Recommendations based on Fun Home: A Family Tragicomicby Alison Bechdel

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama

    by Alison Bechdel
    An exploration of identity and family dynamics, as a daughter seeks to understand her mother.

    A graphic memoir of Alison Bechdel becoming the artist her mother wanted to be. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, ... (Goodreads)

  2. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

    by Marjane Satrapi
    Autobiographical account of a young girl's experience of the Iranian Revolution.

    Note: The summary of the English editions of the novel is divided into two sections, one for each book. Persepolis 1 begins by introducing Marji, the ten-year-old protagonist. Set in 1980, the novel ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History

    by Art Spiegelman
    A graphic novel depicting the traumatic experiences of a Holocaust survivor and his son.

    The first installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Complete Persepolis

    by Marjane Satrapi
    Autobiographical tale of a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

    Here, in one volume: Marjane Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed graphic memoir. Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving ... (Goodreads)

  5. Between the World and Me

    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.

    “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Complete Maus

    by Art Spiegelman
    A graphic novel depicting a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust and his son's journey to understand the past.

    On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the ... (Goodreads)

  7. Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began

    by Art Spiegelman
    A graphic novel recounting a Holocaust survivor's harrowing experience and his son's attempt to reconcile with his father's past.

    Acclaimed as a quiet triumph and a brutally moving work of art, the first volume of Art Spieglman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a ... (Goodreads)

  8. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

    by Marjane Satrapi
    A graphic novel memoir of Marjane Satrapi's return to Iran after living in Europe, exploring her struggles with identity and belonging.

    Note: The summary of the English editions of the novel is divided into two sections, one for each book. Persepolis 1 begins by introducing Marji, the ten-year-old protagonist. Set in 1980, the novel ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Just Kids

    by Patti Smith
    Chronicles of two young artists in New York City, finding friendship and inspiration in each other.

    In Just Kids , Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal ... (Goodreads)

  10. A Room of One's Own

    by Virginia Woolf
    Examining gender roles and societal expectations with an eye to achieving independence and creative freedom.

    A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on the 24th of October, 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton ... (Goodreads)

  11. The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction

    by Michel Foucault
    Examination of the power dynamics and social constructions of sexual behavior.

    Michel Foucault offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Year of Magical Thinking

    by Joan Didion
    A woman's reflections on life and death after the sudden loss of her husband.

    'An act of consummate literary bravery, a writer known for her clarity allowing us to watch her mind as it becomes clouded with grief.' From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of ... (Goodreads)

  13. Bad Feminist

    by Roxane Gay
    A collection of essays exploring feminism, race, and gender, and their intersections.

    Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be, cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read, Vogue, and I’m not doing it ... (Goodreads)

  14. Naked

    by David Sedaris
    Collection of humorous essays exploring the absurdities of everyday life.

    Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked , Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, ... (Goodreads)

  15. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

    by David Sedaris
    A humorous collection of autobiographical essays reflecting on family relationships.

    David Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters. He goes on vacation with his family. He gets a job selling drinks. He attends his brother’s wedding. He mops his sister’s floor. He gives directions ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

    by Michael Pollan
    Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.

    What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)

  17. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

    by Cheryl Strayed
    Collection of heartfelt advice from a wise and compassionate storyteller.

    Life can be hard: your lover cheats on you; you lose a family member; you can’t pay the bills - and it can be great: you've had the hottest sex of your life; you get that plum job; you muster the ... (Goodreads)

  18. Slouching Towards Bethlehem

    by Joan Didion
    Collection of essays exploring the cultural landscape of 1960s America.

    The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains, decades after its first publication, the essential portrait of ... (Goodreads)

  19. Citizen: An American Lyric

    by Claudia Rankine
    Poetic exploration of racial injustice, highlighting the everyday experiences of racism.

    A provocative meditation on race, Claudia Rankine's long-awaited follow up to her groundbreaking book Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting ... (Goodreads)

  20. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

    by Scott McCloud
    Exploration of the visual language of comics and its role in storytelling.

    Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. Explore the secret world between the ... (Goodreads)

  21. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

    by Allie Brosh
    A humorous and candid account of the author's life, exploring the highs and lows of everyday life.

    #1, New York Times, Bestseller “Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s, Hyperbole and a Half, showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with ... (Barnes & Noble)

  22. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

    by Audre Lorde
    A powerful autobiographical account exploring themes of gender, race, and sexuality.

    Audre Lorde grows up in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s, a child of Black West Indian parents. Lorde is legally blind from a very young age, isolating her even further from her surroundings and a ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Consider the Lobster and Other Essays

    by David Foster Wallace
    Collection of essays exploring the human experience in a humorous, thoughtful and often absurd way.

    Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these ... (Goodreads)

  24. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

    by Judith Butler
    A philosophical exploration of gender identity, challenging traditional notions of binary gender and advocating for fluidity and diversity.

    Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the ... (Goodreads)

  25. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

    by Michelle Alexander
    Exploring the roots and reality of systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system.

    "Jarvious Cotton's great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Argonauts

    by Maggie Nelson
    A personal exploration of gender, sexuality, and love, weaving together memoir, criticism, and philosophy.

    An intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language, and family. Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, ... (Goodreads)

  27. Hark! A Vagrant

    by Kate Beaton
    A collection of humorous and witty comic strips about history, literature, and popular culture.

    Hark! A Vagrant is an uproarious romp through history and literature seen through the sharp, contemporary lens of New Yorker cartoonist and comics-sensation Kate Beaton. No era or tome emerges ... (Goodreads)

  28. The Fire Next Time

    by James Baldwin
    Reflection on the plight of African Americans in a candid and deeply moving essay.

    A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James ... (Goodreads)

  29. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

    by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
    Exploration of the hybrid identity of Chicana women, navigating between two cultures.

    Anzaldua, a Chicana native of Texas, explores in prose and poetry the murky, precarious existence of those living on the frontier between cultures and languages. Writing in a lyrical mixture of ... (Goodreads)

  30. Ways of Seeing

    by John Berger
    A critical analysis of visual culture and how it shapes our perception of the world. It challenges traditional ways of seeing and encourages a new perspective.

    John Berger’s Classic Text on Art John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC ... (Goodreads)