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now a national bestseller "A delightful, Plimptonesque exercise in immersive journalism... sharp, irreverent and endearingly screwed-up." Kirkus Reviews "Lisick has created a hilarious, knowing tale of a year of willing ridiculousness." San Francisco Chronicle "Her accounts of everything...are not only hilarious but enlightening. Finding useful tips amidst the bunk, she distills the best from thousands of pages of self-help books. Readers will be inspired: If a woman in a banana suit can clean her closet and pay off her credit card debt, surely you can, too." People *Critic's Choice* "An author you can't refuse." Entertainment Weekly "Sweetly neurotic, funny and occasionally insightful -- like Lisick herself." L.A. Times Wildly fun ... Her unconventional perspective and elicits trust and empathy." BUST Magazine "An astute and kind observer ... In less-capable hands, Helping Me Help Myself could have fallen to the same schlock level as many of the self-help books included in its pages." The Oregonian ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2005 1.The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 2.The Orientalist by Tom Reiss 3.Suburban Safari by Hannah Holmes 4.Tete-a-Tete by Hazel Rowley 5.Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk 6.The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein 7.Fat Girl by Judith Moore 8.102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn 9.Blink by Malcolm Gladwell 10.Everybody Into the Pool by Beth Lisick and Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY July 8, 2005 GRADE A *EDITOR'S CHOICE* Lisick's fizzy and delightful collection of autobiographical sketches comes from the David Sedaris school of drollery. "The stories in this book are about turning out too weird to fit into the mainstream world, the one I came from," Lisick announces, "but being too normal for the fringe world I found later." Raised in a happy suburban family, Lisick writes about her high school forays into "extreme tanning," her dogged (but unsuccessful) attempts to unearth her latent bisexuality, daily life in a slummy San Francisco warehouse during the 1990s, and, in the last chapters, adjusting to motherhood. The tales veer from razor sharp to hilarious, and it's a voice--both offbeat and upbeat, wised-up yet curiously wholesome--that you're going to want to hear a lot more of. --JENNIFER REESE PEOPLE MAGAZINE July 18, 2005 *CRITIC'S CHOICE* Beth Lisick is a San Francisco-area writer, comedian, musician, spoken word artist, independent film actress. She's also not above wearing a foam banana mascot suit to make a buck. With frenetic turns of phrase and a winking take on her past, Lisick constructs a memoir based on high comedy. Chapters include tales like "Nuns in Trouble," about the time she stole $40 from a Catholic fundraiser to help pay for her abortion; "A Bed and a Breakfast," in which she details the time she and her squeeze found their apartment flooded with sewage and she decided he was the love of her life; and "My Way or the Bi-Way," about testing her sexuality in Provincetown with a lesbian construction worker named Trouble. Throughout, Lisick's self-effacing voice keeps the book moving at a brisk pace, and her sense of humor makes even the more ridiculous aspects of her history appealing. Full of oddball charm, Beth Lisick's memoir is a zippy beach read. -- JONATHAN DURBIN New York Times Night Out San Francisco Chronicle Review and Profile Bookslut San Jose Metro Las Vegas City Life Las Vegas Sun San Antonio Express News Portland Tribune LitRave |
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