I never watched iCarly or Sam & Cat. They were too late for my Nickelodeon years and even too late for my being a Nanny and watching Nickelodeon yeI never watched iCarly or Sam & Cat. They were too late for my Nickelodeon years and even too late for my being a Nanny and watching Nickelodeon years. So I didn’t know anything about Jennette McCurdy. But the title, description and cover intrigued me and my library had a skip the line copy. So I grabbed it.
I gotta say I was hooked the whole time. I think I read it in a few sittings which is a damn miracle these days. I found her writing style to be easy to fall into. It was like a friend telling you a story. A really sad story.
The title is a little misleading to me. Or maybe not misleading but it’s so much more than the title. It’s not as cut and dried. Is it ever with family? Her relationship with her mom was toxic. And it’s something we the reader see right away. But for Jennette it took years. So it was very interesting for me to see all these little micro-aggressions and downright sick behavior on the mom’s side build and build and see Jennette begin to notice them. And through that she loved her mother. Even when she came to realize who her mother was, it was complicated. And heartbreaking.
I wish I could have read more about her life after her mom died. Maybe she will write more later. If she does, I’ll definitely read it. ...more
I'm going to add some words to this review shortly. But for now, I'll let the gifs explain. I haven't done any reviews, much less reviews with gifs inI'm going to add some words to this review shortly. But for now, I'll let the gifs explain. I haven't done any reviews, much less reviews with gifs in a long time. David Tennant has been brought out of seclusion and well....
I am an unabashed Jenna Blum fan girl. Ever since her debut novel, Those Who Save Us, she has had me under her spell. So being the obsessive person thI am an unabashed Jenna Blum fan girl. Ever since her debut novel, Those Who Save Us, she has had me under her spell. So being the obsessive person that I am, I have long stalked her on social media. And through that, I fell in love with her dog Woodrow. He was featured frequently in her posts and I could feel how much she loved him. When he sadly crossed the rainbow bridge, my heart broke for her. And when I saw she was releasing a book about him, I knew I would have to read it even if it shattered me.
And yet, I almost didn't read it when the library notified me it came in. As some of you know, we had to put one of our cats down a few weeks ago. Losing a pet is hard. It's painful. For many, including myself, they become part of your family. This one was an especially hard loss. Penelope was truly special. She was feisty and sassy. The vets were wary of her. Rightfully so. As she marched into old age, even losing a leg didn't keep her down. She doled out her love sparingly. I believe she only truly loved my sister and me.
I thought I would try this book out and if it was too hard I would stop. And while it did break me in places, I found it cathartic too so I kept reading. So much of it mirrored our final year with Penelope. When you are trying to decide if their quality of life is still good. When they have bad days and good days and you have to decide if the good days outweigh the bad. Until it's obvious they don't.
Jenna Blum has such a lovely writing style. It pulls you in. It's intimate. It's beautiful. This was a fitting tribute to Woodrow who Jenna calls the great love of her life. I felt that love in my bones. So here's to Woodrow. And Penelope. And all of the fur babies who sadly have to leave us before we're ready.
Truthfully, we would never really be ready. Can't they just go when we do?
My library hold expired so I'll have to get this one again eventually. I love David but I don't think I was in a diary mood at the moment. They are fuMy library hold expired so I'll have to get this one again eventually. I love David but I don't think I was in a diary mood at the moment. They are funny but I like his stories better. It took me months to read his first volume of diaries. To be continued someday....more
"Usually I struggle with simple things. I make strange choices. The strength it takes to shower or the energy it takes to eat? You don’t get both, so "Usually I struggle with simple things. I make strange choices. The strength it takes to shower or the energy it takes to eat? You don’t get both, so choose wisely. Every action takes such work … as if living with mental illness is like waking to a different disability each day. Someone else could quickly do the simple tasks of the day, but I am hobbled. It can take hours for me to do what could be done on a good day in minutes.
When I read a Jenny Lawson book or read one of her blog entries, I feel seen in a way I don't often feel. It's similar to the way books by Allie Brosh make me feel. She captures anxiety and depression in this way that is so real that it's as if she's pulling thoughts out of my head. I think I say that about every book I read by her. Basically when I read a book by her, I know I'm going to like it and relate to it. I also know that while she will inevitably emotionally destroy me, she will also make me laugh. A lot. That's one of her superpowers. She will go deep and dark with one story then lift you up with laughter in the next. This collection was no different.
Her thoughts on being an introvert were spot on.
"Someone once told me that the difference between introverts and extroverts is that introverts recharge by being alone (like any normal person) and extroverts recharge by being with others (like vampires).
Jenny's husband Victor has been one of my favorite parts about all of her books and blog entries. I love how she drives him completely nuts and he often seems frustrated or grumpy but in a funny way. Then suddenly you get these moments of sweetness from him that make me melt.
Before we walked back inside Victor hugged me and calmed me and made me laugh. “I am a bad risk,” I said, sighing with acceptance. He was silent for a minute. “You are a bad risk,” he agreed, nodding as he looked up at the stars. “But one I’m happy to take.”
Her conversations with her child, Hailey, are another constant in both her books and blog and crack me up.
Hailey would look at me in awe. “And you couldn’t afford YouTube?” she’d ask. And then I’d explain that there was a time before YouTube and then she’d start to doubt the veracity of my stories and I’d just say, “Yeah. We couldn’t afford YouTube.”
And as always, like I wrote above, her musings on anxiety and depression made my heart hurt but also strangely soothed me because it's comforting to know other people struggle too as messed up as that sounds.
"It’s a strange thing … to be tangled up in things no one else really cares about. To be so busy with worry that your constant back-and-forth looks like utter inaction. To be so afraid of doing something wrong that you end up doing something worse. To be exhausted by a marathon that looks like complete paralysis on the outside but feels like being on both sides of a violent tug-of-war on the inside."
So there you have it. Another gem from Jenny Lawson. I did rate it four stars and not five because I didn't love it quite as much as Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things. But I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Just a note, her blog can be found @theblogess.com.
"The world is shattered and we wander barefoot through one another’s broken shards and glittering slivers. And some of us bleed from the cuts. And some of us heal. And if you’re lucky, you do both. We are broken. We are healing. It never ends. And, if you look at it in just the right light, it is beautiful."
When Amazon emails you at 12:01 am to say that David Sedaris has something new out, you one click buy it. Even if it’s 1.99 for 17 pages. I don’t makeWhen Amazon emails you at 12:01 am to say that David Sedaris has something new out, you one click buy it. Even if it’s 1.99 for 17 pages. I don’t make the rules.
This was short and snarky and felt like a tease. I found it a bit mean spirited. He has times when he goes too far in that direction for my liking. But at the same time, it’s very clear he knows that about himself and he often mocks himself more than anyone else. So I still enjoyed it.
It doesn’t seem fair for Sedaris to offer us one, tiny tale. But I’ll take what I can get. And anxiously await his next full length book, whenever that may be.
Put simply, this book was a delight and Andrew Rannells is a treasure.
As I said in one of my updates, I have played, “The Book of Mormon,” soundtrackPut simply, this book was a delight and Andrew Rannells is a treasure.
As I said in one of my updates, I have played, “The Book of Mormon,” soundtrack on a loop more times than I’m comfortable admitting. Even before I saw the show last year, I would listen to the songs again and again. If you’ve never listened to it, at the very least, go on YouTube and find the clip of Rannells performing, “I Believe,” at the Tony Awards. He has a fantastic voice. On or around the same time as my discovery of his singing talent, the show, “Girls,” debuted on HBO. It wasn’t the best show. Often, I grew irritated with the four leads. Still, there were episodes of brilliance and there was Rannells. His character was a supporting one but he stole every scene he was in and I loved him.
So I was excited for this book but nervous. What if it was poorly written? What if it was shallow? I worried for nothing. It was sincere and heartfelt. I felt like I was sitting across from a friend who was telling me about his life.
It’s not a glitzy tell all, filled with name dropping and and no substance. Some parts are quite sad. Other parts made me laugh out loud. If you don’t know anything about Andrew Rannells, I think you would still enjoy this....more
**Ebook only 3.99 today. 10/10/21. You know I’m a huge Sedaris fan so have to share.**
“Is it my fault that the good times fade to nothing while the ba**Ebook only 3.99 today. 10/10/21. You know I’m a huge Sedaris fan so have to share.**
“Is it my fault that the good times fade to nothing while the bad ones burn forever bright? Memory aside, the negative just makes for a better story: the plane was delayed, an infection set in, outlaws arrived and reduced the schoolhouse to ashes. Happiness is harder to put into words. It's also harder to source, much more mysterious than anger or sorrow, which come to me promptly, whenever I summon them, and remain long after I've begged them to leave."-David Sedaris, "Leviathan."
I feel like I've said everything I can say about David Sedaris in reviews of his other books which is that I love him more than I can bear and he's a precious literary treasure who should be protected at all costs. So for my review of Calypso, I'm just going to list reasons or quotes why I loved this specific book. He has never written a book that I would label as, "bad." I always get something out of them and there are always stories that make me laugh or tear up. Sometimes the same story makes me do both. What other authors can do that? For me, few if any. Still, some of his books I enjoy much more than others. This was one of those. In my option, this is the best he has written in some time.
1. His story, "Now We Are Five," broke me. I had previously read it online and reading it again brought no less of an emotional impact.
2. In, "Little Guy," Sedaris goes to Google how tall Rock Hudson was. "How tall is..." I began, and before I could finish, Google interrupted me with "...Jesus? You want to know how tall Jesus was?" Well, OK, I thought. But it's Rock Hudson I was really curious about.
3. He is incredibly obsessive. I can relate to this. "Stepping Out," describes his obsession with his FitBit. "Trousers that had grown too snug were suddenly loose again, and I noticed that my face was looking a lot thinner. Then I upped it to thirty thousand steps and started walking further afield. 'We saw David in Arundel picking up a dead squirrel with his grabbers,' the neighbors told Hugh. 'We saw him outside Steyning rolling a tire down the side of the road.' "
4. About his Dad in, "Leviathan." "It's not that our father waited till this late in the game to win our hearts. It's that he's succeeding."
5. A fatty tumor and a turtle. This one was a little much and involved multiple stories but so help me, I did laugh.
6. A fox named Carol
7. He loves the game Sorry the way my family does. "Sorry," you say, sincerely at first, and then in a way that means "I'm sorry you're the sort of person who deserves this."
8. "A Number of Reasons I've Been Depressed Lately," expresses my political feelings the last few years better than I've been able to do. Also, I think we would have been better off with the Hamburgler for Vice President. Again-just read it.
This is just a sampling. He is a gem and I love him....more
This book started out good but went downhill. As someone with a LOT of food issues, I could relate to many parts of this. As someone who has lost the This book started out good but went downhill. As someone with a LOT of food issues, I could relate to many parts of this. As someone who has lost the same amount of weight it was interesting. Although I've since gained it back, reading this helped me to visualize doing it again and how maybe it didn't stick the first time because I didn't solve my relationship with food. It had a lot of good points. The writing was uneven but I can ignore that for a good story. The part after losing the weight is where she lost me. So much name dropping and treating her boyfriend and mom like garbage. She just came across as a spoilt brat by the end. So I'm giving it three stars because I liked a lot of what she wrote about but can't go higher than that. ...more
I couldn't love this book more. It's almost as if Jenny Lawson climbed into my head and wrote down all of my thoughts and fears only she described theI couldn't love this book more. It's almost as if Jenny Lawson climbed into my head and wrote down all of my thoughts and fears only she described them better than I ever could. It's funny and it's dark and it's pretty much perfect. Hints of David Sedaris which is never a bad thing. Also the best writing on depression I've read since Hyperbole and a Half. Read this book!...more