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Review--The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club, by Laurie Notaro


The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club was recommended to me by Amazon.com, and I have to say that I absolutely loved it (the book, though the website has its advantages)! The book is actually a collection of short essays, written by Laurie Notaro, the heavy drinker and smoker who tells of her exploits with candor and a sense of humor. And along the way, she's able to laugh at, and with, herself. The essays can be read alone, but they work best when they're read in the order in which they're presented. I loved the essay about her attending her high school reunion (I think we all have a story in which we do something mortifyingly embarassing in front of old high school/ college classmates. I sure do), and the one where she explains oral sex to her 82-year-old grandmother.


Although not very well written (sometimes Notaro sounds as though she's in middle school), The Idiots Girls' Action Adventure Club was a quick read (I read it in one day) and had me laughing so hard that people walking by would ask, "what are you reading?" Notaro's other memoirs and novel are also good, but not as funny as this one is. It was definitely on my list of favorites in 2007. If you like this kind of thing, I also recommend Bitter is the New Black, by Jen Lancaster.

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