Thursday, August 30, 2012

Juliane recommends "Let's Pretend this Never Happened"

This was a hilarious memoir from the popular and prolific Jenny Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess).  I highly recommend listening to it on audiobook since I think listening to an author read their own work (especially a memoir) makes it ten times funnier.  Side note:  her voice is a little gravelly at first but work past it, it is worth it!  Her anecdotes start with her terribly bizarre upbringing as the daughter of a self-made taxidermist.  For example, she relays how, when walking to school from her family’s farm in rural Texas, she desperately tried to shrug off a brood of turkeys that slowly started to follow her to school one day only to find out that the turkeys made their way *into* the school and chaos ensued.  The book weaves some touching memoirs together with laugh-out-loud moments.  Amidst all her crazy capers, she also reveals much about her tender psyche growing up poor, marrying well, bouts with infertility and anxiety disorders.  This was a great read – and (again, special plug for the audiobook) the sound engineer seemingly lets her riff for about 15 minutes at the end of the last disc for some delightful “outtakes.”  A great read if you enjoy other memoirs like, “Are you There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea” or anything by David Sedaris.

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