Read This to Look Cool - by Maeve Dunigan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book won't fix you, but imagine how cool you'll look carrying it around...

Maeve Dunigan has poured a lifetime of effort into seeming effortlessly chill. The results have been... mixed. Nonetheless, Maeve still believes she's one pair of leather pants, one perfect use of the word "bespoke," and one jar of expensive olives away from self-actualization. She'll never stop trying, no matter how bespoke things get. (Nailed it!)

With razor-sharp wit and unflinching honesty, Maeve shares her own misadventures--like the time she quietly and painfully endured a ruptured appendix at McDonald's so she wouldn't come off as dramatic--and explores the universal desire to belong (along with the comedic pitfalls of trying to do so). She invites readers into her world of One Direction fanfiction authorship, passive-aggressive yogurt mind games, and the everyday anxieties that come with living in the age of constant visibility.

As cringe-inducing as it is uproarious, Read This to Look Cool is a deeply relatable testament to the hilarity and vulnerability of modern life and a meditation on the everyday absurdity inherent in the constant performance of ourselves, offering a fresh perspective on self-acceptance and the true meaning of cool.

Review Quotes

"God, Maeve Dunigan can WRITE! Reading this won't just make you look cool. It'll make you at least 87% cooler, guaranteed." -- Jennie Egerdie, author of Frog and Todd Are Doing Their Best

"I promise that reading this collection of relatable personal calamities on the subway will make you look cool to your fellow commuters." -- Emma Allen, humor and cartoon editor, The New Yorker

"I'm a longtime fan of Maeve's short humor, and was delighted to find out that she's fluently funny when writing about her own life too. Her personal essays are a wonderful complement to her fiction, and I loved reading about her family's cult-film fame, the rollercoaster of Glee fandom, and being too high at a Hozier concert. Read This to Look Cool is touching, funny, and very smart." -- James Folta, editor of Points in Case

"Maeve Dunigan's hilarious debut is a balm in a world that demands perfection. It's silly, self-deprecating, and full of heart. Finally, someone speaks to the truly insidious nature of the Cha Cha Slide." -- Lillian Stone, author of Everybody's Favorite

"This book is laugh out loud funny and reading it will make you look cool. I would be caught dead with this book. If my corpse held a copy in an open casket, I would be the life of the party. Metaphorically. That's how good this book is." -- Johnathan Appel, staff writer, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

"This book taught me three things: One, I'm not cool. Two, I don't need to be. Three, Maeve is very funny. And four, I can't count." -- Eli Grober, The New Yorker contributor and author of This Won't Help

"This essay collection is hilarious and heartfelt. It gave me a much-needed escape from my internal monologue, and after I finished it, I had a newfound appreciation for the voice in my head that never stops talking. Read This to Look Cool is perfect for fans of funny essays and anyone who spends way too much time analyzing their emails." -- Ysabel Yates, co-author of Jokes to Offend Men

"We all owe Maeve Dunigan a debt of gratitude for writing a book so sharp, so smart, and so funny, that you'll be so happy you picked it up to read instead of picking up your phone. This book is for anyone who has navigated the bumpy transition between the person you are and the confident, assured version of yourself you hope to be. Call Maeve Spartacus, because we are her and she is all of us. If you ever in your life have worried about looking cool (and who hasn't), you don't have to worry anymore. All you have to do is read this." -- Lana Schwartz, author of Set Piece

About the Author

Maeve Dunigan is a writer, comedian, and frequent contributor to The New Yorker. Her work has appeared on NPR's Selected Shorts, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Reductress, Mic, and Mountain Gazette. For more, check out her website: maevedunigan.com.