What better to pair with Lindy West’s new humorous memoir, Shrill, than one of my favorite pop punk songs of the mid 90s? I present Libel by the band Tilt:

I think that some of my feelings about internet trolls can be summed up in the lyric, “You just want the chance to show. How little you really know.”

I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of Shrill at BookCon from the Hachette Publishing booth. It was pretty awesome that Lindy came out to do a signing right before the book’s release date, and we were given finished copies. While waiting in line one of the awesome Hachette representatives gave us some lovely Shrill branded megaphones.

It took me about a week to read Shrill, not because it was a difficult read, but rather because I wanted to savor and think about each essay.  There was so much thought packed into such a small book. From dealing with internet harassment, how the comedy scene can be toxic to women, to fat body acceptance, and dealing with the death of a parent. I related to much of what Lindy put out there, and what I couldn’t exactly relate to, I took  as an opportunity to be educated by an extremely smart woman. I laughed out loud multiple times, I growled in anger and I shed tears of empathy. A memoir that touches all of those emotions is so worth reading. I highly suggest picking up Shrill as soon as you can. If you ever have the chance of seeing Lindy West speak, do that as well. I saw her at the Women In Secularism 3 conference and she was spectacular. Her unapologetic voice is one that all should listen to.