Yesterday someone asked me if I was mad at them because I’d never accepted their friend request on Goodreads and I was like, “You can get friend requests on Goodreads?“
Y’all.
So then I went through and approved the requests and told everyone on facebook that I was really sorry if I was just now confirming requests that were LITERALLY OVER A DECADE OLD and that I was an idiot, and people were really understanding but also several mentioned that this explained why today their ENTIRE goodreads page was just pages of thousands of “JENNY LAWSON IS NOW FRIENDS WITH THIS PERSON” notifications. So not only do people now know that I waited 12 years to friend them but also they know I am just as irresponsible with everyone else as well.
Sigh.
I’m sorry. I’m bad at things.
But when searching for the “friend request” stuff I also discovered that apparently I’m one of the “top 100 book reviewers”, which is really surprising considering that my reviews are just like, “This book will probably win awards but it was so confusing it made me mad so I need someone smarter to explain it to me” or ” or “How hard of a concussion do I need to give myself to forget this book so I can experience it again for the first time?” or “Two words: MURDER OWLS.”
Speaking of murder owls, this month’s book pick if you’re in the Nightmares from Nowhere Book Club is The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka. It’s about murder owls. Like if Romero got bored with zombies and decided to focus on owls instead, this would be that story. Also, it’s a locked-room horror that takes place in a library, which seems like a pretty great place to be holed up in to outlast the murder owls, but I guess that depends on how you feel about libraries.
Or if you’re looking for something slightly less murdery may I suggest the The Fantastic Strangelings Book Club pick, which is The Djinn Waites a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan.
(I don’t know what Hunter S. Thomcat is staring at, but I can only assume murder owls are coming.)
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a gorgeously haunting, atmospheric book about a ruined South African gothic mansion by the sea and the strange misfits who inhabit it. It reads like a movie and it reminded a little of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but just in tone rather than subject. So weird. So good.
Happy reading, friends.
Hahaha! It’s ok. Until you mentioned it, I forgot I sent the friend request. I saw the post and thought, “oh shit, I think I sent her one a while ago.” I checked. I did. You accepted my request and now we are friends! Hurray!
There are the Darwin Awards. But I think you have to have died or been otherwise taken out of the gene-pool to be noninated. So you did it wrong again. Which does proove your point 😀
I am equally bad at things (I always had 99+ notifications on Facebook and unconfirmed friend requests), so I will run against you – no worries
OH well that explains it. I must’ve sent you a friend request so long ago I also forgot about it and then I also went Goodreads has friend requests?? when I got your acceptance. Which is both on brand for me and also fits the events of this post. Good job, us.
(Yay, us! ~ Jenny)
Please don’t be so hard on yourself. We love you. I love you! You are awesome!
I love your posts. I always feel just a bit better looking, more intelligent and a touch less dorky. (Really. I still have a landline and pay for cable. Nuff said.) A four year old from Appalachia is more tech savvy than me—no offense to our fiends in Appalachia. And the pet pictures are the best! Thank you for making me feel somewhat normal each week.
I did not know you could request famous people such as yourself. Get ready for another invite lol.
I don’t even know how to deal with friend requests or social media or all the other stuff that people seemed to be consumed by once social media started. I’m happy to just read and comment on your blog, comment on a local city newsletter on things of great social importance, and that’s about it. I like reading good reads, but if I friended or commented on everything, I would feel obligated or agonize over these sorts of things, and so I’ll join you in the “huh? What? I’m just not good at it,” for the social aspect of online stuff.
It frees up a lot more of my time by professing my ignorance and/or lack of social media awareness.
This is like having ten thousand unread emails in an account and just saying screw it, if it was important they would have gotten hold of me a different way, and deleting the entire thing. And it’s OK.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t know these things. I’ve been playing a game called Last Fortress for about a year and still have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. I like to do things my own wrong way thank you very much.
Where I work, you get promoted. So if you’re good at your job and never get in trouble, you never get promoted. (Gotta love the government)
One of the 10 million things I love about you and your work is that you are one of the few people where I can read a phrase like “Speaking or murder owls…” and just go with it. Also, as someone perpetually bad at everything, I feel less alone
I don’t think I sent a friend request but I follow you on Goodreads so I get updates on your reviews anyway.
Oooo- Jenny. Can he go next to Beyoncé?
And the Golden Turd goes to…
I am bad at nearly everything these days, except sleeping. I’m very good at that, and honestly, it’s the only thing I look forward to. I’ve been on Goodreads for like a decade and I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it. Just as an example. Anyway, hugs!
The whole friend system on GR confuses me… like bro I’m just here to track my progress
I just noticed you accepted my friend request! Thank you.
As a cat behaviorist (not!), Hunter’s ear position, is absolutely indicative of a Murder Owl infestation. Godspeed.
Regarding “ How hard of a concussion do I need to give myself to forget this book so I can experience it again for the first time?” or “Two words: MURDER OWLS.”.
I can recommend ECT for wiping out large parts of your memory and getting to experience favourite books all over again.
I have treatment resistant depression and had 21 treatments last year. Large swathes of my memory were wiped – but I consider it a trade off – I have all the emotions now, not just the miserable ones. It got me out of that brutal anhedonic numb state.
One thing I did remember and held on to was “Depression lies” – wrote it on the inside of my wrist.
(Amen. Sending love, friend. ~ Jenny)
I may or may not have just clicked over to Goodreads to add you. I really want to add Hunter S. ThomCat to my list of friends. And The Parliament sounds oh so interesting. I adore Owls. There was a Great Horned Owl in Tucson that would come over and hangout on the railing above the river wash at night and some of us would have conversations with it. That Owl listened to the musings of a single mother of a toddler. No worries, I was 20 feet from my apartment and had a fierce but totally loveable guard dog named Iceobel. She passed over a decade ago and I still can’t write or talk about her without crying. Such a Good Girl 🐕
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But, think about how much better all those people feel now. Allllllllllllll this time, they’d been thinking they were rejected, personally, and now they know they weren’t! 😉
I don’t know how to add you as a friend. I can follow you but not add you. Can anyone help me?
(I literally don’t know the answer to this. I suck. ~Jenny)
I don’t have any social media accounts and I don’t know how to find funny stuff, so when you do the It’s Friday and You Deserve Funny Stuff videos, it is everything to me.
This is mostly unrelated to your post, however, can you PLEASE provide us with another Bingo card? It helped organize my teenager’s book choices and keep him motivated to continue reading for approximately 9 months of last year.
(Here you go! ~ Jenny) https://www.nowherebookshop.com/2024-nowhere-bookshop-reading-bingo
I saw your ‘murder owls’ reference and thought, OMG, she knows about the Owl Theory! But then I read some more and now I don’t think you do. The fact that my mind went there probably just means I spend way too much of my young legal career following that trial. Which I’m cool with. Now I’m probably going to have to read the murder owl book as soon as it comes out, just because dangerous owls are a thing I find fascinating.
(I totally know all about the murder owl theory. I still haven’t figured out if that guys guilty yet. ~Jenny)
That makes me feel oh, so much better about the ONE Goodreads friend request I have had languishing for all of a week or so. I’ll take care of that one right now!! You do make me laugh! And thank you for that!!
Well dam.
An outcast again.
My request was snubbed…….
(I haven’t said no to any requests, so request me again if it didn’t work. 🙂 ~ Jenny)
So glad to see you are still here and writing. Someone posted a picture of a Beyoncé on their Instagram and I was like, hold up, I have a 12 year old blog post you have to read. I’ll never forget it. Hope you are well.
Ha! Too funny. And I didn’t know we could be friends on Goodreads either! Heading there now 🙂
That which we know, we must learn. So it goes. Learning is always a treacherous path.
Also (and apologies if you’ve already seen/done a post on this, I don’t read as often as I should), if you *don’t* know about this Thing That I Found On The Internet, I feel that you should. Someone made a Taxifurby: https://i.imgur.com/8NrjnEc.jpeg
In my blog, I talk about the story of Raya and Sakina, the two most famous serial killers in Egypt. In my blog, I discuss different aspects of the sisters’ story, from their personal lives to their crimes and the method of their arrest. Through my blog, I seek to shed light on this important historical issue and provide accurate and comprehensive information about it.
Khalid elarbi
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RayaaandSkina
مسلسل ريا وسكينة
This is like having ten thousand unread emails in an account and just saying screw it, if it was important they would have gotten hold of me a different way, and deleting the entire thing. And it’s OK.
khalidelarbi
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That’s a hilarious story! I can relate to being a little slow on the uptake sometimes. It’s great that people were so understanding about your late friend requests. I’ll definitely check out the book recommendations. Sounds like a great way to escape into another world.
khalidelarbi
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