There's a point where one person recommends a book and I want to read it but if like more than three people have mentioned it, I get weird about it and very "ugh, fine, I'll read the book everyone else likes" and of course it is, in fact, as deeply entertaining as everyone says it is and I'm kind of ridiculous and I know that about myself.
(There is actually a number of people talking about a book past which I will refuse to read it regardless of how much I will probably enjoy it and that says more about me than anyone else.)
It's a little odd getting to know someone through their books when the book is written with the presumption that you picked it up because you know them. But Irby's incredibly self-deprecating sense of humor and deep commitment to writing about normal things as if they are funny and awful things as if they are normal really works.
And my rule that you should always listen to memoirs when they are read by the author continues to serve me well.