You're Doing Great!
And Other Reasons to Stay Alive
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4.6 • 15 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Comedian and Live from Here head writer Tom Papa, author of Your Dad Stole My Rake, tackles the modern condition in a heartwarming group of short essays.
Tom Papa is a little worried about you. You seem stressed, overworked and, frankly, a little mixed up.
Everyone is fighting an overwhelming feeling that things are getting worse, that we should be doing more, that we’re not good enough. Well, life isn't perfect. There have always been problems and there always will be. You can fight for the things you believe in, you can work really, really hard, but you shouldn't lose track of the fact that while you’re doing all that, life is flying by at lightning-fast speed. If you actually take a breath and look around you’ll realize you’re actually doing great.
Here’s the thing: We live in an amazing time filled with airplanes, scooters, and peanut butter cups. We have air conditioning, blenders, and martini shakers. It's time to refocus, enjoy it all, and stop waiting for something better! Relax with comedian and Live from Here writer and performer Tom Papa as he explores his favorite subjects in 75 essays, including:
You Don't Have to Live Your Best Life
Don't Open the Mail
I'm So Baked
I Love Your Love Handles
Don't Go Tubing
Shut Up and Eat
Recalibrate, turn off your device, and open your eyes to a better reality: You’re doing great!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Comedian Papa (Your Dad Stole My Rake) offers a delightful set of upbeat and candidly humorous essays on the challenges of modern living. Society is "inundated, twenty-four hours a day, with news, images, and ideas of all kinds... and it's messing with our heads," he writes. His antidote: be grateful, relax, and stop trying to be perfect ("No one is happy all the time.... Whenever I see couples posting about how in love they are, I know they're in trouble"). Papa, a Gen Xer who had a common-sense New Jersey Italian-American upbringing, is unapologetic about his passion for eating: "There's too much happiness and history to put an end to it... who cares if you're a little fat?" In "Let's Go Back," a touching departure from his straight-up humor, Papa writes to a deceased college friend about their shabby house share ("It's hard when you outgrow something you love. It's even harder when you lose the people that came with it"). In other essays, Papa recalls a river tubing accident ("It wasn't awesome. Breaking a couple ribs on a rock at the bottom of a waterfall is stupid"), as well as the joys of living in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood in the 1990s. This collection is a clever respite for readers looking for lighthearted escape from their daily lives.
Customer Reviews
Warm and funny
I loved this book. Made me wish he was my dad.