20 eBooks for 99 cents each


Looking for offbeat humor, sharp dialogue and well-crafted prose? If you have enjoyed the insights of David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, Diablo Cody and Miranda July, and you find Jean Shepherd and Denis Johnson compelling, then you'll also like these contemporary, young novelists and memoirists who are adept at exposing the tragic, the comic, and the darkly poignant underside of American life.
Other authors love to recommend these authors, and our friends at Harper Perennial have offered us a deal to share so you can both try their eBooks and try us as your online supplier. Click any of the titles below for more complete descriptions of each book. (And you can still also buy these books in the very hip and retro paperback form. Isn't that incredible?)

86'd: A Novel (Google eBook)

$9.99
Model: zkYfRwJWQW8C
Published: Harper Perennial, 9/2009

In Los Angeles, struggling telemarketer-writer and part-time drunk Bruno Dante gets a lucky break as the manager of a thriving limo service. But his instant business success triggers an abrupt booze-and-blackout-soaked downward spiral, forcing him to confront old familiar demons which threaten to get the best of him.

Praise for 86'd: a novel…


“...writing that is a violent lyrical blizzard....” - Uncut Magazine

“Fante offers moments that brush the genius of Bukowski and Hubert Selby, Jr.” - Elle Magazine

“Told in a free-flowing narrative style that features a number of memorable characters, Fante’s novel is dark, bleak, gritty, and inventively vulgar. It’s also honest, painful, and occasionally tender.” - Booklist


$9.99
Model: VQWa5NmfZDYC
Published: Harper Perennial, 10/2009

Praise for The Average American Male…


“[A] brilliant send-up of the way ...the male point of view has been misrepresented by militant feminists.” - Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
“It’s so primal, so dangerous, it might be the most ingenious book I’ve ever read.” - Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of I Am Not Myself These Days

Bad Marie: A Novel (Google eBook)

$9.99
Model: ldDr95ZKnq0C
Published: Harper Perennial, 6/2010

Marie is tall, voluptuous, beautiful, thirty years old, and fresh from six years in prison for being an accessory to murder and armed robbery. The only job she can get on the outside is as a nanny for her childhood friend Ellen Kendall, an upwardly mobile Manhattan executive. Things get complicated, and almost before she knows what she's doing, Marie has absconded to Paris with Ellen's angelic baby, Caitlin, and Ellen's husband, a very attractive French novelist. On the run and out of her depth, Marie experiences the highs and lows of foreign culture, motherhood, and lawless living as she figures out how to be an adult, how deeply she can love, and what it truly means to be "bad".

Praise for Bad Marie…


“A wickedly nihilistic and suspenseful tale of erotic mayhem . . . .[E]dgy, speedy, stylish, unpredictable, funny, and heart-stopping.” - Booklist

“I didn’t want to finish this book any time soon, didn’t want to emerge from its dark and wondrous world. My God, what a writer -- absolutely unpredictable, wild with intellect, spilling with charm and sadness and humanity. Marie, the main character here, is literary gold, worthy of Flaubert.” - Mary Robison, author of One D.O.A., One on the Way

“[I]rresistible. In swift, vivid prose Marcy Dermansky has created a wonderful portrait of a woman who lives right at the edge of acceptable behaviour. I couldn’t wait to see what Marie would do next, and I couldn’t stop myself from cheering her on.” - Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street and Eva Moves The Furniture


$9.99
Model: HPBrFPvlSbwC
Published: Harper Perennial, 10/2010

Q: What do Tiger, Paris, Lindsay, Alec, and Oprah have in common with the enduring characters of Anton Chekhov?

A: Love, loss, pride, yearning, heartbreak, renewal, transcendence: the immortal truths of human life.

In a witty, graceful, and revelatory feat of literary reinvention, humorist Ben Greenman recasts nineteen of Chekhov's immortal stories with current luminaries —with eye-opening, and oddly ennobling, results.

Praise for Celebrity Chekhov…


“Ben Greenman’s Celebrity Chekhov might be the first literary mashup that actually adds to our understanding of the original work.” - The Very Short List

$10.99
Model: w3ZvXa8Ia8EC
Published: Harper Perennial, 1/2010
When Kevin returned home to Kennewick, Washington for the funeral of his estranged father, his mother revealed disturbing threads in their family history -- stories of incest, madness, betrayal, and death -- which retroactively colored Kevin's memories of his upbringing and youth. The elastic conceit of his "memory experiment" captures luminous details from his childhood, and the tragedy and resiliency of the whole Sampsell family. Kevin relates their story in a charmingly honest, insightfully funny voice.

Praise for A Common Pornography: A Memoir…


“The material perfectly fits the form, shards of memory fused into a compelling concretion of moments. A worthy addition to the work of such contemporary memoirists as Nick Flynn, Augusten Burroughs, Dave Eggers, and Stephen Elliott.” - Booklist

“[A] rather miraculous act of artistic self-creation” - BookForum


$10.99
Model: wgCCzO5N4HkC
Published: Perennial, 6/2010

Praise for Diary of a Very Bad Year…


“A highly readable refresher on the financial crisis. . . . Amazingly—and largely because of the anonymity he’s granted—the nameless hedgie gives straight answers. . . . While HFM comes off as a bro you don’t want to mess with, the book is packed with plenty of humor.” - The Wall Street Journal

“HFM does a good job of teaching the reader how mortgage-backed paper, money-market funds, and credit-default swaps work, while offering up juicier tidbits about the ethics and legalities of his sector.” - Time Out New York

Diary of a Very Bad Year is a rarity: a book on modern finance that’s both extraordinarily thoughtful and enormously entertaining.” - James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds


$9.99
Model: dryWxV3RFBAC
Published: Harper Perennial, 10/2009

After exhausting their resources in the slums of Los Angeles, a junkie and his wife settle in London's "murder mile," the city's most violent and criminally corrupt section. In prose that could peel paint from a car, Tony O'Neill re-creates the painfully comic, often tragic days of a recovering heroin addict.

Praise for Down and out on Murder Mile…


Tony O’Neill is one of my favorite new writers, and Down and Out on Murder Mile is his best book yet. In O’Neill’s wizardlike hands, all the drugs and sex, the fierce fights and shouts and blaring rock & roll, amount to a story both horrifying and beautiful.” - Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear

Down and Out on Murder Mile doesn’t disappoint if you’re looking for a visceral, grisly experience...Fans of Irvine Welsh and Warren Ellis are sure to enjoy this dark, disturbing journey.” - Metro


$9.99
Model: j0pgYYx3gXkC
Published: Harper Perennial, 7/2010

Traveling from Vienna to Zurich to Amsterdam, Rachel bounces through complicated relationships, drunken mishaps, miscommunication, and the reality-adjusting culture shock that every twentysomething faces when sent off to negotiate "the real world".

Praise for Everything Is Going to Be Great…


“Shukert is a hugely funny, wildly smart, and menacingly original writer. I don’t much care for leaving the house, but if I were ever to travel, I’d want to do it in book form and alongside Rachel, who has one billion crazy stories set in foreign lands, all beautifully told.” - Julie Klausner, author of I Don’t Care About Your Band

If you read only one memoir by a disaffected, urban, 20-something Jewish girl this year, make it this one. Shukert rocks the lulav.” - Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story

$9.99
Model: nAHGbG96xeQC
Published: Harper Perennial, 3/2010

A memoir of startling insight, divine comedy, and irreversible, unconscionable stupidity. For Jason, "writing is a fantastical exercise in manic depression" when he is describing his raucous, fully-dysfunctional family -- but he never fails to ensure that laughter is part of the routine.

With echoes of Jean Shepherd transplanted to Philly in the eighties and nineties, this book is a must-read for every person who looks back wistfully on his or her childhood and family and wonders, "What were we thinking?" 

Praise for Everything Is Wrong with Me…


“The somewhat alarming, always interesting world inside Jason’s brain has now been strewn across the pages of a book. Godspeed, reader.” - Steve Hely, author of How I Became a Famous Novelist


$9.99
Model: bp0wLmEV3-gC
Published: Harper Perennial, 2/2011

"In landlocked Gainesville, Florida, in the hot, fraught summer of 1999, a college dropout named David sleepwalks through his life--a dull haze of office work and Internet porn--until a run-in with a lost friend jolts him from his torpor. He is drawn into the vibrant but grimy world of Fishgut, a rundown house where a loose collective of anarchists, burnouts, and libertines practice utopia outside society and the law."

Praise for The Gospel of Anarchy…


“[A] thoughtful miniaturist with an intuitive knack for the well-chosen detail....Taylor’s noble goal is to remind those of us long past our own difficult youths of the grace and beauty to be found even in a ‘bunch of drunkpunks in the armpit of Florida.’” - New York Times Book Review

“If Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children showed upper-class New Yorkers in the not-yet upended world before 9/11, this book does the same for the small-town anarchists, believers and the Burning Man-inclined.” - Los Angeles Times


$9.99
Model: Yftoj_JxAs8C
Published: Harper Perennial, 5/2011
It's 1992, and as Vim Sweeney deals with the recent end of his high school career and the uncertainty of his future, America shares his angst. In Seattle, Kurt Cobain reeks of teen spirit. In Washington, George Bush (the first one) has just finished rattling his saber at Saddam Hussein. And in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Vim is trying to put off adulthood for as long as he can - juggling guitars, girls, and a long-absent biological father who's suddenly Wanting to Be Involved. And he still can't convince his friends why local schoolboy hero Derek Jeter is bound for obscurity.

Generous in spirit and laugh-out-loud funny, here is a novel that deftly captures the alternately amusing and harrowing process of holding on until you find your way.


$9.99
Model: BnH2xdv0lMgC
Published: Perennial, 10/2009

I Am Not Myself These Days follows a glittering journey through Manhattan's dark underbelly -- a shocking and surreal world where alter egos reign and subsist (barely) on dark wit and chemicals...a tragic romantic comedy where one begins by rooting for the survival of the relationship and ends by hoping someone simply survives. Kilmer-Purcell is a terrifically gifted new literary voice who straddles the divide between absurdity and normalcy, and stitches them together with surprising humor and lonely poignancy.

Praise for I am not myself these days: a memoir…


“as tart and funny as a Noel Coward play, for . . . under the comedy lies the sad truth that even at our best, we are all weak, fallible fools. Again and again in this rich, adventure-filled book, Kilmer-Purcell illustrates the truth of Blake’s proverb, ‘The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.’” - Booklist

$9.99
Model: x33_3waky5oC
Published: Harper Perennial, 4/2010

Meet Ariel. Her glass is half empty . . . and leaking. In these witty and entertaining tales from the front lines of woe, Ariel highlights the humor in our everyday anxieties and delivers insight that will ring hilariously true if you are inclined to view the world through gray-tinted glasses. 

So whether you've been dumped by the love of your life, lost your job to the guy in the cubicle next to you, said the wrong thing at the party, or weren't invited to the party at all, Ariel is here to remind you that it could be worse, you could be her.

Praise for It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me…


“Ariel Leve is the love child of David Sedaris and Fran Leibowitz. An original and funny voice…The flip side of Sex and the City. Insightful and sharp—this is a very funny book written by a woman who knows how to laugh at herself and her insecurities.” - Joan Rivers

Kapitoil: A Novel (Google eBook)

$9.99
Model: 8yRelT3KxBkC
Published: Perennial, 4/2010
Karim Issar, a young financial wizard from Qatar, creates a computer program that predicts oil futures and reaps record profits for his New York firm. The influence of Rebecca - a sensitive, disillusioned colleague - and his father's disapproval of Karim's Americanization, cause him to question the moral implications of his invention, moving him toward a decision that will determine his future, his firm's, and to whom—and where—his loyalties lie.

Praise for Kapitoil…


“Flat out top-notch. Kapitoil makes you see America and the English language more clearly than ever before, and Karim Issar, the book’s protagonist, is one of the most interesting characters we’ve had a chance to spend time with.” - McSweeneys.net

$9.99
Model: aWJ2C6P53jAC
Published: Harper Perennial, 2/2010
A telemarketer at a travel agency, Sid is becoming unhinged and superneurotic. Lately he's been obsessed with car washes and mud baths. His hypochondria is driving his doctor sister mad. And it's all because of his ex-girlfriend, Zoe, who's sending him postcards from her European adventure, one that they were supposed to take together. It's all quite upsetting.

Praise for Postcards from a Dead Girl…


Kirk Farber has a style very similar to Chuck Palahniuk, with offbeat observations, a view of our world through a slightly distorted lens, and a tone that’s quite fun and sometimes hilarious and tragic at the same time. I love the voice and irreverence and humor. - Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

$9.99
Model: YOc8thbwvooC
Published: Harper Perennial, 8/2010
Stretch mercilessly lampoons the bizarre, omnipresent culture of yoga, but it's also the hilarious true account of an overweight, balding, skeptical guy's unexpected and profound personal transformation into a healthy, blissful yoga fiend. He participated in a 24-hour yogathon, attended yoga conferences and Asian retreats, went to yoga rock shows, started getting regular assignments for Yoga Journal magazine, and, finally, began teaching yoga classes himself.

Praise for Stretch...


“Neal Pollack has a well documented history of putting himself into ridiculous positions, but never so literally… If Eat, Pray, Love had been written by a sweaty, aging, male smartass, then that book might be called Stretch, and Elizabeth Gilbert would be named Neal Pollack.” - John Hodgman

$9.99
Model: Yl8pw4_iVk8C
Published: Harper Perennial, 7/2008

Fourteen-year-old Jamie will never forget the summer of 1976. It's the summer when she has her first boyfriend, cute surfer Flip Jenkins; it's the summer when her two best friends get serious about sex, cigarettes, and tanning; it's the summer when her parents throw, yes, naked swim parties, leaving Jamie flushed with embarrassment. And it's the summer that forever changes the way Jamie sees the things that matter: family, friendship, love, and herself.

Praise for The Summer of Naked Swim Parties…


“Jessica Anya Blau creates a charming protagonist, her charismatic Santa Barbara family and a summer of love, lust and confusion. You won’t want summer - and this wonderful book - to end.” - Ellen Sussman, author of Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex; Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave; and On a Night Like This

“Recovered Judy Blume addicts, brace yourselves for a relapse: Jessica Anya Blau’s debut novel, set in Santa Barbara, California, during the summer of ’76, is a poignant, gleeful ode to the turbulence of growing up . . . [A] dead-on portrayal of the simple yet shocking revelations of youth.” - Time Out New York

“Move over, summer of love. Here comes the summer of naked swim parties . . . [Blau] knows adolescence inside out . . . [S]he skewers what needs skewering and celebrates the rest with humor, style, and an appropriate degree of affection.” - Booklist


Town House: A Novel (Google eBook)

$9.99
Model: R0ZrgcJwOO4C
Published: Harper Perennial, 10/2009

Jack Madigan is, by many accounts, blessed. He can still effortlessly turn a pretty head. And thanks to his legendary rock star father, he lives an enviable existence in a once-glorious, now-crumbling Boston town house with his teenage son, Harlan. But there is one tiny drawback: Jack is an agoraphobe. As long as his dad's admittedly dwindling royalties keep rolling in, Jack's condition isn't a problem. But then the money runs out . . . and all hell breaks loose.

The bank is foreclosing. Jack's ex is threatening to take Harlan to California. And Lucinda, the little girl next door, won't stay out of his kitchen . . . or his life. To save his sanity, Jack's path is clear, albeit impossible—he must outwit the bank's adorably determined real estate agent, win back his house, keep his son at home, and, finally, with Lucinda's help, find a way back to the world outside his door.

Praise for Town House…


Town House is a poignant, acerbic and charming novel with real heart. Make room on your bookshelf for Tish Cohen.” - Barbara Delinsky, author of A Woman Betrayed

Ugly Man: Stories (Google eBook)

$9.99
Model: 9nTR8AQQuNMC
Published: HarperPerennial, 5/2009

Praise for Ugly Man…


The cult novelist's collection of short stories plumbs veins of dark humor amid the sex and gore his fans have come to expect. . . . explicit, unconventional and, to the uninitiated, alarming. - Publisher's Weekly

Who by Fire: A Novel (Google eBook)

$9.99
Model: kcBPbsqkWBcC
Published: Perennial, 10/2009

Bits and Ash were children when the kidnapping of their younger sister, Alena—an incident for which Ash blames himself—caused an irreparable family rift. Thirteen years later, Ash is living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel, cutting himself off from his mother, Ellie, and his wild-child sister, Bits. But soon he may have to face them again; Alena's remains have finally been uncovered. Now Bits is traveling across the world in a bold and desperate attempt to bring her brother home and salvage what's left of their family.

Praise for Who by fire…


“This book got hold of me and wouldn’t let me go, and it’s haunted me ever since I finished. I cannot wait for whatever’s next from Diana Spechler.” - Katrina Kittle, author of The Kindness of Strangers

“Told with grace, humor, and astonishing candor, this is a novel that will break your heart. To call it an extraordinary debut doesn’t do it justice. This is an extraordinary novel, period.” - Cristina Henriquez, author of Come Together, Fall Apart

“Impossible to put down, Who By Fire is a remarkable tale about fear and forgiveness and the bonds that hold a family together even as its members are falling apart. It’s a beautiful novel.” - Aryn Kyle, author of The God of Animals