Washoe County Library System

Overview: When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it. In the irreverent Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson's long-suffering husband and sweet daughter help her uncover the surprising...

"In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.As Jenny says: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling...

Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview-a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable. A tart-tongued mother does dead-on imitations of her young son's nervous tics, to the great amusement of his teachers; a stint of Kerouackian wandering is undertaken...

The best-selling author of That Is All presents a memoir of his cursed travels through the woods of Massachusetts and coastal Maine, describing his midlife transformation from an idealistic youth to an eccentric family man and his observations on such subjects as the horror of freshwater clams and the evolutionary purpose of the mustache.

"A different kind of White House memoir, presidential speechwriter David Litt's comic account of his years spent working with Barack Obama and his reflection on Obama's legacy in the age of Trump. Like many twentysomethings, David Litt frequently embarrassed himself in front of his boss's boss. Unlike many twentysomethings, Litt's boss's boss was President Obama. At age twenty-four, Litt became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history....

"Mark Twain is an American icon. We now know him as the author of classics, but in his day he was a controversial satirist and public figure who traveled the world and healed post-Civil War America with his tall tales, witty anecdotes, and humorous but insightful novels and stories. Twain's legacy continues to flourish over 100 years after his death. MARK TWAIN'S AMERICA features spectacular examples of Twain memorabilia and period Americana from...

The author and humorist returns with a candid and empowering memoir of the realities, perks, and opportunities facing those living life on the other side of fifty. "A laugh-out-loud spin on the realities, perks, opportunities, and inevitable courses of midlife. Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison, or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past fifty, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge...

Presents a humorous collection of essays on the rudeness the author observes around her, from co-workers not washing their hands in the bathroom to people picking food off her plate at dinner parties.

Integrating material from his literary works, diaries, and letters, this illustrated portrait of one of America's greatest writers follows Twain from his childhood, through his travels throughout the world, to his career as a journalist and author.

"In That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor looks back on his life and recounts how a Brethren boy with writerly ambitions grew up in a small town on the Mississippi in the 1950s and, seeing three good friends die young, turned to comedy and radio. Through a series of unreasonable lucky breaks, he founded A Prairie Home Companion and put himself in line for a good life, including mistakes, regrets, and a few medical adventures. PHC lasted forty-two years,...