Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Let's Pretend This Never Happened
by
Jenny Lawson

Oh. My. God.
Wouldn't it be funny if that's all I said about the book? Did I like it? Did I hate it? Did I mean to use exclamation points? But forgot? Did I mean to ?
This book was recommended to me whole-heartedly, but there was also a warning about feeling guilty at laughing at some of the stories. I can certainly see what she meant, but I don't think I ever felt guilty because by about a third of the way into the memoir, I was all like, "I totally get that." Jenny could have been one of my friends growing up. If only I had grown up in Texas, perhaps we would have known each other and I could have been a footnote to one of her stories. For the record, I did live in TX when I was quite young - in the San Antonio area which is close to where she ends up at the end of the book. Oh, and let me just say, she is not kidding about the fucking scorpions. Not at all.
It was more than feeling like she could have been one of my friends from childhood, it was more like I was identifying with her, past the point of empathy. My dad was not a taxidermist, professional, amateur or otherwise, but my mom was, shall we say, eccentric. By the time Jenny meets Victor, I'm usually saying things to myself, "that seems totally logical".
Also, in full disclosure, I think I have a little crush on her. Not the real Jenny, the one who's crazy in curlers. I could so go for a girl like that.
You've got to read this book to appreciate it, which now that I look at it is one of the more obvious things I've written today. But what I'm trying to say is that my telling you about cannot possibly do this book justice. I could tell you a story about a talking squirrel or bobcat lap warmer or zombie dogs, but it could not possibly be as funny as how she wrote it.
And for the record, I did not listen to this book on CD or mp3, I actually read it. That felt kind of liberating. It was fucking frustrating because I read so goddamned slow, but it was also rewarding and for a little while, I felt like a normal human being. Which is kind of ironic considering that I just told you that I read her book and completely understood her logic in every situation and agreed with it as the most obvious course in many cases.
Read her book, then read her blog. And then keep reading her blog util the new book comes out in 2014.
Also, Jenny knows Neil Gaimon. So, she is like twice as cool as she was before you read this paragraph.

Buy this book at Amazon

Read Jenny's blog.

Worship her.