Sneak Peek at Lena Dunham’s Book

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
During a panel at the Book Expo America — held at the Jacob Javits center this weekend— Lena Dunham shared a sneak peek from her upcoming book, “Not That Kind of Girl.”
On stage with Alan Cumming, Martin Short, and Cólm Toibín, Dunham admitted that she loosely based her essays on the mother-of-all-memoirs/advice/general commiserator guide, Helen Gurley Brown’s “Having It All.”
Our friends at The Cut have the passage, taken from the book’s introduction:
And if I can take what I’ve learned to make one menial job easier for you, prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel like you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine was worthwhile. I’m already predicting my future shame in thinking I had anything to offer you, but also my future glory in having stopped you from trying an expensive juice cleanse, or thinking that it was your fault when the person that you’re dating suddenly backs away because they’re intimidated by the clarity of your personal mission here on Earth.
“Not That Kind of Girl” hits bookstores in September.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
