Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

Book Description: For fans of Tina Fey and David Sedaris—Internet star Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, makes her literary debut.

Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives—the ones we’d like to pretend never happened—are in fact the ones that define us. In the #1 New York Times bestseller, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson takes readers on a hilarious journey recalling her bizarre upbringing in rural Texas, her devastatingly awkward high school years, and her relationship with her long-suffering husband, Victor. Chapters include: “Stanley the Magical, Talking Squirrel”; “A Series of Angry Post-It Notes to My Husband”; “My Vagina Is Fine. Thanks for Asking”; “And Then I Snuck a Dead Cuban Alligator on an Airplane.” Pictures with captions (no one would believe these things without proof) accompany the text.

To say that I'm a long time fan of The Bloggess would be an understatement. I found her blog by accident one day and I was hooked. I went back and read everything ever posted to that site. Although I had to stop reading at work a few times, because I was trying not to laugh out loud like a crazy person, but it was making me convulse a little and people were looking at me strange. Any writing that can make you do that has to be incredible, right?

I've been waiting for my chance to read this book since it was released. When the box from Amazon arrived, I couldn't wait, and starting reading immediately. I had wanted to take it to work with me the next week to read between calls (one of the few perks of my particular call centre job), but it didn't make it that far. I started it on Thursday and was finished Friday evening.

It was an easy, quick read and I loved every second of it. Anyone who's spent a lot of time on her site will find a lot of the stories familiar (as in, hey, I've read this exact story before, almost word for word) but I didn't feel cheated in that way that you often can reading memoirs from bloggers. Most of the contents of the book were brand new and wonderful - in a train wreck kind of way. My favourite parts had chupacabras and scorpions.

On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrifically Awful I'd give it an Absolutely Excellent. You'll love it if you've been following TheBloggess for any length of time, but even if you haven't you should still check it out. It's funny, horrifying and heart warming (I guess?). It's full of taxidermy, bobcats and toxic well water. It has a quest to find a long lost graveyard and guys in Hazmat suits. So, you know - a little something for everyone.