Name: Shannon M Smith's review of Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins
Item: Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be
Rating: 4
Author: Shannon M Smith

Nichole Perkins

A passionate, magnetic memoir that explores writer and podcast host Nichole Perkins's obsession with pop culture and the challenges of navigating relationships as a Black woman through feminism and Southern mores. Pop culture is the Pandora's Box of our lives. Racism, wealth, poverty, beauty, inclusion, exclusion, and hope -- all of these intractable and unavoidable features course through the media we consume. Examining pop culture's impact on her life, Nichole Perkins takes readers on a rollicking trip through the last twenty years of music, media and the internet from the perspective of one southern Black woman. She explores her experience with mental illness and how the TV series Frasier served as a crutch, how her role as mistress led her to certain internet message boards that prepared her for current day social media, and what it means to figure out desire and sexuality and Prince in a world where marriage is the only acceptable goal for women. Combining her sharp wit, stellar pop culture sensibility, and trademark spirited storytelling, Nichole boldly tackles the damage done to women, especially Black women, by society's failure to confront the myths and misogyny at its heart, and her efforts to stop the various cycles that limit confidence within herself. By using her own life and loves as a unique vantage point, Nichole humorously and powerfully illuminates how to take the best pop culture has to offer and discard the harmful bits, offering a mirror into our own lives.

Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be

Mari

Shannon M Smith

Liyah 🤎

This books was nothing like what I was expecting. It read less like cultural commentary and more like an X-rated diary or overly detailed blog entry. One of the book's strengths was the author's comedic voice. On the negative side the book was repetitive, overly sexual for my taste, and the stories didn't seem to have a point or larger ethos. If it hadn't been an audiobook I'd likely would've DNF

sophia n

not nichole perkins talking about my fav episode of bones that literally is my depression go-to rewatch 🙌😩

I picked this book up purely because of how much I already loved Nicole Perkins. I’ve listened to TAK, other podcasts where she’s been a guest, and stories here and there in magazines like Bust. Her collection of memoir- style short stories are full of charm, sexual exploration, and pride as a Black woman. I enjoyed getting to know her more via these lovely tales.

“Hear the dark liquor of her laughter rippling behind her sentences” in this magnetic memoir as it explores a journalist’s obsession with pop culture and the difficulty of navigating relationships as a Black woman through fanfiction, feminism, and Southern mores (Saeed Jones). Pop culture is the Pandora’s Box of our lives. Racism, wealth, poverty, beauty, inclusion, exclusion, and hope -- all of these intractable and unavoidable features course through the media we consume. Examining pop culture’s impact on her life, Nichole Perkins takes readers on a rollicking trip through the last twenty years of music, media and the internet from the perspective of one southern Black woman. She explores her experience with mental illness and how the TV series Frasier served as a crutch, how her role as mistress led her to certain internet message boards that prepared her for current day social media, and what it means to figure out desire and sexuality and Prince in a world where marriage is the only acceptable goal for women. Combining her sharp wit, stellar pop culture sensibility, and trademark spirited storytelling, Nichole boldly tackles the damage done to women, especially Black women, by society’s failure to confront the myths and misogyny at its heart, and her efforts to stop the various cycles that limit confidence within herself. By using her own life and loves as a unique vantage point, Nichole humorously and powerfully illuminates how to take the best pop culture has to offer and discard the harmful bits, offering a mirror into our own lives.

Shannon M Smith &
Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins

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Shannon M Smith &Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins

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Join the club

Shannon M Smith &
Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins