Kristin's Bookshelf

📖 Word Salad
✍️ Susan Coll
🎙️ Helen Laser
🎁 Provided by Harper Muse Audiobooks & NetGalley
📅 September 15, 2026
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you asked me why I loved “Word Salad” so much, I honestly don’t know if I could tell you.

It wasn’t a thriller. It wasn’t a romance. There wasn’t some huge mystery I was desperate to solve. It was simply a novel highlighting a day in the life of Matilda, and apparently that was exactly what I needed.

I hate comparing a book I loved to a TV show I don’t particularly like, but hear me out: “Word Salad” felt like an episode of “Seinfeld.” It’s a story about…nothing. Except maybe rutabaga and Gas-X.

Matilda works at an independent bookstore, and she and her coworkers are helping put on an event for a big name in the vegetable world whose appeal none of them really seem to understand. From there, one thing after another goes cosmically and comically wrong. It’s mundane, ridiculous, chaotic, and incredibly entertaining.

There’s something so charming about watching an ordinary day spiral into complete absurdity. The bookstore setting, quirky characters, dry humor, and increasingly ridiculous situations just worked for me. I wasn’t waiting for some massive reveal or dramatic turn. I was perfectly happy hanging out with Matilda and watching everything go wrong.

Helen Laser’s narration was also a fantastic fit for this kind of story. Her delivery captured the dry humor and absurdity without trying too hard to make the funny moments funny, which made them land even better. She made Matilda’s increasingly chaotic day feel wonderfully conversational, like someone was recounting the strangest shift they’d ever worked.

I just really enjoyed this listen. Sometimes a book doesn’t need to completely wreck you, keep you guessing, or give you a sweeping romance. Sometimes you just need bookstores, vegetables, questionable digestive decisions, and a day where absolutely nothing goes according to plan.

And apparently, for me, that’s a five-star read.