"People aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?"

Lucas loves Pad Thai with peanuts, drinking wine and playing video games. What he doesn't love is having people around him. He is happy on his own, until a frying pan ruins his life as it brings him into contact with his frustrating neighbours (memorised not by their names but colours they are wearing).

I adore Fredrik Backman's books, and this short story is no exception. It is as absurd as it is hilarious, while saying interesting things about loneliness, bureaucracy, Facebook groups and cults. It is full of enjoyably smart quotes about the ridiculousness of life and makes a case for living on your own. I bet the author wrote it after a row with his partner about loading the dishwasher incorrectly!

This is a lovely, funny and palate-cleansing  Amazon original story which has the added bonus of only being 68 pages long so can be read in an hour, just in case you're trying to get your book total up before the end of December.

"Love isn’t powerful enough. But spite? Spite can change the world."