Thanks to Netgalley and HarperOne for the ARC of this!

This was at times funny and relatable, I can definitely see the comparison to Jenny Lawson, and the description that drew me in felt delivered on. Some of the stories were not particularly funny at all and were instead sad and serious, so if you were looking for something to cheer you up about anxiety, something that holds funny the entire time, this might not be the right collection for you. I found, though, that the moments of humor helped to temper the more serious stories to make them more palatable. I also learned, that while teeth things in books are triggering for me, someone anxious talking about their teeth problems and scary situation only heightened that feeling, so if you have anxiety around some of the main topics of the stories, they might be harder to take. That isn't, like, surprising, but it is something to be cognizant of going in, and stay safe! Overall I am glad I read this and feel like it helped to see anxiety so clearly understood by someone else, as it helped me feel less alone in my anxiety.

This was a thoroughly entertaining book by Georgia Pritchett. It reminded me of a therapy technique called "Brain Dump" where you just write everything that is on your mind, not thinking about order or clarity. It was an interesting peek into the brain of a talented writer.

I'm having a hard time articulating what I didn't like about this book. Frankly, I'm a simple woman. I see a book about anxious women, I read. So as you may expect, I was very excited when I was gifted this ARC to read. The first few (very short) chapters were intriguing enough, and I liked the idea of a woman chronicling everything that had ever made her anxious. But, unfortunately, I found that the rapid switch from event to event left me dissatisfied with the lack of detail. The entire first half of the book felt very surface level and it wasn't until the last third, which detailed motherhood that I finally felt like Georgia was giving her own life the time and detail it deserves. Unfortunately, that was the section of the book I could no longer relate to, which is no fault of the story itself, but did bum me out that younger Georgia wasn't given that same care. I also personally just didn't jive with the humor of the book.

All in all, I think this is a great read for someone a bit more established in life than I am at the age of 21. But its format and humor style just didn't work for me, and unfortunately, I was not a massive fan.

Pure delight. A quick read, as the essays range from just a few sentences to a few pages, though would merit a re-read to really catch all the nuance of language and fine balance Pritchett strikes between hilarious and heartbreaking. Presented as her answer to her inability to verbalize her angst to her therapist, anyone who has experienced any level of anxiety (i.e., human being) can relate to her musings and anecdotes. Went into this collection with no expectations or much familiarity with the author's work, came away wanting more.

Full 5 stars - a rare combination of thought-provoking and pure entertainment.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A quippy, short-form entry list of all the things that make Pritchett anxious, from childhood through present day. Smart and clever, though it turns out reading about what makes other people anxious is rather anxiety-inducing, if I do say so myself.

I had no idea what to expect when I opened this book - I saw the author, seasoned comedy writer Georgia Pritchett, who has written for Veep, Succession, and other hilarious shows, and I picked it up. This book turned out to be a sweet, funny, heartwrenching book about a woman who's had anxiety her whole life, from being an anxiety-ridden young girl who sometimes slept under the bed so that the monsters could get a turn up top, to a young comedy writer who shrugged off being credited as "George" when a BBC radio program used her joke, to a newlywed desperate to become pregnant and reflecting on the cold irony of needing to visit an "infertility clinic" - like a cancer patient visiting a "death clinic."

She starts off with short one-page anecdotes from her childhood, about her father ("the Patriarchy"), her mother ("the Witch"), her pets, school, friends, and all her little eccentricities as a young girl. The stories get a little longer as she gets older, and the subject matter changes from being simple, fun musings to more serious issues of crippling anxiety, not being taken seriously as a woman writer in comedy, her own heartbreaking #MeToo story, the pain of miscarriages, and raising an autistic son. She talks a lot about her wife ("the Moose") and her two sons ("the Speck" and "the Scrap"). Georgia has clearly been through the wringer in so many parts of her life, and the fact that she can still see the wonder and humor in these situations is amazing.

The latter part of the book gets really hard to read, particularly when Georgia starts to describe this general, pervasive, all-consuming feeling of illness, suffering that's hard to describe, undiagnosable, physical, mental, emotional. She tries to put it into words in different ways, such as "I started to feel like I had a beaver inside me. But not just a normal beaver. Some kind of Dark Overlord Beaver. Gnawing at me. Slowly killing me from the inside. Probably doing some evil poos in there too." or "I felt like Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny when he's been hit over the head by Elmer Fudd. [...] I went to an acupuncturist. It turns out there isn't an acupuncture point for feeling like Bugs Bunny."

The reason that Georgia Pritchett wrote this whole book is because of this feeling of - hard to even call it just anxiety, but anxiety. She goes to see a therapist and simply can't speak. She's a writer who has no words. Her therapist suggests that she write down what she's feeling anxious about, so she writes this book. By the end, there's no resolution, no diagnosis, no outlook on how she can start to feel better. But she does say that writing this book helped in some way - to get her feelings out on paper. Anxiety isn't really something that's just solved, and I understand that you have to live with it, to some extent. But I do hope she finds some way out of this horrible fog she found herself in before she wrote the book.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed reading Pritchett's unique look on life, her little observations, and her journey with anxiety. Thank you to HarperOne for the ARC via Netgalley!

Many of the reviews so far on GoodReads use the words "bit-sized" to describe this book. I honestly can't think of a better description! It's a series of moments in time for Pritchett... almost as if it's an anecdote or a "so this was how my day went" sort of story. Many made me laugh. Many made me stop and ponder.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

My Mess Is A Bit Of A Life
The author writes about everyday situations we can relate to, sometimes with humor and sometimes not so funny.

A very quick read. The book is separated as a diary would be in short sections about various subjects.

Through short vignettes, Georgia Pritchett describes her lived experience with anxiety in a thoughtful and humorous way. I appreciated the way each chapter, some almost skeletal in structure, built upon the previous ones to flesh out an empathetic portrait of mental health struggles amidst challenges and success both personal and professional.

Besides being an accomplished comedy writer for shows like VEEP and Succession, Georgia Pritchett has been a lifelong worrier. From quirky fears as a kid that she concluded meant disaster lurked behind every corner, to working in a male dominated industry, to devastating miscarriages, to autism diagnoses for her two sons - Pritchett delivers raw, honest vignettes of her life to make readers laugh and cry with her.

Thanks to HarperOne and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. My Mess Is a Bit of a Life is scheduled for release on February 8, 2022.

I wasn't sure about this book when I started. Each entry is short, one page, I thought I couldn't get into a book like this. Well, it didn't take long for me to be totally hooked! I couldn't stop reading, just one more I'd tell myself over and over again. Georgia Pritchett's memoir is touching and emotional but she balances it all with her subtle, wry, witty humor to make it a pleasurable read. So many places I went back and re-read and wanted to remember! So, give this book and chance and you will be glad you did.

This is a quick funny read. I found Pritchett's anecdotes highly relatable because I also have suffered from anxiety since childhood. I appreciate how she is able to find humor in difficult moments. Some of the vignettes are as brief as one paragraph and some are essays that go one for a few pages. I found the different lengths a bit jarring. I might have liked the book more if it flowed better. I recommend this one for readers of humor, personal essay, and memoir.

I expected this book to be more of a complete memoir than a book full of essays, but I am knid of glad it turned out that way. I normally don't like books that are in this format but something about Georgia Pritchett's way with words had me on board from the beginning. Her ability to interweave tragedy and heartache, but humor and good times really makes these essays great to read, and left me wanting more.

This book is a collection of short snippets from the author's life told with honesty and humor as she and her partner raise children and prove that laughter is the best medicine. The chapters are very short, sometimes only one page and they focus on events from life making it a mix of humorous entertainment and part memoir.

I love short story anecdotes. This book was somewhat of a memoir but also short musings of things that have happened to Georgia. At first, I didn't know what to make of the book and was confused as it felt a bit like rambling. But as the stories went on, I found myself laughing out loud. It was great

This is not really a book. I feel like it would be a really funny calendar or something…. Maybe a coffee table book. The writing was good but the format was weird.

This is a hilarious and often touching account by award winning comedy writer Georgia Pritchett. She relates her take on her messy life with a keen intelligence and profound irony. You'll laugh out loud. You'll feel her pain. You'll love her. This is a keeper.

In a series of vignettes and anecdotes, Pritchett brings us into her "messy life" and shows us what it is to be her - warts and all. Some of the stories are cute and funny, some are heartbreaking but they are all heartfelt.

The cover and title are what completely drew me in. This book ended up having one of my favorite things (short chapters) but they were actually too short which led to the story not flowing well and feeling pretty choppy. I didn’t connect with the author’s sense of humor a lot of the time either but I’m still glad I read this. Thanks so much to NetGalley and HarperOne for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!