I really enjoy Kristen Arnett’s off beat work, having read With Teeth and now Mostly Dead Things, I’m looking forward to Stop Me If You’ve Heard this One. They’ve got heart but they’re also just absolutely whacky. This one involves a (less than legal) taxidermist business with a love triangle including a brother and sister (no relationship between the two!!)

Please bear in mind that this book contains only characters which are MESSY. If you have little patience for that then I wouldn’t recommend this one. But if you love books about people just muddling on through and making questionable decisions, you’ll eat this one up. It deals with grief experienced both individually and as a family, for people both dead and alive but gone from their loved ones’ lives. Arnett does a great job of balancing humour, weirdness and the occasional gut punch. 

Also it seems obvious since it’s about taxidermy but there’s a LOT of animal death/gore in this book, so tread carefully there.