eschewing transitions.

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

The A(BC)DD blurb: This book is an encyclopedia of thoughts - sometimes just a few sentences, other times an entire essay. The subjects are almost all delightful - coincidences, towels, swearing, tears, birthdays, coffee, pies, neighbors... she deals with all of them in such a loving, matter-of-fact way, almost like she's saved up 240 pages of show and tell. It starts with a timeline, and she doesn't even bother with the letter "z." It's a perfect slice of upper middle class living in the 21st century, only more thoughtful and insightful than anything with that description has any right to be.

More: So I suppose if you're going to classify it, this is a memoir, but somehow, the entries in this work seem more pervasive and thought-provoking than most memoirs.After Amy Krouse Rosenthal (I have to type/say her whole name, I don't know why) gives her opinion on one subject, like... gas stations, and how she has to always check which side her gas cap is on when she goes, no matter what - then the reader looks into that middle distance, beyond the book, thinking - ha! Me too! It's the literary equivalent of a facebook fan page, like "I will go out of my way to step on that crunchy leaf," only it's more beautiful than that, and her prose is elegant.

Plot: No plot. "M" is in the middle. No surprise letter switch ups. No one dies at the end.

I can't stop thinking about it, so: I honestly loved every moment I was reading this book. It's a catalog of the sort of deep thinking that only comes from carefully rearranging thoughts, like re-organizing pieces in a jewelry collection. It's like reading a diary, only it's better because it isn't about people you don't know - it's about something that you're fully aware of, only you've never thought about it. Shortcuts. Being Busy. Anxiety. Or maybe you have thought about it, but Amy Krouse Rosenthal presents it in a way that you haven't thought of before.

I want to explain it further, but it's like trying to explain funny lines from a movie you haven't seen. The brilliance in her entries are just going to lose their luster.

Should you read it?: Yes. Buy 100 copies. I want her to write a sequel or something. Also, pretty unrelated; Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote Duck, Rabbit. It is a brilliant children's book that I had the pleasure of reading aloud when I worked the Children's hour at Phoenix Books. This is just to show you that she's consistently brilliant.