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Ask a Literary Lady: Reading to Survive the Work Week
Dear Literary Lady,
My job is slowly but surely destroying my soul. Reading is the only respite I get throughout the long work week. Any suggestions for what to read to make my Mondays to Fridays bearable?
– S.W., Charlotte, NC
Dear S.W.,
They say laughter is the best medicine, and there have been many times where a funny book has proved that true.
There’s a lot of science behind why humor is good for you, but my very unscientific theory is that humor is an act of defiance. It’s what makes you feel a little less like you’re losing your soul or dying on the inside. It makes it clear that you are not just your job, because while you are doing your work, smiling at your boss and responding to his urgent ALL CAPS emails, you still have the capacity to laugh at it all and pass your own judgments. At the very least, a funny book will show you how much fodder there is in your own work life for an industry-skewering satirical bestseller. I would love to read that from you in a few months.
For now, here are a few of my favorite bitingly humorous works about the workplace:
Ships in 1-2 days.
Truth in Advertising, by John Kenney
John Kenney is an advertising industry veteran who has penned one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read about corporate culture and modern work life. If you feel like you’ve lost your sense of humor lately in dealing with difficult clients, absurd managers, and exasperating co-workers, this book will get it back for you.
Bartleby the Scrivener, by Herman Melville
The longer I’ve worked, the funnier Melville’s short story seems to me. Melville perfectly captures office dynamics with his cast of odd characters. His short story explores what happens when one particularly hard-working office drone suddenly decides not to do whatever he’s asked. In response to any request, he simply says, “I would prefer not to.” If you’ve ever fantasized about refusing workplace requests (and I’m sure we all have), this story will be your new favorite.
Ships in 1-2 days.
The Circle, by Dave Eggers
For some people, work is life and life is work. But what if you no longer have a private life outside of work, and work becomes an eerily dystopian, totalitarian place, albeit with foosball and free food? Eggers does an amazing job satirizing the new age of tech companies, the fanatical focus on “culture,” and our growing obsession with social media. If you’ve ever needed to vent about an oppressive work culture and an employer who wants to own every second of your life, this book is both hilariously and terrifyingly on point.
Ships in 1-2 days.
Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris
I cannot leave Ferris’s workplace satire off this list. There’s no need to be in the advertising industry to relate to the woes, the neuroses, and the interpersonal politics of Ferris’s fictional ad agency. If you’re exhausted by the drama in your workplace and if you find certain coworkers completely unfathomable, reading this novel just might help.
Ships in 1-2 days.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
If you suspect that you lack “some particular perversion which today’s employer is seeking,” this one’s for you. I suspect that I recommend this novel at least once a week to someone—it’s that good. Anybody who is feeling a little beat down by the world, particularly about their career, will get a cathartic kick out of Toole’s masterpiece about the indomitable, unemployable Ignatius Reilly.
Whatever your situation is at the office, everyone always say not to bring your work home with you. It’s easier said than done, but I’ve found that the best method is to laugh it off. Laugh at your work situation, shrug off the absurdities and the passive aggressive office slights, and if you can’t openly laugh at your boss, smirk behind a closed door. As Charles Bukowski said, “Your life is your life. Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.”
Love and Paperbacks,
Literary Lady