Read and unread: a review and preview

If you are a fan of The Bloggess (aka: Jenny Lawson), have you bought her new book ”Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir”? What are you waiting for? Okay, you maybe already have bought it considering that it debuted at number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Combined Print and E-Book Nonfiction last week.

If you are not a fan of The Bloggess, then you might want to skip it. She is very swear-y.

Personally? I adore her. This is not the kind of book I would normally pick up. I like to get lost in a completely different place when a read a book - like a trip to Narnia or Hogwarts or even District 12 inside of Panem. “Real life” kind of books are not my thing. This book had me laughing (and then crying) and transported in a whole different kind of way.

I think her comments in the dedication sum up the entire book and the importance of it perfectly:

This book is a love letter to my family. It’s about the suprising discovery that the most terribly human moments – the ones we want to pretend never happened – are the very same moments that make us who we are today. I’ve reserved the very best stories of my life for this book … to celebrate the strange, and to give thanks for the bizarre. Because you are defined not by life’s imperfect moments, but by your reaction to them. And because there is joy in embracing – rather than running screaming from – the utter absurdity of life. I thank my family for teaching me that lesson. In spades.

- Jenny Lawson

Some of my other favorite bits of the book:

The entire chapter “Stanley, the Magical Talking Squirrel” had me laughing so hard I had to put the book away because I couldn’t see through the tears.

The bit where she wants her husband to pee all around the house to ward off the “foxen.” But since he refuses to do it she calls to see if her father can come and do it. But since her father is busy, her mother offers to save some of his urine and have it mailed to her but she declines “because that’s a package I never want to sign for.”

Pretty much all the conversations she has with her husband. I would love to meet that guy. He must be very laid back.

So, that’s the book I just wrapped up. Next up: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (this is a book club selection). I am most excited, though, about my pre-order of Insurgent by Veronica Roth due to arrive on May 1 and my pre-order of City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare due to arrive on May 8.

What are you currently reading? What’s next up on your list?

Just for Fun

The folks over at How it Should Have Ended have come up with this gem! Hunger Games: How it Should Have Ended. It’s hilarious!

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