I posted a couple months ago about an error in judgment involving a Youtube celebrity.  When I first saw Shane Dawson as a guest in another Youtube video, he seemed so bitter and unimpressed with the world that I never thought I’d end up watching his personal vlogs.  If you told me in 2014 that I’d be buying his book in 2015, I would have laughed and assumed it was because he wrote some brilliant horror novel.  Instead, I saw the thorny exterior for what it was, and found a deeply emotional, kind and caring person underneath.  Nobody knows the life of a late bloomer like a guy who had his first kiss at 21, and that story is in the book.

I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson reads like out of sequence episodes in a dark sitcom.  Shane spills emotional life events, each with embarrassing and tragic beginnings, and each ending in positive notes of enlightenment and success.  I don’t cry reading the typical “tearjerker” book, but one chapter in this book had me crying ugly tears.  He shares what it’s like to grow up in an overweight, sexually ambiguous body, how he overcame certain obstacles, and how some old wounds never heal.  More importantly, he highlights the struggle that everyone faces in daily life whether we look like we have it together or are a total wreck for all to see.

This is a short book, and the division of essays makes it great for picking up when you just have a few minutes to read.  I recommend this to anyone with awkward teenage years, which is just about everyone.  Definitely check it out.