Confession time: I own a copy of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life that I have never read, which I only own because I was the first person to borrow it from the library, and almost immediately managed to upend an open bottle of iced tea in my book bag, having to replace the copy. I bought a new copy for the library, kept the damaged copy, and, because I now owned it, promptly put it on a book shelf, where it still sits.

This is all to say that, after reading Wow, No Thank You I really need to pull the other off my book shelf and spend some more time with Samantha Irby.

I loved this series of essays. Irby is honest and refreshing and said things that were immensely relatable to me, but that I've never really said out loud to anyone. But the entire chapter entitled "Girls Gone Mild" could really and truly be my life, most especially the "do I eat?" dilemma. I do not have Crohn's disease, so really don't know what Irby's pain is like there, but I do know what it feels like to fear the whims of your gastrointestinal system any time you make social plans. So holy moly, could I relate to places in the book where she addresses that.

I also absolutely adored "Late- 1900s Time Capsule" chapter, where she shares her mixtape tracks. Also highly relatable, despite being unfamiliar with like 90% of the specific songs that she mentions. She does a great job of capturing the era of mixtapes, but also the feeling of using music as a teenager/early adult to process emotions and wallow, and express feelings you don't know how to on your own. To embrace the angst and the things that are being sung about that you definitely don't understand yet, but still feels incredibly important and necessary anyway. Ugh - yes to all of that, and to hearing those songs bringing you RIGHT back to that place, while also allowing you to look back as an adult and see everything in a totally different light. So good. So, so good. Also, I will be creating her mix in a playlist on Spotify because -- isn't that what you do when someone provides you with a song list?

There were a few chapters that worked less well for me - "Lesbian Bed Death" was decidedly not my favorite - it was clever enough at first, but went on too long for me. Ditto for "Hello, 911?" except there were a few gems in here, like panic over a place not having online ordering (because...COME ON!).

Even though there were a couple misses, though, overall I really really enjoyed reading this. I actually laughed out loud a few times, and silently said "OMG YES!" because I could relate so much at others.

So, yeah, check this out, while I go pull her last book off my bookshelf!

Also, thanks to Netgalley, who provided me with an advanced copy of this wonderful book.

Samantha Irby is amazing and funnier than 99.99% of men I've ever read or talked to and that's because creates space to hear about things like adopting a cat that doesn't like her, poop and pee, period blood, racist microaggressions at the movie theater, and her wife all within the same essay collection. Read this book as soon as you can. Better yet, listen to the audiobook so she can tell you about how she sees the world.

I read this book primarily during breaks from remote work, which means my wife and dog hearing me giggle softly from the inside of my locked bathroom .

Funny and entertaining for sure

Late-1900s Time Capsule is ❤️❤️❤️

Wow, no thank you. I am definitely not her intended audience. I found a few of the nostalgic (growing up in the late 80s/early 90s) parts funny, but the self-deprecating humor was not for me.

4.5

So good, and a great listen. I felt like Irby was staring into my soul when she talked about her visceral feelings of embarrassment for things like watching people be awkward on TV or having people honk at you while you can't figure out the toll machine.

**changing my rating up to 5 stars because I'm still thinking about this and I've recommended it about 100 times already. If that's not 5-star writing, I don't know what is**

Just the best. How does she know the sounds and feelings that make us cringe for being human? One of my favorite writers, ever. I would read her grocery list - in her amazing handwriting - and cough-laugh myself to sleep and try to explain to someone how she got the nuance of “diced tomatoes” *just so* after a lol addition of whole wheat pasta.

If you want to scare your partner or roommate by laughing out loud at random times while reading, this book is for you. I shared more thoughts about it in my newsletter www.tinyletter.com/kjcfalcon — super fun book. I wish Samantha Irby was my friend irl