Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

If you're looking for quotes from newspapers and magazines, NPR, book reviews, endorsements from thousands of readers and bloggers, google Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life and just see for yourself how people everywhere are responding to this book.

In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, Amy Krouse Rosenthal has ingeniously adapted the centuries-old format of the encyclopedia to convey the accumulated knowledge of her lifetime in a poignant, wise, often funny, fully realized memoir. Using mostly short entries organized from A to Z, many of which are cross-referenced, Rosenthal captures in wonderful and episodic detail the moments, observations, and emotions that comprise a contemporary life. Start anywhere—preferably at the beginning—and see how one young woman’s alphabetized existence can open up and define the world in new and unexpected ways.

An ordinary life, perhaps, but an extraordinary book.

Cross-section of ordinary life at this exact moment

A security guard is loosening his belt.
A couple is at a sushi restaurant with some old friends. They are reminiscing. In the back of their minds, they are thinking of being home.
A woman is trying to suck on a cherry Lifesaver but will end up biting it in six seconds.
A little boy is riding the train home with his dad after spending the day together at his office.
A man is running back into a grocery store to look for a scarf he dropped. He will leave with the phone number of a woman who will become his wife.

Words the author meant to use
Flair, Luxurious, Panoply, Churlish, Dainty, Folly

Wines that go nicely with this book

reds: Marcel Lapierre Morgon (France), Alario Dolcetto d’Alba Costa Fiore (Italy) whites: King Estate Pinot Gris (Oregon), Landmark Chardonnay Overlook (California

Book, standing in the bookstore holding a

If I am standing there with the book in my hand, one of three things has already happened: Friend recommended it. Read a good review. Cover caught my eye. I can appreciate a cool cover. But it’s like the extra credit part of a test—it only enhances an already solid grade. Getting it right won’t help if most everything else is wrong. And getting it wrong won’t hurt if most everything else is right. (There are countless books I cherish whose covers I don’t like too much, or cannot even now recall.) The interior of the book—the terrain of its pages, where all those words took me, the tiny but very real spot it ultimately occupies in my mind—that becomes the book. Next I go to the flaps. The front flap needs to intrigue/not bore me, and the bio needs to tell me just enough about the author. I’ll do my best to extract the author’s entire existence from their 2-X-2 inch photo.

Off to the back cover. I’ll be momentarily impressed when I see a blurb by a hot writer like ____, but I know that it is just as likely that I’ll like the book as hate it regardless of these quotes. I look at them in a more voyeuristic way, like a literary gaper’s delay: Wow, the author knows So and So. Bet they send each other clever text messages. Really the only thing I can gauge from the blurbs is my own pathetic jealousy level.

To get a true sense of the book, I have to spend a minute inside. I’ll glance at the first couple pages, then flip to the middle, see if the language matches me somehow. It’s like dating, only with sentences. Some sentences, no matter how well-dressed or nice, just don’t do it for me. Others I click with instantly. It could be something as simple yet weirdly potent as a single word choice (tangerine). We’re meant to be, that sentence and me. And when it happens, you just know.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Biography, Book Club, Biography Memoir, Essays

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2005

About the author

SHORT BIO:

Amy Krouse Rosenthal was.
She divided her time.


NOT SO SHORT BIO:

Amy Krouse Rosenthal was a person who liked to make things.
Some things she liked to make include:

Children's books. (Little Pea, Spoon, DuckRabbit)
Grown-up books. (Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life)
Short films. (The Beckoning of Lovely, The Money Tree)
Guided journals. (The Belly Book)
Something out of nothing. (see above)

A longtime contributor to WBEZ and to the TED conference,
Amy lived with her family in Chicago and online at whoisamy.com.

Reviews

[Jules Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give a book a perfect 10 on the ratings scale, but I have to do so in this case. It’s not that the book itself is perfect, nor the author extremely engaging in her own right, but I found the experience of reading it to be a magical one. I was thoroughly inspired at every sitting, my creativity just bursting upon reading each entry. I want to create an encyclopedia of my own life! And for that boost I applaud Rosenthal. I am viewing my world with new eyes and a notepad in hand. No other reading experience has brought me to this place, and I suspect few will ever come close again. Encyclopedia is a book tailor-made for those who seek inspiration in their surroundings, and it succeeds in bringing to life all the minutiae that seems to oppress but is actually the cocoon that shapes us into what we can become.

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

i don't know why i read this. i am annoyed by people who claim to have had "ordinary" lives due to the fact that they aren't abuse survivors or homeless or drug addicts or whatever. hey jerks, newsflash: living through a bunch of really difficult consitions & situations doesn't make a person "interesting," & having been nestled in the bosom of everything that is ozzie-&-harriet white bread middle-class american dream americana doesn't make a person "ordinary". it's pretty fucking EXTRAordinary, actually, to be so cosseted & sheltered from reality. & that is my biggest gripe with this book. it's just a book that a woman sat down & wrote at a coffeeshop over a period of several months, cataloguing her cossested, sheltered life in the style of an encyclopedia. the encyclopedia aspect is a pretty obvious gimmick & probably the only thing that attracted the interest of a publisher. i don't know. it bothers me when people refuse to acknowledge that we ALL live our lives in a political context, & that even growing up with the kind of cookie cutter sitcom life that rosenthal was blessed with means that she occupies a certain sphere within that context. but she is completely uninterested in considering that possibility. she says repeatedly throughout the book, "i'm not political...politics don't interest me..." etc. well, that's great, & she's sure not alone in feeling that way. but it's a privilege--a political privilege--to feel that way, & it would be nice if it wasn't constantly repeated in a tone that implies that people who DO care about politics are complete dullards, or that people who write memoirs about surviving abuse, homelessness, drug addiction, war, et al, are doing it for attention or because they are inherently interesting by virtue of being somehow tragic. bah. sometimes i hate people.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was listening to NPR one rainy day in my car and there was, I think, a This American Life segment that mentioned this and it stuck... Amy Rosenthal gets it. And I hate her for it. I hate her and I love her. I should BE her… but that would require motivation and inspiration and for me to go back six years and kick her butt into NOT writing this so that I could.

Just from the cover… ’I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story.’ How cool is that? And when you actually delve into the book… wow. It’s more than just a book, it’s a collection. It’s like scrap booking, but wicked cool (sorry scrapbookers…it’s true)

There are a few things that I really really want to do but fail at miserably.

Drinking tea. I so want to be a tea drinker. It looks sophisticated and homey and everything that I want to be. I even have a shirt that says ‘Make Tea Not War’ What a hypocrite I am! But, I’ve tried the stuff and the after taste is NASTY. I want to sandpaper my tongue just to get it out of my mouth. So uncool of me.

Knit. Okay, so I’m trying to remedy this. I have an incredible knitter buying me books and good yarn and good needles and being patient with me trying to get me to remember how to actually DO it (dig under and then AROUND then under? Behind? UGH!) I want to be the person who shows off her wicked awesome handmade socks. I want someone to comment on my incredibly comfy blanket. Yeah, I want to be freakin’ Martha Stewart, okay? Sue me.

Keeping a Journal. Yes, this is the big hang-my-head-in-shame moment. Why is this such a thorn in my side? Obviously I love writing. Obviously I don’t seem to have an trouble talking about myself. I think I know what it is… it’s the whole rigorously punctuality of it all. Seriously. I have issues with going to the gym and it literally takes threats of death to get me there… so to ask me to log in details of my life, however easy that may seem… it’s so not.
What Amy does here is take ordinary people, places, things and events and writes an entry about it that’s totally subjective yet could totally be relevant to you too. (Hate Her) Her insights to everyday musings (does that make sense?) are incredible. She has a police sketch artist draw her with only the descriptions that her husband and her father gives him--what she looks like through their eyes. The entry about her husband made me weep (page 117)


This is her entry under ‘Stupid Slow Driver’:

“When I see a slow driver, I have to pull up alongside him to see what this person looks like, to confirm my suspicions. I am certain I will find a distinctly stupid-looking person. Ah yes, he looks totally stupid. Stupid slow driver.”


And this one follows, it’s for ‘Sunday‘:

“Though this has never materialized, I still think of Sunday as the day I will stay home and make a large vat of chili for the neighbors, and also boil a sack of potatoes so we can use them in various ways throughout the busy work week.”

This is exactly what good reading' is about. A story doesn’t need a opening paragraph, plot, settings, summary. It doesn’t have to even contain words. It has to jar you, it has to pull you in and make you laugh, cry and relate. And who can't relate to having an obsessive need for coffee and trying to balance that with raising children, listening to the radio, remembering that you need trash bags when you hit the grocery store and is it this week that your kid has yoga? I walk that line daily.

If you liked this book you should definitely visit the website.

www.encyclopediaofanordinarylife.com

[Gayle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This small book is Amy Krouse Rosenthal's commentary on life, specifically hers, organized alphabetically. Which means it's all about Amy.

It was OK. I'm not complaining about her writing skills; she has nothing to blush for. But the book itself--the content--did not work for me.

There were a few times where I said Yes! That is exactly how I feel! But mostly it was a study in not-like-ness. Oh, there were a few times when I said Ewww! or (eyebrows raised, eyes half-closed, mouth scrunched up) You Are Weird. But mostly I was saying You are not like me because you grew up in a different time and place and subculture. Not that I would dislike you, but we would not really understand one another most of the time. Other than being American and wives/mothers, we don't have very much in common. And after a whole book of that, I felt kind of aloof, because everybody gets it but me, and I don't want to get it.

And she can be a bit vulgar. Mostly it was at the beginning, but that's another not-like, off-putting thing. It's like the one scene in a movie that takes the rating from PG to R.

So...I wouldn't read it again because it's not all about me? I suppose. At some level, I read to connect to the author, to discover alikeness, to find myself or validate the self I have already found. To discover a profound disconnect, then, is not satisfactory.

But at least it was organized.

[Melody · Rating 1 out of 5]

This didn't work for me. It wasn't so much the format as the fact that I didn't find Rosenthal nearly as interesting as she does. Her assertion that she's somehow 'normal' because she didn't have any addiction/abuse/trauma/poverty in her life got right up my nose. Lucky, sure. Normal? Fuck that.

[Linda Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A happy Memoir...all through this book I kept saying, "That's me! I do that!" and it was weirdly validating and hilarious.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

THINK OF IT, WHY DIDN'T I

This book's conceit is rather novel. Clever author creates own encyclopedia of everyday things, dropping in her own thoughts on same. It seems easy. It seems to reward anyone willing to keep a journal. It seems it's too late to try the same trick, now that it's been ruined.

VOICE

This book has this in spades because boy, howdy, if you don't know Amy Krouse Rosenthal's every little notion by the end, you're thicker than Jimmy Hoffa's last pair of cement shoes.

AGREEMENT

Many of her posts you read and say, "Yeah, that's right. You nailed it there. I agree 100 percent." Like that bit about having a stranger photograph you and your friends. Everyone says thank you to the samaritan photographer once she's done, but when you go right UP to her to say a heartfelt thank you, it's the only one that really counts.

DISAGREEMENT

Many of her entries you read and say, "Nah, way off. Try again. Maybe you, but certainly not a lot of others. Get over yourself, why don't you?" For instance, under HAPPINESS, she writes about left hand turns and using your blinker and how that's all it takes to be happy. "What?" you say to yourself. "Only the H's and you're desperate for material already?"

CHICK LIT

This probably appeals more to women than men. Lots of mom entries, wife entries, what not.

RECOMMENDATIONS

AKR's book came recommended by a fellow teacher who swears by it. I must admit, some entries will make good exemplars to hand to students as models. It has just enough solipsistic joy to make it appealing to teens, I think. In that sense, even though I didn't love the book like she does, my heartfelt thanks goes out to her.

STARS

A quick read, an in-between read, a lightweight read, all of the above. Is there any more difficult type of book to rate with stars? It seems there should be different criteria.

FRATERNIZING WITH READERS

AKR writes about exchanging e-mails with readers and such. You can see why. The encyclopedia is almost invasive at times and we feel we know her better than we have a right to know her. At least New Englanders would look at it that way. We draw greater distinctions between personal and private, ordinary and encyclopedia.

"INSTEAD"

This book has an advantage. I'm supposed to be reading Don Quixote, but EOAOL is so easy to read "instead" that it wound up getting finished first. By far. Not even close. For that escape hatch, I give Amy 5-stars.

MTV

The book reminds me of MTV as well as Sesame Street, both often credited with our short-attention span culture. Reading an alphabetized collection of blurbs like this is part of that phenomenon. Is Big Bird getting a percentage of the royalties? Where is he on the pecking order? And why is he everyone's least favorite Sesame Street character, anyway? (Clearly this should be under "S" and not "M.")

[Scottsdale Public Library]

This brilliantly crafted memoir reads as a reference book, but without the bore. Rosenthal's experiences and thoughts are hilarious and you will shout out, "I do that too!" Make sure to read the contents page- it is more than ordinary.
-Sara s.-

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A touching, creative portal into details about life that I suspect many Americans of a certain age range can relate to.

I read this book out of interest from a passing reference to Amy Krause Rosenthal in John Green's The Anthropocene Reviewed book of essays and I am glad I did.

You can also google Amy to find some life-affirming videos, a TEDx talk, and more tie-ins to her life and work.

Sadly, she died of ovarian cancer in 2017, so she had just more than a decade to live when she wrote this book when she was close to 40 years old.

The book takes the "hermit crab" form of an encyclopedia. It's an encyclopedia on Amy's life, but it doesn't attempt any grand strokes and it doesn't profess a linear narrative. It's all agate material, all nuggets, focused on mundane but keen observations of situations, emotions, and curiosities. Through that structure, though, she builds up a wonderful sense of her character, her experiences, and a range of moods and subtle insights that resonated with me. The book is almost like you're eating or drinking up Amy's essence a spoonful at a time.

The reader gets a very clear sense of Amy's voice throughout, or at least I did, as it feels like you're hearing her talk to you with intonations, rhythms, diction tendencies.

She portrays life in a higher strata of middle class than that to which I am accustomed--she references having a housekeeper and is frequently writing about purchasing things or food or coffee and her husband seems well off although she comments he chose not to do golf--but 90% of her experiences seem relatively universal ones to Americans in my circles.

It's interesting to note how some things have changed quite a bit over the past two decades, though, including how we interact with telephones, voicemails, emails, the internet, text messages, and other norms of communication.

It's hard to think about the "aughts" being a time worthy of nostalgia--with the shroud of September 11 and the War on Terror hanging over us, plus the Iraq War, contended elections, and things on course toward the "Great Recession" but this book shows us a portrait of life from circa 2003-2005 in all its contemporary ordinariness, indexed by the creative filter of Amy's mind and her literary sensibilities. It's like a historical bookmark reminding what was.

I enjoyed most the first third to half of this book, when the energy and newness of the structure, her voice, and the observations felt freshest. As the book goes on through the requisite alphabet of the encyclopedia of her life, I felt that it sagged a bit and also was more dependent on revealing her particular life rather than a more generic ordinary life any reader could step into through her keen observations. But because of the structure, it was easy to read through as you could feel you accomplished completing each successive lettered section.

I also felt she could have done more with the cross-references than she did. That kind of meta-textual play could have added a sense of the infinite to the work, but for whatever reason, the book does not charge ahead in that direction. A few entries have a few cross-references, but most do not. Early on I was expecting the cross-references were going to lead to a richly braided experience that would put new shades of emotion on re-readings of referenced material. Alas, they were infrequent and underleveraged such that I didn't actually actively follow any of them, still having the preceding referenced entries in my mind when I noted them.

It's also striking to me how younger readers may not even have a point of comparison for the form this memoir emulates--the encyclopedia. Since the book was written, encyclopedias have been pulled from library shelves, discarded from home libraries, and collect dust where their volumes remain except for more specialized use by researchers in most cases. The way our culture now pushes us to learn about categories of knowledge is through googling or Wikipedia, neither of which provide a sense of whole and both of which surround us with a sense of rushing to get rather than the necessary pausing and paging and poring over that an actual encyclopedia requires. Both newer methods of searching for knowledge are goal-oriented--we seek for an answer, a definition, a fact, a reference, but we may not care as much for learning for the thing itself. When delving into a bona fide encyclopedia, however, there are fewer distractions and the experience of learning is more focused upon a distilled and edited presentation of some truth that editors have worked hard to showcase. Today, many people frown on or disdain editors and many more people do not seem to realize what an editor does or why they should care or may not realize an editor was actually at work presenting what has become known as "content" in the digital realm. There is an additional irony, then, that I remember the early days of the internet and personal computers being driven partially by the excitement of accessing the multimedia encyclopedia on a computer--Encarta was one incarnation. Do you remember the opening sounds of music and human voice that serenaded you when you opened up Encarta as that CD whirred to life in the drive? Do you remember the sense of wonder and expectation that you would find something amazing within but that you might never fathom all its depths? I vaguely remember plumbing those depths for every dinosaur that was searchable, probably because it had nice color images of them, but also remember feeling that the depth paled in comparison to the *real* book versions of encyclopedias, whether specialized or general. Encarta and early digital encyclopedias were necessarily abridged. Since then, the opposite trends have taken root: everything is infinitely scrollably long and unpruned; and editors have in many cases been replaced by a crowd.

So Amy's encyclopedia offering a glimpse of her self as everyperson has achieved a new kind of historical artifact resonance in 2022 simply because we're all older and American culture has shifted from the time of her writing.

Those reflections aside, there is a marvelous quality to the opening pages of this book, when she frames what is to come and what has come throughout her lifetime up to the point of her writing, that in its simplicity and semi-quantitative approach to summarizing or contextualizing a life, reminds one of those when-you-were-born fact cards about how much milk cost, how much gas cost, who was president, etc. It's all mundane but it's all striking--especially if you/we have also lived/shared many of those experiences or that context. She provides a "wabi-sabi" reminiscence, a cross-section.

This is a remarkable and worthwhile book. I enjoyed all of it, but I recommend reading at least the first half.

It's also another book that I'm not sure a younger person will appreciate as much as I did as I am almost 40. Even if someone were 30, I'm not sure that they would have a comparable experience. If someone were 20, I'm not sure that they would get it at all. I think they'd study it like a history text. Amy was born in 1965.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept -- an encyclopedia of an ordinary life, but in actual practice it wears thin fairly quickly. There are enchanting tidbits, but as a regular diet for this reader, it left me hungry for plot, story, and substance.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

10/6--Kim, are you out there? Are you listening?
You're Amy Krouse Rosenthal, aren't you?
Me, too!!!

10/10--In a brief half hour of stillness, I open my book. And my breath is stolen by the entry on Dying. A sudden snap, and life as we know it is over. And not so much by our own death, but by the death of someone we love or of someone we don't even know. This entry tells me that Amy Krouse Rosenthal has a hole in her heart that can't be filled by all the funny encyclopedia entries in the world, no matter how hard she tries...

10/11--Finished. I am reminded, time and again, at each turn of the page, that we are the same person, bonded by silliness and sentiment. My god, it almost makes me feel normal.


Some of my favorite parts:
~Tuesday Night. Amy and her kids walk along and a woman in the neighborhood runs out her door asking for help!!! Her zipper is stuck, and can Amy help her out of her dress. OHHH! So touching and sweet.
~Identity. An experiment you must see!
~Infinity. Is infinity even or odd? I LOVE THE NUMBER INFINITY WITH UNBRIDLED PASSION, YET I'VE NEVER THOUGHT OF ITS EVENNESS OR ODDNESS BEFORE!!! Really, it's both and neither, shit I really enjoyed thinking about it for a while.
~Good to Bad Mood. Yes, yes, and yes.
~Catch. The Mars sybmol means "throw the ball." Ha ha ha ha!
~Purple Flower. Where was I at that moment? Sitting in the farmers' market at our "today only because of A&T Homecoming" location, sitting behind a display and glancing occasionally at a pile of fresh kale beside me. I considered emailing Amy (Krouse Rosenthal) my story, per her request. But then I couldn't find her email address. And then I stopped looking because I chickened out.
~On the back page, after the book is technically over. Here you will find a list of things happening right at this moment in another part of the universe. I love this so much because I wonder what other people are doing all the time. I sit and I close my eyes and I think, "Wow. Other people in the world are breathing right now. Sarah Michelle Gellar is probably sitting at a bar with a dear friend, just chatting. Lee Lee Tran who was my best friend when I was in 3rd and 4th grade is somewhere in the world, maybe hugging her daughter (if she has one). Scott, the only man I've ever loved, is on the other side of the world, sleeping. And NOT dreaming of me. I hope he never has sex again for the rest of his stupid stupid life. Ohhhhh, but I bet somebody in the world is having perfect and passionate sex right now, and they will never forget this moment as long as they live. How cool is that?
~Wabi-Sabi. This is the new thing I learned today. I hope I remember it tomorrow.

[Mari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've done a little bit of digging around some of the reviews for this book and it seems to me the rating scale seems to be from DOES NOT AT ALL APPLY to YEP. EVERYTHING SHE SAYS IS ME. It's a little strange to see people docking stars because Amy has a life or personality they do not completely relate to. And yet, what she's created is somethng that lends itself very easily to that sort of comparisson.

I found myself laughing at and agreeing with many of Amy's entries. I worked out my Kindle's highlighter tool and even used a few of her ideas to work out some of my own, things I jotted down because I want to explore them in my own writing. I love this kind of dynamic writing. I love that she got me thinking and relating.

Sure, there were things that weren't at all true for me. I'm not married, I don't have children. Lots of things. This did not at all cheapen the experience for me, because either way, Amy has a way of simply describing things, of breaking things down into small, easily digested snippets. When she spoke, for instance, of understanding a little bit of what it might be like to lose a child, sort of like a light that goes out and never goes back, my heart hurt a little.

Does Amy have an ordinary life? I saw a few people taking exception to that description. Who is to say? She mostly hits on very ordinary topics, which is to say, UNIVERSAL things. Driving and working and interacting with other human beings. I don't mind the use of the word.

I read this book in small chunks, and I think it leads itself very well to that. I would recommend that you don't read it during long sittings, because the repeated entries might get a bit monotonous. It's perfect to read a few entries every night, or in between other books.

I really did love this and am pretty sure I will revisit it again.

[Holly Glem · Rating 3 out of 5]

The format of this book was so unique, I've never read anything like it and that was really cool.

It's essentially a memoir/journal but mostly can be summed up as musings. So there was nothing to keep me motivated to get to the end. I lovingly told several people that this is "the book i pick up and carry everywhere and never open". I kept meaning to read it but the motivation was low.

That being said, I was amused and found it relatable. I really enjoyed discovering how many things we feel in common with humans we don't know. Across decades. Made me think a lot about being human. I really felt warm and fuzzy about how many things were relatable to me, it was reassuring to think that even though a lot of things change, fast, some experiences stay the same.

[Rachel Vardeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amy was a lovely gem of a human being and I am sad she is no longer here to write more books like this. This book, many times over, made me laugh out loud and it also made me cry at the end. Such a fun book that I will certainly return to over the years.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

"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:

[BookChampions · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I wanted to be cliché, I might write, "Amy Krouse Rosenthal, in her unusual memoir, turns the ordinary life into the extraordinary life." But I'd be totally wrong. There is nothing "extraordinary" about her life as it is catalogued in the encyclopediac entries that comprise this book, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth reading. In fact, Rosenthal's book isn't simply original in its approach and hard to put down, it captures the harmless (and shameless) self-aggrandizing we partake in as we make sense of our lives.

Reading Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is at turns poignant, utterly hilarious, and painfully true. I dare everyone to read it and not think about the various entries they would write themselves. Rosenthal illuminates our moments of déjà vu, of serendipity, all those daily miracles, and makes us feel like they--and WE--mean something of real value.

I have told my students that studying literature and all the ironies and metaphors and symbols strewn across these pages enable us to make sense of the irony and metaphor and symbols of our own lives. We become the book and the reader, an exciting transaction that makes our lives feel even more worthwhile and interesting and rich. Encyclopedia is evidence of the beauty of this process.

Written almost like blog posts, the book was an easy one to soar through, and it had me smiling nearly the whole way through. But the biggest surprise came at the end when I started to cry reading this seemingly mundane passage:

I watched a celloist's bow go up and down, and adored the music he made. I picked at a scab. I wished I was older. I wished I was younger. I loved my children. I loved mayonnaise. I sucked my thumb. I chewed on a blade of grass.

I don't know exactly why, but the sentence "I loved mayonnaise" utterly wrecked me.

I have never been suicidal, but in my darkest moments, I have wondered if things would just be better if I wasn't around. I never stay with the thought very long, but for a few moments that feeling concretized. But the whole arc of Rosenthal's book, read over the course of 48 hours, led me to believe that our ordinary existence is precious and worth holding onto with all we've got. We are here. We have this. She loved mayonnaise! This life is my own book (because I may never publish one for real)...ordinary, mundane, a little high-blown if you were to listen to the narrator in my brain, and all mine to keep on writing, reading, and living.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

amy krouse rosenthal writes with the exact same flair and random brilliance as every single one of my friends -- perhaps why this book wasn't as unusual and unique as i expected. though there were some passages i was compelled to read aloud to anyone who'd listen, i mostly had the nagging feeling that i already know amy from somewhere, maybe chicago where i too grew up. she mentions names of people i'm familiar with like greg allen of the neo-futurists, and the whole concept and brevity of the chapters remind me of neo-futurist plays from 'too much light..'

things that made me want to write amy:
1. she offers to bake people pies
2. she loves mail, and i love mail, and we mail people need to stick together
3. 'alphabetized' was misspelled as 'aphabetized' early on -- how typos make it to the paperback edition is beyond me.
4. on the page where she talks about q-tips, it says "See also: french fries" and it reads as if she also sticks french fries in her ears.

reasons why i probably won't write amy:
1. i actually didn't relate to her in a lot of the book: she was popular, threw parties, was a cheerleader -- later had the luxury of writing in coffee houses constantly and dropping off her dry cleaning, has kids, is married -- is she really like a friend of mine at all?
2. i'd really just be in it for the pie.

[Lara Lillibridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite memoirs. It is written as a series of encyclopedic entries in alphabetical order. Rosenthal’s book starts with what she titles an “Orientation almanac,” which is basically a list of facts about life in the US between 2000-2005. She lists things like top CNN stories, cost of living averages, but also, “what we call the other driver when angry” and
“what we say when we bang our knee on the corner of the table, burn a hand on a hot skillet, or get frustrated trying to untangle a computer cord.”
Next she has a timeline, called, “evolution of this moment,” that gives the notable dates of her life, and finally, we delve into section called “Alphabetized existence.”
They entries range from lists of what childhood tasted like, quotes, tidbits, and memories. There are charts, drawings, and copies of emails and letters. Four pages are devoted to an entry labelled, “Experiment: Contest Parking Ticket on Grounds of Karma.”

It's one of those rare creatures—a happy memoir. By the end I really got a feel for her life.

[Liz Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I experience a sense of poignancy when reading a memoir by someone who has died recently, particularly someone who died before her life's work was complete, and that is certainly true for this book. I enjoyed Rosenthal's first memoir much more than her most recent one, "Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal." She uses the encyclopedia format to share the "story" of her life, and is successful in conveying the essence of who she is, the context (both familial and cultural) in which she grew up, and what she values, in this non-linear format. There are a range of entries for each letter of the alphabet: some are short and others long, some are funny and others serious. Rosenthal was always looking for inspiration in the ordinary and for innovative ways to connect, and she succeeds on both counts with this book.

[Katie Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this were a proper review of this memoir, there would be tables, charts, timelines, and arrows navigating you from witty comment to childhood memory and back again. But I am not nearly as gifted a writer as Amy and in fact, I can only hope to be half as talented as she is one day. Her book has easily become one of my favorites due to her unique style, endless wit, and relatable humor. I found myself audibly exclaiming, “Yes!”, in nostalgic agreement with her thoughts and anecdotes. Ingeniously formatted, hilariously written, and crafted with incredible flair, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is anything but ordinary.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovering Amy Krouse Rosenthal's work after her death is like getting a shot of pure optimism with a chaser of pure sadness. What an exceptional human being who made the most out of what the world had to offer.

I truly just can't even put into words how I feel about this person, who is a stranger and a best friend all wrapped into one.

Also, the greatest truth there ever was: "I am a slow reader, and fast eater; I wish it were the other way around."

Also, the list of "sounds that are loud though quiet". And the list of "things that confused me for much longer than they should have."

[Justin Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Jerry Seinfeld crossed with Brene Brown and then with 80% of the resulting self-importance filtered out. Sometimes, these bite-sized autobiographies formed into an encyclopedia will start with observational humor and then snap with anger, sadness, or gratefulness. Sometimes, they just stay where they began, and where they began is quite nice, like that older and wiser and more stubborn friend you only knew during the one summer-camp. A book that's easy to turn into a telescope: a way of harmless looking you can use in waters deep and shallow.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so quirky and random that I couldn’t help loving it.

It was rather bittersweet to read the author’s insight on the ordinary after reading about her death and her article to find her husband a new wife.

I must read more of her work.

Don’t expect this to read like s novel or normal memoir. It is snippets in alphabetical order. Very fun and insightful.

[nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

cute idea, but it'd be much funnier if someone you actually knew wrote it. in a blog. and wasn't so cute about it.

[Cynthia Paschen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and Sad. I laughed, I cried.

[Kelly]

I really like how Amy's memoirs shift my thinking, even just a little. Fun, creative, light reading.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I love her brain. I love her creativity. I love the way her books make me see differently.

[Lyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part memoir, part journal entry, ‘Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life' is the late Amy Krause Rosenthal’s answer to the question "what if we focused on our joy?”

Assembled from snippets of memory, moments of pure enjoyment, and lessons learned, Amy files an entire existence letter by letter. It's unclear if she knew her life would be cut short by cancer twelve years after the book’s publication but it seems unlikely, making the very heart of the book that much more precious and powerful.

Her voice is clear, pure and honest, evoking the gentle encouragement of a Brene Brown or Glennon Doyle, but she's not actively trying to inspire or encourage. Much of the book is a diary, just Amy talking to herself and enjoying the ride. She expresses her desire to be a better mother, a better listener, a better singer in the car. And she relishes the ways in which she knows she is already good, already kind.

As others have pointed out in their reviews, elements of this book betray a great and often unacknowledged privilege. The ability to be bored by politics that don't affect her, the lifelong financial comfort, the maid. There is no question that this book was written by a white woman in the early aughts, and l'd be remiss not to note it.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal was and is a once-in-a-generation kind of writer. She had a talent for laying herself bare with grace, making herself emotionally available and relatable and somehow even kind through the written word. As a confused, lonely and anxious college freshman, this book changed the way I viewed a life that seemed so inferior to those around me. It helped me redefine what was, and what could be, "enough." Now, a decade on, I credit this book with so much of how I perceive my ordinary life. Thanks, Amy.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m keenly interested in alternative memoirs so buying this book, and reading it in an afternoon, was a a no-brainer. Reviewing it isn’t as easy. Sometimes it was a 5/5, like when Amy so perfectly described that feeling I get when pulling off the road to allow an ambulance to get through:

“It’s as if us little cars on the side of the road are cheering, Go! Go! You can do it! Go, important ambulance, go! The experience invariably leaves me feeling proud and giddy.”

There were lots and lots of moments like that throughout the book — moments of gentle humour, moments when I saw a a tiny element of my life with fresh eyes, and moments of great poignancy when I read some of Amy’s thoughts about dying and knew I was reading the words of a woman who died at age 52 of ovarian cancer.

Then there were times when the book was a 3/5. Times when the gimmick of the encyclopedia entry format got very old and seemed, as another reviewer said, an excuse for not digging deep and giving the reader something meaningful. There were boring entries and entries that didn’t feel like they had anything at all to do with memoir, alternative or traditional.

Still, in the end, the gimmick of encyclopedia entries was really clever, many of the entries were fresh and funny. I’m glad I read this book, glad I own it. I ordered Amy’s Textbook at the same time and will be reading that next. Stay tuned.

[Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reaffirmed to me that humans are indeed spectacularly beautiful (in spite of everything) and that ordinary life is truly extraordinary in its ordinariness. Man, I wish I could write like her.