Furiously Happy

If a David Sedaris book is a burlesque show of the funny voyeuristic view of his life, then Jenny Lawson's new memoir is an all-nude pole dance. Furiously Happy contains further adventures of Jenny's life including her struggles with anxiety and depression. She also has some other issues like Trichotillomania. Dang you spell check--that is a real thing!  If you have a funny geeky friend and you don't mind her oversharing ways then you might like this. (I mind a little). This is not that thoughtful writing from Sedaris or Bill Bryson, Jenny is much more like a funny Twitter friend. In fact, she is a Twitter friend. Well, myself and about 40,000 other people. I had a joke she liked I guess. It did involve nunchucks.

I think most people know someone with anxiety or depression. Or both. Or OCD.  I am thinking Rafael Nadal has OCD, and that underwear pick is tic. (I noticed the TV directors don't show him from behind anymore which is kind a shame). She describes her struggles well, which is a good deed, but there is something a little creepy about all the oversharing. Of course, now with social media, narcissism is the new norm. This is funny narcissism with capes. She's the type of geek that refuses to answer door when someone knocks but would show up to Dragon Con wearing nothing but Wonder-Woman body paint. You know, normal....I guess.

If you liked her first book then you should give this a try.  I think the format is better for her and you've lowered your expectations on anything resembling a linear narrative. There is a part of me that feels sorry for her because when you are depressed and such it must be hard to create and edit your writing so a lot of the "so-so" stuff stays. Like a crappy Twitter joke. Then she starts talking about her new house and pool and then I felt significantly less sorry for her. She's making money on the kind of content most of my friends are giving away for free. I guess that is the difference between a professional pole dancer and a skank.  If you haven't guessed by now, I'm going to include myself as a skank. Dang you spell check -- a skank is a real thing!

Here is something you can sip by your new pool with an opossum (opossums are regularly featured in Jenny's stories): I'm trying to be more open minded about mint so here goes--Strawberry Mojito: 1 ounce fresh lime juice, one ounce simple syrup, a generous pinch of fresh mint, three to four strawberries, 2 ounces of light rum and about 3-4 ounces of soda water.  Muddle the fruit, simple syrup and mint in the bottom of a glass.  Then, stir in the rum and lime juice.  Finally put some ice cubes and top with soda water.