Midnight Rodeo

Hello all, how was your weekend?  Mine was fabulous and as it included reading and finishing a couple of books I thought we would start of the week with a rambling.  Today's book was a gift from a very good friend of mine who along with sharing my love of lights and sirens is possibly crazier then I am (in a good way).  She gave me this book for multiple reasons, some very personal and also 'cause she thought I would enjoy it.  She was right on both counts.  The book is Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson (who is also known as The Bloggess).  I'm gonna jump right in, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

So this isn't really a book that one can sum up plot wise as it is more of a memoir/random topics/rambly style of book (which is probably one of the reasons I liked it).  Instead I will kind of go back and forth and...well...I call them ramblings for a reason.  The author is bat shit crazy...but so am I and so is most of the rest of the world, so this works for me.  She has been diagnosed with a number of illnesses both physical and mental and this book is a combination memoir and coping mechanism, with a great dose of suggestions for people who either have and/or are dealing with loved ones in the same position.  The author gives us glimpses into her life, some humorous as when she uses her pair of taxidermied raccoons (yep the same ones on the cover) to ride her cats in a midnight cat rodeo while battling insomnia.  Some are sad and scary while she shows us a night she pulls her hair and gouges her scalp to cause herself pain for reasons that are only partially known even to her.  Then we get a mix, like when she battled panic, fear and reason to board a plane with her friend to Australia to run around in a Koala suit and try and cuddle the bears.  These little pieces of her life are interspersed with introspection, therapy sessions and random musings.  A mix of entertaining, informative and for some of us very helpful.

I feel that this book is intended for a very specific audience.  First and foremost it is intended for other crazies like myself.  A lot of people hate that I throw that word around, they feel I am making light of a situation, or putting an un-PC label on people, but as a person with my own identified issues I love the word 'cause that's what I am folks.  Some days I'm crazier then others and some days my peeps are crazier then me, but I think that is part of what makes us interesting.  Anyways I think those of us who deal with the various stages, severities and varieties of what we have deemed mental issues, problems or illnesses will probably find some glimpse of ourselves and the struggles we face in this book.  I also feel the people who live with us, love us and deal with us (and face it probably have crazy of their own) would identify or at least nod and go "mm-hmm" when reading this book.  Other people (those rare so called "normals" with only "normal peeps) will get various mileage from it.  I had a bunch of stuff I was gonna write, but the more I think about it the more I feel like this book is gonna mean very different things to every person.  A lot of people will appreciate the humor...though many will be appalled that a functioning person can think the way the author does.  Many people will be able to use the tips and tricks...some will find them completely pointless.  A few of us will run out and buy a ton of spoons, tie them with silver ribbon and hand them out to everybody who needs extras and that is ok too. I like how the author does not disguise her struggles, and while she knows that she needs and can ask for help, she is not helpless.  She treats all her issues, physical and mental like diseases (which they are) and does what she can to treat all of it.  She tries when she can to use what resources she has to live a life worth living which is more then a lot of us can say.  I absolutely love that she reiterates over and over that she is not everybody and the each person has their own issues and her solutions are not the only ones, nor will they work for everybody.  I think the author just wants us to know we are not alone, and that it is ok to be broken, but we need to find, create and savor the good and pull those times out to get us through the dark parts. Overall I can't really talk about this book other then to say it was a good read, I got what I got out of it, I think everybody can get something out of it and that you should all go read it and tell me what you think. Also side note...I adore her Hubby who reminds me of a less crazy version of my own Hubbin.  I give it 8 out of 10 homicidal swans and will keep my happy days like pretty jewels to pull out on the bad days.  Happy Reading Everybody!