Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
by Amy Krouse RosenthalAVAILABILITY: Remaindered (Readily Available)
Publication Date: January 2005
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Binding: Trade Cloth
Topics: WOMEN_UNITED STATES_BIOGRAPHY
Condition: Close-out
Description: One copy left at this price.
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is a memoir in the form of an encyclopedia, a collection of entries organized from Amy-Ziggy, that muses on the stuff of daily life, both trivial and essential. It's a book that breaks all the conventions of traditional memoir and is ultimately driven by that element that all good readers crave: voice.
How do you conjure a life? Give the truest account of what you saw, felt, learned, loved, strived for? For Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the surprising answer came in the form of an encyclopedia. In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life she has ingeniously adapted this centuries-old format for conveying knowledge into 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.
Amy Krouse Rosenthal is, alphabetically, an author of adult and children's books; contributor to magazines and NPR; host of the literary and music variety show Writers' Block Party; and mother of some kids. She lives in Chicago.
Review(s): "[Rosenthal] shines her generous light of humanity on the seemingly humdrum moments of life and shows how delightfully precious they actually area marvelous memoir. - The Chicago Sun-Times
"Encyclopedia has miles of pillow book charm. Rosenthal's humor is generous and endearingly scattershot." - The Village Voice
"Reading it, you get the feeling that not only would you like Amy to be your best friend because she's so thoughtful and endearing but because the most ordinary of moments do not escape her own unique sense of profundity." -
The Detroit News
The perfect postmodern memoir, collecting the bits and pieces of a so-called average life and filing them into a clever narrative that reveals ordinary is anything but." - Sun-Sentinel(South Florida)