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I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs
The Wall Street Journal columnist and bestselling author of Little Victories takes a humorous and insightful look at life in the face of overwhelming societal change that we never anticipated—from the effects on parenthood, marriage, friendship, work, and play to all other aspects of the strange lives we find ourselves living.
Like many of us, Jason Gay didn’t see this coming: a reshaped world, on edge, often stuck at home, questioning everything, trying to navigate a digital landscape that changes how we think, parent, coach, and live. With a series of topical and interconnected personal pieces, Gay comically takes on this new state of being, looking for the optimism and joy in the face of discouragement. He embarks on a rowdy ride with his son to the Daytona 500, weeks before lockdown. He confides his hilariously banal texts with his wife. He allows his mom to kidnap the family cat. From the modest thrills of Little League parenting to reckoning with the impending death of a close friend, Gay's essays run the gamut of modern life and he approaches it all with humility, grace, and more than a few laughs.
Like many of us, Jason Gay didn’t see this coming: a reshaped world, on edge, often stuck at home, questioning everything, trying to navigate a digital landscape that changes how we think, parent, coach, and live. With a series of topical and interconnected personal pieces, Gay comically takes on this new state of being, looking for the optimism and joy in the face of discouragement. He embarks on a rowdy ride with his son to the Daytona 500, weeks before lockdown. He confides his hilariously banal texts with his wife. He allows his mom to kidnap the family cat. From the modest thrills of Little League parenting to reckoning with the impending death of a close friend, Gay's essays run the gamut of modern life and he approaches it all with humility, grace, and more than a few laughs.
Audiobook
Published November 1, 2022
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About the author
Jason Gay
2 books70 followersJason Gay is The Wall Street Journal’s sports columnist and a humor columnist for its Review section. Jason was named Sports Columnist of the Year by Society of Professional Journalists in 2010, 2016 and 2019. He is author of the new book of essays, "I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me" (Nov. 1 2022), and the 2015 bestseller “Little Victories,” which was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Write to Jason at jason.gay@wsj.com, and follow him on Twitter @jasongay.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 13, 2023
Jason Gay should stick to sports writing. There wasn’t anything in this book that made me glad I read it. Not a single insight, experience or story that I found interesting. Jason should stick to covering sports and maybe talk to his friends about his thoughts and ideas. This book was a participation ribbon for journalists. Everybody gets a book, but maybe they shouldn’t. A whole chapter on how kids soccer is different than professional soccer? Wow I never could have guessed that parents are still acting out at kids soccer games and getting threatened about their behaviour. There is nothing new or novel about that. Another chapter on your dream man cave? Talk to your friends about this at your neighbourhood barbecue but the rest of the world does not need to know about it.
January 26, 2023
Jason Gay is the sports writer for the Wall St Journal. This is a collection of humorous essays and interconnected personal pieces that spans such things as life with kids, life with a cat, buying an old house, taking your son to the Daytona 500, what constitutes a good speech at a graduation, adult birthday parties and what are the best wedding anniversary gifts by year.
It's a fun quick read, I'm going to have to go back and find his first book.
It's a fun quick read, I'm going to have to go back and find his first book.
November 19, 2022
As a beginning, in the spirit of the coming season, one needs to understand that Jason Gay is the sports and humor columnist for a major financial newspaper. You might know the name of the paper. Could you read a book about disagreeable cats, children’s soccer, the appropriate anniversary gifts (including three options for singing telegrams in the first 50 years), or even a reflection of a good friend dying from brain cancer? Gay has assembled a thoroughly enjoyable set of reflections on the absurdity of life. If you do not read this book you will be missing a really something very special.
December 12, 2022
This book was a random find as I was picking up other library holds. Something about the shark strapped to the station wagon, maybe? It ended up being a total delight. I have never heard of Jason Gay. I don’t follow sports or read the Wall Street Journal, but his essays about the idiosyncrasies of life are charming, a bit heartbreaking, and often laugh out loud funny. I adored this book, and now I might start looking for his column in the Wall Street Journal, except it’s a sports column, so probably not.
November 25, 2022
Quick easy read as it is a compilation of essays. It just wasn't my style. I did not enjoy trying to follow the set-up of saying something then the next sentence is "Just kidding" back-peddling.
January 25, 2024
I chuckled a few times, and there are some clever bits, but the humor is so paternal that it strains from dad jokes into grandfather jokes.
October 3, 2022
A glimpse of life in essays is a sub-genre that I’ve been loving more of in the past few years & that’s what made me pick up this book. I love authors describing normal snippets of life in a way that makes the mundane feel fresh to me again. Most of the books I’ve read like this have been written by white, middle-aged women and seem a bit more earnest or focused on a lesson they’re pointing toward. Jason’s essays were not without this, but did seem overall to be a bit more light-hearted and random at times. I laughed multiple times while reading this, especially during anecdotes about parenting his children. Not every single essay would be 5⭐️s to me separately, as I definitely enjoyed some more than others, but I just so loved this collection as a whole. There were multiple times I wanted to find someone around me and force them to read the chapter I had just read so I could have someone to chuckle with over an observation Jason made that I knew to be true as soon as I read it. And that is one of the best signs of a good book to me.
*Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for an Advanced Reader’s Copy.
*Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for an Advanced Reader’s Copy.
December 6, 2022
You don't fix an old house. You do triage.
Just as enjoyable as his first collection of microessays (which are really just...thoughts?), Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living. I'm really starting to appreciate this nonfiction version of a short story-- you have to get to the point while also building an on and off ramp to the climax all within a relatively limited space. Kudos to this sports columnist of a financial newspaper.
Just as enjoyable as his first collection of microessays (which are really just...thoughts?), Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living. I'm really starting to appreciate this nonfiction version of a short story-- you have to get to the point while also building an on and off ramp to the climax all within a relatively limited space. Kudos to this sports columnist of a financial newspaper.
December 10, 2022
Jason Gay is my favorite sportswriter. He is one of the reasons I subscribe to the WSJ. When I saw he just published a new book, I jumped on it. I was rewarded.
It is a series of, what I would call, blog posts. All written with his light-hearted tone. All with a bit of seriousness attached.
At some points, he had me laughing out loud. In other articles like an interview with a man who lost his phone on the first day of his vacation, he had me thinking (and still thinking).
This is a quick read that is entertaining and breezy yet thoughtful. I might even learn to fish. I can't believe I just wrote that. Thanks, Jason, for sharing your life with me.
It is a series of, what I would call, blog posts. All written with his light-hearted tone. All with a bit of seriousness attached.
At some points, he had me laughing out loud. In other articles like an interview with a man who lost his phone on the first day of his vacation, he had me thinking (and still thinking).
This is a quick read that is entertaining and breezy yet thoughtful. I might even learn to fish. I can't believe I just wrote that. Thanks, Jason, for sharing your life with me.
November 3, 2022
This book is a fun collection of essays where the author provides a humorous and insightful look at life in the face of overwhelming societal change that we never anticipated - Covid. Each chapter is funny yet thought-provoking, including his thoughts on everyday life—working from home, parenting, and married life. These essays give us a glimpse into a family man's world.
In this book, the author covers everything that people of a certain age are all thinking about—kids, parenting, aging, what time you wake up, recreational sports, and then your own parents aging. There are a couple of things that really resonated. One was around watching your parents get older and trying to deal with the empty nest coming at the same time.
One passage stuck out to me when the author wrote about his mom keeping his cat over Covid. He said, "We talk about when Baxter should come home, but we don't really make a plan. In the summer, we 'borrow' him back for a couple weeks on vacation. At first, it goes well. We're staying at a house with trees, and he can run around outside and chase moths, but then a neighboring dog starts stalking him, so he retreats under another bed. When we return him to my mother's, on the drive home, he looks relieved. As we pull out of the driveway, I swear the two of them have this conversation. 'How was it?' my mother asks. 'Don't ask. I need a drink,' Baxer says. 'Dewar's?' 'You know me.' She missed him. My mother is not exactly an open book in terms of revealing her own emotions, but she confesses she's grown to need Baxter more than she ever expected. My father has been dead for six years, and until Baxer showed up it was just my mom and the hum of the coffeemaker, which is not enough, especially now. I like to whine about my overcrowded apartment, and the calamity of young children, and how much I want to live on a deserted island, but I know how much it fills me up. It's noise. It's life."
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://www.momsdonthavetimetoreadboo...
In this book, the author covers everything that people of a certain age are all thinking about—kids, parenting, aging, what time you wake up, recreational sports, and then your own parents aging. There are a couple of things that really resonated. One was around watching your parents get older and trying to deal with the empty nest coming at the same time.
One passage stuck out to me when the author wrote about his mom keeping his cat over Covid. He said, "We talk about when Baxter should come home, but we don't really make a plan. In the summer, we 'borrow' him back for a couple weeks on vacation. At first, it goes well. We're staying at a house with trees, and he can run around outside and chase moths, but then a neighboring dog starts stalking him, so he retreats under another bed. When we return him to my mother's, on the drive home, he looks relieved. As we pull out of the driveway, I swear the two of them have this conversation. 'How was it?' my mother asks. 'Don't ask. I need a drink,' Baxer says. 'Dewar's?' 'You know me.' She missed him. My mother is not exactly an open book in terms of revealing her own emotions, but she confesses she's grown to need Baxter more than she ever expected. My father has been dead for six years, and until Baxer showed up it was just my mom and the hum of the coffeemaker, which is not enough, especially now. I like to whine about my overcrowded apartment, and the calamity of young children, and how much I want to live on a deserted island, but I know how much it fills me up. It's noise. It's life."
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://www.momsdonthavetimetoreadboo...
May 23, 2023
Entertaining short stories.
Adults on their birthdays:
“The guest list for most adult birthday parties is usually some kind of combination of family, old friends, new friends, and work friends. The work friends tend to stick together and talk about work. The new friends tend to keep to themselves and try to guess how much you spent on your house. The old friends know where you hide the good bour-bon, so that's where they're going. Your family already took the good bourbon, and they're drinking it in the garage.” P130
Adults on their birthdays:
“The guest list for most adult birthday parties is usually some kind of combination of family, old friends, new friends, and work friends. The work friends tend to stick together and talk about work. The new friends tend to keep to themselves and try to guess how much you spent on your house. The old friends know where you hide the good bour-bon, so that's where they're going. Your family already took the good bourbon, and they're drinking it in the garage.” P130
September 26, 2022
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a collection of stories and observations about parenthood, travel, and other experiences. Most of the stories are fairly short and focused around a theme. While this collection wasn't quite for me and felt a little over the top at times, I can see why the stories would resonate with some people. Overall an interesting find.
This is a collection of stories and observations about parenthood, travel, and other experiences. Most of the stories are fairly short and focused around a theme. While this collection wasn't quite for me and felt a little over the top at times, I can see why the stories would resonate with some people. Overall an interesting find.
December 2, 2022
(Audiobook) A fun collections of essays from the sports writer at the Wall Street Journal. While there are sports themes throughout, this is as much about the man Jason Gay as anything else. Like his sports columns, the chapters tend to be lighter and on the humorous side. His riffs on the former grumpy mean cat that became his mother’s best friends and the ills/pain of Disney World are perhaps the most humorous/memorable. Worth a read for a long/painful commute for levity.
July 15, 2024
Well you sometimes need something funny to laugh at & this is it. I couldn't stop chuckling while reading this book. There was probably one chapter that wasn't funny, but for the most part I was literally laughing out loud while riding public transit. Since you sometimes need to read things a bit lighter than the usual non-fiction that can be a bit much, this is the opposite. So yeah, go read this & laugh from your belly, it's good for you.
October 28, 2022
Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
4 stars
Enjoyable book of essays about Jason Gay's life and family. I always enjoy reading his column in the WSJ and this book didn't disappoint.
4 stars
Enjoyable book of essays about Jason Gay's life and family. I always enjoy reading his column in the WSJ and this book didn't disappoint.
December 13, 2022
Hilarious! I never heard of this author but I picked up his book because every other non-fiction on the shelf was about Trump. The author doesn't talk about Trump so that's 3 stars right there. The book is flat out funny...so that's a +2. Thanks for making me laugh, bud.
December 23, 2022
Funny, serious, honest and poignant. Here is a book of humor that will pull at your heart-strings. Most appreciated are the unintended consequences of our technology from Zoom to cell phones. Gay encourages us toward attentiveness.
June 26, 2023
Really enjoyed. A humorous look at some mundane parts of life as well as some very critical moments of life. Laughed out loud now and then but chuckled to myself frequently. Recommend! But skip the chapter on anniversaries near the end.
February 22, 2024
Jason is one of the only sports columnists I actively seek out even if it’s not a sport that interests me, and I enjoyed reading some not-so-sports-related stuff as well. It’s nothing earth shattering but it was a fun, generally light-hearted and quick read
July 17, 2024
Jason Gay is consistently funny in the Wall Street Journal. Overall, I liked this book. I listened to the audio book, which Jason reads. He is a good storyteller. Each chapter has a different essay, but there's common themes throughout. Some were not as good as others, but I enjoyed it.
November 2, 2022
Kind of biased, but I enjoyed it. Author seems like a reasonable fellow.
December 3, 2022
Danger
Do not read this book if you are embarrassed by laughing out loud in public places. Even at home, your family may think 6 are nuts.
It is great!
Do not read this book if you are embarrassed by laughing out loud in public places. Even at home, your family may think 6 are nuts.
It is great!
December 3, 2022
Felt good to lol!
December 16, 2022
Jason Gay is a good writer and a funny man. I laughed several times while reading this. Enjoy his WSJ pieces.
Read
December 19, 2022I wished I liked it, but I did not. (But the author was good on Defector's podcast! Which is why I picked it up.)
Would prolly go 2 stars, but not gonna be a dick and bring the ole rating down.
Would prolly go 2 stars, but not gonna be a dick and bring the ole rating down.
December 20, 2022
Fun and short collection of essays to make you laugh.
January 1, 2023
Sure is a lot of cat stories, but they’re enjoyable.
January 16, 2023
A friggin’ delight from beginning to end.
February 11, 2023
I love his columns and often snort my coffee reading them. What I realized is that a book of them is too much. I will continue to read his column
February 14, 2023
Great humorous essays. You can read a couple five page ones and put it down for awhile.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews