About a year ago, a fellow bookworm with eclectic taste recommended The Unspeakable by Meghan Daum. The Unspeakable is a collection of ten personal essays, ranging in topic from the somewhat unlamented death of the author’s mother, to the artless dreaminess of L.A. life, in which one can unwittingly find oneself at a dinner party with Nicole Kidman, to the author’s inexplicable refusal to join the (ubiquitous and delicious) foodie culture. The only theme common to each page’s idiosyncrasies is brutal honesty, truth told without the distorting shadows of dignity or decorum. In other words, it’s a bunch of really real personal stories, some funny, others embarrassing or sad, all brilliant.
By the third essay, I knew Meghan well enough to comfortably refer to her by her first name. She is clear, she is honest, and she is clear that she is honest. From her book’s first words to its last, otherwise unchallenged social norms and forms take a beating, and I found myself shouting, “Yeah!” out loud the way a weak-wristed nerd interjects after a large ally does the dirty work of punching a bully in the face. With the fight over and the nerd in relative safety, this unnecessarily voiced agreement is extended in thanks, a pathetically sponsored exclamation point to a statement only one brave person had the guts make.
By the eighth essay, I found Meghan’s website and decided to attend a women’s writing workshop that she taught some months later. Meghan is as funny and non-bull-shitty in the flesh as she is on the page. She does what I want to do, though I am fully aware that her work is the Oscar-winning version of my high school performance. She writes about every day thoughts, happenstance, raw and ugly struggles, to make it all relatable, relevant, verso/recto, verso/recto . . . She makes it look so easy.
By the end of the book, I’d ordered each and every one of Meghan’s other books. They were all just as good as The Unspeakable. (Honesty check: I have not yet read The Quality of Life Report, which is Meghan’s only work of fiction.) I don’t always agree with Meghan, but she has invented a new form of personal essay, one without sappy shackles. Whether you are interested in great reading or learning how to write about your own experiences (or both – Yeah!), pick up The Unspeakable and put it down after you’ve befriended Meghan and given her my love.
Read more about Meghan and all her work here.
Read an Unspeakable essay printed in the New Yorker here.
Of course, for every good book, there are ten terrible, awful, hilarious jokes in the world. I’ve shared one of my favorite books, so it is only fair that I share 10 of my favorite bad jokes, all from another brilliant literary source you should check out. There is a treasure trove of bad kid jokes, curated to perfection at http://badkidsjokes.tumblr.com/
Don’t tell me kids aren’t funny. Also don’t tell me that they aren’t strange and kind of creepy. No one has edited these gems:
March 6, 2013, 12:30 pm
what do you get when you cross the road
run over
February 17, 2013, 11:01 am
What name do you give to someone that constantly eats paper?
NATASHA.
November 4, 2014, 9:55 am
what do you call a fish with no tail?
a one eyed grape
July 18, 2015, 7:00 am
why do thiefs want money
they want money because that is thier job and they have to do thier job.
February 22, 2013, 11:01 am
it was a dark and creepy night there was a black and white figure in the forest
it was a cow.
June 17, 2015, 8:06 am
bob:doctor doctor i need a new but.
doctor:what is it bob.
bob:it has a crack in it
doctor:that is normal bob
November 18, 2014, 8:00 am
crocodiles might be vegitarians because when they open their mouths, we could easily put in vegetables!
May 30, 2013, 11:01 am
why did the chicken marry the crocodile
because crocodooladoo is good family name.
January 31, 2016, 8:08 pm
what do you call fire water fire water fire water fire water fire water
a patern
March 9, 2013, 11:01 am
Why did the the turkey severly attack the woman
because she said Merry Christmas.
Read on!