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How to Stay Bitter Through the Happiest Times of Your Life
“I had a lot of bad dates. But I wrote a lot of good poems.”
So maintains Anita Liberty, the caustically funny New York City performance artist who was going along happily healing her hurt by hating and humiliating her detestable ex-boyfriend on stage and in print until the unthinkable she had a good date. And one good date deserves another. And another. And another. And, all of the sudden, Anita Liberty finds herself in a predicament. Getting dumped launched Anita’s career–Will falling in love finish it? Who’s more her devoted audience or her newly devoted boyfriend? And on top of everything, Hollywood won’t stop calling and Anita can’t figure out if It wants a serious commitment or just a little bit of no-strings-attached fun. From digging mercilessly into the minutiae of her new relationship to dramatically torching every professional bridge she crosses in L.A., Anita refuses to let a big load of bliss get dumped right in the middle of her career path.
“He said that my work was amazing and hilarious and smart and that he can’t wait to see me perform.
So I had sex with him.”
“My boyfriend asked me to change my look.
To something other than contemptuous.”
{BARGAIN} Whatever Hollywood ends up paying me for the rights to the story of my life.
“It’s easier to go back to fantasizing about perfection . . .
than to accept that perfection is just a fantasy.”
“Boyfriend thinks I’d rather be right than happy.
Boyfriend’s right.
But I’m not telling him that.”
Through blog entries, film scenes, poems, and to-do lists, Anita Liberty documents the perils and pitfalls of dating, sex, relationships, artistic success, and the kind of true love that sucks the creative life out of you to the point where you just end up staring at a blank computer screen and thinking gooey thoughts about your new boyfriend even though you should be writing.
So maintains Anita Liberty, the caustically funny New York City performance artist who was going along happily healing her hurt by hating and humiliating her detestable ex-boyfriend on stage and in print until the unthinkable she had a good date. And one good date deserves another. And another. And another. And, all of the sudden, Anita Liberty finds herself in a predicament. Getting dumped launched Anita’s career–Will falling in love finish it? Who’s more her devoted audience or her newly devoted boyfriend? And on top of everything, Hollywood won’t stop calling and Anita can’t figure out if It wants a serious commitment or just a little bit of no-strings-attached fun. From digging mercilessly into the minutiae of her new relationship to dramatically torching every professional bridge she crosses in L.A., Anita refuses to let a big load of bliss get dumped right in the middle of her career path.
“He said that my work was amazing and hilarious and smart and that he can’t wait to see me perform.
So I had sex with him.”
“My boyfriend asked me to change my look.
To something other than contemptuous.”
{BARGAIN} Whatever Hollywood ends up paying me for the rights to the story of my life.
“It’s easier to go back to fantasizing about perfection . . .
than to accept that perfection is just a fantasy.”
“Boyfriend thinks I’d rather be right than happy.
Boyfriend’s right.
But I’m not telling him that.”
Through blog entries, film scenes, poems, and to-do lists, Anita Liberty documents the perils and pitfalls of dating, sex, relationships, artistic success, and the kind of true love that sucks the creative life out of you to the point where you just end up staring at a blank computer screen and thinking gooey thoughts about your new boyfriend even though you should be writing.
- GenresPoetryHumorNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 10, 2007
Not nearly as fantastic as her first, "How to Heal the Hurt by Hating", this felt like trying to capitalize on the success of the previous book's format. However, I just can't be bothered to care about someone who is unhappy in the face of happiness, and I have very little patience for the "blog format" sections. In my opinion, if you're going to be publishing blog posts, they'd better be as funny as Pamela Ribon's, otherwise you're just wasting my time.
September 10, 2007
See also How to Heal the Hurt by Hating. What happens when a raging psychotic hater finds love? Well, maybe you get laid more often but you are still funny as hell.
December 16, 2017
There were moments reading this that I laughed or smiled to myself, but the majority of the time, I felt the tone to be whiney/didn’t really relate to the author’s voice.
January 3, 2018
Fun, humorous book on relationships.
August 31, 2010
Quirky and really hateful, this was a guilty pleasure for me. Anita was sassy and really captured the feeling you get towards an ex. However, after a while, I wanted to break away from the hating and just tell her to get over it.
June 9, 2011
Dear Group,
I found this book to be totally hysterical. I'd recommend it to one and all. No, I'm not so very bitter, but I do love me some cynicisim. It's just the way I am.
That's it for this book.
Bye,
Susan
I found this book to be totally hysterical. I'd recommend it to one and all. No, I'm not so very bitter, but I do love me some cynicisim. It's just the way I am.
That's it for this book.
Bye,
Susan
August 20, 2007
Super funny.
November 20, 2007
Good, silly read to take one's mind off all seriousness. She says, "Boyfriend thinks I should change my look...to something other than contemptuous."
January 7, 2008
Not as good as the first book.
May 3, 2011
Some great guffaws when I was reading it standing at the desk at the library. But the attempt at home, sitting in a chair flopped. Despite that, I'd pick up whatever next by this author.
May 9, 2016
Clever, funny, and a very quick read. I haven't read this book's precursor and they can definitely be read as solitary works.
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May 16, 2016Funny, and as far as I can tell very candid. also funny the pride of the sense of self when you indulge in your pseudonyms persona.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews