Good Material
Dolly Alderton, 2023
A stand-up comedian is dumped and tries to turn heartbreak into material while his friends pair off around him.
A page from the book
Why letting go is never a single, clean decision.
You don’t let go once. That’s your first mistake. You say goodbye over a lifetime. You might not have thought about her for ten years, then you’ll hear a song or you’ll walk past somewhere you once went together - something will come to the surface that you’d totally forgotten about. And you say another goodbye. You have to be prepared to let go and let go and let go a thousand times. Dolly Alderton.Alderton is a British journalist and co-host of The High Low podcast; Good Material is her second novel, and her first narrated by a man.
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Questions readers ask
- What is Good Material like?
- Feels like wonder. About war.
- What should I read after Good Material?
- If you liked Good Material, try The Hotel Nantucket (Elin Hilderbrand), The Mark of Athena (Rick Riordan) and The House in the Cerulean Sea (T.J. Klune).
A taste of the feed
Why has no one invented a pill for the one thing that really hurts?
With all the advances in medicine and technology, why has someone not created a pill that cures heartbreak? Emotional penicillin. Why has someone not invented software that will sweep all traces of your ex out of your brain or an app that eliminates unrequited love?
The Hotel Nantucket · Elin Hilderbrand
What six months of missing someone looks like when it finally ends.
Percy smiled at her - that sarcastic troublemaker smile that had annoyed her for years but eventually had become endearing. His sea-green eyes were as gorgeous as she remembered. His dark hair was swept to one side, like he’d just come from a walk on the beach. He looked even better than he had six months ago - tanner and taller, leaner and more muscular. Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed and for a moment nothing else mattered. An asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and Annabeth wouldn’t have cared.
The Mark of Athena · Rick Riordan
The difference between the posters on the wall and the laughter behind the door.
He was about to leave through the front door when he paused at a bright burst of laughter coming from the kitchen. Against his better judgment, he tiptoed toward the sound. He passed by posters nailed to the walls, the same messages that hung in all the DICOMY-sanctioned orphanages he’d been to. They showed smiling children below such legends as WE’RE HAPPIEST WHEN WE LISTEN TO THOSE IN CHARGE and A QUIET CHILD IS A HEALTHY CHILD and WHO NEEDS MAGIC WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR IMAGINATION?
The House in the Cerulean Sea · T.J. Klune
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