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If I Knew, Don't You Think I'd Tell You?
From cat food to death, bra size to spirituality, family to goose poop (yes, goose poop), these are the journals of Canadian recording artist Jann Arden. Her writing is wry and insightful, confessional and compassionate. Also included in if i knew, don't you think i'd tell you? are Jann's line drawings and open spaces inviting readers to think out loud, be human, draw, emote, express, participate, live, be a piece of it all -- in other words, journal with Jann.
200 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Jann Arden
27 books276 followersJann Arden is a Canadian born, singer, songwriter, broadcaster and author. The much-celebrated multi-platinum award-winning artist catapulted onto the Canadian music scene in 1993 with the release of her debut album “Time For Mercy” featuring the hit single, “I Would Die For You”. A year later with “Living Under June”, she would have her career breakout hit, “Insensitive” that would solidify her position in the music world.
On April 2nd, 2019 Arden released the paperback version of the Canadian best seller “Feeding My Mother – Comfort and Laughter in the Kitchen as My Mom Lives with Memory Loss” (Penguin Random House Canada). The book shares insights, loss, irony, and yes humour, as mother and daughter face the journey together. The hardcover book spent 21 consecutive weeks on the Globe & Mail bestseller lists.
Whether she is captivating audiences with her heartfelt music, entertaining them with her quick wit or sharing her written word in a boldly honest voice – Jann Arden is a Canadian original – a brilliant multi-dimensional talent!
On April 2nd, 2019 Arden released the paperback version of the Canadian best seller “Feeding My Mother – Comfort and Laughter in the Kitchen as My Mom Lives with Memory Loss” (Penguin Random House Canada). The book shares insights, loss, irony, and yes humour, as mother and daughter face the journey together. The hardcover book spent 21 consecutive weeks on the Globe & Mail bestseller lists.
Whether she is captivating audiences with her heartfelt music, entertaining them with her quick wit or sharing her written word in a boldly honest voice – Jann Arden is a Canadian original – a brilliant multi-dimensional talent!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 1, 2023
* I write for comments, not clicks and savour that reward. *
I heard Jann Arden on the car radio with a highschool pal in 1993. That haunting but vibrantly strumming, sparsely-worded single was unforgettable. In this 2002 compilation, Jann joked about hoping she never needed a teleprompter for this song in old age. It was one of the best giggles when she quipped that the lyrics of “I Would Die For You” are mainly “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah”!
My feedback gradually settled at three stars because “If I Knew, Don’t You Think I’d Tell You?” is not hilarious. I smiled and savoured many compassionate reflections. It is a nice beacon of light. The most powerful diary entries were when Mrs. Arden’s Mom left Earth, Jann’s beloved “Gram”. She is blessed to be 10 years older than me, when our own last Grandparent also crossed-over in the year 2001.
I was thrilled to meet Jann’s cats: Shrodie, Sweet Pea, and Baby. The observations about them are my favourites. I hope she still has them. My babies born in 2000 and 2004 have just gone to the afterlife in 2022, with our younger Momma kitty. Sharing the precious antics of cats are a happy treat for me and also our very familiar feelings of living in snow.
This 200 page book published some of her blogging because it had a favourable following. The snippets are too short to be anything but diary entries. However, because her autobiography ended when she got her recording deal, I finally glimpsed her career. Other highlights for a music fan were Jann’s remarks about travelling and returning home. I was most touched by how grateful she feels, to “see our outlines in the dark while she sings onstage”. She is also very proud to be a prairie Canadian, like I am. Happy Canada Day to one and all!
I heard Jann Arden on the car radio with a highschool pal in 1993. That haunting but vibrantly strumming, sparsely-worded single was unforgettable. In this 2002 compilation, Jann joked about hoping she never needed a teleprompter for this song in old age. It was one of the best giggles when she quipped that the lyrics of “I Would Die For You” are mainly “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah”!
My feedback gradually settled at three stars because “If I Knew, Don’t You Think I’d Tell You?” is not hilarious. I smiled and savoured many compassionate reflections. It is a nice beacon of light. The most powerful diary entries were when Mrs. Arden’s Mom left Earth, Jann’s beloved “Gram”. She is blessed to be 10 years older than me, when our own last Grandparent also crossed-over in the year 2001.
I was thrilled to meet Jann’s cats: Shrodie, Sweet Pea, and Baby. The observations about them are my favourites. I hope she still has them. My babies born in 2000 and 2004 have just gone to the afterlife in 2022, with our younger Momma kitty. Sharing the precious antics of cats are a happy treat for me and also our very familiar feelings of living in snow.
This 200 page book published some of her blogging because it had a favourable following. The snippets are too short to be anything but diary entries. However, because her autobiography ended when she got her recording deal, I finally glimpsed her career. Other highlights for a music fan were Jann’s remarks about travelling and returning home. I was most touched by how grateful she feels, to “see our outlines in the dark while she sings onstage”. She is also very proud to be a prairie Canadian, like I am. Happy Canada Day to one and all!
July 8, 2021
Fun, thankful, grateful, sad, real, original, intense, her observations about human nature and candour regarding her own thoughts and feelings are refreshingly honest and are much needed inspiration in anyone's life.....beautiful. Thanks for your courage, Jann!
May 3, 2025
Full review soon!
I have so much appreciation for this book, for two reasons:
1). It was a gift from my friend Carolyn, sent from Canada, and a great insight into a much loved artist who she introduced me too
2). After trudging through my last read, I could feel my enthusiasm for reading building back up as I progressed through this book. Reading felt fun again, an activity I began to look forward to once more. It was wonderful to have that feeling back, so thank you Jann Arden and Carolyn! 💕
I have so much appreciation for this book, for two reasons:
1). It was a gift from my friend Carolyn, sent from Canada, and a great insight into a much loved artist who she introduced me too
2). After trudging through my last read, I could feel my enthusiasm for reading building back up as I progressed through this book. Reading felt fun again, an activity I began to look forward to once more. It was wonderful to have that feeling back, so thank you Jann Arden and Carolyn! 💕
October 10, 2019
I loved picking this book up and reading bits at a time. The journals are so full of love, depth, humour...everything you can expect from Jann Arden. Her ponderings and observations and notations left my heart breaking at times and me laughing out loud at her hilarity at others. Never stop your words!!!
July 7, 2015
I love Jann Arden's music, so when I came across this book at the Library I was excited to read it.
Jann could have her own stand-up comedy show, and it would be a hit. Her wit comes across in this short journal. It's like reading a good friend's entries, as you are swept into her mind, as she shares about her life, her family, her creativity and her journey as one of Canada's top musical talents.
As well as entertaining, she keeps it real, and as she does on stage or in an interview she comes across as genuine, and honest, and has translated these qualities into the journal.
I read this ine one sitting, and couldn't put it down. Jann is a celebrated Canadian, but has always kept a connection in a down to earth manner with the people who love her incredible musical talent.
Jann could have her own stand-up comedy show, and it would be a hit. Her wit comes across in this short journal. It's like reading a good friend's entries, as you are swept into her mind, as she shares about her life, her family, her creativity and her journey as one of Canada's top musical talents.
As well as entertaining, she keeps it real, and as she does on stage or in an interview she comes across as genuine, and honest, and has translated these qualities into the journal.
I read this ine one sitting, and couldn't put it down. Jann is a celebrated Canadian, but has always kept a connection in a down to earth manner with the people who love her incredible musical talent.
April 22, 2018
Four AND three quarters of stars!!
ja..you had me at your inrtoduction. Flip books..I love flip books. I even had a couple out yesterday to show them off to a visitor..Flip books put out by the BC center for disease control..how to put on a condom! Man to man-woman to man..so frikken funny! (yeh..and I know..educational too)
Thank YOU jann arden for just being 'norbal'..and putting pen to paper and making it possible for some readers to know..that they are norbal too. Thank you for sharing your life thoughts and your family. Thank you.
(A couple of us Tagish librarians have a dream that you will come to our wee library one day..one day!! We will feed you and house you and share families with you..hmmnnn...)
ja..you had me at your inrtoduction. Flip books..I love flip books. I even had a couple out yesterday to show them off to a visitor..Flip books put out by the BC center for disease control..how to put on a condom! Man to man-woman to man..so frikken funny! (yeh..and I know..educational too)
Thank YOU jann arden for just being 'norbal'..and putting pen to paper and making it possible for some readers to know..that they are norbal too. Thank you for sharing your life thoughts and your family. Thank you.
(A couple of us Tagish librarians have a dream that you will come to our wee library one day..one day!! We will feed you and house you and share families with you..hmmnnn...)
March 6, 2014
I loved this book, for its honesty and humor.
I always thought Jan Arden would be an interesting person to meet in real life so it was wonderful to discover that her writings have this way of making you feel you have met her.
I am not big on biographies, but her journal is wonderful and quirky peek into her past in a pleasing way.
Jann is not only a good lyricist, and singer, but she writes a good read as well.
I always thought Jan Arden would be an interesting person to meet in real life so it was wonderful to discover that her writings have this way of making you feel you have met her.
I am not big on biographies, but her journal is wonderful and quirky peek into her past in a pleasing way.
Jann is not only a good lyricist, and singer, but she writes a good read as well.
March 28, 2016
I am a long time Jann Arden fan...just saw her in concert in September 2014. I loved this book! The selected journals portrayed Jann Arden much as I'd imagined she would be...funny and genuine. The entries were varied; some were funny, others somber and sad, most were touching and poignant... much food for thought. A wonderful read!
October 28, 2019
Her diary/journal entries offered incredible insight into this wonderful singer, songwriter and actress. Some entries were quite dark and left me wondering and sad.
Lovely line drawings add a little something extra into who Jann might be... but this diary -journal left me wanting more.
Actually I'd love to have coffee with her, or a fancy latte.
Lovely line drawings add a little something extra into who Jann might be... but this diary -journal left me wanting more.
Actually I'd love to have coffee with her, or a fancy latte.
June 21, 2009
I love Jann Arden. Real and down-to-earth!
December 1, 2009
I laughed and cried my way through this book. I'm amazed at some of her insights. And her understanding of cats.
Her diaries are now on her website, and still as funny as ever.
Her diaries are now on her website, and still as funny as ever.
July 16, 2011
I am a huge fan of Jann Arden's and, just as in her lyrics, her soul is exposed in her words.
January 14, 2012
disappointing, of interest only to herself, as journals are.
October 26, 2016
Jann Arden: So profound one minute, so funny the next. She dredges up my memories with her vivid Alberta childhood recollections. She always makes me smile.
June 1, 2020
Really enjoyed this.
September 25, 2023
This book published in 2002 includes selected entries from the pages of Jann Arden’s journals, pieces she believes reflect the long and difficult journey she has traveled to become the more confident, healthy woman she is today. Most Canadians know Jann as a successful singer song writer, the winner of many awards, a woman always ready with a funny quip or a joke and comfortable in her own skin. But it has been a long journey to get to that place. She traveled a difficult passage of self-discovery before she felt comfortable about who she was, able to live the life she wanted.
In these pages, Arden traces her journey over many years of painful experiences, brutally honest about her many failures in her long search for the person she wanted to be. She had to recognize and accept how she saw and defined herself through others, trying to be the person they wanted her to be. Each time she failed to meet their expectations, she was criticized and punished herself with alcohol, using self-destructive behavior to quell her anguish. It was a path that got her nowhere in her personal life or in a career in which youth, beauty, body size and style were front and center. It was not until later life she stopped listening to others, got a grip, turned her life around, did what she wanted to do and became the person she wanted to be; she finally righted her ship.
These pages reflect that long journey away from the alcohol she abused for so many years, away from her chronic need for the approval of others and the self-criticism with which she punished herself.
She acknowledges that these entries, filled with her private thoughts and recollections, were just “meanderings”, things she jotted down believing no one would read them, but realizing getting them down on paper would help her. There are bits that are sad, real slices of drama and important flashbacks, but her wicked irreverent sense of humor is on almost every page. She admits some of it is pointless nonsense such as her comment about “pulling a long hair out of one of her cat’s asses” glad it wasn’t her own!
She praises the strong women in her life including her mother and grandmother but gives scant praise for her father with whom she had a troubled relationship most of her life. But she also acknowledges the silver lining in that cloud. It was to get away from her father that she fled to the basement at home and discovered the comfort and magic of music.
She writes in a loose conversational style, her narrative filled with the uncensored loose talk of someone who while hilariously funny, is also brutally honest and transparent. She shares her journey of learning to be herself in the hope it will help others navigate the ups and downs of life.
It proved to be a quick, fun, but also a serious read.
In these pages, Arden traces her journey over many years of painful experiences, brutally honest about her many failures in her long search for the person she wanted to be. She had to recognize and accept how she saw and defined herself through others, trying to be the person they wanted her to be. Each time she failed to meet their expectations, she was criticized and punished herself with alcohol, using self-destructive behavior to quell her anguish. It was a path that got her nowhere in her personal life or in a career in which youth, beauty, body size and style were front and center. It was not until later life she stopped listening to others, got a grip, turned her life around, did what she wanted to do and became the person she wanted to be; she finally righted her ship.
These pages reflect that long journey away from the alcohol she abused for so many years, away from her chronic need for the approval of others and the self-criticism with which she punished herself.
She acknowledges that these entries, filled with her private thoughts and recollections, were just “meanderings”, things she jotted down believing no one would read them, but realizing getting them down on paper would help her. There are bits that are sad, real slices of drama and important flashbacks, but her wicked irreverent sense of humor is on almost every page. She admits some of it is pointless nonsense such as her comment about “pulling a long hair out of one of her cat’s asses” glad it wasn’t her own!
She praises the strong women in her life including her mother and grandmother but gives scant praise for her father with whom she had a troubled relationship most of her life. But she also acknowledges the silver lining in that cloud. It was to get away from her father that she fled to the basement at home and discovered the comfort and magic of music.
She writes in a loose conversational style, her narrative filled with the uncensored loose talk of someone who while hilariously funny, is also brutally honest and transparent. She shares her journey of learning to be herself in the hope it will help others navigate the ups and downs of life.
It proved to be a quick, fun, but also a serious read.
June 25, 2025
my mom gave this to me because she looooooves jann arden. i found it a bit boring, i found myself skimming entries bc i didn’t gaf but some of them were interesting. i keep meaning to listen to more of her music hopefully I’ll do that soon
“Time tells you who you are. You just have to listen and see. It is a long process, the becoming of anything.”
“Sex is not a sport. It is a language.”
“Love those fucking gift bags. And yes, I do want them back after you've opened them. That's just the way it has to be. My mom always says, I suppose you want your bag back? And I say, yes I most certainly do. Well I want MY bag back then she says. It's all quite funny. Very serious, but funny.” (reminds me of my mom hehe)
“I don’t care who God is. He is. I am just going to keep talking in my head to Her.”
“…my lover cannot find me, because I do not want to be found. I hear my name being called; it is floating on the cold wind. A long drawn-out
JJJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNN.
Only I have changed my name to Pepsi. So I don't answer.”
“Only dying makes us the same. Our differences here kill us very slowly. Prejudice and hatred and religion. They all kill.”
“Time tells you who you are. You just have to listen and see. It is a long process, the becoming of anything.”
“Sex is not a sport. It is a language.”
“Love those fucking gift bags. And yes, I do want them back after you've opened them. That's just the way it has to be. My mom always says, I suppose you want your bag back? And I say, yes I most certainly do. Well I want MY bag back then she says. It's all quite funny. Very serious, but funny.” (reminds me of my mom hehe)
“I don’t care who God is. He is. I am just going to keep talking in my head to Her.”
“…my lover cannot find me, because I do not want to be found. I hear my name being called; it is floating on the cold wind. A long drawn-out
JJJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNN.
Only I have changed my name to Pepsi. So I don't answer.”
“Only dying makes us the same. Our differences here kill us very slowly. Prejudice and hatred and religion. They all kill.”
July 9, 2021
Reading selections from Jann's Journals was so entertaining. These short and sweet snippets of her life, made me sad, others laugh out loud, others want to join her warm and safe under the covers. These are honest and spontaneous moments that Jann has written down about life in general and her life in particular.
Being on another journey with Jann Arden is always exhilarating.
Being on another journey with Jann Arden is always exhilarating.
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February 4, 2021Arden's earliest book, worth reading. She is insightful, honest, funny, global minded...
July 13, 2022
Quite a few laughs, similar to my own journal
October 31, 2024
3 1/4 stars
May 30, 2018
Normally I like more of a story line but thought I'd give this book a try since she did a decent job about writing about her journey with her mother in her previous book I read. The title says select journals but to me it seemed like a total random pick, oh here's a deep thought, here's me talking about my cat, here's me talking about the weather, here's me talking about how I don't know what to write down. I had to force myself through it. I would have stopped reading if I wasn't so bad at giving up on books.
September 1, 2014
A very pleasant surprise. Normally, "journals" are naval gazing exercises in ego but this one is more poetic, thoughtful and laugh out loud funny than that. She is not afraid to share some darkness and her moods fluctuate with the tides - very human. I wish the illustrations were larger - tough to see the doodles sometimes.
August 7, 2016
Jann Arden likes words, dislikes rain, and thinks her mother and father are 'the best parents ever!!' with an 'I-think-she-doth-protest-too-much' level of enthusiasm. She also thinks we should all be more spiritual (religious?) and nicer to each other.
Should I mention that it irritates me when people say mean things then protest 'just joking!'? They virtually never are...
Should I mention that it irritates me when people say mean things then protest 'just joking!'? They virtually never are...
July 7, 2015
I am from the boomer club too! A lot of her thoughts and words resonated with mine.
She shoots from the lip ... A straight shooter who calls it out loud!
It's a journal. An easy read and funny with just the right twist of sarcasm and drama.
I'd recommend it!
She shoots from the lip ... A straight shooter who calls it out loud!
It's a journal. An easy read and funny with just the right twist of sarcasm and drama.
I'd recommend it!
January 21, 2019
This book is filled with simple observations and thoughts around moments in time that make you appreciate the "grandness" of everyday life. Authentic, honest and insightful.
This may have been my 8th reading of this gem.
This may have been my 8th reading of this gem.
June 2, 2018
An interesting peek into the author's thoughts and beliefs. Open, honest and revealing - as one would expect from a personal journal. Kudos to the author for being brave enough to share this with her readers.
March 24, 2013
Funny! Very funny...
October 21, 2013
Easy read - but uplifting.
June 29, 2015
Quick and easy ready, I've always thought Jann Arden hilarious. This doesn't disappoint. Also poetic and emotional at times.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews