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Original Essays | September 17, 2013

Lyanda Lynn Haupt: IMG Celebrate Fiercely: Creative Life in Wild Cities

1 comment By Lyanda Lynn Haupt

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Michael Toms for the iconic New Dimensions radio show. Toms, often called the... Continue »
  1. $18.90 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild

    Lyanda Lynn Haupt 9780316178525
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Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

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

ISBN13: 9780399159015
ISBN10: 0399159010
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father (a professional taxidermist who created dead-animal hand puppets) and a childhood of wearing winter shoes made out of used bread sacks. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.

Lawson's long-suffering husband and sweet daughter are the perfect comedic foils to her absurdities, and help her to uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments — the ones we want to pretend never happened — are the very same moments that make us the people we are today.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened is a poignantly disturbing, yet darkly hysterical tome for every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud. Like laughing at a funeral, this book is both irreverent and impossible to hold back once you get started.

Review:

"In punchy chapters that cover a fairly uneventful life in the southern Republican regions, blogger Lawson achieves an exaggerated sarcasm that occasionally attains a belly laugh from the reader ('I grew up a poor black girl in New York. Except replace 'black' with 'white' and 'New York' with 'rural Texas'), but mostly descends into rants about bodily functions and dead animals spiced with profanity. The daughter of a taxidermist whose avid foraging and hunting filled their 'violently rural' Wall, Tex., house with motley creatures like raccoons and turkeys and later triggered some anxiety disorder, Lawson did not transcend her childhood horrors so much as return to them, marrying at age 22 a fellow student at a local San Angelo college, Victor, and settling down in the town with a job in 'HR' while Victor worked 'in computers.' In random anecdotal segments Lawson treats the vicissitudes of her 15-year marriage, the birth of daughter Hailey after many miscarriages, some funny insider secrets from the HR office, and an attempt to learn to trust women by spending a weekend in California wine country with a group of bloggers. With little substantive writing on these subjects, however, Lawson's puerile sniggering and potty mouth gets old fast. Agent: Neeti Madan, Sterling Lord." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review:

"Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny." Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors and This is How

Review:

"The Bloggess writes stuff that actually is laugh-out-loud, but you know that really you shouldn't be laughing and probably you'll go to hell for laughing, so maybe you shouldn't read it. That would be safer and wiser." Neil Gaiman

Review:

"Jenny Lawson is hilarious, snarky, witty, totally inappropriate, and 'Like Mother Teresa, Only Better.' Marie Claire magazine

Review:

"Jenny Lawson's writing is nothing less than revolutionary...I say this without a hint of exaggeration: She may be one of the most progressive women's voices of our time." Karen Walrond, author of The Beauty of Different

Review:

"There's something wrong with Jenny Lawson — magnificently wrong. I defy you to read her work and not hurt yourself laughing." Jen Lancaster
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About the Author

Jenny Lawson is a columnist and one of the most popular bloggers on Twitter (hundreds of thousands of followers). Her blog, www.thebloggess.com, averages between 2-3 million page views per month. Jenny lives in the Texas Hill Country with her husband and daughter.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 7 comments:
Gayle Hardman, February 24, 2013 (view all comments by Gayle Hardman)
Thought I had some wild experiences and issues,but mine seem very tame compared to hers!...A definite page turner and no problem if you want to skip around to different chapters since her life is anything BUT organized!...you WILL laugh out loud!...and you may even shed a tear about some of her more personal struggles...She is a funny,unique,strong young woman/wife/mom and a very talented writer who writes about what she knows best...herself. You won't be sorry you bought this book...She is also a well known blogger,so you can get a daily dose while you wait for her next book...Enjoy!
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karalai28, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by karalai28)
I was laughing out loud the entire book! Hilarious!!
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theboltchick, January 3, 2013 (view all comments by theboltchick)
Without question the funniest book I have read all year.... or heck, so far this century! I was reading in bed and trying not to laugh out loud and wake my husband. If you need a pick-me-up, this is the book to pick up!
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780399159015
Subtitle:
(A Mostly True Memoir)
Author:
Lawson, Jenny
Publisher:
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Subject:
Biography - General
Edition Description:
B-Hardcover
Publication Date:
20120417
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
from 12
Language:
English
Illustrations:
black-and-white photos with text
Pages:
336
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in 1 lb
Age Level:
from 18
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Related Subjects

Arts and Entertainment » Excess Culture » Humor
Arts and Entertainment » Humor » Anthologies
Arts and Entertainment » Humor » Featured Titles
Arts and Entertainment » Humor » General
Arts and Entertainment » Humor » Narrative
Biography » General
Biography » Women
Engineering » Construction » General
Engineering » Home Construction » General
Featured Titles » Biography
Featured Titles » General
Featured Titles » New Arrivals
Featured Titles » Staff Favorites
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$17.95 In Stock
Product details 336 pages Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam - English 9780399159015 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "In punchy chapters that cover a fairly uneventful life in the southern Republican regions, blogger Lawson achieves an exaggerated sarcasm that occasionally attains a belly laugh from the reader ('I grew up a poor black girl in New York. Except replace 'black' with 'white' and 'New York' with 'rural Texas'), but mostly descends into rants about bodily functions and dead animals spiced with profanity. The daughter of a taxidermist whose avid foraging and hunting filled their 'violently rural' Wall, Tex., house with motley creatures like raccoons and turkeys and later triggered some anxiety disorder, Lawson did not transcend her childhood horrors so much as return to them, marrying at age 22 a fellow student at a local San Angelo college, Victor, and settling down in the town with a job in 'HR' while Victor worked 'in computers.' In random anecdotal segments Lawson treats the vicissitudes of her 15-year marriage, the birth of daughter Hailey after many miscarriages, some funny insider secrets from the HR office, and an attempt to learn to trust women by spending a weekend in California wine country with a group of bloggers. With little substantive writing on these subjects, however, Lawson's puerile sniggering and potty mouth gets old fast. Agent: Neeti Madan, Sterling Lord." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review" by , "Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny."
"Review" by , "The Bloggess writes stuff that actually is laugh-out-loud, but you know that really you shouldn't be laughing and probably you'll go to hell for laughing, so maybe you shouldn't read it. That would be safer and wiser."
"Review" by , "Jenny Lawson is hilarious, snarky, witty, totally inappropriate, and 'Like Mother Teresa, Only Better.'
"Review" by , "Jenny Lawson's writing is nothing less than revolutionary...I say this without a hint of exaggeration: She may be one of the most progressive women's voices of our time."
"Review" by , "There's something wrong with Jenny Lawson — magnificently wrong. I defy you to read her work and not hurt yourself laughing."
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