Broken by Jenny Lawson

Title: Broken (in the best possible-way)

Author: Jenny Lawson

Publisher: Henry Holt 2021

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal TBR; Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide

As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. In Broken, Jenny brings readers along on her mental and physical health journey, offering heartbreaking and hilarious anecdotes along the way.

With people experiencing anxiety and depression now more than ever, Jenny humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we’re not alone and making us laugh while doing it. From the business ideas that she wants to pitch to Shark Tank to the reason why Jenny can never go back to the post office, Broken leaves nothing to the imagination in the most satisfying way. And of course, Jenny’s long-suffering husband Victor―the Ricky to Jenny’s Lucille Ball―is present throughout.

I love Jenny Lawson so much. She can make me laugh hysterically one minute and have be sobbing the next minute. True story: J told me that I couldn’t read this book in bed because I was shaking the bed too much with my laughter. Lawson is just as absurd as she has been in the previous books. The funny chapters balance out the very tough chapters dealing with life’s struggles. After reading this one from the library, I have to buy this one for my own shelves. I am still thinking about so many of the life lessons that I was reminded of throughout the chapters. So incredibly good.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Title: Furiously Happy

Author: Jenny Lawson

Publisher: Flatiron Books 2015

Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir

Pages: 329

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure (perpetual); TBR Reduction; 52 Books - W46

In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea.

But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.

I love her, I love her, I love her! Just like her first book, this volume made be reflect, cry, and laugh (mostly laugh) at all the ridiculous episodes of her life. Life lessons abound disguised as silly arguments with her husband and strange encounters with the outside world. I loved diving more into her world even the parts that aren't so nice. I'm so glad I preordered this one. I had to wait almost a month before I had time to read it, but when I did I pounced. Now I feel like I should reread her last book... Maybe in January.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Title: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Author: Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess)

Publisher: Berkley Books 2012

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 372

Rating:  5+++++/5 stars

Reading Challenges: T4MC -- NYT Bestseller; Women Authors; TBR Pile; Eclectic -- Memoir

How I Got It: Birthday present for me!

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.

In the irreverent Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson’s long-suffering husband and sweet daughter help her uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments—the ones we want to pretend never happened—are the very same moments that make us the people we are today. For every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud, this is a poignant and hysterical look at the dark, disturbing, yet wonderful moments of our lives.

I have been reading The Bloggess' blog for awhile now and I swear she sees into my soul.  I may not have participated in her particularly crazy adventures, but I definitely have her twisted sense of humor.  And I tend to see the world as a very strange place.  J can attest that I am pretty strange at times.  Much of what Lawson says out loud, I've thought in my head.  I guess I just have a better internal filter than she does.  But that's what makes her so amazing.  She's her and no one else.  Her memoir made me laugh at loud so much that J repeatedly asked me if I was okay.  It also made me get a bit teary eyed (especially the chapter about Barnaby Jones Pickle).  Among all the stories, Lawson conveys a great message of accepting yourself and the crazy.  My favorite lesson comes from the chapter "Jenkins, You Motherfucker":

Soon afterward, Jenkins and the other turkeys disappeared from our lives, but the lessons I learned from them still remain: Turkeys make terrible pets, you should never trust your father to identify poultry, and you should accept who you are, flaws and all, because if you try to be someone you aren't, then eventually some turkey is going to shit all over your well-crafted facade, so you might as well save yourself the effort and enjoy your zombie books.

Thank you Jenny Lawson for making me laugh and cry and feel more comfortable being me.  "Knock, knock, motherfucker!"