“Meaty” by Samantha Irby

This book just blew me away. I was listening to it in my car and I had to pull over to the side of the road. I grabbed a napkin from my glove compartment because I wanted to write down this line: “Sometimes I like to just eat something in a bowl I can hold against my chest while I cry into it.” It is such a simple sentence, yet packed full of so much sentiment. This book, “Meaty” by Samantha Irby, is an explosive book about love, dating, eating, sex, acceptance, rejection, growing up black and, oh yes, Crohn’s disease. I love any woman with stomach problems, and Irby is one tough woman when it comes to her tummy. Originally published in 2013, this book was recently re-issued in May 2018 by Irby, who is a comedian, author and blogger. She is best known for her blog http://bitchesgottaeat.blogspot.com/, which carries the mantra of “books/snacks/softcore/despair.” She is so raw and irreverent like Roxane Gay, soulful like Ann Hood, raunchy like Amy Schumer, but she also makes you want to cry and laugh hard at the same time like Anne Lamott. It is hard to even describe this book because I just want people to read it, and witness it first hand. Even little throw away lines sing with pure intelligence like, “I once dated a man with a college degree who only ate angel hair pasta.” And when advising men she writes, “here’s what you say about a woman when she has her clothes off. . . absolutely nothing.” She is at her best when she is talking about food and sex and love, all at the same time. A romantic night is “lying in bed, holding hands and talking about how good pork bellies taste.” The Los Angeles Times said she is a writer who “peppers her heartbreak with humor.” She is just a hurricane of a writer and I can’t wait to read more of her work. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.