I am not a fan of Chelsea Handler, have never seen her show and when I have caught glimpses of her shtick I often find her irritating. So color me surprised at deriving some actual laugh out loud enjoyment from this memoir.
Chelsea's drug-addled attempts to hook-up with many and varied men from her early to mid twenties provided a lovely escape from the mundane. Oftentimes Chelsea found herself in absolutely cringe-worthy situations which made me both want to read on and simultaneously close the book! My favorite story came from the telling of her short fling with a Vegas stripper. You must read it to find out more.
This book is not at all for the feint of heart. Chelsea is crude, explicit and without remorse. I might call this a guilty pleasure as it was often unnerving to be seen reading this book in public - but the humor infused in this quick read got me through those trying moments pretty easily. If reading about dalliances with little-people and encounters with even odder cruise ship performers are not your cup of tea, you will want to skip this book. But if you are interested in seeing how someone could hit bottom and make their way back to the top, this glimpse into a life is well worth your time.
Whew! This book is the final entrant for my 52 in 52 challenge! When my bibliophile best friend Lara suggested that we take on this challenge, I was fearful and excited at the same time. I mean - I love to read, how hard could it be? Oftentimes it was not as hard as many suspected it would be - but trust me, I suffered my trials and tribulations get some of these books completed in the time allotted! I still had to go to work, raise a child and throughout most of the project work on and maintain a relationship. The kid got raised, the job is still there, but sadly, the boyfriend did not make it. It wasn't because I was reading so much (I hope!!) but because relationships are hard. I learned that this year and so many other things while reading my way through the year.
Lara suggested that this be our last book and I was happy to take it on. I will not lie, I was excited by the very slimness of the volume. Ms. Quindlen offers that she was a young, escapist reader - much like myself. I would escape into Little Women, The Wizard of Oz, or anything else that I could check out from the library. I learned about kissing and boys and being a responsible citizen and far-off places from the volumes of books that I read. So reading changed my life the first time I cracked open Danny and The Dinosaur and read the whole thing myself. Words transported and transformed me. I love words and connected - I love the stories they tell. I passed that love of reading on to my child, who often has at least one book tucked into her backpack. I love to look over at her when she is reading - head in a cloud, completely transfixed by what is going on in the story.
This year of 2010 was a tough one, I lost some friends and some family and there were some physical setbacks as well - but the constant was the books that were to come and the ones that I completed. Those books help to buoy me through this year, they helped me to temporarily escape to some place completely different from the place I was in, it was not always a happier place - but it was certainly, always a different place. So this year - more than any other, reading absolutely changed my life. Reading reminded me that I have an active, hungry brain that needs to be fed, it reminded me that I have a capacity to learn new things, it reminded me it is often great to get lost in a good book. Thank you reading, thank you Anna Quindlen for writing a lovely final book and thank you Lara for suggesting that we take this crazy journey! It was divine.
This week I chose to re-visit a book that I was not a fan of when I initially picked it up in 2007. Whenever people talked about this book they would gush and say that it changed their lives and would wax poetically about the wisdom that the author Elizabeth Gilbert put forth in this memoir. In 2007 I was in a dark place (going through a separation, figuring out my life) and I was not that invested in Ms. Gilbert's platitudes. A friend of mine picked up this book and was such a great fan, I thought maybe I should pick it up and try again. I mean, it had been three years since I had last tried it out, I had grown (up!!) and I was more mature...
Getting into was pretty easy, but then I found myself having my same old issues with memoirs that I often have - I DON'T CARE!! So I put the book down, walked away and read a magazine or two. When I picked the book up again I realized that I really did care and I put the book down because I read something that hit a little too close to home. Here is the passage:
"I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism."
Well dammit Elizabeth!! I could have written that statement. I make decisions, about life, men, shoes, finances, etc. very quickly. While I can deal with the outcomes of most all of them - that man decision sometimes lands me in a quandary. So, I kept reading this book and I learned some things and I made some more decisions and I decided that I still did not love this book, but I can respect Ms. Gilbert and I appreciate the journey that she took. She stated things that were of course known to me, but that I would lock away and choose not to think about.
I am happy that I read this book again, and that I picked it up so near the end of an incredibly trying year. I will remember what Ms. Gilbert spoke about, I will try to remember that "I think I deserve something beautiful"...that can be a pair of shoes, a new house, a beautiful relationship, or a wonderful book.
I may have misspoke earlier in this book project when I declared my dislike of memoirs. Generally - I still am not a big fan, but I find that if the memoir is in the form of a graphic novel, I can be engaged and really like what is being said. SMILE is just the kind of memoir that I can get into!
Set in 1989 in San Francisco, author and illustrator Raina Telegmeier tells the tale of the awkward time in a tween's life when they have to get braces. She wants so badly to be a normal teenager, but after an unfortunate fall she has to get braces! Thus starts the tale of Raina. This lovingly illustrated gem is just as rich in story-telling as it is visually. My daughter raved about the book and devoured it in one sitting (it took me 2)!
Whether you had braces in your youth or not - Raina is very relatable. We all had some awkward moments growing up. The angst and excitement is deftly managed by the author. I am sure the fact that it is her life that we were reading about lent itself to the close editing. Nice touches about the past popped up throughout the book (Nintendo, San Francisco earthquake and even a reference from the 80s show Silver Spoons). They were nice reference points, but did not distract from the overall storytelling.
This is a great book to share with a tween in your life, or even read alone. I got a great chuckle from the story and would gladly read it again!
Another memoir?? Yep - I am sure it will be the final one for me in this project. This is another book given to me by my pal Lara http://larasreadingroom.blogspot.com/ . She asked if it would be a book that I would be interested in checking out because she knew that I am a sci-fi fan overall and a Torchwood fan specifically. See, for the uninitiated, John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness on the Doctor Who and Torchwood franchises. He is a Scottish-born actor who grew up in the US. He is flamboyant and funny and brilliant at his craft. He is also a little bit crazy - as evidenced in the opening of his book. He invites us, the reader, into his home. Pointing out what we see on the walls and in the foyer, introducing us to his dogs and using at least two footnotes on page one. He is a lover of a footnote - I am not...but I soldiered on.
One of the many things I dislike about the memoir format is at equal turns, it seems both self-indulgent and self-effacing. I got plenty of both from this book, but I also found out some great insight about this man. He spends a lot of time talking about Torchwood and the way the show ended. He talks about his 15-year relationship with his partner Scott Gill. He talks about his childhood and his unending love of his Mum and Dad. There were good stories and bad ones. Some went on for too long, some I wish hadn't ended.
For folks not familiar with Barrowman, I am not sure how enjoyable this book would be. I am a pretty big fan and even I was frustrated from time to time. It is very well-written with great humor and honesty - he really holds nothing back. There were definitely parts that made me laugh out loud and there were also some pretty moving stories. But - it is not a linear tale and he jumps from story to story and that sapped some of my enjoyment. Overall Barrowman is a fun guy, and I will watch him in anything, but I'm not sure I need to read anything more about him.
This week's book presented an interesting challenge for me. At first blush, it is a graphic novel tackling the Superman story - very appealing even though I am not a Superman fan. After getting into the story a bit, I find that it is a memoir...UGH! Memoirs are tough for me. I have friends that say I am just too self-centered to care and others that say I am not the least bit empathetic, making it difficult to relate. Whatever the case - reading a memoir is a less than ideal way for me me to spend my reading time. IT'S A BIRD had a lot of work to do in order to keep me engaged.
Generally I do some pretty good vetting of the books that I read for this project so that I don't run into this problem, but this book was given to me by a friend that knew that I enjoyed graphic novels, but had no knowledge of my dislike of memoirs. So, I cautiously tucked into the book and by the time I reached page four of the gorgeously illustrated (TEDDY KRISTIANSEN) novel I was sucked in and the realization that it was a memoir loomed only slightly in my peripheral vision.
IT'S A BIRD is Steve's story. Told in a mixture of flashbacks and present day, Steve is conflicted about being offered the Superman story. He has never liked the Superman story and feels as if he cannot bring anything to the story. He tries to process all of the things that Superman is supposed to represent - but all he gets is an oppressive super hero that is hiding in plain sight. Not a man to be put up on a pedestal.
Steve is also going through some very personal issues while trying to make this decision. He has a family history of Huntington's Disease and the family does not speak about it. He is obsessed with the thought that he may have the disease, but he keeps it from his friends and his live-in girlfriend. He lives in his head, creating silly scenarios and running away from his issues.
This book has many layers and there is an actual Superman story in here as well. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves either memoirs or graphic novels.
