Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson...

How I Heard About It:  This is my current BBC (Boy's Book Club) selection.  Each month a member of the book club selects a book for us to read. My reading buddy Nick chose this book for the club.  We normally don't read memoirs so I was excited to read the book for a change of pace.  

What It Is About:  The memoir follows Jenny's life from her childhood to her adult life all the while living in Texas.  As a child living out in the country with her parents and sister was quite the experience.  Her upbringing included many different animals that lived both outside and inside of her home, two eccentric parents, and a sister that had an easier time fitting in than Jenny did.  As she grew up, she dealt with emotional, anxiety, and other social issues.  After marrying Victor, these issues continued into adulthood, but they both learned to deal with them in a most humorous way.  Jenny describes her marriage and the many "interesting" and "wild" adventures along the way.  After they had a child together, she wanted to make sure that her daughter's childhood would be different from her own.    While trying life in the suburbs of Houston, the family decided they were meant for country living.  It was a full-circle moment for Jenny.

What I Thought Of It:   This was a laugh-out-loud memoir.  Jenny has quite a gift for writing, using words, and putting together some interesting and wild tales.  Even though life wasn't always easy for her, she had a way of looking at the bright side (or crazy side).  The book is broken into chapters each dealing with different events from her life.  Some of the stories were more interesting than others, but on a whole, I enjoyed them all.  What I enjoyed most was the relationship between Jenny and her husband Victor.  Being married myself, I could relate to the "discussions", "disagreements", and "craziness" between the two of them.  I prefer novels (stories) that flow from beginning to end as opposed to books that contain many different single stories.  That is mainly why I gave this book 3 stars instead of 4 stars.    

Who Should Read It:  If you enjoy memoirs, then I think you will definitely enjoy this book.  The humor in the book was written so well and it is like Jenny is talking to you directly throughout the whole book.  Because of the language used and some of the subject matter, I think this book is best for high school readers and above.  The author mentioned a second book coming out at some point so I would read this one now so you will be ready for book two.  Happy Reading!

Rating:  3 STARS out of 5 Stars