doug Stanhope) novel that tells the story of a road comic crashing and burning by acclaimed comedian Sam TallentBilly Ray Schafer stepped off the plane in Amarillo, Texas, with twenty-six hundred dollars tucked down the leg of his black ostrich-skin cowboy boot... -
![A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz]()
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn irreverent comic adventure, spanning three continents, about a father and son against each other and against the world.For most of his life, Jasper Dean couldn’t decide whether to pity, hate, love, or murder his certifiably paranoid father, Martin, a man who overanalyzed anything and everything and imparted his self-garnered wisdom to his only son... -
![What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg]()
What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat Makes Sammy Run?Everyone of us knows someone who runs. He is one of the symp-toms of our times—from the little man who shoves you out of the way on the street to the go-getter who shoves you out of a job in the office to the Fuehrer who shoves you out of the world. And all of us have stopped to wonder, at some time or another, what it is that makes these people tick... -
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![Saint Richard Parker by Merlin Franco]()
Saint Richard Parker by Merlin Franco
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHis search for love and enlightenment across India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia...Ace businessman, writer, and investigative journalist Richard Parker loses his job when he exposes the vegetarian CEO of his newspaper as a beef exporter. Accused of misconduct and forced to dissolve his company, he retreats to his wretched little village... -
![Surprise Marriage: An Enemies to Lovers Accidental Marriage Romance by R S Elliot]()
Surprise Marriage: An Enemies to Lovers Accidental Marriage Romance by R S Elliot
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe plan was to fly to Vegas for my best friend's wedding, It was not to accidentally get married myself, end up with a fake boyfriend, and to fall in love with the enemy. Where do I even start....Sometimes I feel like I'm dreaming because this absolutely couldn't be true.After Luke broke my heart and left six years ago, I never thought I'd give him another chance... -
![Dead Men's Trousers by Irvine Welsh]()
Dead Men's Trousers by Irvine Welsh
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA spectacular return of the wild, dissolute gang from Trainspotting, from the author the New York Times called “Blisteringly funny…. ”The gang from Trainspotting have mostly cleaned up their act…until they are drawn back together to Scotland for one last scheme—a scheme one of them won’t survive. It’s an action-packed, hilarious and rollicking trip, as well as a moving elegy to the crew... -
![Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad]()
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA pop-saturated epic novel about the second man on the moon, and the quiet thirty-year-old gardener who idolizes him. A story of unconventional psychiatry, the Faroe Islands, amateur boat building, and the journey across the space that divides us from other people: a journey as remote and dangerous as the trip to the moon itself... -
![A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley]()
A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrederick Exley's inimitable "fictional memoir" A Fan's Notes has assumed the status of a classic since its first publication in 1968. Mordantly and poignantly, Exley describes the profound failures of his life; professional, sexual, and personal... -
![Убивать осознанно by Karsten Dusse]()
Убивать осознанно by Karsten Dusse
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsБьорн Димель — «грязный адвокатишка», вынужденный прикрывать и оправдывать преступления большого криминального авторитета. Брак Бьорна Димеля разваливается на части, его жена вот-вот сбежит с обожаемой дочкой в неопределенном направлении. В отчаянии Бьорн записывается на курс тренинга по осознанности... -
![Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl]()
Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn these dark, disturbing stories Roald Dahl explores the sinister side of human nature: the cunning, sly selfish part of each of us that leads into the territory of the unexpected and unsettling.Originally published in 1960, Kiss Kiss brings together 11 of Roald's macabre adult tales... -
![Mystery Man by Colin Bateman]()
Mystery Man by Colin Bateman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA superbly gripping and blackly funny mystery by the king of the comic crime caper. He's the Man With No Name and the owner of No Alibis, a mystery bookshop in Belfast. But when a detective agency next door goes bust, the agency's clients start calling into his shop asking him to solve their cases. It's not as if there's any danger involved... -
![The Floating Opera and The End of the Road by John Barth]()
The Floating Opera and The End of the Road by John Barth
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Floating Opera and The End Of The Road are John Barth's first two novels. Their relationship to each other is evident not only in their ribald subject matter but in the eccentric characters and bitterly humorous tone of the narratives. Both concern strange, consuming love triangles and the destructive effect of an overactive intellect on the emotions... -
![The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, Martha C. Nussbaum]()
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, Martha C. Nussbaum
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBradley Pearson, an unsuccessful novelist in his late fifties, has finally left his dull office job as an Inspector of Taxes. Bradley hopes to retire to the country, but predatory friends and relations dash his hopes of a peaceful retirement... -
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![Sleeping at the Starlite Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home by Bailey White]()
Sleeping at the Starlite Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home by Bailey White
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAnyone who has read her bestseller Mama Makes Up Her Mind--or who has heard her on National Public Radio--knows that Bailey White is one of the keenest observers of Southern eccentricity since Mark Twain. Sleeping at the Starlite Motel revives White's reputation as a master storyteller, Southern division, as it catalogs the oddities of the Georgia town she knows so well... -
![Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard]()
Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe playwright and novelist Thomas Bernhard was one of the most widely translated and admired writers of his generation, winner of the three most coveted literary prizes in Germany. Gargoyles, one of his earliest novels, is a singular, surreal study of the nature of humanity. One morning a doctor and his son set out on daily rounds through the grim mountainous Austrian countryside... -
![The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant]()
The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNorman Moonbloom is a loser, a drop-out who can't even make it as a deadbeat. His brother, a slumlord, hires him to collect rent in the buildings he owns in Manhattan... -
![Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley]()
Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNick Naylor likes his job. In the neo-puritanical nineties, it's a challenge to defend the rights of smokers and a privilege to promote their liberty. Sure, it hurts a little when you're compared to Nazi war criminals, but Nick says he's just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage and put his son through Washington's elite private school St. Euthanasius... -
![Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey, محمد غفوری]()
Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey, محمد غفوری
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsOnce the Orme family’s magnificent ancestral estate, Observatory Mansions is now a crumbling apartment complex, home to an eccentric group of misfits. One of them is Francis Orme, who earns his livelihood as a living statue. When not practicing “inner and outer stillness,” Francis steals the cherished possessions of others to add to his private museum... -
![The Scarecrow by Ronald Hugh Morrieson]()
The Scarecrow by Ronald Hugh Morrieson
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings'The same week our fowls were stolen, Daphne Moran had her throat cut.' The greatest opening line in New Zealand literature opens this hilarious Gothic melodrama. Klynham is a sleepy little New Zealand town in which not a lot happens. But then one moonlit night the Scarecrow arrives, swilling brandies and looking for victims. Something sordid and even macrabre lies ahead... -
![Das Kind in mir will achtsam morden by Karsten Dusse]()
Das Kind in mir will achtsam morden by Karsten Dusse
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBjörn Diemel ist zurück – und mordet ganzheitlicher als je zuvor.Björn Diemel hat die Prinzipien der Achtsamkeit erlernt, und mit ihrer Hilfe sein Leben verbessert. Er hat den stressigen Job gekündigt und sich selbstständig gemacht. Er verbringt mehr Zeit mit seiner Tochter und streitet sich in der Regel liebevoller mit seiner Frau... -
![Things that Fall from the Sky by Kevin Brockmeier]()
Things that Fall from the Sky by Kevin Brockmeier
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWeaving together loss and anxiety with fantastic elements and literary sleight-of-hand, Kevin Brockmeier’s richly imagined Things That Fall from the Sky views the nagging realities of the world through a hopeful lens. In the deftly told “These Hands,” a man named Lewis recounts his time babysitting a young girl and his inconsolable sense of loss after she is wrenched away... -
![The Gamal by Ciarán Collins]()
The Gamal by Ciarán Collins
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMeet Charlie. People think he's crazy. But he's not. People think he's stupid. But he's not. People think he's innocent...He's the Gamal.Charlie has a story to tell, about his best friends Sinead and James and the bad things that happened. But he can't tell it yet, at least not 'til he's worked out where the beginning is... -
![The Other Shulman by Alan Zweibel]()
The Other Shulman by Alan Zweibel
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShulman, a chubby, middle-aged stationery-store owner from New Jersey, has always claimed that he's been gaining and losing the same thirty-five pounds since junior high-and that if you added all of that discarded weight together, he had lost an entire person. Another Shulman. A Shulman he never really cared for. A Shulman he'd always tried to lose by dieting and exercising... -
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![In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People: Tempur-Pedic by Alison Espach]()
In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People: Tempur-Pedic by Alison Espach
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this at-once hilarious and heartbreaking series, In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People, Alison Espach explores our collective idiosyncrasies, neuroses, and desires through the consumer choices, big and small, that we face every day.Caroline’s mattress had nothing to do with her untimely death at the age of 28—this, she wants Tempur-Pedic’s market research representative to know... -
![A Crowded Marriage by Catherine Alliott]()
A Crowded Marriage by Catherine Alliott
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThere are three people in Imogen Cameron’s marriage – herself, her husband, Alex, and their son, Rufus – and that’s just the way she likes it. But that’s about to change... When the Camerons hit dire financial straits they’re forced to leave London and accept Eleanor Latimer’s offer of a rent-free cottage on her country estate... -
![The Man Who Walked Through Walls by Marcel Aymé]()
The Man Who Walked Through Walls by Marcel Aymé
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe excellent Monsieur Dutilleul has always been able to pass through walls, but has never seen the point of using his gift, given the general availability of doors. One day, however, his tyrannical boss drives him to desperate, creative measures — he develops a taste for intramural travel and becomes something of a super-villain... -
![Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself by Robert Montgomery Bird]()
Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself by Robert Montgomery Bird
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOriginally published in 1836.Sheppard Lee, Written By Himself is a work of dark satire from the early years of the American Republic. Published as an autobiography and praised by Edgar Allan Poe, this is the story of a young idler who goes in search of buried treasure and finds instead the power to transfer his soul into other men's bodies... -
![Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich]()
Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJulie Tudor is Not a Psychopath.Julie Tudor is 49 and has it a fantastic job (well-maintained spreadsheets are the lynchpin of an efficient office), a beautiful house (some may wonder how she got the money for it, but nothing has been proved) and the man of her dreams. Julie Tudor is Not a Stalker. Sean is 25 and the love of Julie's life... -
![Revenge (aka The Stars’ Tennis Balls) by Stephen Fry]()
Revenge (aka The Stars’ Tennis Balls) by Stephen Fry
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 18 ratings"We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and --bandied/Which way please them." ----The Duchess of Malfi --by John WebsterEverything about Stephen Fry's new novel, including the title, will be a surprise, perhaps even a shock. The only thing that can be guaranteed is that it will be his next earth-movingly funny bestseller...Categorized as:
coming-of-age crime humor satire 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure audiobook -
![Insane City by Dave Barry]()
Insane City by Dave Barry
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA dark comic masterpiece—the first solo adult novel in more than a decade from the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times–bestselling author.Seth Weinstein knew Tina was way out of his league in pretty much any way you could imagine, which is why it continued to astonish him that he was on the plane now for their destination wedding in Florida... -
![Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen]()
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsMarine biologist Chaz Perrone can't tell a sea horse from a sawhorse. And when he throws his beautiful wife, Joey, off a cruise liner, he really should know better. An expert swimmer, Joey makes her way to a floating bale of Jamaican pot-and then to an island inhabited by an ex-cop named Mick Stranahan, whose ex-wives include five waitresses and a TV producer... -
![God Is Dead by Ron Currie Jr.]()
God Is Dead by Ron Currie Jr.
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom a mind-blowing new talent, an audacious novel that imagines the world after God takes human form and diesWhen God descends to Earth as a Dinka woman from Sudan and subsequently dies in the Darfur desert, the result is a world both bizarrely new yet eerily familiar... -
![Therapy by David Lodge]()
Therapy by David Lodge
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBy all appearances, Laurence Passmore is sitting pretty. True, he is almost bald and his nickname in "Tubby", but the TV sitcom he writes keeps the money coming in, he has an exclusive house in Rummridge, a state-of-the-art car, a vigorous sex life with his wife of thirty years, and a platonic mistress to talk shop with. What money can't buy, and his many therapists can't deliver, is contentment... -
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![Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsDeadeye Dick is Kurt Vonnegut’s funny, chillingly satirical look at the death of innocence. Amid a true Vonnegutian host of horrors—a double murder, a fatal dose of radioactivity, a decapitation, an annihilation of a city by a neutron bomb—Rudy Waltz, aka Deadeye Dick, takes us along on a zany search for absolution and happiness... -
![Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp by C.D. Payne]()
Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp by C.D. Payne
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMove over Bridget Jones. Nick Twisp is back. In Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp America's own comic diarist returns with more riotous adventures through the land mines of 21st century adolescence. This sequel to C.D. Payne's epic-length first-novel Youth in Revolt finds love-struck Nick Twisp still on the lam from the law and his parents... -
![Undone by John Colapinto]()
Undone by John Colapinto
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThings have not been going well for Dez. He’s broke, jobless, angry and without a future. Then he happens to see an episode of “Tovah in the Afternoon” featuring the fabulously successful memoirist Jasper Ulrickson… A masterful satire, this novel hinges on celebrity envy-and the anarchic imperatives of desire... -
![Fra Keeler by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi]()
Fra Keeler by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe debut novel from PEN/Faulkner award-winning author of Call Me Zebra and Savage Tongues is a comic psychological thriller, an absurdist journey into the heart of darkness.A man purchases a house, the house of Fra Keeler, moves in, and begins investigating the circumstances of the latter's death... -
![Eclipse by John Banville]()
Eclipse by John Banville
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this deeply moving and original book, John Banville alloys mystery, fable, and ghost story with poignant psychological acuity to forge the riveting story of a man wary of the future, plagued by the past, and so uncertain in the present that he cannot discern the spectral from the real... -
![Hector and the Search for Lost Time by François Lelord]()
Hector and the Search for Lost Time by François Lelord
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe delightful third book in the multimillion-copy internationally bestselling seriesBeing up against the clock was a real problem for so many people, thought Hector. What could he possibly do to help them?First he tackled happiness. Then he took on love. And now Hector, our endearing young French psychiatrist, confronts the persistent march of time...Categorized as:
personal-growth humor satire fiction philosophy psychological contemporary audiobook -
![Company by Max Barry]()
Company by Max Barry
Rated: 3.72 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsStephen Jones is a shiny new hire at Zephyr Holdings... -
![Something Missing by Matthew Dicks]()
Something Missing by Matthew Dicks
Rated: 3.72 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA career criminal with OCD tendencies and a savant-like genius for bringing order to his crime scenes, Martin considers himself one of the best in the biz. After all, he’s been able to steal from the same people for years on end—virtually undetected. Of course, this could also be attributed to his unique business model—he takes only items that will go unnoticed by the homeowner... -
![Sideways by Rex Pickett]()
Sideways by Rex Pickett
Rated: 3.72 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSideways is the story of two friends--Miles and Jack--going away together for the last time to steep themselves in everything that makes it good to be young and single: pinot, putting, and prowling bars. In the week before Jack plans to marry, the pair heads out from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez wine country. For Jack, the tasting tour is Seven Days to D-Day, his final stretch of freedom... -
![Under the Net by Iris Murdoch]()
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJake Donaghue, garrulous artist, meets Hugo Belfounder, silent philosopher.Jake, hack writer and sponger, now penniless flat-hunter, seeks out an old girlfriend, Anna Quentin, and her glamorous actress sister, Sadie. He resumes acquaintance with formidable Hugo, whose ‘philosophy’ he once presumptuously dared to interpret... -
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![The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty]()
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsEvery decade seems to produce a novel that captures the public's imagination with a story that sweeps readers up and takes them on a thrilling, unforgettable ride.Ron McLarty's The Memory of Running is this decade's novel. By all accounts, especially his own, Smithson "Smithy" Ide is a loser... -
![Anything Considered by Peter Mayle]()
Anything Considered by Peter Mayle
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPeter Mayle sets his latest irresistible tale in the thyme- and lavender-scented south of France. Bennett, a suave if slightly threadbare English ex-patriot who is fast approaching the end of his credit, advertises his "services" in The International Herald Tribune. In no time, he is being paid handsomely to impersonate the mysterious and very wealthy Julian Poe... -
![Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About by Mil Millington]()
Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About by Mil Millington
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratings1st edition 1st printing trade paperback, fine, In stock shipped from our UK... -
![Thinks . . . by David Lodge]()
Thinks . . . by David Lodge
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDavid Lodge's novels have earned comparisons to those of John Updike and Philip Roth and established him as a cult figure on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times). Thinks . . -
![Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney]()
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsWith the publication of Bright Lights, Big City in 1984, Jay McInerney became a literary sensation, heralded as the voice of a generation. The novel follows a young man, living in Manhattan as if he owned it, through nightclubs, fashion shows, editorial offices, and loft parties as he attempts to outstrip mortality and the recurring approach of dawn... -
![The Bend of the World: A Novel by Jacob Bacharach]()
The Bend of the World: A Novel by Jacob Bacharach
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“Mighty strange doings” mark the Pittsburgh of Jacob Bacharach’s audacious and hilarious debut novel, a town where “yeti, UFOs, rumors of orgiastic rites, intimations of the Mayan apocalypse and ‘psycho-temporal distortions’ add that extra zing to the bustling night life” (James Wolcott)...
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