Open Book

★★★★/5
Genre: Memoir
Read if you like: Pop Culture, Early 2000's, Female Memoirs, Celebrity Gossip

Open Book by Jessica Simpson was our Pittsburgh bookclub "bonus book" for April, and came highly recommended by one of my all-time besties Michelle. I don't usually read celebrity memoirs, but Michelle listened to the audiobook and loved it and we generally have similar taste so I decided to give it a go! I got my libro.fm copy from my favorite bookstore, Bethany Beach Books, and devoured it in a day and a half.

Open Book is a memoir written an read by Jessica Simpson, and it really does hook you right away. I love that she starts and ends with writing in journal-style (as though she's writing in her journal to us, the readers) because journaling plays such a big role in her life. The book is a perfect mix of juicy and introspective - it offers much more depth than I (and I expect most of America) was expecting and I'm so glad.

There were a lot of parts about Jessica's life both early on and later in the public eye that I hadn't know about her (I admit, I went down some serious internet rabbit holes to see what she was referencing at some points). I never watched Newlyweds, for instance, nor did I realize how large of a role faith played in her life. Of course, there are also a lot of celebrity name drops - which the messy b* in me loved - but I think the insights into deeper areas of her life are what really makes this book special. I sincerely appreciated how honest she was was about how her struggles with anxiety, pressure in the public eye, and body image contributed to her battle with addiction. When I was in middle/high school, Jessica Simpson exemplified the body "ideal" - the icon we all wanted to look like - so seeing her open up about how that impacted her mental health was extremely impactful. I found myself re-listening to various parts, and wish I could go back and read them to my younger self.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Like I said earlier, I really don't go for celebrity memoirs very often, but this one was well worth it. I generally prefer listening to memoirs and that was 100% the way to go with this one. I strongly recommend this book and can't wait to see if you guys agree!