Approval Junkie My Heartfelt (And Occasionally Inappropriate) Quest To Please Just About Everyone And Ultimately Myself

Approval Junkie : My Heartfelt (And Occasionally Inappropriate) Quest To Please Just About Everyone, And Ultimately Myself
ISBN: 9780553419955
Publication Date: 17 July 2017

From comedian and journalist Faith Salie, of NPR's Wait WaitDon't Tell Me! and CBS News Sunday Morning, a collection of daring, funny essays chronicling the author's adventures during her lifelong quest for approval

Faith Salie has done it all in the name of validation. Whether it's trying to impress her parents with a perfect GPA, undergoing an exorcism in the hopes of saving her toxic marriage, or maintaining the BMI of "a flapper with a touch of dysentery," Salie is the ultimate approval seeker-an "approval junkie," if you will.

In "Miss Aphrodite," she recounts her strategy for winning the high school beauty pageant. ("Not to brag or anything, but no one stood a chance against my emaciated, spastic resolve.") "What I Wore to My Divorce" describes Salie's struggle to pick the perfect outfit to wear to the courthouse to divorce her "wasband." ("I envisioned a look that said, 'Yo, THIS is what you'll be missingeven though you've introduced your new girlfriend to our mutual friends, and she's a decade younger than I am and is also a fit model.") In "Ovary Achiever," she shares tips on how to ace your egg retrieval. ("Thank your fertility doctor when she announces you have 'amazing ovaries.' Try to be humble about it ['Oh,these old things'].") And in "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me About Batman's Nipples" she reveals the secrets behind Wait WaitDon't Tell Me! ("I study for this show like Tracy Flick on Adderall").

With thoughtful irreverence, Salie reflects on why she tries so hard to please others, and herself, highlighting a phenomenon that many people-especially women-experience at home and in the workplace. Equal parts laugh-out loud funny and poignant, Approval Junkie<...