I’ve been a busy bee the last few weeks with travel and work and haven’t had a chance to record all the fun books I’ve been reading.
About two weeks ago I read “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)” by Jenny Lawson. It had me laughing so hard on the bus that people stopped and stared. I love when a book does that.
If you have not yet discovered “The Bloggess“, you should do so. Jenny Lawson’s blog is hilarious and heartfelt. Many of the stories on the blog are incorporated into the book. So, first up, check out her blog and if it makes you snort your morning coffee out of your nose at work, then this book is for you. If you look at it and think that the horror stories from HR and her obsession with dressing taxidermied animals up in costumes isn’t hilarious, then you will probably start to wonder what is wrong with me and why I am recommending this book to people.
Consider that your warning.
Jenny tells the tale of growing up poor in rural Texas. Her father was a taxidermist and would bring home strange animals for pets and wake Jenny up in the night with puppets made from taxidermied road kill. It was a bizarre childhood to say the least. It follows her awkward teenage years and how she met her long suffering husband. There are stories so bizarre and funny that they are hard to believe, such as when she got her arm stuck in a cow’s vagina or had to ask two men at her office “Are these your penises?” after a photo got caught in the company’s spam folder.
The book also covers her crippling social anxiety and how it has affected her life. In the midst of all of the laugh riots in the book, there are some poignant moments about how sometimes she has to hide under a desk or embarrassing stories about how she’ll randomly bring up cannibalism at a dinner party and then will panic and be unable to stop talking about it until everyone walks away. The mix of emotions in the book make it more than just a silly party, but a look into the life of someone who is complicated, damaged, but still has a great sense of humor through it all.
This was a great summer read. I can see why it has been on the bestseller list for the last few weeks.
Besides, don’t you want to know the story of Beyonce the Giant Metal Chicken?
"Knock-knock, motherfucker"
Or experience some of the weird collection of taxidermy?
In case you were wondering, you can take taxidermied alligators on planes.
You know you want to read this book. Dive on into the crazy.
