Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Self-help, personal development & practical advice

DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?

Kristin Van Ogtrop

Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them

Enjoy this hilarious and deeply insightful take on the indignities of middle age and how to weather them with grace - from the former editor-in-chief of Real Simple.

Do you hate the term "middle age?" So does Kristin van Ogtrop, who is still trying to come up with a less annoying way to describe those years when you find yourself both satisfied and outraged, confident and confused, full of appreciation but occasional disdain for the world around you. Like an intimate chat with your best friend, this mostly funny, sometimes sad, always affirming volume from longtime magazine journalist van Ogtrop is a celebration of that period of life when mild humiliations are significantly outweighed by a self-actualized triumph of the spirit. Finally! Featuring stories from her own life, as well as anecdotes from her unwitting friends and family, van Ogtrop encourages you to laugh at the small irritations of midlife: neglectful children, stealth insomnia, forks that try to kill you, t.v. remotes that won't find Netflix, abdominal muscles that can't seem to get the job done. But also to acknowledge the things you may have lost: innocence, unbridled optimism, smooth skin. Dear friends. Parents. It's all here: the sublime and the ridiculous, living together in the pages of this book as they do in your heart, like a big messy family, in this no-better-term-for-it middle age. Kristin van Ogtrop is the author of Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom. The former longtime editor-in-chief of Real Simple and "The Amateur" columnist for Time, she is a literary agent at InkWell Management. Her writing has appeared in countless publications, and the New York Times bestselling collection, The Bitch in the House. She is a wife and mother of three, but sometimes loves her dogs more than anybody else.

Available products
Book Published 2021-04-13 by Little Brown / Spark

Comments

Full of humor, heart, and humility, Kristin Van Ogtrop's essays capture the mantra of the first piece in this perfect collection of meditations on middle age: Just happy to be here. I loved this book.

Mourning the demise of a high-flying career, dear old friends, and her younger body, Kristin van Ogtrop explores the secrets and delights of life at fifty-six with humor and candor - reassuring us that, however distressing it may be, getting older is way better than the alternative.

Did I Say That Out Loud? had me laughing out loud as I devoured these utterly relatable tales of work, family, love, and the sometimes tragic-comic mishaps that seem to happen more frequently as we reach a certain age. Each chapter is like a letter from a great friend - the cool, relatable friend who not only worked for Anna Wintour but also swallows household objects by accident. Kristin Van Ogtrop finds the perfect blend of humor and poignant honesty in this wonderfully original collection of essays.

Reading Did I Say That Out Loud? is like sitting down with a bottle of wine and your best girlfriends, talking and laughing long into the night. Toenails, insomnia, pets, parenting, careers, Botox, bosses - all the hard won pain and joy of making it to middle age are here. Thankfully, Kristin van Ogtrop holds nothing back. Read this book and give copies to all your friends.

Okay, yeah, maybe the lady-parts party is over, but this book is the funnier, more fun after party, and my old crone-womb breathed a sigh of relief (inaudibly I hope). Kristin van Ogtrop is so brisk and hilarious, so trustworthy and grateful and delightfully done with all the same things I'm done with that I kept saying, out loud, 'Exactly!' and 'THANK YOU.'

This book abounds with wisdom and humor, poignancy and warmth. Whether exploring the midlife fall from corporate (or corporeal) grace, the tragic loss of a family dog, or the literal if beloved mess of raising three sons in the suburbs, Kristin van Ogtrop is candid, inspired, and a pure pleasure to read.

Like a long-awaited coffee with your smartest, savviest friend, Did I Say That Out Loud? offers comfort, connection, and cackles of the best kind of laughter - the kind that makes you feel not just understood, but seen.

This little guide may be a handy desk reference for public library collections to offer patron-friendly answers to confused eaters. Includes drawings by Sophia Foster-Dimino and a bibliography.

Those interested in learning the differences between coriander and cilantro (which come from the same plant), clementines and tangerines, and prawns and shrimp need not look any further. Concise, informative, and a pleasure to dip into, this is an endlessly entertaining way to brush up on one's food groups.