Notes to Boys - by Pamela Ribon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn't Share in Public is a mortifying memoir from bestselling author and tv/film writer Pamela Ribon. Miserably trapped in small town Texas with no invention of the internet in sight, Ribon spent countless hours of her high school years writing letters to her (often unrequited) crushes. The big question is: why did she always keep a copy for herself? Wince along with Ribon as she tries to understand exactly how she ever thought she'd win a boy's heart by writing him a letter that began: "Share with me your soul," and ends with some remarkably awkward erotica. You'll come for the incredibly bad poetry, you'll stay for the incredibly bad poetry about racism.

Review Quotes

Praise for Notes to Boys:

One of The Hairpin's 15 books to read now

A Hello Giggles Item of the Day

"...what makes the book so good is that Grown-up Pam has enormous affection for Little Pam, who is, like a little sister, horribly embarrassing on the one hand and a fiercely protected loved one on the other. It's a collection of embarrassing stories and mortifying notes, yes, but it's also a pretty deeply felt memoir about her introduction to boys and sex and--perhaps most painfully--learning when not to tell people how you feel."
--Linda Holmes, NPR Monkey See and NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour

Imaginative children of the 1980s and '90s will likely see themselves in Ribon's writing, as will like-minded teens today.
--Booklist

"...I enjoyed the book, and I rooted for [Little Pam]...hang around for the payoff."
--Tiffany Turpin Johnson, LitReactor

Praise for Pamela Ribon:

"Ribon's steadfastness in this character's lack of likability is admirable. She never panders by making Smidge somehow have some kind of epiphany of character simply because she is dying. Ribon is unwavering in what she shows us of Smidge and the novel is the better for it."
--Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist on Smidge from You Take It From Here

"...a book with all the elements I love: best friends, "found" families, Ribon's trademark humor and vivid writing (the description of Smidge's cancerous cough is heart-stopping)."
--Jennifer Weiner, author of Good In Bed and The Next Best Thing

"You Take It From Here is ... like a planetarium, where what matters is the feeling of the whole... You get to the end... and you have that sense that you've heard a whole story that seemed to be about skin-and-bones people, to the point where part of you is still worrying about them, like they're phantom limbs."
--Linda Holmes, NPR

"Don't let the cover ... fool you: ... the story that unfolds is anything but just another chick lit beach read. Ribon has undoubtedly made you laugh in the past... but with You Take It From Here, she will make you cry. Buckets."
--Danielle Turchiano, Made Possible By Pop Culture

"You Take It From Here was my first experience with author Pamela Ribon, but it won't be my last. She has a wry sense of humor, a unique way of putting words together, and even managed to write a humorous book about a dying wife and mother."
--Books and Movies

"If the standard of a good book is the emotions it conveys, the thoughts it sparks, and the way you find it touching your life after you close the pages, because the story sits with you (and I think it is), then this book is more than good. It is spectacular."
--FromTracie.com

"One of those rare books where the characters feel like your best friends from the first page. You'll laugh and cry as Pamela Ribon takes you on a colorful, rich and unforgettable journey of friendship."
--Kristin Harmel, author of The Sweetness of Forgetting

"Hilarity and heartbreak compete, but ultimately hope wins in this thoroughly delightful story about what it means to be a woman, a mother, a best friend. I can't wait to pass this book along to every woman who ever mattered to me. Pamela Ribon has a huge, fresh voice, and this is her best book yet."
--Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty

"I giggled, I laughed, I got all angry and emo--and once I made sure no one was looking--I cried."
--The Readers Cafe

About the Author

Pamela Ribon is a bestselling author, TV writer, screenwriter, roller derby girl, and Wonder Killer. In addition to her novels (one of which landed her a spot in the Oxford English Dictionary under "Muffin Top" (look it up.)), Pamela continues to work in film and television, notably having written for the Emmy award-winning show Samantha Who?. Her stage productions have become international cult sensations (Call Us Crazy: The Anne Heche Monologues), and she's been a featured performer at HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival. On the Internet she's known as "Pamie," where she's been running her wildly successful website pamie.com for a very long time, long enough to have been nominated for a "Lifetime Achievement" Bloggie. Pamela lives in Los Angeles, where she writes and writes and writes.