November Book Club

The November Book Club book was selected by Miss Jen:

This is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike by Augusten Burroughs

So, I wasn't sure if I was going to post this book or not but I decided to anyway.  This book has very strong language.  Language that I do not use and it that regard it was a little over the top and at times a little offensive.  There were a few things I didn't agree with, but I understand that those words are the Author's point of view, they represent who he is, and they are his right to give. Just like I may not agree with everything my friends say I am still friends with them and can objectively look at their point of view.

I ultimately decided to post this because despite the language, there is some really great advice in this book.

Topics include: how to feel like crap, how to ride an elevator, how to be thin, how to be fat, how to find love, how to feel sorry for yourself, how to get the job, how to end your life, how to remain unhealed, how to finish your drink, how to regret as little as possible and more.

Ultimately the message of this book is to be content with who you are.  To not put on a pretense for others instead truly be yourself without worrying what they will think of you (to be unashamed). To understand the past (not dwell on it), and to focus on the present, to live in the moment.  To set goals and reach for them even if they change shape along the way.  To look for truth and follow it.

Everyone in life has struggles, the only thing that different between us are in the details.  But how you deal with those struggles defines who you are.

My favorite line, and one I think anyone could live by is in the second to last chapter on the last page #227. "This is how you survive the unsurvivable, this is how you lose that which you cannot bear to lose, this is how you reinvent yourself, overcome your abusers, fulfill your ambitions and meet the love of your life: by following what is true, no matter where it leads you.