The Manic Bookadillos discussion

Hi all!
The first hundered pages of the book are a whirlwind! I have never laughed so much while also nodding like 'ya Jenny, you've got it.'
One chapter which really hit home for me was 'Pretend You're Good At It' (p45). As someone who struggles with crippling imposter syndrome, I thought it seemed so gutty and also so obvious to just walk in the room and pretend! What do you think? Have you ever been in a situation where you were able to shush your inner saboteur and do the damn thing? How did reading about Jenny Lawson's experience make you feel? How do you think this can tie into the chapter 'It's Hard to Tell Which of Us is Mentally Ill' (p105) which touches on the stress of stressing over other people's perceptions of us and fabricating a narrative that is probably not there to begin with!
Were there any other chapters which really stood out to you? Why?
How do you think gratitude plays into Jenny's story so far?
Looking forward to hearing from you all!

I also breezed through these first hundred pages, and just did not stop laughing. Something I really struggle with is facts vs. feelings, and it was so relatable when she also had this issue.

I love when she has little moments of challenging things that we just take for granted. For instance, she said "Why is it "incapable" and "unable" instaed of "uncapable" and "inable"? You can have an inability but you can't be inable. I'm uncapable of understanding how these decisions were made." Totally just random, but makes you think kind of moments. She is FILLED with this kind of stuff. I absolutely love it.

I also really enjoyed her little talk about being unique.. in that everyone is already unique so she suggests "be as visibly fucked up as you want to be because being unique is already taken." Her social commentary is really really good I think and she's just so humorous about it. I soak this stuff up, a lot of my highlights are from little moments like this.

The chapter that stood out to me was "I'm Not Psychotic. I Just Need to Get in Front of You in Line." When I started taking an antipsychotic I was really down on myself because I didn't fully understand what that implied about myself. I was taking something that was for disorders I didn't have, but it was working EXTREMELY WELL. This chapter validated me a bit. Especially when she said "Whenever I start to doubt if I'm worth the eternal trouble of medication and therapy, I remember those people who let fog win. And I push myself to stay healthy. I remind myself that I'm not fighting against me.. I'm fighting against a chemical imbalance...a tangible thing. I remind myself of the cunning untrustworthiness of the brain, both in the mentally ill and the mentally stable." I've had battles and battles with myself that I'm fucked up and I don't contribute anything because of being mentally unhealthy. When she said this it really helped me remind myself that I'm not fighting me, i'm fighting a chemical imbalance I was given, and I need to keep up the fight.

Overall, I am REALLY happy with this book. I think Jenny finds gratitude in all the moments she has, and that's totally inspiring. I love how honest she is about herself. And, admittedly, I love her taxidermified raccoon. I am stoked to hear what you all think!

I just finished the first section. I enjoyed all the bits about the taxidermied animals, particularly the bear, Claude. haha.

Hanna-I also enjoyed the Pretend You're Good At It chapter. I could benefit from writing that down when doing something I'm not confident in.

But the chapter I most related with was The Fear. "I'm not broken, I just hurt inside. And when I tear at the outside it makes me feel less torn up in the inside." She perfectly put into words how I've felt so many times.

Melissa—I totally resonated with that as well!! It was so nice for her to put into words what I struggle with feeling so often.

Just finished the first section, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. I have actually chuckled out loud quite a few times. The taxidermy animals and the rodeo. Gah, she writes with this totally hilarious innocence about her odd everyday occurrences.

Also, I love her and Victors relationship. It seems like she enjoys annoying him, and he secretly, while annoyed loves it and loves her as well! I’m digging all the shenanigans and hope the rest of the book maintains this hilariousness!