In honor of Father’s Day this weekend, I’ve selected Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast for June’s Book Club. It’s a memoir about aging parents, which seems like a beautiful way to honor my dad! HI DAD! HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! CAN YOU BELIEVE YOU’VE BEEN A DAD FOR ALMOST THIRTY YEARS?! IT DOESN’T GET EASIER, DOES IT?!

I also picked this book because it’s been on my list for months, and people keep telling me how incredible it is. I love anything that makes me cry from laughing and cry from feeling all the feelings, and this National Book Award Finalist apparently achieves both in spades. Chast is a famous cartoonist, and it’s told through cartoons, family photos and documents. She’s an only child, and covers what it’s like when the parent-child roles reverse. I know how she feels, because my mom refuses to speak to the hostess when we go to restaurants because she’s “shy,” and my dad takes their dog-children to In-N-Out once a week, which is surely a sign of dementia.

With my wedding coming up in just a little over a month, I’ve got family on my mind. I still don’t know whether I’m changing my last name, and Tony and I are creating our own little family, and it all feels very exciting and overwhelming at the same time. As the cool kids (actually, the only kids I know, the actors on School of Rock, who also happen to be very cool) say, I got the feels, man. I got choked up over a cat litter commercial the other day. Somehow, with all the emotion and family thoughts rolling around in my brain, this book seemed appropriate. (Don’t worry, Mom. You’ve got a few years left before we discuss becoming “inmates” at a “rest home.” Just please stop taking the dogs to In-N-Out.)