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    What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir
    What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir
    What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir
    Audiobook7 hours

    What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir

    Written by Kristin Newman

    Narrated by Kristin Newman

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Kristin Newman spent her twenties and thirties dealing with the stresses of her high-pressure job as a television comedy writer, and the anxieties of watching most of her friends get married and start families while she wrestled with her own fear of both. Not ready to settle down and yet loathe to become a sad-sack single girl, Kristin instead started traveling the world, often alone, for a few months each year, falling madly in love with attractive locals who provided moments of the love she wanted without the cost of the freedom she needed. She introduces listeners to the Israeli bartenders, Argentinian priests, Finnish poker players, and sexy Bedouins who helped her transform into "Kristin-Adjacent" on the road-a quieter, less judgmental, and, yes, sluttier version of herself at home.

    Ultimately, Kristin's adventures led her to a better understanding of what she was actually running away from at home and why every life hurdle seemed to put her on a transatlantic flight to the unknown. Equal parts laugh-out-loud storytelling; thoughtful, candid reflection; and wanderlust-inspiring travel tales, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding is a compelling and hilarious debut that will have listeners scrambling to renew their passports.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 30, 2014
    ISBN9781494571856
    What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir

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      My year off was also interesting, in that I didn’t feel any less loved, or cherished, or wanted. Why? Because my life is already rich with soulmates, and I got the chance to behold that. You don’t have to shag someone for them to be a soulmate. We do

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    Reviews for What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding

    4/5

    117 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      An endless man search while telling us all that she was not on an endless man search, sigh
      However, it was an entertaining book. I think reading it would have been difficult but her reading style on the audiobook was friendly, and I ended up rooting for her. There was a bit of navel gazing, but, she had the foresight to pierce it.
      Overall the audiobook was an excellent 'no pressure' read that is like an afternoon with an acquaintance who likes to tell stories.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I am so on the fence with this one, maybe we are too close in age/situation, but choose other paths that I will have to do some heavy thinking before I write an actual review.
    • 5/5
      Inspirational, humbling to know there are other women like the author exist. Will listen/read again!
    • 5/5
      I’m leaving soon for my first solo backpacking trip and I’m so glad I read this. I learned what to do and what not to do while simultaneously being entertained - Kristin is so funny!! Read this. You won’t regret (unless you don’t like hearing about a lot of sex).
    • 5/5
      Loved the authors candid demeanour and found her stories funny and relatable. I seldom see books that have the author exploring these themes in their 30s and enjoyed the perspective. Reignited my passion for travel and realized it’s never too late to have adventures.
    • 4/5
      I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that this book is hilarious. Newman's voice is warm, engaging, and deeply honest (in a more than you wanted to know kind of way). As a woman in my late thirties, I found a lot to connect with here, and some inspiration as well -- my only sigh of disappointment is that, much like Eat, Pray, Love, it starts out with a woman who learns to embrace her enviable single life and ends up with the final romance she was looking for all along. You know, we haven't all found that final, blissful, romance. And I'm a little tired of all the books insisting that it's coming. What rescues that arc is Newman's unfailingly engaging, realistic voice, that promises more crazy highjinks to come in a life well lived.

      Advance copy provided by Edelweiss.

    • 5/5
      I'm not quite sure why I didn't give this the whole 5 stars, but 4.5 felt right, even though I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about it. Although I could have happily lived out my days not knowing about the prostitute named Victoria in Amsterdam. This is a book, I think, that one will either really like, or find to be a pointless, narcissistic journey of self-denial, depending on one's personal life experiences. For me, it resonated strongly. I lived the PG version of this woman's life for almost 10 years, never stopping long in any one place. Any relationships I had were with men who lived progressively further and further away until, upon hearing I was being setup with a co-worker's Australian best mate, another friend quipped that anyone else from here on out would have to be geographically closer simply because I couldn't get any further away. (Fortunately, the Aussie stuck and he's now my DH.) So, I could relate, albeit on a much calmer, drug-free level. I get the journey she went on and how she got where she ultimately wanted to be, in spite of herself. As a result, I loved reading this book; plus, it's hysterical and it's well-written. I went into it thinking it was going to be told from more of a "why I chose not to have kids" POV, which it isn't at all, but what it was, was even better. If the first line of this book appeals to you: "I am not a slut in the United States of America." then I strongly recommend this book. [PopSugar 2015 Reading challenge: A MemoirI][Sock Poppet's 2015 Read-By-the-Month Reading Challenge: new to me author]
    • 5/5
      Absolutely loved it. Sparked something in me I thought I had lost.
    • 5/5
      i loved this one. I usually love reading memoirs, and can find the good in all of them, even if some tend to drag on in parts a bit.

      This one wasn't like that at all. I enjoyed every page and every mile we traveled.
      The writing is quick, witty, amusing, entertaining and engaging.

      I could identify with Kristin all the way through. I haven't done near that amount of single vacationing, but I still get her. I hope she writes another memoir in a few years....I want to know how her story continues.
      And maybe if Rob has a single brother, send him my way LOL.
    • 4/5
      I loved this bravely honest tale of an American woman who traveled her way through her twenties and most of her thirties trying to find love (even if it was just for a night or two each time)and adventure. Her story is told through the voice of an experienced and talented comedy writer. This book speaks to the part of me who would have loved to done exactly what she did, but I didn't have the courage or financial ability to take the journey she took. A great mix of stories about the foreign lands she visited and the foreign men she spent time with, I was interested the whole way through. The fact that she had a happy ending definitely grounds her tales of singledom. I won this book via First Reads and am very glad I did.
    • 4/5
      For anyone who has traveled solo to distant lands (during their relative youth), this book just might be for you. Kristin Newman was fearless when it came to hitting the road in a distant land just to experience the ways and culture of other people (and hopefully to engage in a romantic tryst which lasts no longer than the walk to the plane's departure gate to head towards home). She, however, was not so fearless when it came to interpersonal entanglements back home. That part she clearly found to be a bit messy.Being an accomplished sitcom writer, Newman had me busting a gut as she relayed the humorous moments of discovery during her travels. Her disappointment in a non-adventurous newbie traveler mirrored my own unfortunate experience with a similar unelightened traveler. So much of what she wrote resonated with my own personal experience (although, hers turned up the "heat" a fair bit over mine).If human sexuality makes you queasy, you may want to pass on this one. However, Newman's descriptions are merely suggestive and not too graphic. This memoir was a refreshing walk down memory lane and brought back a flood of warm and happy travel memories. Well done!Synopsis:Kristin Newman spent much of her twenties and thirties buying dresses to wear to her friends' weddings and baby showers. Not ready to settle down and in need of an escape from her fast-paced job as a sitcom writer, Kristin instead traveled the world, often alone, for several weeks each year. In addition to falling madly in love with the planet, Kristin fell for many attractive locals, men who could provide the emotional connection she wanted without costing her the freedom she desperately needed. Kristin introduces readers to the Israeli bartenders, Finnish poker players, sexy Bedouins, and Argentinean priests who helped her transform into "Kristin-Adjacent" on the road–a slower, softer, and, yes, sluttier version of herself at home. Equal parts laugh-out-loud storytelling, candid reflection, and wanderlust-inspiring travel tales, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding is a compelling debut that will have readers rushing to renew their passports
    • 1/5
      The author has a very stressful job and very little time for a personal life - although she has had a few long term relationships. When her TV show goes on hiatus she travels, having sex with seemingly everyone she meets. I felt kind of sorry for her, partly because this was her life of meaningless trysts, and partly because she wrote a book documenting these exploits.
    • 4/5
      While we were breeding the author seems to have been traveling the world having sex with men from foreign countries. Her job as a writer for many popular sitcoms is barely mentioned. The book deals more with what I see as Newman's cynical views about relationships. To paraphrase - No matter how much you love each other love will die. She gets from observing her parents failed marriage. So, ninety percent of the book is her world tour of sexual encounters "love" with foreign men with a somewhat surprising ending. I just think that she finally matures. For a comedy writer this book is not very humorous. I enjoyed it because it was well written and had a voyeuristic kind of appeal.