Does Anyone Know Everything?

So, Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton was not a book I thought I’d ever find myself reading. I came across it on a random TikTok (of course) and decided why not because I needed a new audiobook for my drives to and from work. This is so out of my realm of genres being an autobiography/memoir of Dolly’s life, but it is one of the most relatable books I have ever read. When I say I loved this book, I mean LOVED, when I finished it, I started it over again. This is about Dolly’s life, and I want to give a specific age range, but really, she jumps all over from high school to 30 to when she was a child. As with the age range the book really jumps all over with it, one chapter you’re reading about a horrible first date at 12 and the next she’s 26. I really enjoyed the time jumps in this book and how all over the place it was, I think it added to the chaotic time in her life and made it more capturing. Dolly takes us on a journey through her life with family, friends, and boys. At first, I think, okay this is going to be some cute love story where she gives advice on relationships, but it was SO much more and better than that. Dolly walks you through the most pivotal times in her life. She talks about her college days and how much fun she had with her group of friends. How after college she struggles with rent, watching her friends be in relationships, and just finding who she is. She talks about how much she enjoyed partying, but how much it takes a toll and doesn’t fill you up. This book was so relatable and made me feel so much better at where I’m at in life. We always feel like we are the only ones that have felt or done something and sometimes that can be a lonely feeling, but Dolly helps you remember you’re not alone. This is a fun lighthearted read, but also touches on things that are darker and more difficult. Dolly sprinkles in fun anecdotes, along with some recipes (that I will be trying), and some good o’nostalgia. If you’re feeling you may be at a standstill in life or that you are transitioning and don’t really know where your direction is, this will help you feel seen. This could also be a read that you do because you want to remember your good times, your friends, and that you will figure it all out.

Favorite Quotes – “I am always half in life, half in a fantastical version of it in my head.”

“Because I am enough. My heart is enough. The stories and the sentences twisting around my mind are enough. I am fizzing and frothing and buzzing and exploding. I’m bubbling over and burning up. My early-morning walks and my late-night baths are enough. My loud laugh at the pub is enough. My piercing whistle, my singing in the shower, my double-jointed toes are enough. I am a just-pulled pint with a good, frothy head on it. I am my own universe; a galaxy; a solar system. I am the warm-up act, the main event, and the backing singers. And if this is it, if this is all there is- just me and the trees and the sky and the seas- I know now that that’s enough.”

“Life is a wonderful, mesmerizing, magical, fun, silly thing. And humans are astounding. We all know we’re going to die, and yet we still live. We shout and curse and care when the full bin bag breaks, yet with every minute that passes we edge closer to the end. We marvel at a nectarine sunset over the M25 or the smell of a baby’s head or the efficiency of flat-pack furniture, even though we know that everyone we love will cease to exist one day. I don’t know how we do it.”

“To choose to love is to take a risk”