It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too), Nora McInerney. Paperback.

Raw, witty, real.

In this memoir, Nora McInerny shares tightly composed, highly entertaining and often heartbreaking anecdotes from her life around the common theme of her husband’s terminal brain cancer. That McInerny finds humor and light in the months after suffering the losses of her husband, her father, and a miscarriage (all in a six week period) is nothing short of heroic.

At the time of penning her memoir, McInerny was a widow under the age of 35 tasked with raising a small child on her own. She takes control of her life in a way that will make you want to cut through all the bullshit in your own and finally answer the question: “What do I really want?” And more importantly: “What am I waiting for?” McInerny’s writing is crisp and accessible, with moments of self-deprecating humor interlaced with poignant prose. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys skilled, authentic storytelling—as well as a good cry.

Favorite quotation (hard to choose!): “I’ve lived a life, I realize, of dirty pain. Of obsession and anxiety, of guilt over not living my own precious life to the fullest, whatever the fuck that even means. Aaron released me from that little self-imposed, self-conscious jail cell. He let me be myself, and he loved me even though I never fully put the cap back on anything when I’m done using it.”

Bonus! Favorite Chapter: “Lean In”