When She Was Good

If you love Philip Roth, or even if you loathe him, this book is for you. For the die-hards, we have it all: bad choices, suburban malaise, toxic introspection. And for the people who are like “I CANNOT HEAR ONE MORE MAN COMPLAIN” then you’re in luck, because this is his only book with a female protagonist, and she is fighting her way through the video game that is heterosexual existence, trying to beat every level. If you wonder why the character seems so dense with the author’s disdain, many believe Lucy Nelson- our protagonist- was heavily inspired by Roth’s doomed first marriage to a shiksa. Trivia fact: this book’s tagline (“a stunning portrait of the all-American bitch”) inspired one of the most personal episodes of Girls.