From comedian and journalist Faith Salie, of NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and CBS News Sunday Morning, a collection of daring, funny essays chronicling the author’s escapades during her lifelong search for approval

Faith Salie has done it all in the name of validation. Whether she’s looking to make an impression her parents with a perfect GPA, undergoing an exorcism to save lots of her toxic marriage, or cooking a 3D excavator wedding cake on her behalf son’s birthday, Salie may be the greatest authorization seeker-an “ about Authorization Junkie: Journeys in Caring AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF approval junkie,” in the event that you will.

In this collection of daring, honest essays, Salie shares tales from her lifelong quest for silver stars, recounting her technique for earning (extremely Southern) high school beauty pageant; her struggle to pick the ideal outfit to put on to her divorce; and her difficulty falling in like again, and conceiving, in the years following her mother’s death.

With thoughtful irreverence, Salie reflects on why she tries so hard to make sure you others, and herself, highlighting a trend that lots of people-especially women-experience in the home and in the workplace. Equal parts laugh-out loud funny and poignant, Authorization Junkie can be one woman’s trip to recognizing that seeking acceptance from others is definitely more than simply getting them to like you-it’s challenging yourself to achieve, and survive, more than you ever thought you could.