GO AHEAD, ASK ME.

This conversation-starter crosses the line. Medina and Merrell direct readers to use these 500 browsable questions as a party game: Break out refreshments and take turns answering. The authors promise discomfort in the spirit of good fun, and the questions cover politics, celebrities, impossible choices, interpersonal situations and sex. The best questions are lighthearted and humorous. The worst are insensitive, insulting or simply in poor taste. Some are uncomfortably presumptuous: References to teachers and second-year seniors make clear that the intended audience is in high school, but readers are asked to name a “least favorite sexual position” and “best music...to smoke pot to.” Some questions employ derogatory terms, such as “sex change operation” and “gimp arm.” Others seem poised to hit too close to home, with jokey references to alcoholic parents and eating disorders. These questions may bring out a laugh or a juicy secret, but with so many sensitive topics on the table, someone will leave the party in tears. Don’t bother. (Nonfiction. YA)