Take part in the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read by enjoying 2024's selection, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.

"If you can pass the job on to someone else, I'd recommend it. If not, you have my total sympathy."

—from Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

by Roz Chast

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, written by Roz Chast, a longtime cartoonist for the New Yorker, is a “tour de force” (Elle), “remarkable” (San Francisco Chronicle), "revelatory" (Kirkus), "deeply poignant and laugh-out-loud funny" (New York Times), and “one of the great autobiographical memoirs of our time" (Buffalo News). A finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Kirkus Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Books for a Better Life Award, the memoir tells the story of Chast’s parents’ final years through cartoons, family photos, found documents, and narrative prose. "So many have faced (or will face) the situation that the author details, but no one could render it like she does" (Kirkus). “Anyone who has had Chast’s experience will devour this book and cling to it for truth, humor, understanding, and the futile wish that it could all be different" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). "I want to recommend it to everyone I know who has elderly parents, or might have them someday" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

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Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

Chast, Roz

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