Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
Ratings11
Average rating4.3
But I was here.
And I did things.
I discovered Amy Rosenthal through The Anthropocene Reviewed, where I learned three things about her: (1) she was friends with John Green, (2) she had died of cancer in 2017, (3) she wrote a book called An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. This book gives a vivid image of what it was like to live in her brain, both through the “pillow book” format and the beautiful writing that swings between lighthearted absurdity and raw emotion. This collection is humorous, perceptive, and full of little breadcrumbs of love for her friends and family.
Amy and I agree about potato chips, prison escape movies, and much more. A delightful commentary on life and living.
I love books that attempt to try something new. This is one of those books. Rosenthal writes snippets of her life that are categorized around entries that could be found straight from Britannica. Some entries detail list-like favorites of her past, while others are more serious and detail particular moments of her life. She claims that she lived an ordinary life and had nothing special happen to her. She was not a drug addict, her parents never divorced and she never got into any major wrecks. And yet, in this book... we see just how extraordinary a life can be when one decides to capture the small, insignificant moments of their life. This book is playful and a wonderful way to categorize one's life. This fits into my summer reading goals by removing yet another book off the stack of books on the table next to me. It also was a book that I purchased a while ago and had not read yet.
“I was not abused, abandoned, or locked up as a child. My parents were not alcoholics, nor were they ever divorced or dead. We did not live in poverty, or in misery, or in an exotic country. I am not a misunderstood genius, a former child celebrity, or the child of a celebrity. I am not a drug addict, sex addict, food addict, or recovered anything. If I indeed had a past life, I have no recollection of who I was.
I have not survived against all odds.
I have not lived to tell.
I have not witnessed the extraordinary.
This is my story.
—Amy Krouse Rosenthal, age 39
Chicago
June 2004”
REVIEW
I've read and reviewed 6,846 books at Goodreads (as of today) and this book is probably #13 or #14 on my list of my very favorite reads ever. I'd give it ten zillion ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩s, if I could. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is a memoir, and it's a kind of a picture book for grownups, and it's a history book for those of us of-a-certain-age, and it's a book that is full of Very Wise Thoughts.
Amy was actually the Goddess of Creativity...Creativity dripped out of her fingers every time she wrote and it spilled out of her mouth every time she spoke and it surged from her body every time she moved.
“Make the most of your time here,” she told us, almost as if she knew something was in route for her before the doctors did.
So, okay, this isn't much of a review, but, hey, I honestly just lead a rather ordinary life myself. Still, I'd urge you to grab a bit of that life-force that was AKR and read this book. And then watch her little TED talks and view her little videos and you might even read her picture books. And then GO...GO AND MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME HERE.
A Little More About Amy Krouse Rosenthal...
Amy died in 2017. She was 51. She had ovarian cancer. She wrote lots of my favorite books including Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life for grownups, but she also wrote lots of my favorite books for children including Little Pea and Yes Day. She also created lots of wonderful interactive celebrations (take a look at some here). I was delighted to meet her several times at author events. Here is the last photo I took of her. She was autographing her most recent book, Textbook Amy Rosenthal: