Friendkeeping: A Field Guide to the People You Love, Hate, and Can't Live Without

From the beloved and bestselling memoirist comes a funny and affecting look at making the most of our friendships in an age of isolation.

With her inimitable wit and disarming warmth, Julie Klam shares with us her experiences, advice, and insight in Friendkeeping, a candid, hilarious look at some of the most meaningful and enjoyable relationships in our lives: our friendships.

After her bestselling You Had Me at Woof, about relationships with dogs, Klam now turns her attention to human relationships to great effect. She examines everything—from the curious world of online friendship to the intersection of friendship and motherhood. She even explores how to hang on to our friendships in the toughest circumstances: when schadenfreude rears its ugly head or when we don’t like our friend’s mate.

Klam relays a mix of brand-new and time-tested wisdom—she finds that longtime friends really can grow up without growing apart; that communication is key; that friendship is one of life’s great, free sources of happiness; that you’re not a friend, just a doormat, if you don’t get back what you give—and her discoveries range from amusing to deeply important.

Charming, bracingly honest, and compulsively readable, Friendkeeping is an irresistible book, a treat that you’ll want to share with your best friends right away. Brimming with keen observations and laugh-out-loud moments, it’s delivered in the lively, accessible voice that Julie Klam’s readers have come to know and love.

Julie Klam grew up in Bedford, New York. She has written for such publications as O: The Oprah Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, and The New York Times Magazine, and for the VH1 television show Pop-Up Video, where she earned an Emmy nomination. She lives in New York City.