Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

October 18, 2004
Rosenthal likes lists: of low points in her life, codes that people memorize, sounds that seem loud though they're actually quiet. She loves inadvertently mysterious signs, like this public restroom gem: " PLEASE DO NOT FLUSH EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF TOILET PAPER OR SHOES DOWN THE TOILET. THANK YOU." She's collected some wonderful words like "flahoolick"(meaning generous and expansive) and "wabi-sabi" (which seamlessly fuses two moods), as well as some pairs of oddly similar words like applause and applesauce. But what to do with all this trivia? Why, frame it all around some lists of childhood memories and career milestones, alphabetize it and—voilà—she's assembled something like a memoir. Rosenthal warns readers that her life has not been extraordinary in the least—she hasn't "survived against all odds," recovered from any addictions or been a genius, misunderstood or otherwise. Not only does she consider her life "ordinary" (actually, she's worked for ad agencies, written a few books and worked for several public radio stations), but her preoccupations are with the entirely mundane: breaking appliances, leaving messages on answering machines, loading dishwashers, loving Q-tips. Browse this "encyclopedia" in any bookstore, and it looks too cute to resist, especially with its coy, reference book–type illustrations. Whether it remains endearing once it's home depends on how fascinating people find someone else's somewhat ordinary life. Agent, Amy Rennert.

February 15, 2005
Who would challenge a Chicago parking ticket on grounds of karma (and succeed)? Or have a professional police artist draw sketches of her based on descriptions from her father and husband? Professed "ordinary" person Amy Krouse Rosenthal, that's who, and in this immensely readable and frequently hilarious encyclopedia-cum-memoir, Rosenthal alphabetically explores her life as a woman who has " not "(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)