Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we see a lot of books come down the pike. We’ve noticed a curious trend in recent years—a very definite spike in fiction books with titles that sound like guidebooks or how-to manuals.
 
Consider: A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel. Each of these is an actual title, each is meant to conjure irony to some degree, and each comes from a different genre—cozy mystery, supernatural horror, and queer historical romance, to be precise. You can also find guides to decadence, heartbreak, scandal, and medieval England.
 
Then there are the various how-to manuals. By perusing the selections below, you can learn how to do everyday things (How to Leave the House), felonious things (How to Kill Men and Get Away with It), tricky but badly timed things (How to Solve Your Own Murder), and things-that-create-their-own-category things (How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying).
 
It’s weird! It’s fun! We’ve assembled the collection below in the spirit of fictional counterprogramming, since there tend to be a lot of actual personal improvement titles this time of year. Click around and add any further suggestions in the comments section. And, as always, if you see anything that intrigues you, click the Want to Read button to add the title to your own digital/aspirational bookshelf.

 

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