Jennifer Weiner was born in 1970 on an army base in Louisiana. She grew up in Connecticut and graduated with a degree in English literature from Princeton University. She is the author of the novels Good In Bed (2001), In Her Shoes (2002), which was turned into a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine; Little Earthquakes (2004), Goodnight Nobody (2005), the short story collection The Guy Not Taken (2006), Certain Girls (2008), the sequel to Good in Bed, and her most recent, Best Friends Forever (2009). Her next book, Fly Away Home, will be published by Atria Books on July 13, 2010. There are more than 11 million copies of her books in print in 36 countries. She can be found on Facebook, on Twitter, and, in real life, in Philadelphia, where she lives with her family. Read her review of Awkward Family Photos:
Samuel Butler once said "Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself."
If that’s true, than God help Mike Bender and Doug Chernack, who waded into the toxic slurry of bad mullets, spiral perms, skin conditions, leg warmers, wet pants, creepy Moms, funny uncles, and truly disturbing Santas, and came back with this hilarious collection of awkward family photos. Awkward Family Photos reminds anyone with a dusty shoebox full of snapshots of unfortunate fashion choices, band trips, braces, bad bridesmaids’ dresses and that one time you got talked into dressing up and going to the Renaissance Faire, that you are not alone. This isn’t just a book, it’s a public service on the page, a living, breathing, laugh-out-loud reminder that no matter how badly you dressed, how oddly you posed, and how weird Uncle Dave who lived in the basement was, somebody out there had it worse. Particularly the girl on page 77.
"This is the best book of embarrassing and strange photos of people who look like my family that I have ever seen."
—Judd Apatow
"Being a test tube baby doesn't seem such a bad idea after looking at these folks. I laughed till it hurt. To paraphrase Tolstoy... every family is freaky in its own way. There's so much love here- but maybe a little more pain, or desperation, or bewilderment. I often feel slightly sad or guilty that I'm not closer with my own family- but looking at this bunch I sense we all have something in common and I'm far from being alone."
—David Byrne
"Awkwardness has never looked so cool. Finally there's a book that celebrates the cringe-worthy family photo we all have buried in an album somewhere."
— Amanda Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of Celebutantes
"Anything that both makes me laugh and think my family isn't so embarrassing deserves to be a book."
—Joel Stein, Time magazine columnist
"I wept with laughter fourteen times while reading this book and snorted aloud twice. I dare you to find a higher weep/snort ratio in any other publication."
—Karen McCullah Lutz, screenwriter of Legally Blonde and The Ugly Truth
"Awkward Family Photos is the funniest book that I've read in a long time. It reminds you that it's okay to laugh at yourself and celebrates the family that made you awkward in the first place."
—Mia Kirshner, The L Word
"Awkward Family Photos is absolutely hysterical, yet at the same time, it's a stunningly accurate photographic record of the late 20th century American family. Now I can be certain I was not alone in my awkwardness."
—Adam Herz, Writer, American Pie I, II, III
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