This will make you want to find your diary

I was just introduced to David Nadelberg’s Mortified, based on his stage show of the same name, in which men and women take the spotlight to read aloud their own horrifically awkward adolescent diaries. The subtitle of this book says it all: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic. To say it’s only awkward is to skim the surface–the excerpts run the gamut from nightmare summer camp to drug addiction and sexual experimentation–but Nadelberg’s message that “we were all that same strange kid” rings true. Buy it at Amazon for $11.21 to read as a companion to your own diary. Read about the stage show in an NPR article or check out Mortified Nation to see a show near you or (gulp) participate. If my own teen diaries were not strictly meditations on Leonardo DiCaprio and acne, I might submit.