Everybody’s Favorite: Tales from the World’s Worst Perfectionist

Morning Brew contributor Stone debuts with a witty collection of essays about growing up a perfectionist in the thinness-obsessed, tabloid-crazed 2000s and beyond. She charts her long struggle with body image, from being labeled a “seventeen-minute miler” in elementary school gym class and garnering praise for shedding “baby weight” in high school to eating issues that lingered into her 20s and the measure of bodily acceptance she eventually found through weight lifting. Elsewhere, she recalls growing up in a repressive evangelical home and struggling to reconcile how she could “be pure of heart when my brain was on twenty-four-hour taboo cinema mode,” bombarded by doubts about God’s existence and “major, major pervert” thoughts. Stone’s at her best when probing the psychological complexities of young womanhood, as when she details her college-age efforts to be a “cool” girl to attract men, including a blueberry vodka–swilling “upperclassman with a long Eastern European last name, a wry smile, and a tiny, tiny butt.” Stone’s painfully sharp observations will draw readers in, and her honesty will keep them enthralled. This will go a long way toward helping readers feel less alone. (July)