By
Carrie McBride, Communications
April 7, 2023
Kathryn Hahn as reluctant advice columnist Clare in 'Tiny Beautiful Things'.
Advice columns have a long historyand are thriving in the internet age. Readers find their own struggles reflected in the letter-writer's question—or feel relief that they are not in a similar dilemma. And who doesn't enjoy critiquing the agony aunt's answer and imagining the advice you might give instead? When Cheryl Strayed, writing anonymously, took over the advice column "Dear Sugar" for the website The Rumpus in 2010 she took a very personal, vulnerable approach to her answers. Strayed's willingness to share her own story and struggles attracted a devoted following and a few years later a collection of her columns was published as the bookTiny Beautiful Things. Fast forward about a decade and her time writing an advice column has been adapted into a series for Hulustarring Kathryn Hahn.
Whether you're looking for wisdom for yourself or just enjoy going down the rabbit hole of other people's problems, these books by advice columnists will fit the bill.
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
byCheryl Strayed
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 courage to write your novel. Sugar—the once-anonymous online columnist at The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wild—is the person thousands turn to for advice.
Dear Prudence: Liberating Lessons from Slate.com's Beloved Advice Column
by Daniel M. Lavery
Every week, millions of readers visitSlatefor the irresistible “Dear Prudence,” an advice column that promises a healthy dose of reality and good humor alongside its indispensable suggestions and life lessons. The ever-hilarious and insightful Danny Lavery was one of “Dear Prudence”’s most beloved columnists, and he recounts his time as Prudie in this side-splitting, candid collection—complete with new commentary and exclusive stories—drawing out the broader themes of his informative, unfailingly illuminating guidance.
Dear Dolly
by Dolly Alderton
For three years, Dolly Alderton has been sharing her wisdom, warmth, and wit with the diverse universe of fans who have turned to her “Dear Dolly” column seeking guidance on a host of life problems. Without judgement, and with deep empathy informed by her own, much-chronicled adventures with love, friends, and dating, Dolly helps us navigate the labyrinths of life. In this wonderful collection, she brings together her collected knowledge in one invaluable volume that will make you think, make you laugh, and help you confront any conundrum or crisis.
How to Be a Person in the World: Ask Polly's Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life
byHeather Havrilesky
The author of the weekly advice column Ask Polly, featured in New York magazine’s The Cut, is here to guide you through the “what if’s” and “I don’t knows” of modern life with the signature wisdom and tough love her readers have come to expect.Whether she’s responding to cheaters or loners, lovers or haters, the depressed or the down-and-out, Havrilesky writes with equal parts grace, humor, and compassion to remind you that even in your darkest moments you’re not alone.
Can't Help Myself: Lessons and Confessions from a Modern Advice Columnist
byMeredith Goldstein
Every day, Boston Globe advice columnist Meredith Goldstein takes on the relationship problems of thousands of dedicated readers.As she searches for responses to their concerns, she's surprised to discover answers to her own. But it's after her mother is diagnosed with cancer that she truly realizes how special her Love Letters community is, how this column has enriched her life as much, if not more than, it has for its readers.
If You Ask Me: Essential Advice from Eleanor Roosevelt
by Eleanor Roosevelt
An annotated collection of the advice columns Eleanor Roosevelt wrote for Ladies Home Journal beginning in 1941 highlights her warm-hearted and witty responses on a variety of topics ranging from war, peace, politics, love, marriage, religion, and pop culture.
Care to Make Love in That Gross Little Space Between Cars?: A Believer Book of Advice
edited by Mike Sacks and Eric Spitznagel
A collection of offbeat, belligerent advice columns from The Believer is augmented by contributions by such comics and writers as Bob Saget, Amy Sedaris, and Nick Hornby and provides dubiously helpful tips on dilemmas ranging from getting wine stains out of granite to avoiding being found dead in embarrassing ways.
Savage Love from A to Z: Advice on Sex and Relationships, Dating and Mating, Exes and Extras
by Dan Savage
Dan Savage has been talking frankly about sex and relationships for 30 years and has built an international following thanks to his sex-positive 'Savage Love' column and podcast. To celebrate this milestone comes Savage Love from A to Z, an illustrated collection of 26 never-before-published essays that provides a thoughtful, frank dive into Savage's trademark phrases and philosophies.
Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work
by Alison Green
The creator of "Ask a Manager" answers questions about tough decisions and awkward workplace interactions, covering scenarios that include getting drunk at the Christmas party, micromanagement, and being caught in a lie.
Asking for a Friend: Three Centuries of Advice on Life, Love, Money, and Other Burning Questions from a Nation Obsessed
byJessica Weisberg
In an entertaining history of Americans’ obsession with advice, an award-winning writer and producer profiles the advice-givers—including Poor Richard, Dr. Spock and Miss Manners—who have made their names, and oftentimes fortunes, by telling Americans what to do.
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.
