Books like Rough amusements by Ben Neihart

Three white women in 1962 Mississippi team up with their Black maids to write a forbidden book that challenges the town’s rigid social order.

After graduating college, journalist Jon Krakauer traces the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young adventurer who abandoned possessions, took the name Alexander Supertramp, and ventured into Alaska’s wilderness, where he met his untimely death.

Bill Bryson humorously chronicles a two–person hike along the Appalachian Trail, mixing lively anecdotes with insightful looks at its history, ecology, and the people who live along the route.

In 1964 South Carolina, Lily Owens, grieving her mother’s death, seeks refuge with a fierce stand‑in mother and a trio of black beekeeping sisters who open her to the secret world of bees, honey, and healing.

Elizabeth Gilbert recounts a year of self‑discovery after leaving her life in the United States, traveling through Italy, India and Indonesia to seek pleasure, devotion, and balance.

Ernest Hemingway’s Louisiana‑born narrator takes readers through the 1920s Lost Generation—expatriates on Paris’s Left Bank, bullfights in Spain, and the era’s moral and spiritual unraveling.

On Beauty explores a New England family’s life as they confront love, identity, and cultural divides over three decades, weaving personal struggles with broader conversations about race and belonging.

A witty, nonfiction voyage that follows Eric Weiner from the U.S. to Iceland, India, Switzerland, Qatar, Bhutan, and Asheville as he seeks the source of happiness, blending travel, psychology, science and humor.

Porsha, Boots, and Frankie navigate a New York City eviction notice with street life and a mystery twist among the chaos, starring K'Wan Foye’s beloved hood rat series characters.

A collection of Woody Allen's witty New Yorker essays and stories, compiled into his third and final humor anthology, reflecting his distinctive American comic voice.

Cheryl Strayed chronicles her 1,100‑mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, a journey that confronts grief, self‑discovery, and resilience after her mother's death.

Dating a hustler was never on Naheema's to-do list. But after the charming yet deceptive Mike sweeps her off her feet, dating a hustler is the least of her worries. Mike's sweetness turns sour when the abuse, cheating, and his street mentality kick in. But Naheema is learning from the best and soon the tables turn and she holds Mike's future in her hands--P. [4] of cover.

A portrait of seven resilient African‑American women whose lives converge on Brewster Place, a grim, isolated street, revealing their struggles, strengths, and shared humanity.

xii, 308, 16 pages : 21 cm

This is the first publication in English of the anthology that contains Breton’s definitive statement on l’humour noir, one of the seminal concepts of Surrealism, and his provocative assessments of the writers he most admired. While some of the authors featured in The *Anthology of Black Humor* are already well known to American readers—Swift, Kafka, Rimbaud, Poe, Lewis Carroll, and Baudelaire among them (and even then, Breton’s selections are often surprising)—many others are sure to come as a revelation. The entries range from the acerbic aphorisms of Swift, Lichtenberg, and Duchamp to the theatrical slapstick of Christian Dietrich Grabbe, from the wry missives of Rimbaud and Jacques Vache to the manic paranoia of Dali, from the ferocious iconoclasm of Alfred Jarry and Arthur Craven to the offhand hilarity of Apollinaire at his most spontaneous. For each of the forty-five authors included, Breton has provided an enlightening biographical and critical preface, situating both the writer and the work in the context of black humor—a partly macabre, partly ironic, and often absurd turn of spirit that Breton defined as "a superior revolt of the mind."

An exploration of the Harlem Renaissance through the eyes of its larger-than-life residents in a New York apartment building setting, with satirical characters and themes that intersect with Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alain Locke. This novel is a blend of historical fiction and satire, set in the vibrant world of the 1920s Harlem and bringing to life the era's vibrant culture and characters. The story is a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance's artistic and intellectual contributions, set against the backdrop of New York's vibrant cultural scene.

A harrowing journey into the harsh realities of race and prejudice in Harlem during the 1920s, as an African American woman struggles to find her place in a society defined by colorism.

A young light‑skinned Black woman strives to transcend humble beginnings and join Harlem's Black bourgeoisie during the legendary Harlem Renaissance.