Do You Like to Laugh? Jenny Lawson's "Furiously Happy"

Let me just drop some names: Sloan Crosley, David Raikoff, Augusten Burroughs, and David Sedaris.

I’m not sure if I spelled them right, but those are all people who have written at least one book that takes their life and examines it to mine the funny things that happen and then put them on the page. I’m not sure how true all the stories are, or if it really matters because they come across as if true. What does matter is that they have used their lives and they have made me laugh on page.

I had never read any of Lawson’s works prior to picking this up. I think it was a mixture of the reviews and the dead raccoon on the cover that made me buy it. I ended up reading it really quickly because it was fun to read. Let me tell you this too – I think in terms of laughter, I laughed more reading this book than I have in reading any of the dropped authors at the top. There’s a solid laugh on every page. And sure, it might not be the deep thinking sort of NPR laughing that you might want; it’s not totally cheap either.  The story about her visit to Australia is the high point for me, but just her everyday life is funny. I recommend this book solidly, and I have bought her previous work so that I can laugh some more.

Man Up and Read Sara Benincasa's "D. C. Trip"

I bought this because I follow the author on Twitter.

I have bought several books because of twitter people. It has been, let me tell you, hit or miss.

I thought I would try this one out though I had the idea it wasn’t really my demographic. I thought it was YA (The author was nice enough to talk to me a bit on twitter after I had read it and disabused me of the notion that the book was YA – just because it was about teenagers mostly, it wasn’t necessarily YA).

The thing is that genre classifications here don’t really matter. It’s a good book, full stop. The story is some kids from Jersey go to DC and find themselves. It could be the recipe for formulaic emptiness, but of the four main characters of the book, they are deep and interesting and you care about their growth and development. You end up rooting for them. It is well paced to the point it feels a bit cinematic with a larger arc with some smaller embedded arcs. If it is not on its way to being a movie yet, it should be.

My only worry is that some of the secondary characters are a little flat. The love interests are one-dimensional, and the rivals of the central group of girls are a bit stereotypical, but the central characters are so strong so this both erases that to me (even if the secondary flatness is only visible because of direct comparison to these central characters – it’s a paradox). This is a definite recommendation on my part, even if you may not think it is your demographic, it is. The last time I really felt this way was 12 year ago, reading the great Julianna Baggott’s “Girl Talk” in its bright pink cover.

The Cure, Not the Disease: "Lean Out" by Dawn Foster

When I first read the Sandberg book that this takes its name from, I was excited. 

Basically, here was a feminism that someone can do on your own. No mass movement needed. 

But I was thinking in context of the world that Sheryl brought us into. It was one of privilege and one that couldn’t be changed, so it must be navigated. It’s actually a really pessimistic book, and one that only will work for the educated white-collar classes who have some say in the terms of their own exploitation under capitalism –those so deep in their own exploitation that they don’t see their chains.

So it has been refreshing to see antidotes to the leaning in. I first saw it in part of Aschoff’s book “New Profits of Capital” (cited in this work), and in other more radical publications that don’t take the establishment view for granted. I came across this text because the Verso blog called it one of the best books of 2015 (Even though it wasn’t published in the states until early 2016, which to me is a recommendation to get into publishing and criticism if only for early access to crucial texts). I like this book. It is a call for the mass movements and a justification for them. It touches on that other book early on, but becomes more general on what is needed for women to do (still!) in terms of making the world work better in gender terms. It is a short but meaningful read, and one that should be undertaken. It will help explain why feminism is necessary (still!)