Laurie Notaro > Chelsea Handler. Sorry, kids.

Oh, Chelsea. Tsk tsk.

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

by Chelsea Handler

[#30 in my 52 book challenge]

I bought this book because I saw it for $1.99 in the Nook Book store. I’ll just say that I’m glad I paid $1.99 for it, because that’s about all it’s worth. It was okay. $1.99 worth of okay.

So why didn’t I like it? Probably because I just don’t like Chelsea Handler. I know she can be a funny lady, but I just find her annoying. I thought the book would be like The Idiot Girl’s Action Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life and Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood by Laurie Notaro. Notaro’s books are collections of self-depricating, humorous essays about being young and dumb as an awkward 20-something. I like her stories and her style. I relate to her. Chelsea’s book was all about sex. I should have gathered that from the title (duh, Miss Anderson) but somehow I thought she would have a big more substance.

Sure, there were moments that made me laugh. Most of her experiences would make great sitcom story lines…if spread out over a whole cast of characters. I found the fact that they had all happened to her to be a bit sad. And I found Chelsea’s life to be a bit alcohol-dependent and shallow. I guess it’s just my values? I value hard work and education in addition to having fun after hours. Chelsea’s life appeared to be all about the fun and promiscuity without any of the hard work that makes a person interesting.

Not every book I read is excellent. My Horizontal Life is one of the less-than-excellent ones. What it highlights for me, though, is the reason why I do this challenge: it forces me to finish books that I might walk away from. I would have put this one down and walked away, but I followed through and read the whole thing to get my $1.99 worth. And then I felt a strong need to go back to fiction, which is why my next post will be the start of my re-reading of the Harry Potter series. Excellent!

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