From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Hand-selected books for your reading list.
Staff Pick
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life is the funniest book that I've read this year. It's sassy, heartbreaking, a super great read. I have recommended this book to every single friend of mine, and guess what? They all thought the same thing! Recommended By Katherine M., Powells.com
Irby is adept at making sad things funny; she writes from the heart (and sometimes the gut). This year, whenever someone asked me for a recommendation, Irby was the first person to pop into my head. Some years you need to dive into the long story, the big book. But this year I was drawn to short form. Reading We Are Never Meeting in Real Life felt like having a really great conversation with my best friend, peppered with belly laughs and tears. Recommended By Bry H., Powells.com
This collection of essays is actually laugh-out-loud funny. Like watching your favorite show or hanging out with your best friend, the stories within these pages are sweet, honest, hilarious, and thoughtful. Irby covers relatable topics in a fresh way that is both self-deprecating and loving at the same time. This is a book you'll want to share. A great summer read. Recommended By Kathleen B., Powells.com
Life may be a dumpster fire full of garbage people, but We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. is the most hilarious, beautiful, and sneakily optimistic book I’ve ever read. Samantha Irby writes with a wonderful kind of intimacy that left me in awe, and embarrassingly eager to meet her in real life. Recommended By McKenzie W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A New York Times Bestseller
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.
Review
"This book didn’t make me laugh out loud. It made me laugh silently, wheezing and crying, until my sides ached." Rainbow Rowell, New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park
Review
"Reading Samantha Irby’s We Are Never Meeting In Real Life cracked my heart all the way open. The essays in this outstanding collection are full of her signature humor, wit, and charming self-deprecation but there is so much more to her writing. For every laugh, there is a bittersweet moment that could make you cry. From black women and mental health to the legacies created by poverty to dating while living in an all too human body, Irby lays bare the beautiful, uncompromising truths of her life. I cannot remember the last time I was so moved by a book. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life is as close to perfect as an essay collection can get." Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Difficult Women and Bad Feminist
Review
"Sometimes Samantha Irby’s writing will make you want to hug her. Sometimes it will make you want to be hugged by her. Sometimes it will make you want to lock her in your closet so you might take credit for this hysterical, honest and authentic book. The last one might just be me." Jenny Lawson, "The Bloggess" and bestselling author of Furiously Happy
Review
"Samantha Irby is my favorite living writer. Actually, I’ll throw in the dead ones too. Screw you, Herman Melville." Lindy West, author of Shrill
About the Author
Samantha Irby writes a blog called “bitches gotta eat.”
Samantha Irby on PowellsBooks.Blog
My new book of essays is called
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. It’s basically a collection of strung-together swear words that turned out pretty funny. It chronicles the last several years of my life, with bits from the past and a little nod to the future...
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