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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
4.5
i think this is the first time i'm reading nonfiction for fun, although this wasn't fun. this was visceral and profound and made me catch my breath a few times. right in the opening of this book, its prologue, so to speak, jenny slate describes her wish to be perceived as parisian woman; she wants to be consumed as a croissant. it was this, more than anything else, that my mind kept returning to. somehow, in her own idiosyncratic way, jenny found the words to voice a feeling i've been having for the better part of my life - and i could never have described it as accurately as she did. (yes, with a croissant comparison. just trust me - it was perfect.)
i think this is the first time i'm reading nonfiction for fun, although this wasn't fun. this was visceral and profound and made me catch my breath a few times. right in the opening of this book, its prologue, so to speak, jenny slate describes her wish to be perceived as parisian woman; she wants to be consumed as a croissant. it was this, more than anything else, that my mind kept returning to. somehow, in her own idiosyncratic way, jenny found the words to voice a feeling i've been having for the better part of my life - and i could never have described it as accurately as she did. (yes, with a croissant comparison. just trust me - it was perfect.)
I feel very uncool and maybe borderline like I'm indulging my internalized misogyny for not liking this book, but I just really didn't like it. I think I probably didn't like it for the same reasons I don't like hearing other people's dreams... they seem deep and meaningful only to the person who had the dream. Jenny Slate is a person who I admire and who has a good grip on the English language, but this book made me think she's the type of person who wouldn't ask you about yourself on a date.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
I was utterly charmed by these essays. I loved seeing this play between whimsy and pragmatism. It was like a new kind of magical realism to me, even though I don’t think that’s at all what’s happening in the content. But the way my brain had to expand to capture this felt like the way magical realism also is able to expand my mind.
I felt both giggly and incredibly touched to see the world this way with Jenny Slate.
I felt both giggly and incredibly touched to see the world this way with Jenny Slate.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
What a beautiful, perfect salve of a book. I think Susan Orlean got it right in her blurb when she said you'll walk away from this book feeling like Jenny Slate is your new best friend. But I'd go even further - I think she's my soul mate. She and I feel very similarly about the wildness inside of us, about being animals and connected to the universe in a very specific way. This is a book written in a way I really haven't seen before, and yet it immediately felt familiar because it was all of the thoughts I'd ever had, written down by someone who isn't me. An absolutely gorgeous book that I dog-eared many times so I can return to my favorite passages.
I died reading this book.
In the middle of reading this book, I passed away. I simply ceased to live.
I listened to the audiobook version of this because hearing the tales in Jenny’s voice just… yes. Listening to these stories was like strolling hand-in-hand with my new best friend. Walking through the park as we look up into the golden sunshine as the rays cover our faces like warm, sweet caramel. But without the third degree sugar burns.
My partner defined this book as “what creative writing wants creative writing to be.”
In the middle of reading this book, I passed away. I simply ceased to live.
I listened to the audiobook version of this because hearing the tales in Jenny’s voice just… yes. Listening to these stories was like strolling hand-in-hand with my new best friend. Walking through the park as we look up into the golden sunshine as the rays cover our faces like warm, sweet caramel. But without the third degree sugar burns.
My partner defined this book as “what creative writing wants creative writing to be.”
Different to anything I’ve ever read before. It's not quite a poetry collection, not quite a memoir, but somewhere between the two, with sprinkles of life advice and whimsy.
Favourite passages/chapters were color-spirit, a prayer, creed, the code of Hammurabi, kinship, the root: a made-up myth and dog paw.
Favourite passages/chapters were color-spirit, a prayer, creed, the code of Hammurabi, kinship, the root: a made-up myth and dog paw.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced