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Sep 19, 2008

Jay rated it:

A very thorough review of Cringe, edited by Sarah Brown.

INSIDE COVER (ENDPAPERS): Over the past two weeks, I've read the inside cover about ten times now. It's a daily log of outfits worn by a teenager to school. I've read this ten times because I like the way this list makes me feel, so I have trouble progressing past this point. I, too, am a keeper of pointless records and logs. God knows I'll be referring to those lists when I'm 80 years-old way more than the snarky text I wrote i More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Sarah rated it:

It seems ridiculous to do this, but equally ridiculous not to, so, you know.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2008

Patti rated it:

I haven't even started reading it yet. But I'm giving it 5 stars because it looks and feels good in my hands. Also, check out that author photo. What lovely hair!

Update: I'm probably biased, but pages 76-77 are easily the best pages in the book (so far).

Update 2: Holy shit. I just read Tracie Masek's contribution while getting a pedicure and I laughed so hard that I may have to revise my earlier statement.

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2010

Kim rated it:

Oh wow, "cringe" is right. This book is hilarious. It is a collection of diary entires, bad poetry, unsent love letters, etc. that people have submitted and then commented on. Anyone who has ever kept a diary can certainly identify with the embarassment of coming face-to-face with your narcissistic teenage self. Ouch. I read this book in one sitting and laughed out loud a million times. Oh the drama! Oh the heartache! Oh the angst! I particularly enjoyed reading what people ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 21, 2008

Barky rated it:

Sarah Brown hosts this reading series by the same name (Cringe) in New York. Basically, people who’ve made it out of their adolescence (people in their late 20s, 30s, 40s) come in and read from their teenage diaries (etc.) all of the embarrassing and horrible and wishful and dramatic things that they wrote at that age. This is a collection of the same. If this is the kind of stuff you were dead serious about as a teen, it’s sure to make you cringe now. But some of it is really hysterical. I More...

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Jul 10, 2010

Terry rated it:

Okay, I was in a TERRIBLE mood when I checked this out of the library, and I actually laughed while I was reading it, so I approve of the book for solely that reason.

This book feels slightly self-congratulatory and slightly hipster-project-y, and that kind of whiff of "Ahahaha, aren't we ironical and witty" is a little bit annoying. Still, I think she makes an excellent point that our teenage selves are just so... so... INCREDIBLY passionate, and it really IS funny to read More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2009

Sarai rated it:

From Publishers Weekly
Drawn directly - as in direct reproductions - from the adolescent diaries, notes, letters and writing projects of average twenty- and thirty-somethings, this book from blogger Brown, founder of the Cringe reading series in Brooklyn, should elicit the correct reaction. Consisting of original entries, many scrawled in cryptic handwriting, coupled with present-day commentary, they hash out the anxiety, confusion and melodrama of adolescence in a number of familiar forms: More...

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May 04, 2009

Inge rated it:

Now, I know that the contributors in Cringe submitted their own diary entries (and not someone else's), and I guess they were supposed to be mocking themselves, but really, the whole thing came off as "Let's Laugh at Teenagers". It seemed that most contributors in the book were hell-bent on dismissing past experiences and emotions. Some of the diary entries were so heart-breaking, I just couldn't bring myself to make fun of them. Sometimes it seemed that these teens were crying out for More...

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Apr 21, 2009

Becky rated it:

Oh, my. I laughed out loud several times while flipping through this. I don't think my teen years were quite as angsty as some of these teens' journal entries, but I can still sympathize with the extreme, earth-shattering importance of EVERYTHING. Some of the writings, while hard to decipher, were side-splittingly funny (and painful), as were the author's comments:

"Teenage love isn't so much about happiness; it's about longing and plotting and heartbreak and revenge. It's about More...

1 comment like

Sep 28, 2008

Greg rated it:

This book changed my life. It has strengthened my resolve to be kinder to midgets. It's a searing story set in a timeless period, with a cast of dozens. It is far better than my previous all-time favorite, the penetrating autobiography _Vanna Speaks._ Highly recommended.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 29, 2010

Ross rated it:

A handful of these are honestly cringeworthy. But, for most, the accompanying editorial text is just as cringey -- if not more -- than the scanned-in diaries.

This is definitely my favorite excerpt:

I took a walk under cloudy and threatening skies just now. "In a pensive mood I wandered afar," I guess you could say. A drop of rain fell down, and touched my eye, but evaporated before it could slide down my cheek, like a tear. And then I got to thinking, you know,

More...

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Jan 11, 2009

Jen rated it:

As compared to Mortified: I liked the design better. It's more coffee-table book style with lots of bright colors and visuals. I liked seeing the scanned diary pages, along with stickers that I totally used to have, as opposed to the entries being typed on a page. I also liked how it was broken down into categories. That said, I think Mortified had stronger entries. You can't really compete with "Dear Mr. Belvedere"! I just found myself laughing a lot more while reading Mortified than More...

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Mar 18, 2009

Alissa rated it:

As a Teen, did you keep ("Private!" "Keep Out!") diaries filled with detailed encounters with crushes, endless rants about how much you hated your parents, overly dramatic descriptions of things that happened to you, and shocking (not really) secrets? Did you write bad poetry? Love letters? Embarassingly personal fan letters? Can you now laugh about it all as an adult? If yes, this book is for you.

Sarah Brown has collected actual excerpts from teen diaries and com More...

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Aug 31, 2008

Tracy rated it:

It's funny! Also I'm in it! Go buy one or four.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 26, 2011

Amy rated it:

This book is a collection of teenage diary entries, letters, poetry etc. A lot is truly cringe worthy and I have to admit that I have similar teenage diary entries (I wrote in my diary and notebooks a LOT) It makes me want to revisit some of my old diaries, which I have kept them all. I thought most of the entries were just the average person but reading the bios of the authors, I found a lot were famous bloggers (such as dooce) or others in the writing industry. I am now reading a similar colle More...

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Oct 09, 2010

kb rated it:

My god, what a Cringe Festival this was. As I have said, it was like the ghost of teenage-dom past. Didn't matter the journal entries were of American teens' because duh, coming-of-age issues are universal. It was so hellarious to be able to relate and look back although it was, at the same time, painful. The best thing about reading this was that it gave me another idea for my little project We Come of Age (wecomeofage.tumblr.com). Anywastes, anybody who was a teenager aka one who had a FAT LOT More...

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Apr 27, 2009

Emily rated it:

My embarrassing teen writing:

“Dear Corey,
I know we are so totally in love. This feels so amazing, doesn’t it? I was wondering if you would like to kiss me, a lot. I know I love you and I am so happy that you love me too. What’s your favorite gum?
Love, Emily Davis”

Here’s the backstory:
First of all, my name was actually Emily MAXWELL, but Corey’s last name was Davis. But since we were getting married, I figured I’d just start using his last name. More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Talia rated it:

If you’ve ever written a note to a BFF, penned your inner wrath in your journal, or pined in print for the guy who you secretly loved, this book is for you! With hilarious entries (and commentaries from the original authors) among the doodles and Lisa Frank stickers, this book is full of laugh out loud bits and moments of “good, it wasn’t just me!” Not as good as PostSecret, but a good readalike, since our Postsecret books are usually checked out anyway.

2 comments like

Jan 10, 2009

Elisabeth rated it:

Thanks to the friend who gifted me this book, I was able to laugh not only through all the essays in it but through recollections of my own spiral-bound notebooks scribbled with entries that reeked of emotion and angst. Why was it I always had to be in the midst of a crisis, or traveling, to take pen to paper - or should I be grateful I was only ever in the midst of such to take pen to paper?! No rock operas in my lot, but otherwise, this trove is entertaining.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 01, 2009

Micki added it

For anyone who kept a journal in their teenage years - READ THIS BOOK! It's the most hysterical piece of voyeuristic teenage misery out there. Well...aside from digging up your old journals from adolescence. Which I promptly did as soon as I was done with this book. Trust me, if you think you weren't this self-loathing, I urge you to dig through your parent's garage for old letters about ((enter name here)) who didn't love you as much as you loved them.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2010

Shelley rated it:

This was a fun one... I remember going through all of these phases as a teen and it was nice to revisit my youthful self again. I love the fact that it had journal entries and poems from men as well as women! I really didn't think that teen boys kept journals or diaries. What fun. I think that the poetry section was the best. Remember being 15 and thinking that everything that you wrote was a masterpiece? God! What did any adult know anyway?

Great book!

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Jan 11, 2009

Lilly rated it:

which came first, Cringe or Mortified? I don't know, but as a huge fan of the debut Mortified compilation, my expectations for Cringe were, well, low. Fortunately, Cringe takes a different approach, offering color copies of the exact journal entry, and minimal commentary. So the books are distinct, while equally fascinating. I find myself laughing less with this one than I did with Mortified, but I do find myself cringing and once again saying a prayer to the patron saint of lost diaries.

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Jan 20, 2009

Kalli rated it:

Every person who ever kept a diary, or still keeps one... or anyone who still has a little angsty teen living inside needs to read this book and keep it in their collection.

It made me want to break out the stacks of notebooks I had in high school and laugh at them.

I will buy this book, I will keep it safe and break it out the first time Izze tells me she hates me.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2009

Amanda rated it:

I'm not sure how I thought that this book would be presented, but I was excited to read it, because I follow the online lives of a few of the entrants. It was entertaining.. and left me wondering where all of my journals and notes are. (I kept a huge brown paper bag with all of the notes I passed in class.. I REALLY wonder where those are.)

That's really all I can say about it.. I'm glad I borrowed it from the Library instead of buying it.

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Feb 04, 2010

Lisa rated it:

I usually glaze over when people post excerpts from their teenage diaries online so I wasn't sure I was going to love this book, but it turns out I did! The commentary by the grown-up diary writers and the author's chapter introductions really made it. A quick read, definitely worth checking out.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2009

Brynn rated it:

I got this as a birthday present from my best friend throughout junior high and high school. Very hilarious, in that hits-too-close-to-home sort of way. I'm so grateful to the fine people willing to expose the remnants of their teenage angst for my amusement. I am not that brave.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2008

Kevin rated it:

So wonderful and painful. Some of these are just completely mind-blowing (I'm like: WHOA at least I didn't write THAT), and some are exactly what I wrote in my diary (I *think*; I'm not actually brave enough to back and look through them to make certain.)

And what a good time capsule this is. Do teenagers still write offline? Are all they all still alone with their emotions, locked up and unshared, the way we were? Or does everything get posted to the internet now. Maybe that feeling More...

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Oct 19, 2009

Shona rated it:

This book was a bit of a let down as it was not really as cringe worthy as I thought it would be. It just did not cause as much amusement as I thought that it would be and for that reason alone it was disappointing. I think perhaps this would work better if it had been a collection of famous people's diary excerpts but reading from some people's diaries who you don't know just didn't work for me.

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Mar 12, 2009

Charli rated it:

Funny, sad, and just plain goofy.

Bwahahahaha!! This book is my life from age 8 to about age 20. I still have a bunch of my old notebooks. I guess this book is proof that I should dig them out and burn them, lest anyone discover how totally lame I am!

1 comment like

Oct 30, 2009

Holli rated it:

What could be better than reading pieces of teenage diaries? This book too me back, made me laugh and yes, definitely had me cringing with every page. It also inspired me to pull out my old diaries -- those from the 'real years': 1987-1995! Oh glory be!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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