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It Chooses You

by Miranda July, Brigitte Sire (photographer)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 3,640 ratings · 266 reviews

In the summer of 2009, Miranda July was struggling to finish writing the screenplay for her much-anticipated second film. During her increasingly long lunch breaks, she began to obsessively read the PennySaver, the iconic classifieds booklet that reached everywhere and seemed to come from nowhere. Who was the person selling the �Large leather Jacket, $10”? It seemed import...more

Hardcover, 218 pages

Published November 15th 2011 by McSweeney's Publishing (first published 2011)

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Jan 24, 2013 Melki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: essays, photography, pop-culture, collecting

Now I like to forage
In some people's storage
As much as the next guy

As a way to avoid working on her screenplay, Miranda July spent hours perusing the weekly Pennysaver. Her curiosity piqued, she set out to meet the sellers of items ranging from a hairdryer to a sixty-seven piece art set. The result is a collection of interviews and photos; people gladly telling the stories of their lives, sharing their dreams and losses, and explaining how they came to the decision to part with their particular...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Marcy Dermansky rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book pleased me very much.

Now I want to watch Miranda July's films which for reasons not quite clear to me -- envy perhaps -- I have avoided.

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 19, 2013 Jukka added it

It Chooses You - Miranda July

From the book:

Trying to see things that are invisible but nearby has always been alluring to me. It feels like a real cause, something to fight for, and yet so abstract that the fight has to be similarly subtle. When I was in my early twenties, making performances and fanzines and trying to conceive of myself as a filmmaker, I felt certain that this task was harder not simply because there were so few movies made by women, but because this felt normal, even to me. So...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Frederic Germay rated it 3 of 5 stars

After seeing 'Me, You, & Everyone We Know' and 'The Future,' I was astonished by how bravely artistic the writer/director, Miranda July, was. Being immaturely impatient, the idea of simply waiting until her next movie came out sounded awfully unpleasant. And so I came across this book.

It Chooses You is short, sweet, and vividly colorful. In it, Ms. July details a social experiment of hers, where she scoured the pennysaver ads and visited the individuals who were selling these little trivial...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars

this book comes to me several months later and worth the wait. so both the book itself, the physical thing, and what's inside, are excellent. beautiful. creepy and strange sometimes and other times, like, the phrase i think is 'spot,' which is not a phrase, i meant 'spot of light' but that's too similar to 'spotlight,' which is not at all what i mean, and i guess what i'm really thinking of is the sky today, in hawaii, at nearly five o'clock, the sky overcast and cloudy, a large grey cloud, and...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Alice Urchin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

I was feeling nostalgic and rereading No One Belongs Here More Than You when I was stricken with this need to buy all of Miranda July's books off of Amazon. This one arrived today, and I read it in one sitting. For the most part, it satisfied the craving that I was having, but at the end of it, I just felt really weird and sad...which is sort of a tone of a lot of the book. I didn't know this when I started reading it, but in it, she had taken a break from writing The Future because she's sort o...more

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Sep 13, 2012 sean rated it 3 of 5 stars

the pretense of this book, that miranda enlists random pennysaver purchases as a guise for connecting with people as a distraction from finishing a script, appeals to me a great deal.

full disclosure: i met miranda very very awkwardly, both unsurprising and disappointing, and purchased one of the alternate items that she had a battery of interns source out as possible stories from the book here in nyc before reading this book. also i had seen the flat, unmoving movie that this book frames.)

both...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sara by: The Millions

This is a book about writer’s block. The kind of writer’s block particularly inspired by the internet, where you surf the web and google your own name, or the name of an ex-boyfriend instead of finishing up whatever project it is that you are supposed to be finishing on the same machine.

July’s answer to this sort of writer’s block is to begin answering ads in the paper edition of the Pennysaver, ads selling goods for under ten dollars. And she makes forays into these computerless people’s homes...more This is a book about writer’s block. The kind of writer’s block particularly inspired by the internet, where you surf the web and google your own name, or the name of an ex-boyfriend instead of finishing up whatever project it is that you are supposed to be finishing on the same machine.

July’s answer to this sort of writer’s block is to begin answering ads in the paper edition of the Pennysaver, ads selling goods for under ten dollars. And she makes forays into these computerless people’s homes (who else places ads in a newspaper circular, instead of placing them in Craigslist?), interviewing them and photographing them and the things they have for sale. This is where the book is at its most interesting – people at the very margins of the economy are brought into focus with July’s visits, in all their nutty, enterprising, and occasionally disturbing glory. I could have read a book with three times as many visits as she paid, and still not gotten tired of just finding out who exactly is at the other end of that ad for tadpoles or a $10 leather jacket.

But in the end, this is a book about writer’s block, and not about the people she meets, and that is the book’s shortcoming. On the one hand, she is amazingly canny at underscoring the problem with a life conducted as if the internets were the real: “The web seemed so inherently endless that it didn’t occur to me what wasn’t there . . . Domingo’s blog was one of the best I’ve ever read, but I had to drive to him to get it, he had to tell it to me with his whole self, and there was no easy way to search for him. He could be found only accidentally” (160). She recognizes her inadequacy in dealing with the non-internet-mediated world, commenting after one visit “the fullness of [that] life was menacing to me – there was no room for invention, no place for the kind of fictional conjuring that makes me feel useful, or feel anything at all. [The seller] wanted me to just actually be there and eat fruit with her” (99). This is the sort of stunned incompetence I think a lot of us feel, who make our living moving blocks of text around a screen. And July keeps reminding herself to dwell in that moment and feel what it feels like.

But the ending doesn’t dwell in that moment and it left me with a feeling that her Pennysaver interviews wind up being mostly about her career. July thoughtfully acknowledges the possibly exploitative dynamic of her interviews as she narrates them, at one point even admitting that her interest made her kind of “creepy.” But that thoughtfulness evaporates. The conclusion of the book winds up being an incredibly one-note celebration of how the people she met were “genuine” and how, by finding them, she was able to make her own work more authentic. Which felt icky to me, as well as unimaginative. Plenty of people have already told that story before.
(less)

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Jun 17, 2012 Elena Tomorowitz rated it 4 of 5 stars

There's a part of me that wants to raise my fist for Miranda July and say, "Yeah, she GETS our generation!" But then there's the cynical part of me that wants to shake her and ask her what her deal is. It's so hard to separate Miranda July from "It Chooses You" just as much as it would be difficult to envision not-Miranda July as the main character in either of her films. It's kind of like everything she touches turns into a gummy bear or some other quirky snack that she probably eats for dinner...more There's a part of me that wants to raise my fist for Miranda July and say, "Yeah, she GETS our generation!" But then there's the cynical part of me that wants to shake her and ask her what her deal is. It's so hard to separate Miranda July from "It Chooses You" just as much as it would be difficult to envision not-Miranda July as the main character in either of her films. It's kind of like everything she touches turns into a gummy bear or some other quirky snack that she probably eats for dinner. Like she has branded herself and her projects. So let me stick to the book. During the writing of her script for the film "The Future," July decides to meet the people who advertise in the PennySaver catalog. The books consists of her interviews and photographs of these people. I think what she does well is treat them with respect. This project functions best as a book, and would probably lose its charm if it were a documentary. Even though some of their stories are heartbreaking or strange, they are also very real. She could never invent them as characters, because they are just people trying to live. They are not making art for art's sake. Perhaps the story that is most memorable is the couple selling CareBears. They have a bedroom in their garage because the home's other 2 bedrooms are occupied by the brother and son. And it's mostly sad because it's so necessary, and yet I would probably find it unacceptable to sleep in a garage. I don't know how else to say this.

Miranda July gets it because she realizes that people are interesting and yet they are not interesting. She realizes that perhaps not everyone makes sense, including herself. Though at the same time, she talks to these people at such a distance, as an observer. I think this book is worth reading, especially because it is such a quick read and yet I think it will stick with you. I know you may be reluctant to say that Miranda July wrote something meaningful, and that McSweeney's couldn't possibly have a sense of sincerity, but if you're not willing to spend a dollar at RedBox to rent "The Future," at least give the corresponding book a shot. (less)

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Feb 19, 2012 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

After owning this book for months and not picking it up (because I wasn't sure what to make of it), I loved it so much I read it cover to cover in one afternoon. It Chooses You tackles so many things at once - fear of being a terrible/fake/undeserving artist, fear of running out of ideas, fear of falling in love because that could mean someday losing that love, and fear of being alone. These themes are tackled from a couple different, and equally interesting angles. Miranda writes about her own...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Zach rated it 5 of 5 stars

While the project behind this book, interviewing people with items listed in the Penny Saver, is interesting, what makes the book worth reading is Miranda July's unique perspective on...well, everything. Sure, lots of the stories she finds speak for themselves, but as anyone who's familiar with her performance art knows, what she really excels at is locating the relevance (some people might use the word meaning, but that would imply an authorial imposition and I don't think she does that) of obj...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Margaret rated it 1 of 5 stars

I eagerly anticipated this book's arrival to my local library for weeks--because the concept is intriguing. I was disappointed, however, with the execution of this concept. The author seemed far more interested in how each encounter could be used to tell the audience something about herself, rather than telling each individual's story. Many times it seemed like the author enjoyed portraying these characters negatively....for example, the woman holding the small feline, photographed with her bell...more

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Nov 28, 2011 christa rated it 5 of 5 stars

At first I didn’t like Miranda July. She seemed too precious. Her first book of short stories, contrived quirkiness. Like watching Zooey Deschanel shop for leg warmers at Goodwill. But I didn’t like Miranda July in that way that meant I’d be peeking out from behind the curtains to watch her walk down the street. I didn’t like her in a way I understood to mean that I didn’t like her right now, but that wasn’t necessarily my final verdict.

Then I loved Miranda July. It was her movie “Me You and Ev...more At first I didn’t like Miranda July. She seemed too precious. Her first book of short stories, contrived quirkiness. Like watching Zooey Deschanel shop for leg warmers at Goodwill. But I didn’t like Miranda July in that way that meant I’d be peeking out from behind the curtains to watch her walk down the street. I didn’t like her in a way I understood to mean that I didn’t like her right now, but that wasn’t necessarily my final verdict.

Then I loved Miranda July. It was her movie “Me You and Everyone We Know,” which she wrote and starred in. It was different. Nice. A little uncomfortable. Mostly different, with clever characters whose motivations I didn’t understand, made better for the not understanding. There was minutia, and I’m really into minutia lately. It was funny, but not obviously funny. It was an hour and a half I didn’t regret at all. And now. And now.

Miranda July tipped me over with “It Chooses You,” the memoir slash journalistic exercise she wrote while she was supposed to be doing something else, namely the screenplay for another movie. It’s a familiar moment she describes, and the reason why my boyfriend and I -- both in the middle of other creative projects -- first started a basement rock band, then started a web comic (although neither lasted long).

“The funny thing about my procrastination was that I was almost done with the screenplay. I was like that person who had fought dragons and lost limbs and crawled through swamps and now, finally, the castle was visible. I could see tiny children waving flags on the balcony; all I had to do was walk across a field to get to them. But all of a sudden I was very, very sleepy. And the children couldn’t believe their eyes as I folded down to my knees and fell to the ground face-first with my eyes open.”

July starts contacting people who are selling things in the Penny Saver: a suitcase, a leather jacket, cats, a blowdryer. She doesn’t want their stuff, she wants to meet them and talk about stuff. She takes along a photographer, Brigitte Sire, who has her work included in this book and July’s assistant Alfred “... to protect us from rape.” She trades about $50 for a session with these people and asks them about their lives and when they were the happiest. She meets a mid-transition transsexual (selling a leather coat) and a teenager selling bullfrog tadpoles and at a house where a woman is selling a blowdryer, the woman’s daughter sings for them “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.

And somewhere in Los Angeles, July meets Joe, an old man who has spent years writing dirty poems for his wife. Lots of tits and twats stuff. He inspires a direction shift in July’s script and then role in her movie “The Future.”

I’m not sure where a person in the book business shelves this. At our local bookstore it was with films/movies/TV. But I’d give it more of a memoir, memoir-y, memoir-ish label. Maybe even stick it somewhere near “Bird by Bird,” the quintessential “How to Write Good” guide by Anne Lamott. Especially when it comes to the short personal bursts, writing “The Future” or doing anything creative, actually. She talks about her style when it comes to creating films, being grateful that she is a part of it, but:

“I was desperately trying to remind myself that there was no one way to make a good movie; I could actually write anything or cast anyone. I could cast ghosts or shadows, or a pineapple or the shadow of a pineapple.”

Just pages later she has left a copy of her script untouched. She’s trying to become unfamiliar with her main characters. She imagined it curing like ham, the longer she left it. She also tries to trick herself. She’s a snoopy housekeeper who has stumbled upon this packet of words:

“‘What have we here,’ I said to myself, peeking at the first page and then slyly glancing over my shoulder.” (less)

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Nov 27, 2011 Alicia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved the movie The Future. And loved this book. We were lucky enough to catch a Q&A with Miranda July following a screening of The Future at the ArcLight, and I'd read some articles about the making of the movie, so I knew the back story with the character of Joe (the old man who advertises the hairdryer in the Penny Saver). But even if I hadn't known what was coming, I probably still would've bawled throughout the last chapter of this book.

"I thought about his sixty-two years of sweet, fil...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Eliza rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

1/5/12: This is an extraordinary work. I'm not sure exactly what kind of work it is--non-fiction, reporting, photographs, musings--that's the closest I can come. But Miranda July writes (and speaks) in a way that makes me want to underline her sentences, read them aloud to whoever passes by, return to them again and again. She jumps off the page at you, moving from the juxtaposition of random objects and people to her own odd, hilarious, poignant thought processes. Raw, certainly, often naive, a...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Miranda July. I love the way this woman thinks. This is a book I could see myself writing. Stories are everywhere, really freaking interesting stories, really crazy wonderful people, right in front of our faces if we could just peel our eyes away from our own modern technological demise. Miranda July isn't afraid to get uncomfortable. She writes about the truth with humor, softness, and critical self reflection. She writes about the people and lives that reside in the cracks...of ourselves. This...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Chloe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Miranda July is my hero. In "It Chooses You," she does everything I wish I could do. She senses the overwhelming pressure of computers and online life, and fights against it. In doing this, she experiences the world of strangers living in her own neighborhood (albeit the very large neighborhood of Los Angeles), and really explores the sad state of the internet-driven social constrictions that surround modern life. Instead of reading a stranger's blog, she experiences a person's real-life "blog"...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Ginny Pennekamp rated it 2 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: ME, YOU & EVERYONE WE KNOW is a great movie. Perhaps my favorite Sundance screening ever. I have seen BEGINNERS 3 times and the directors commentary twice. I own & have read Miranda July's book of short stories and love it. I have seen THE FUTURE. It was eh.

This book is only 1 part experiment, and 3 parts director's commentary on THE FUTURE. The really interesting thing is, it explains in part why the movie failed, and why she knew it was going to. And it has one really...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Elise rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book ( out loud, to my three month old which is the only way I can read when she is awake without feeling neglectful) in three days. It usually takes me upwards of a month to read anything of consequence but this was different. I devoured this book.

Ive always been a huge Miranda July fan. Her first book of short stories is probably my favorite book. This book is no different. It is filled with intense emotion ranging from happiness and wonder to tragedy and sadness. I always feel li...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Catherine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, books-i-own

On the outside this book is about strange-ordinary people and the junk they fill their lives with. Once I started reading it I realized it was a book about the creative process, mostly. Then I realized it was both. I can see how some people might be put off by the fact that this book seems to be half about Miranda's creative struggles while making her movie and half about the oddball characters she met on this totally Julyesque creative whim, but to me it worked well. Admittedly this is because...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is really a delight of a book. It's better than her book of short stories, and as good as her movie Me, You, and Everyone We Know.

It's almost hard to believe that everyone Miranda July met and interviewed after they'd placed "for sale" ads in the Pennysaver were such interesting people, but, really, I think that this book demonstrates a couple important lessons:
1. Everyone is interesting if you give him or her the chance to talk.
2. People who agree to an interview probably want to talk.
3. I...more This is really a delight of a book. It's better than her book of short stories, and as good as her movie Me, You, and Everyone We Know.

It's almost hard to believe that everyone Miranda July met and interviewed after they'd placed "for sale" ads in the Pennysaver were such interesting people, but, really, I think that this book demonstrates a couple important lessons:
1. Everyone is interesting if you give him or her the chance to talk.
2. People who agree to an interview probably want to talk.
3. If you transcribe a conversation exactly, it's going to feel, well, really compellingly real.

I love to talk to strangers, and this idea of getting a sliver of time and biographical conversation from the lives of others is incredibly appealing to me. There is so much paranoia in this day and age. People think everything is dangerous, except the things that actually are dangerous, like eating meat and dairy and driving cars. Lots of folks would say that Ms. July shouldn't have entered strangers' homes at all, even accompanied by a photographer. But, with everyone she met, she only really felt creeped out by one, and their meeting is one of the most philosophically interesting sections of the book (she says that she has the desire to make him feel she understands him, but not to actually understand him). There was one other guy who had a mannequin made to look like a soap opera actress he liked, but other than that, the Pennysaver sellers were all just regular people who aren't computer-literate enough to use Craigslist. Even those creepier people were no threat to her. There is, perhaps, another important lesson to be gleamed here:
4. Even creepy people probably have no intention of hurting you.

But perhaps the greatest lesson of all in the book is this:
5. Some people are creepy. Most people are middling, with at least a modicum of something interesting to offer, but nothing too extraordinary. But very few people are as bright of a spot on this Earth as Miranda July. Her personality and art just bursts from her, even when she's got writer's block. She's weird and cool and decent, and she's got a sharp interest in things most others ignore, and it helps the rest of us to notice them too, and we can sort of view them through her eyes. It makes the world a better place.

God bless you, Miranda July.(less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Miranda July is a difficult writer for me to like. Something about her just embodies the whole essence of all that is twee and precious and utterly indigestible with a certain branch of post-modern literature. Even contemplating the phrase "post-modern literature" kind of makes me shiver, as if I had little spiders with bi-level haircuts crawling up my neck. I tried watching her film "The Future", and while I think there was a lot about it that was competent - it looked nice, the characters were...more Miranda July is a difficult writer for me to like. Something about her just embodies the whole essence of all that is twee and precious and utterly indigestible with a certain branch of post-modern literature. Even contemplating the phrase "post-modern literature" kind of makes me shiver, as if I had little spiders with bi-level haircuts crawling up my neck. I tried watching her film "The Future", and while I think there was a lot about it that was competent - it looked nice, the characters weren't the worst in the world, some of the ideas were interesting, and Miranda July appears to be a capable actress and director - the film was ultimately just too much of (for lack of a better diss) an unwitting Calvin Klein cologne ad parody for my tastes. I liked a lot of what she was trying to address with the movie, but there was a shiny, smartly-designed barrier of artsy PoMo between me and the kernels of truth being dangled throughout her screenplay.

So I have no idea why I felt compelled to read "It Chooses You", which is essentially a companion piece to the film, aside from the facts that a) I liked the cover art, b) I thought it might present the movie in some beautiful new light that would make me race to my Netflix queue to give "The Future" another go, and c) I was intrigued by the idea of a series of interviews with people July met through PennySaver circulars.

And you know what, I'm glad I followed my nose. "It Chooses You" was a very rewarding read in which she profiled very real people in a very real way. If her movie was overdressed in skinny jeans and checkered bandanas, her sister book stands completely nude, not at all in a lascivious way, but with delicate transparancy.

I appreciated one of the biggest conflicts of this book - the fact that those of us who have adapted to the Internet age are bound to a certain level of ADD-addled thought, while most of the people who regularly post PennySaver ads are those who can't be bothered with CraigsList or eBay, and who, in the series of interviews, tend to say "I don't know much about computers. Maybe someday, but I just don't know about them."

These people read like a dying breed, but not in a way that necessarily paints them as primitives or "less than" in any way. If anything, these profiles cast a finger at us, showing us what we have lost with our Google culture and our dependence on everything being a mouseclick away. These people are presented maybe as an endangered species or maybe as inspirations. Maybe both?

Miranda July touches on other things in this book, and she presents a fairly wide spectrum of interview subjects, along with photos of her interviewees and the items they're selling in the PennySaver. I don't feel like she comes off as patronizing, the urbane educated artiste in the valley of savages, though sometimes I was frightened she was about to make that plunge. She never did.

I don't know if "It Chooses You" has won me over to the wit and wonder of all things Miranda July, but I did really appreciate this little book and all its thoughtfulness. Reading it will leave you a little bit better off than you were before you picked it up.(less)

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Mar 05, 2013 Garrett Zecker rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is an amazing visual and written romp that blends nonfiction oral history, with nonfiction memoir, photojournalism, and then subsequently written analysis of the artistic process in an amazing, touching, and stark realism. I was not a huge fan of her previous collection, save for a couple of the pieces, but this book really stands out to me as a truly original and beautiful work. She has done something here that no one else ever has, and it is apparent at the turn of every page.

One th...more

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Aug 14, 2012 B rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was given to me by a friend who said I should see the film, The Future, first because it had a bunch of spoilers and would make more sense. I’m not sure I agree with that since It Chooses You is a documentation of a procrastination project July got into when she was making the film, so it chronologically came first.

Someone said once somewhere that all artists are insecure. Miranda July would be the first to agree with that statement, I think. Though listening to her commentary on the...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Ellie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

We all know what it's like when you've got something you should be doing but the ever present lure of the internet sucks you in. When Miranda July was writing her screenplay for The Future, her procrastination knew no bounds. She started reading the PennySaver, a classifieds booklet that comes weekly with the junk mail. Michael was selling a leather jacket for $10. She wondered what sort of person would place that ad so she called him up and asked if she could interview him.

It Chooses You contai...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Deirdre Boyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good read. July is supposed to be finishing a screenplay but, faced with writers block, she procrastinates and distracts herself by googling all sorts of stuff including her own name, anything to escape from the pressing task. I can relate. Her attention is drawn to advertisements in her local newsletter offering various items for sale. She is intrigued and goes on a quest to find and talk to some of the people selling their stuff and this is sort of a documentary of that. July has a great appre...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Beatrice rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: writers, creative types

I read this, first, as a stand-alone creator's journal. I loved it for that, the way it presented people as wildly unknowable, the way it showed the omnipresence of inspiration. There's so much heart in the creation - "All I ever really want to know is how other people are making it through life - where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it" - so much that can be pieced together to build bridges connecting idea to execution. This is just an absolute gem for writ...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: age-adult-books, nonfiction, words-and-pictures, creative-inspiration

I haven't seen any of Miranda July's movies or other creations, but I saw this book on some friends' Goodreads and became intrigued. As she struggled to finish her screenplay for the film The Future, Miranda procrastinated by interviewing people who'd placed ads selling things in the Los Angeles PennySaver circular, and the book includes these transcripts (and well-placed photographs by Brigitte Sire that often have comedic or poignant timing), as well as some biographical interludes about Miran...more

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Jan 08, 2012 veronica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Like a lot of Miranda July's projects I had a lot of conflicting feelings about this book -- giving the book a 3 star rating really doesn't reflect how I felt about it, it's more like the average of my reaction to the book, some of which I loved, loved and some I hated. The good: it's poignant, funny, the PennySaver people are a fascinating bunch and the photography is great. The bad: the nagging feeling that this was all freak show exploitation. The ugly: July's non-stop solipsistic whining abo...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Jared rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

I really wanted to love this book but I couldn't get passed just liking it. Miranda July has such a different kind of writing style than what I'm use to reading which is a good thing, but there where moments where things just seemed to jump too quickly to the next thing. Somehow I didn't feel connected to the people she was interviewing until the last one, Joe. Only until that point I actually felt as if I was there listening to the interview. I know that this was mostly about her experience whi...more

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About Miranda July

"Miranda July (born February 15, 1974) is a performance artist, musician, writer, actress and film director. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after having lived for many years in Portland, Oregon. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with a high school friend called "Snarla".

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Quotes from It Chooses You

“All I ever really want to know is how other people are making it through life—where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it.” — 38 people liked it

“It was an act of devotion. A little like writing or loving someone — it doesn’t always feel worthwhile, but not giving up somehow creates unexpected meaning over time.” — 16 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: It Chooses You Goodreads rating: 3.78 (3640 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11266880-it-chooses-you?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328693226l/11266880.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11266880-it-chooses-you?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]It Chooses You by Miranda July[/url]

It Chooses You

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