#CBR11 Bingo: The Collection
(Could also work for True Story, Cannonballer Says, Own Voices and Rainbow Flag)
Official book description:
Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when life is a dumpster fire. With We Are Never Meeting in Real Life., “bitches gotta eat” blogger and comedian Samantha Irby turns the serio-comic essay into an art form. Whether talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making “adult” budgets, explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette–she’s “35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something”–detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father’s ashes, sharing awkward sexual encounters, or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms–hang in there for the Costco loot–she’s as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.
Things I knew about Samantha Irby before reading this book:
- Literally NOTHING
Things I now know about Samantha Irby, having finished her book (in audio, she reads it herself):
- Her narration is not as good as Jenny Lawson‘s, but she’s pretty good at it anyway.
- She’s black, queer and describes herself as fat
- She has a number of medical issues that, among other things, make it impossible for her to have children
- Even if she could have children, she wouldn’t want them anyway
- She grew up in Chicago and lived there for much of her life
- Her childhood was really quite awful (poverty, abuse, drunken, dead beat dad)
- Scattering her father’s ashes on a road trip to Nashville did NOT go as planned
- She doesn’t know how to make a budget and often spends money irresponsibly
- She worked as a receptionist at an animal hospital for more than 11 years
- She’s convinced me that I never want to be the receptionist at an animal hospital
- She’s bisexual, and has been in serious relationships with both men and women
- She (as of the writing of this book) now seems to live somewhere rural with her wife and said wife’s children from a previous relationship
- She’s very funny, and seems to not give many f*cks about anything much at all
- I should probably check out some more of her stuff.
Full review on my blog.
Bingo #2: Remix (Circe), The Collection (this), Own Voices (If I Was Your Girl), Rainbow Flag (Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel), Summer Read (Not Another Family Wedding).