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Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life


Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

14/60 | Started 03.20.23 • Finished 03.26.23 | 4 stars


Never read anything like it. Such a unique idea and well-executed. Usually brief commentary on any number of ordinary things, sometimes poignant and sometimes laugh out loud funny.


As kids, our stock answer to most every question was nothing. What did you do at school today? Nothing. What’s new? Nothing. Then, somewhere on the way to adulthood, we each took a 180-degree turn. We cashed in our nothing for busy.

Tidbit: read the copyright page. The reader's agreement is also quite amusing. I found her explanation of how the book came about to be extremely interesting. But that could just be the nerd in me coming out...


Amy is constantly filled with questions. Life seems extremely confusing, complex, layered. Is sure that adults attend a kind of convention where they are given all the answers, let in on subtle truths. She thinks she will never be able to utter a statement, to speak and not have it be a question. Idea of saying something in the affirmative seems unfathomable.

Some of my favorite entries were those that dealt with an idea being described, not just a term, or when she just gave an example of something rather than a succinct definition. I enjoyed "busy", "childhood", "encouragement, exercise video instructor who tries to give", "euphoric", "lacy undershirts", "stupid slow driver", "update", and "Van Gogh prints". If you're into memoirs, you might like this one, though it is a different take on that.





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