Read This to Look Cool

Essays and Overthinkings

By: Maeve Dunigan

Narrated by: Maeve Dunigan

This book won't fix you, but imagine how cool you'll look carrying it around . . .

Maeve Dunigan has poured a lifetime of effort into seeming effortlessly chill. The results have been . . . mixed. Nonetheless, Maeve still believes she's one pair of leather pants, one perfect use of the word "bespoke," and one jar of expensive olives away from self-actualization. She'll never stop trying, no matter how bespoke things get (was that right?).

With sharp wit and unflinching honesty, Maeve shares her own misadventures―like the time she quietly endured a ruptured appendix at McDonald's so she wouldn't come off as dramatic―and explores the universal desire to belong. She invites listeners into her world of One Direction fanfiction authorship and passive-aggressive yogurt mind games, detailing the anxieties that come with living in an age of constant visibility.

Both cringe-inducing and uproarious, Read This To Look Cool is a relatable meditation on the absurdity inherent in the constant performance of ourselves, offering a fresh perspective on self-love and the true meaning of cool. It's a book that says "I see you" and also "Don't look at me, though, my hair is doing something weird."

©2026 Maeve Dunigan