20th-century 21st-century absurdism absurdity addiction adversity ambition america american american-author american-culture american-dream american-history american-literature american-society architecture belonging bestseller biography boston building canada canadian-literature challenges character-driven character-study christianity class class-divide comedy coming-of-age community compassion computer-programming conflict construction consumersciences contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-world counterculture coupland craftsmanship creativity culture dark-comedy dark-humor dedication design determination domestic-life domesticity douglas douglas-coupland dreams dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family existentialism family family-dynamics fiction friendship gaming geek-culture general generalinterests generation-x hardship historic-preservation historical historical-context history hobbies home home-building home-improvement home-ownership home-renovation homebuilding homelessness homeownership hope house housing housing-crisis housing-market humor identity identity-crisis inspiration interior-design internet internet-culture interpersonalrelations introspection investigative-journalism investigative-reporting journalism jpod kidder life literary-fiction literary-journalism loss love marriage massachusetts memoir mental-health mental-illness metafiction millennial-generation narrative narrative-nonfiction nerd-culture nerds new-england non-fiction nonfiction nonfiction-bestseller nonfiction-book novel office-culture office-life office-politics perseverance personal-growth personal-journey personal-narrative personal-narratives personal-struggle pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism poverty preservation psychology pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-winner pulitzer-prize-winning pulitzer-prize-winning-author quirky quirky-characters real-estate recovery redemption reflection relationship relationships religion renovating renovation resilience restoration rural rural-life satire satirical secrets self-discovery self-help self-helpgeneral self-referential small-town social-class social-commentary social-issues social-justice socialsciences society storytelling struggle substance-abuse suburban-life subversion subversive success surreal surrealism teamwork tech-industry technology tracy tragedy transformation triumph true-story urban-development urban-planning vancouver video-games wealth workplace workplace-humor writing