Inappropriate Books in Order

The Inappropriate books are Diane Henders's comic side project, and they are a good fit if you like her voice as much as her plots. These volumes collect posts from her blog and gather them into books that are easy to dip into a few pages at a time. Instead of spy missions and covert operations, the subject here is everyday life, and all the ways it manages to be embarrassing, inconvenient, and weirdly funny.

These are not novels.

The main character, if you want to call it that, is Henders herself, or at least the version of herself she puts on the page: practical, sharp-tongued, self-mocking, and fully aware that the world is often absurd. Across Probably Inappropriate, Definitely Inappropriate, Totally Inappropriate, Completely Inappropriate, and Unabashedly Inappropriate, she writes about middle age, marriage, weather, injuries, gardening, country living, travel mishaps, social awkwardness, and the many small disasters that seem to happen more often when you are trying to look competent.

Nothing is too minor to become a story.

Part of the fun is the setting. These pieces feel rooted in Canadian daily life, and often in rural or small-town rhythms, where gardens, animals, bad roads, weird weather, and home repairs can all turn into material. Henders has a knack for taking something ordinary, a medical appointment, a piece of clothing, a conversation, a household problem, and following it to the point where it becomes gloriously ridiculous.

The tone is candid and a little rude, but not mean. She likes off-color jokes, blunt observations, and the kind of punchlines that arrive half a beat after you realize where a story is going. At the same time, there is real warmth underneath the silliness. Her husband, her home life, and her ongoing battle with the indignities of aging all show up again and again, which gives the books a loose sense of continuity even though each piece stands on its own.

Think of it as time with the funniest person at the kitchen table.

Because the books are collections, there is no strict plot arc to follow and you can start almost anywhere. Beginning with Probably Inappropriate makes sense if you want the first volume, but readers who already know Henders from the spy novels can jump into any of them without feeling lost. What carries the series is the voice: dry, observant, game for a laugh, and never too precious to admit when life has made a fool of her.