"Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. ...And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason, for anything."

~ Edward Cullen

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Review: I Love Everybody (And Other Atrocious Lies)

Title: I Love Everybody (And Other Atrocious Lies)
Author: Laurie Notaro
Pages: 226
Rating: 4.5/5

Laurie is married, mortgaged, and now--miraculously--employed in the corporate world, discovering that bosses come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of mental stability. After maxing out her last good credit card at Banana Republic, she's dressed for success and ready to face the jungle: surviving feral, six-foot-plus Gretchen ("Three Thousand Faces of Eve") before battling the overbearing, overstuffed (in way-too-small pants) new mom Suzzi, who ruthlessly cancels Laurie's newspaper column and learns that payback can be a bitch. Laurie also explores the backstabbing world of preschoolers at a Halloween party, the X-rated madness of a family trip to Disneyland, and the pressure from her QVC-addicted mother and the rest of the world to reproduce. But while losing more friends to babies than to booze, she realizes there's a plus side: at least for a couple of months she gets to be the thinner friend.

I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies) is Laurie Notaro at her deliciously quirky best. Can a woman prone to what her loved ones might term "meltdowns" (she considers them "Opportunities to Enlighten") put a smile on her face and love everybody? Take a guess (Cover Blurb).

I am a huge fan of Jenn Lancaster's books so when I asked the girl at Borders if she knew of any similiar authors, she quickly pointed me towards Laurie Notaro. So with her recommendation in hand, I purchased every book Ms. Notaro had ever published and ran home where I promptly sat them on the self and forgot about them. Monday, as I was searching for something to read, I stumbled upon that pile and thought I'd give it a quick try. It was the best quick try ever!!

This book is absolutely, 100% hilarious. At one point, I was laughing so hard that tears ran down my face and my husband thought he would have to call an ambulance. I laughed at work, I laughed at home, I laughed in the waiting room of the vets office. I am Laurie Notaro's biggest new fan... :). I think the funniest thing about this book, and Jenn Lancaster's books also, is that they are real. These things are normal things that would happen to anyone - just given a whole new light.

This book is exactly what I needed to lift me out of my "short" reading slump and I'm back on track now for the month. I highly recommend this book if you need a break from real life and just a really good laugh!



2 comments:

Katie said...

oh, I'm intrigued!

Anonymous said...

I'm totally obsessed with Laurie Notaro! I've read all of her books and can tell you that I Love Everybody... is probably my favorite. I just read her latest book The Idiot Girl And the Flaming Tantrum of Death earlier in the month. It's totally hilarious, too -- pick it up when you get a chance!

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