Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays and Observations From An Odd Mom Out

by Jill Kargman

Overview

The star of Bravo’s new comedy Odd Mom Out and author of The Ex Mrs. Hedgefund and Wolves in Chic Clothing firmly believes in Woody Allen’s magical math equation: Comedy = Tragedy + Time. Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut is a delightful collection of essays and observations based on Jill Kargman’s family, her phobias (vans, mimes, clowns), and her ability to use humor as a tool to get past life’s obstacles, making the fun times funnier and the tough times bearable. Fans of David Sedaris, Sloane Crosley, and Nora Ephron will rejoice, howl, and sympathize.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062042279
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	197
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jill Kargman is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including The Right Address, Wolves in Chic Clothing, Momzillas, and The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund. Her latest effort is a nationally bestselling book of essays, Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut. She is also a featured writer for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and Elle, and a copywriter for her greeting card company, Jill Kargman Etceteras.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 Glossary 1

2 Things That Haunt Me 7

3 Babysitters from Hizznell 23

4 Weird Science (Minus Kelly LeBrock) 37

5 Wednesday Addams in Barbietown 49

6 Tea with Dracula 63

7 I Am a Gay Man Trapped in a Woman's Body 69

8 Everybody's Gotta Start Somewhere 75

9 Obsessed/Detest 85

10 A Letter to My Crappy One-Bedroom 89

11 My Vagina Is the Holland Tunnel 101

12 My Top Ten Most Blush-Inducing Moments of Motherhood (Thus Far) 115

13 Proposal to Essie Nail Color: New Names! 123

14 Right Address, Wrong Apartment 125

15 Thirty-four and Holding 135

16 Tumor Humor 147

17 Putting the Ass in Aspen 155

18 Spinagogue 163

Acknowledgments 173

Editorial Reviews

Novelist Kargman (Arm Candy) mines the typical pitfalls of life in New York City and unfortunately only unearths a few gems. Few chronicles of life in Manhattan are complete without a rant about rotten apartments, but "A Letter to My Crappy One-Bedroom" is, surprisingly, one of the highlights. Kargman sheds her colloquial shtick—which begins to grate early as the writing feels less like prose and more like recorded casual conversation—and allows herself an emotional connection to the subject matter. Humor plays an obvious role in Kargman's life and in many of the essays. Sometimes it's spot-on ("Babysitters from Hizznell" and "My Vagina Is the Holland Tunnel"), but at other times it falls flat ("Things That Haunt Me"), often because the subject matter simply isn't anything readers haven't seen before. When she uses humor to serve a larger purpose—such as in "Tumor Humor," when she recounts her diagnosis at age 35 with a rare form of skin cancer and the ensuing surgery to remove the tumor—or even to highlight the wackier moments of motherhood, Kargman is at her best. But she struggles to maintain a steady rhythm throughout a collection that doesn't always deliver. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

From somebody who shares Jill Kargman’s fear of both vans and clowns, I promise this book will make you laugh out loud.

Nate Berkus

Kargman does not fail to deliver in yet another tragically comedic book . . . With stick figure doodlings in the margins to guide you through the hilarity, you’ll be laughing out loud.

SheKnows.com

With her sense of irony and humor, Ms. Kargman laughs at moments others might cry over…Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut is more than funny, more than insightful and more than a guilty read.

New York Journal of Books

Edgy, addictive, and relatable.

The Daily Beast

Jill Kargman’s hilarious observations…will resonate with women everywhere.

Harper's Bazaar

Please welcome the new David Sedaris, not that the old one is broken or anything. It’s just that Jill Kargman, in her first book of essays, provides the same gut-splitting reading pleasure.

Los Angeles Times

With a warning that her life's philosophy is based on laughter, Kargman (Momzillas; The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund) writes laugh-out-loud hilarious reflections and commentaries, ranging over odd personal phobias and recollections of sex-fiend babysitters to struggles with puberty, college life, dating, marriage, and motherhood. Stand-out moments include an uproarious account of the beginning of her relationship with tampons and the discovery that an apartment in her building was a brothel. Kargman's own stick-figure illustrations add to the lighthearted tone.What I'm Telling My Friends This is not for prudes; it brings the raunch. If you are unaware of slang and/or texting shorthand, you might get pissy. BAMF, for example, is unexplained. Be warned, and don't be pissy at me...or that BAMF Kargman. — "Memoir Short Takes," Booksmack! 2/3/11

Library Journal - BookSmack!

A New York City–based author, mother of three and cancer survivor delivers an outspoken mix of sass and sensibility.

Magazine feature writer and novelist Kargman (The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund, 2009, etc.) truly believes that laughter is the best medicine and, at 36, is happy to share her self-deprecating brand of wisdom. She explains why baked goods, texting and the smell of gasoline are so personally enticing, as opposed to the repulsive qualities of vans, mimes ("I'm so talkative that the mute thing alone wigs me out"), Don Henley and the wacky au pairs entrusted to babysit during her childhood. Life has been adventuresome so far, Kargman admits, from her days as an outcast at a Connecticut boarding school to the irate, micromanaging boss at a pop-culture magazine who aimed a tape dispenser at her head. But her self-doubts pale in comparison to the confusion and humility experienced after being diagnosed with skin cancer at 35. There's also tenderness in the unexpected blind date (arranged by her grandmother Ruth) with a "beyond-adorable, scruffy nugget" named Harry who would become her husband and the father of her children. Some laughs pop with snappy sarcasm while others veer into racy, stand-up comedienne material like sections on Jewish Passover Seders and a midlife crisis–inspired tattoo and handgun license. These over-the-top moments are leavened with more focused playfulness, as when the author writes of her solidarity with gay men, the agony of natural childbirth ("having a bowling ball cruise through a straw"), her disenchantment with office work or, after the birth of her first daughter, the co-mingling sessions with "a breed of hypercompetitive type-A mothers" known as "Momzillas." Cute, rudimentary line drawings pepper a narrative that will incite nods of agreement as Kargman writes that "the ones who live the best obviously aren't the ones with the most money or most successful careers; they're the ones who laugh the most."

A smart, pocket-sized delight that artfully engages the funny bone.

Kirkus Reviews