Improve

Improve: How I Discovered Improv and Conquered Social Anxiety is the best book I have ever read (so far!). The book is written by Alex Graudins and it is almost like a memoir. In a graphic novel, she, at first, has social anxiety—a condition where she virtually has negative thoughts and almost no friends. But when she discovers an improv class at the Contemporary Theatre Company, her life is changed.

This is very relatable to me as I take an improv class on Outschool! As a result, some of the improv games described in the book seemed familiar, but I had never heard of “musical improv” before, other than improv in jazz music. But the best part comes at the end. Alex tells us, even those who never plan on doing improv, a special message: “Bad things are always gonna happen, and some people will never click with you, so if you’re gonna fail anyway, you might as well fail as your true self….You just gotta fail and keep moving forward.” What a nice thought!

I especially love the pictures, which are fabulous (considering Alex Graudins is a cartoonist) and the story. I give this book five stars.