Why am I passionate about this?
I read Lolita as a college freshman and laughed out loud as Nabokov made me love the goofy, intelligent, and clearly sociopathic Humbert Humbert. Nabokov’s fun was palpable; it made me want to write. And knee-jerk criticisms of Lolita drove me crazy – how can people take themselves so seriously as to be offended by fictional characters? To me, an author’s ability to inspire genuine empathy for characters with distorted, irreverent, or socially unacceptable perspectives is both genius and riotously fun (something that people too busy looking for a reason to be offended will unfortunately never appreciate). Hope you enjoy this book list for people who don’t take themselves too seriously!
Joe's book list on people who don’t take themselves too seriously
Why did Joe love this book?
I recommend starting with Volume One of the series, which is fantastic. But I’m calling out Volume Two in this particular list because it’s where Jerry, one of my favorite characters ever, really hits his stride.
Not to take anything away from Jack (the first-person protagonist who exhibits a dry, laid-back sense of humor in the face of all kinds of outrageous paranormal absurdities) but for me Jerry is a perfect example of a character that doesn’t take himself, or anything else in the world, seriously at all.
Without a doubt the best dark humor series set in a gas station that I’ve read in years.
1 author picked Tales from the Gas Station as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Drunk customers. Shoplifting raccoons. Otherworldly visitors. As night shift clerk at the twenty-four-hour gas station at the edge of town, Jack has pretty much seen it all.
That is, until his best friend reveals the body of a local politician hidden in the trunk of a car, setting off a chain of events with apocalyptic potential. Soon, Jack finds himself entangled in a supernatural conspiracy involving monster hunters, sociopaths, doomsday cultists, and... garden gnomes?
Armed with nothing but his wits, sarcasm, and alarming amounts of coffee, can Jack stay alive long enough to see another morning shift? Or will he,…