Why am I passionate about this?

I am the creator of an online magazine that features conversations between my gullible self and my moody, hissy, know-it-all cat, Marcy. Marcy the Cat even has her own snarky but popular advice column on the site. Obviously, I have a penchant for the absurd. I love the humor that skewers our utter ridiculousness as humans and even calls us out. Tough love, audacious advice, and brutal hilarity are my forte. With just a bit of inappropriateness. Basically, advice and stories that encourage us to shape up or ship out. But with giggles.


I wrote...

Dear Marcy... Ask Her Anything And Hope She Doesn't Answer!

By Cynthia Mance, Marina Daineko (illustrator),

Book cover of Dear Marcy... Ask Her Anything And Hope She Doesn't Answer!

What is my book about?

What do you get when you ask a cat for advice? That’s a question I’ve often asked myself. I mean,…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Yes Please

Cynthia Mance Why did I love this book?

I love bad-ass women who take the world by storm. I love it when they’re funny. I love it when they share their journey. Amy Poehler, badass writer/comedian, wrote her memoir in the form of a self-help book. The self-help aspect is in disguise, though. You’re supposed to think it’s a memoir/fun celebrity tell-all, but it’s way more than that. It’s a bossy bitchy blueprint on how to get through life with humor and honesty and loads of funny stories. 

Some of her advice: Talk To Yourself Like You’re Ninety and Treat Your Career Like A Bad Boyfriend. Amy’s snarky, smart, and silly stories about her successes and failures inspire me to be a badass, too. Humor and snark and advice. Yes, please!

By Amy Poehler,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Yes Please as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE NEW YORK TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

In Amy Poehler's highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much). Powered by Amy's charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.


Book cover of He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys

Cynthia Mance Why did I love this book?

I wish Greg Behrendt were my brother: that awesome guy in my life who loves me unconditionally, thinks Im the greatest, but tells it to me straight. Unflinchingly and unapologetically. Noogie sandwiches and all.

What I loved most about this book is Gregs unfiltered and (sometimes horrifyingly) honest dating advice for the modern female. This is the guy who tells you exactly how to navigate the male mind, stop deluding yourself, and stop wasting your time. Part cheerleader, part therapist, part drill sergeant, part stand-up comic, Greg does not want you to settle for any guy who isnt over the moon for you. I love a good tough love approach. Greg and Liz deliver. Yum.

By Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked He's Just Not That Into You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Celebrating twenty years since its release, He’s Just Not That Into You remains a game-changer, offering no-nonsense advice for how to spot when a guy just isn’t interested—saving you from wasting time making excuses for a dead-end relationships. Inspired by a memorable episode of the iconic show Sex and the City, it holds its ground as the best relationship advice you'll ever get!

For ages, women have come together over coffee, cocktails, or late-night phone chats to analyze the puzzling behavior of men.

He’s afraid to get hurt again.
Maybe he doesn’t want to ruin the friendship.
Maybe he’s intimidated…


Book cover of If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury

Cynthia Mance Why did I love this book?

Geraldine DeRuiter validates the outrage I feel at the absolute absurdity of being a woman in America. This is because she is just as outraged, but she conveys it with sarcastic, self-deprecating, and biting humor. 

Reading If You Can’t Take The Heat is like having margaritas with your BFF and tipsily yelling at the top of your voices about the injustices of everyday misogyny. Your hilarious, ferocious, fantastically brilliant BFF, that is. All while stuffing your face with chips and guacamole and simultaneously worrying about packing on the pounds. You’ll gossip about food, family, and feminism, and all will magically be linked together by DeRuiter. It’s absurd. It’s infuriating. It's cathartic. And I have never felt so seen.

By Geraldine DeRuiter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked If You Can't Take the Heat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the James Beard Award–winning blogger behind The Everywhereist come hilarious, searing essays on how food and cooking stoke the flames of her feminism.

“With charm and humor, Geraldine DeRuiter welcomes us into her personal history and thus reconnects us with ourselves.”—Mikki Kendall, New York Times bestselling author of Hood Feminism

When celebrity chef Mario Batali sent out an apology letter for the sexual harassment allegations made against him, he had the gall to include a recipe—for cinnamon rolls, of all things. Geraldine DeRuiter decided to make the recipe, and she happened to make food journalism history…


Book cover of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar

Cynthia Mance Why did I love this book?

This book took my breath away.

This is no pithy or glib advice column book bound by word counts and editorial edits. Her advice is lengthy and considered and beautifully interwoven with her poignant personal stories. Her advice is raw and poetic. Not flowery or pretty poetry, but punch you in your soul, pierce directly into your heart truth bombs.

It’s tough love to the extreme. Every single entry took my breath away with its unflinching rawness. And, at the same time, delivered with compassion and care that I felt somehow … loved. There’s humor in this book, but it’s subtle, and it captures the wonder and madness and beauty and crazy courageousness needed to live in our bizarre world. 

By Cheryl Strayed,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Tiny Beautiful Things as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES •NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK • An anniversary edition of the bestselling collection of "Dear Sugar" advice columns written by the author of #1 bestseller Wild—featuring a new preface and six additional columns.

For more than a decade, thousands of people have sought advice from Dear Sugar—the pseudonym of bestselling author Cheryl Strayed—first through her online column at The Rumpus, later through her hit podcast, Dear Sugars, and now through her popular Substack newsletter. Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many…


Book cover of Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Cynthia Mance Why did I love this book?

I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride that never stopped while reading this book. It was thrilling and scary and fun. I also couldn’t stop bursting into laughter that ranged from high-pitched shrieking to low-key chuckling, all while nervously looking around to see if anyone in my proximity would ask what was so funny. Because … I don’t know what was so funny.

Everything I was laughing at was inappropriate. Concerning. Completely not funny if I thought about it. But that is the genius of Jenny Lawson’s memoir. Her wild and disturbing journey through life and her ability to handle the insanity with absurd humor and sweetness makes devouring her book the most fun roller coaster in the world. 

By Jenny Lawson,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Let's Pretend This Never Happened as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny'
Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors

Have you ever embarrassed yourself so badly you thought you'd never get over it?

Have you ever wished your family could be just like everyone else's?

Have you ever been followed to school by your father's herd of turkeys, mistaken a marriage proposal for an attempted murder or got your arm stuck inside a cow? OK, maybe that's just Jenny Lawson . . .

The bestselling memoir from one of America's most outlandishly hilarious writers.


Explore my book 😀

Dear Marcy... Ask Her Anything And Hope She Doesn't Answer!

By Cynthia Mance, Marina Daineko (illustrator),

Book cover of Dear Marcy... Ask Her Anything And Hope She Doesn't Answer!

What is my book about?

What do you get when you ask a cat for advice? That’s a question I’ve often asked myself. I mean, who doesn’t, right? Um … right? 

Well, I figured my cat wouldn’t beat around the bush, wouldn’t placate, wouldn’t tiptoe around feelings. In fact, my cat would probably hurt feelings with her honesty. And, because she’s a cat, she’d be funny. So I asked. And she answered. Somewhat malevolently but always truthfully. From relationships to fashion, from Zoom etiquette to cat hair. Because, really, we all need a good telling-off from an opinionated cat.

Book cover of Yes Please
Book cover of He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
Book cover of If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury

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Sor Juana, My Beloved

By MaryAnn Shank,

Book cover of Sor Juana, My Beloved

MaryAnn Shank Author Of Sor Juana, My Beloved

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.

MaryAnn's book list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

What is my book about?

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, this brilliant 17th century nun flew through Mexico City on the breeze of poetry and philosophy. She met with princes of the Church, and with the royalty of Spain and Mexico. Then she met a stunning, powerful woman with lavender eyes, la Vicereine Maria Louisa, and her life changed forever. As her fame grew, she dared to challenge the diabolical Archbishop once too often, and he threw her in front of the Inquisition, where she stood, alone.

Sor Juana's work is studied still today, and justifiably so. Scholars study her months on end; mystics…

Sor Juana, My Beloved

By MaryAnn Shank,

What is this book about?

This astonishingly brilliant 17th century poet and dramatist, this nun, flew through Mexico City on wings of inspiration. Having no dowry, she chose the life of a nun so that she might learn, so that she might write, so that she might meet the most fascinating people of the western world. She accomplished all of that, and more.

One day a woman with violet eyes, eyes the color of passion flowers, entered her life. It was the new Vicereine, Maria Luisa. As the two most powerful women in Mexico City, the bond between them crossed politics and wound them in…


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