Well, This Is Exhausting: Essays

GQ sex columnist Benoit debuts with a riotous collection of essays illuminating her rocky path to self-acceptance. More than anything, she notes, “It’s the story of how I learned how to be good for myself rather than for other people.” Starting with her 1990s childhood, Benoit writes candidly about her life as an overachieving youth in Kirkwood, Mo.; her years as a worrisome college student; and her eventual transformation to burgeoning young feminist. After her parents divorced when she was young, she and her sister bounced back and forth between their mom and dad’s lofty expectations, which always caused “a film of blame.” This led to extraordinary anxiety for Benoit, which followed her throughout her adolescence, as she aimed to please everyone but herself. But after trying everything from reinventing herself as a “chill girl” working at a hockey warehouse to being a beta tester in college for the dating app Bumble—which was “full of filthy-hot men”—she discovered Twitter and an army of female comedians railing against lousy dudes and finally realized a man’s approval wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. “I had reached another plane of existence and that existence was ‘If you fucking speak to me, I’ll murder you.’ ” Heartening and hilarious, this is prime summer reading material. Agent: Jessica Felleman, Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. (July)