In my attempt to read a book a week this year, I have gone through a variety of different strategies to find new things to read. Amazon has good recommendations if I want to read similar books to what I have read already. This is not the worst thing if I like the books that I have been reading, but it also reinforces certain genres. When I want to step out and try something new, I have looked at best seller lists as well as any other random lists I can find. A very small number of books come from one off recommendations. Furiously Happy comes from a best seller list. I was specifically looking for something non-fiction, and this came up, I think I picked it because it sounded funny and the cover was amusing.

This book was closer to good than okay, but it definitly was not in the same category as the other books that I have called good. There were many times when I was laughing out loud at her stories. There were other times that I found some interesting tidbits that I could really relate too, for instance:

I tried to protest but I was a bit too nauseous to point out that I only do it when we have excellent service or when the waiter refills my Diet Coke without my having to ask for it.

This is interesting to me because I will excessively tip any waiter who refills my Diet Coke without my having to ask for it. I did not know anyone else had these same feelings. Which was another theme of the book, that just talking about issues she has had, she has found people who have told her that they too have those feelings or issues and that she is not alone. From what I understand this can be very useful for people with certain mental illnesses.

There were also some interesting quotes and ideas that were just generally insightful, such as:

It doesn't mean I'm a failure at appreciating the good things in life. It means I'm successful in recognizing what the good things in life are for me.

Although, there were a lot of moments that just got repeatitive and came across as whiny. I get it that she has issues that she cannot control due to a chemical imbalance, but the tone got to be pretty annoying which really dragged on the flow of the book.

If you have severe social anxiety or some form of depression or bipolar then there are probably some bits and pieces in here that you would find relatable. Depending on your sense of humour, you will either be chuckling a little bit or laughing hysterically out loud. I certainly recommend this book because it is pretty short and I like things that are funny. However, you may find it hard to finish all of the stories at times just because of the tedium.