Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life: A Memoir

This book is an excellent book to read when you are in a weird mood, and your not sure what to read. It is a nice break from mass market fiction and not like your 'ordinary' autobiography. They way the author alphabetizes her experiences, feelings and random thoughts is really cool. I found myself time and time again, saying to myself "yeah.. I do that all the time" or "wow, I felt that way too - but never knew how to describe it!" and "man, I would never admit to that!" It was a complete joy to read and it makes you feel a little more "normal." If there is such a thing! This book will soon become the book that you want to show all your friends. Share the serendipity!

It would be so easy to hate Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Amy Krouse Rosenthal has written a raft of books about parenting. They have titles like "The Same Phrase Describes My Marriage and My Breasts...Before the kids, they used to be a cute couple." Amy Krouse Rosenthal has created sound files of her children. Like: kids slurping breakfast cereal. Amy Krouse Rosenthal once had a column called "15 Megabytes of Fame." Amy Krouse Rosenthal, asked what it's like to have three --- three! --- kids, responded thus: "It's just love to the third power." Amy Krouse Rosenthal's idea of five words that sound great: "They lived happily ever after." Amy Krouse Rosenthal asks herself questions like: "Are Christo's gifts amazingly wrapped?" Cute. Terminally cute, in that charming (but really, when you think about it: annoying), suburban, privileged, NPR way. You know, like she just happens to write down the cute things her children say and her mind serves up, and then --- surprise! --- a magazine calls and pries her notes from her reluctant fingers. I'm not buying it. I say Amy Krouse Rosenthal --- and, c'mon, what's with all the names? Is she an acolyte of Hillary Rodham Clinton? --- is a professional writer and a damn clever one at that. I say cute is a brilliant disguise for ambition and craft. I say 'Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life' is anything but a random tour through the days and thoughts of an ordinary woman --- there's not one ordinary thing about Amy Krouse Rosenthal. What's really going on here? Back in the day, Ms. Rosenthal has recalled, she got some great advice: "Don't worry so much about being the absolute best at what you do (there's always going to be someone 'better') but rather try and be the only one who is doing what you do.'" She loved that. "Kinda gives you permission to experiment, be true to your own voice, and suck a bit if you have to." The experiment here is the form. Seemingly unplotted --- but actually highly organized; as she confesses, she did five drafts of the book --- 'Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life' is carefully designed to get you to the letter 'Y' (which comes after Z) in a state where you'll be receptive to that entry (which is all about 'you'). So she starts cute, as if to reduce herself to a goofy waif: "We invite you to add your name to the list of people who have ever read this book and who were personally thanked (by e-mail) by the author. Click on 'Thank You' at encyclopediafanordinarylife.com." (Never received e-mail from a published writer? Hey, here's your chance.) Then she "orients" the reader with pages of "plain facts" about American life, her life to date in a few pages of diary entries, and Important Dates. Finally, on page 37, the book actually begins. And any fool can quickly grasp what she's up to: celebrating every last minute of daily life, peeling the onion of banality to reveal the magic inside. Like these entries: CAR WASH: "Every time I go to the local car wash, the owner

Looking at Amy Rosenthal's book, one of two things occurs to you: that it's an intriguingly simple idea and why didn't someone else, perhaps even you, think of it before; or that it is a tremendously boring idea and why should you be bothered? If you have got to the point where you are reading other people's opinions of the book, we can assume you are not in the second group. Set up like an encyclopedia, in alphabetical order, Rosenthal creates a memoir of her life. It's like reading a magazine or someone's website, with snippets of random thoughts, interesting facts, opinions, lists, diary entries, mementos, quotations, even a recipe. And sadly, you realize that if you tried to do something like this, it would not be this interesting. It isn't that Amy has had a particularly fascinating life. She is pretty up front about that, her disclaimer right on the book jacket says: "I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story." Why does Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life work? Why should I care that some woman in Chicago (Rosenthal) doesn't write down the order number when she buys something over the phone? I wouldn't, except that with Rosenthal, it's more like an confession, a conspiracy almost, because she suspects you only pretend to write down the number too. There a lot of moments in Encyclopedia, sometimes trivial, sometimes not, when you think, yes, I know exactly what she means. I like the drawings in Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. They are mostly done by Jeffrey Middleton, who recently illustrated a new edition of Webster's Dictionary. When Rosenthal read about him in a newspaper article, she knew he would be perfect for her book. It isn't hard to see why Encyclopedia was initially rejected by several publishers. It's an odd idea, downright brazen when you come to think of it. Who the hell cares about your admittedly ordinary life? But that's the dilemma of all writers. Who the hell cares what you have to say? Fortunately, there are always plenty of people who overcome their doubts, say what they have to say as entertainingly as possible, and hope to connect. Rosenthal has succeeded.

There are not too many really original books published these days - and many times when an original idea does come along, the writer is not able to carry it off successfully. Rosenthal is the exception. Let's start with the encyclopedia concept - what a brilliant idea. (As a writer, I am thinking, why didn't I think of that?) The book consists of alphabetized snippets from Rosenthal's life, random thoughts, surveys she conducted, and observations about humanity in general. All put together, the reader gets to know Rosenthal inside and out. But that's not all - little extra touches add to the fun of the book: the foreword "I have not survived against all odds. I have not witnessed the extraordinary . . . ."; the hilarous Reader's Agreement " . . . no pretend half-reading while calling and placing an order for Thai takeout" etc. The inside cover with "words the author meant to use" and "cross-section of ordinary life at this exact moment". I found myself laughing out loud through much of this book and I still find myself picking it up and turning to random pages to reread a couple of entries. This is a great book. I wish all memoirs were this much fun to read.

I bought and read this book on the same day and loved it. It's clever, insightful, and fun and I found myself wanting to buy a copy for friends and family. I read it from cover to cover, but it's the type of book you can set on your coffee table and open to any page for interesting insight on any number of things.