Category Archives: Memoir

October 17, 2012 · 12:55 pm

How to Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

How to Be a Woman

 

 

I’m just gonna throw this out there - I didn’t love this book*. In fact, I had some issues with a lot of it. So if that might upset you, then please feel free to skip this whole thing. Also, I’m not really going to call “spoilers” for anything in this book, because it’s a memoir/feminist issues kind of book, so there’s not really “spoilers”, you know?

Caitlin Moran says that if you have a have a vagina and want to be in control of it, then you’re a feminist. And that’s a cool definition, one I can totally get behind… except that most of the rest of this book is the reason why I don’t like saying that I’m a feminist.

So, the book kind of follows Caitlin as she grows up and encounters various growing-up issues that females run across. We start of with periods, body hair, boobs – all the stuff that has to do with puberty, basically. From there she discusses weight issues, running into sexism, love, marriage, strip clubs, kids, abortion – all the more adult stuff. And all the chapters usually tie into the feminist issues that go along with those topics. Even when there’s nothing feminist about that topic…

I’m trying really hard right now not to vent about all of my little issues with this book. (It helps that I already went over them all, practically chapter by chapter, with my boyfriend while I was reading it. I ranted a lot.) Soooo… let’s just do this in a clearcut fashion then, huh?

Here are the things I liked:

  • The chapter about abortion. Probably the best written chapter in the book.
  • The part where she talks about weddings, and how it’s insane that people spend SO MUCH MONEY just on one day when that money could be used for so many better things.
  • Her saying that she’s all for pornography (her issue is with the porn industry, I guess, but not porn itself.)
  • Her actual definition of feminism.

Here are some things I didn’t like:

  • That she tries to turn things like body hair, underwear, shopping, and more into feminist issues. They’re not, really. And that she basically blames men for pressuring women to conform and that’s why we get Brazilians or wear thongs. (I promise, 90% of men could care less about these things. If all women decided next week to not wax down there and we went back to granny panties, there would be no uproar from most of the men.)
  • That at her first job she went around making out with the whole office, but then was all “That’s sexism!” when some guy asked her to sit on his lap. Sure, it was inappropriate and screwed up… but honestly what did you expect?
  • That she glorifies Lady Gaga as a feminist. Just… ugh.
  • That this is a “how to be a woman book”, but near the end she goes and spends a ton of money on a designer purse because of what she sees in a magazine. The fact that she’s in her 30′s and worrying that she’s not a “normal woman” because of what she reads in a magazine says more about her insecurity issues than anything else.
  • That in the chapter “Why You Should Have Children” chapter, she says that anything else in life you might enjoy - champagne, Paris, etc. – is just a consolation prize because you don’t have a kid.
  • That she rails against the porn industry because they cater so much to men, and that there should be more porn aimed towards women. This is not a feminist or sexist issue – there’s a reason that they cater to men – it’s called supply and demand. Men buy a whole ton more porn than women do.

If this had been just a regular memoir and not titled “How to Be a Woman” and not promoted as a feminist book, I might have enjoyed it more. But this is in fact, how NOT to go about being a woman (If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already figured it out. This book is not geared towards teens) and how not to be a feminist, either. Caitlin Moran has actually made me realize why I don’t like the word “feminism” – she tries to blame men for things that they really have no control over and aren’t forcing women to do. She hardly mentions actual problems, like pay inequality, sexual harassment, how rape is prosecuted around the world, etc. She says that women should be allowed to do whatever they want, but then criticizes strippers. She goes all “fuck the patriarchy”, but I don’t see her running for any government office, either. From now on, maybe I’ll just say that I support women’s rights, or equality for women, rather than use the F word. At the very least, Moran did me a favor by helping me to see exactly what irks me about that word.

Sooo… this was an interesting book. There were a few laughs. She made a couple good points. But I have a lot of post-it notes spread throughout my library copy, in which I’m arguing with her. Overall, it was frustrating.

You want to know how to be a woman? Don’t give a crap what anyone else thinks and do what YOU want.

 

Sarah Says: 2 stars

 

*PS Laura don’t hate me!

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September 21, 2012 · 5:00 am

Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs

Ohhh, A.J. Jacobs. You’re so hilarious.

Jacobs is a writer / journalist who essentially takes on these massive, life-altering projects and then writes about it. The Know-It-All was about him reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Year of Living Biblically was about him trying to follow the Bible as literally as possible. His newest book, Drop Dead Healthy, is about him trying to be the healthiest man possible – which leads to him trying all sorts of crazy diets, workouts, and health advice. Considering my own recent health kick lately, this was a perfect pick for me.

As he starts off the book, he talks about how there have been SO many medical advances and stuff over the years, but that thanks to the Internet the crazy ideas are still around…

“Thanks to the Internet, just about any quarter-baked idea ever conceived still gets traction. Case in point: trepanning, a practice that dates back to 6500 BCE and involves drilling a hole in the skull to let out evil spirits. I did an Internet search. And guess what? It’s still around. Check out the International Trepanation Advocacy Group. It’s website features images of green-tinted brain scans next to doctors in white lab coats writing complicated math equations on boards. Apparently, this is not your caveman’s trepanation. No, this is totally scientifical drilling of holes in your skull.”

And right there is an example of how he infuses humor into basically every topic he talks about in this book. But even though the book was pretty hysterical and had me laughing out loud several times, it also gives you a lot to think about. He explores SO many things – how sitting is so damaging to our health, the Paleo diet, barefoot running, superfoods, the effect of pets on our health, the benefits of squatting, trying to live toxin and chemical-free life, food science, and how even the healthiest of us die eventually. And as he talks about the various things that he attempts to try to improve his health, it made me want to do some of it. I would TOTALLY have a treadmill desk in my future house – walk while you’re working or online. It’s brilliant. Or his tips for trying to eat less junk food – in an effort to avoid his favorite sweet treat, he told his wife to send a thousand dollar check to the American Nazi Party if he ate one. It worked – he didn’t even have a desire to eat those sweets, because the repercussions would just be too horrible to think of.

He sums up the book with some of his favorite advice, the habits he’ll probably continue with, and how he’s happy to be more in shape because he wants to be around for his wife and sons for as long as possible. Overall, this was a really fun book but also really relevant. I got this out from the library, but I’m definitely going to go buy my own copy to add to my collection of A.J. Jacobs books.

 

Sarah Says: 4 stars

 

 

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September 8, 2012 · 5:00 am

My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

Chelsea Handler

 

Chelsea Handler is just hysterical. I just really like her sense of humor – it’s crass, sarcastic, and a little mean. So OBVIOUSLY her talking about her various sexual encounters in a book is bound to be hilarious.

I kind if liked that at least half of these stories were about times she DIDN’T sleep with a guy – there were a lot of awkward situations that she got herself into but never turned into anything more than that. I laughed out loud several times while reading this, especially when she started to go on and on about her love of midgets. There’s male strippers, Ecstasy, sketchy cruises, costumes, copious amounts of drinking… it gets crazy. Of course there was nothing eye-opening or truly surprising here, but it was a fun book. I read it in a couple of hours, and it was fluffy, mindless, and made me laugh.

This is a perfect book to read if you’re just trying to relax and want something short and hysterical to read. My only recommendation is that you read it with a nice amaretto sour or some other sort of fun drink, cause Chelsea’s constant consumption of alcohol kind of makes you want to get up and make yourself  a drink.

 

Sarah Says: 3 stars

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April 24, 2012 · 4:10 pm

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t) by Betty White

If You Ask Me Betty White book cover

 

I have vaguely fond memories of watching The Golden Girls on Nick at Nite back when Nick at Nite didn’t suck, and then I kind of forgot about Betty White until a couple of years ago when the press started going nuts for her and she was back in the spotlight. But seriously, how can you NOT like Betty White?
 
Basically, this book is her thoughts and recollections more than an autobiography, but it was enjoyable. It reaffirmed everything that we feel about Betty when we see her – that she’s funny, sweet, and has a great zest and passion for life. 
 
If You Ask Me was a super quick read – it was 258 pages long but I read it in about two hours, thanks to lots of photos and huge margins on the pages. Betty made me chuckle a few times, but more than anything she just made me wish that if I have to grow old, I can be a little like her. One of my favorite quotes from the book came near the end, but it’s so great:
 
“Let’s say I meet someone I find attractive. I have to keep reminding myself of how old I am, because I don’t feel like I’m that old. I fight the urge to flirt and try to shape up. No fool like an old fool.”
 
Right there she makes clear that she doesn’t feel like an old lady, that she has to refrain from flirting, and that she’s a classy lady. Such spunk! It was also nice to read about all of the awesome things she does for animals and the environment. And she shares her disappointment for the young actors and actresses that take their good fortune for granted and basically act afool, and says that she thinks it’s the height of ungratefulness.
 
The only downside is that I didn’t learn as much about her as I would have if this was a traditional autobiography or memoir, I got a good glimpse. And besides, she has other books out too.
 
Anyways, Betty White is pretty awesome. I could stand to be more like her NOW, not just when I’m a little old lady. 
 
Sarah Says: 3 stars

 

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January 2, 2012 · 9:03 am

Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

  • Title: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
  • Author: Mindy Kaling
  • Publisher: Crown Archetype, 2011
  • Pages: 219
  • ISBN: 9780307886262

Woo-hoo! Starting off the New Year right – I read this in basically one sitting yesterday.  AND it counts as the “biography” pick for the Mixing It Up Challenge! Yay!

Also if you can’t tell, I added some book info underneath the book cover there… I’m going to try to do that for each book. Partly to make myself a little more aware of things like publishers, but also just to give the appearance of neatness and organization here :-)

OK, so if you can’t tell who Mindy Kaling is just from the book cover, then you may not watch The Office and we may not be friends. (Just kidding! Kind of…) Mindy is best known for playing Kelly Kapoor on The Office – that funny, bubbly, totally nuts girl with a high-pitched voice. Well this is her book, all about how she got into tv and some very funny but awesome thoughts, questions, and concerns she has.

Mindy apparently started out as a WRITER for The Office! I had no idea. She actually writes, directs, produces, AND acts on the show. I had no clue that she had started off as one of the shows writers, and that’s she’s like a quadruple-threat, which just makes her too cool. So Mindy talks about her childhood, always being on the chubby side, her first jobs when she came to New York City, how she became a comedy writer, her time on The Office, and a little tiny bit about her romantic life. My favorite chapter is near the end, In Defense of Chest Hair, in which she proclaims her love for a bit of chest hair on a man and says that all of those waxed movie stars look like chihuahuas.

So, I’m not going to go over every funny or interesting thing in this book, cause then you’d have no reason to read it yourself! I do think that if you’re a girl, you should just pick this up and read it – it’ll only take you one afternoon, and it’s a cute memoir. Mindy seems like such a sweet, fun person and her book is funny, light-hearted, and enjoyable. Plus she invents a new word – “pliest”, which is a written piece with a list-y quality. I’m so going to use that word.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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October 21, 2011 · 11:51 am

One Day It’ll All Make Sense by Common

Yayyy! Finally got to read Common’s autobiography that just came out recently, called One Day It’ll All Make Sense. It seems to me that there is a HUGE lack of rap / hip-hop fans among book bloggers and if any of ya’ll is interested in giving it a try, Common is my suggestion to you.

So, in this here book Lonnie Rashid Lynn (better known as Common) gives us the story of his life. Each chapter starts with a letter to someone in his life, which I thought was a cool idea. Common takes you on a journey from his childhood to his teenage years, to his struggle to become a more successful rapper and to dealing with fame, relationships, and controversy.

Obviously, you probably aren’t going to read this unless you’re already a Common fan and that’s okay. That’s usually how it is with memoirs. But there were a couple things in the book that I liked in particular that I just wanted to mention:

- He talks with so much fondness for his mama, and I love that. She actually writes in her thoughts in some of the chapters, and it was interesting to see how much she struggled to make him a good, honest person but still able to man up and take care of himself. (This actually reminds me of my honeyman and how he was raised. I give so much credit to women who are able to raise truly great men.)

- He delves into his relationship history a bit and it was interesting to see him reflect on past loves and how they affected him. We all do this – dissect what happened, how it happened, why it ended, and how we came out better for it.

- He speaks about the whole White House controversy – basically some conservative politicians trying to run a smear campaign against him when he was invited to the White House as part of a poetry night. It was a really weak effort on the conservatives part to make Obama look bad, and MAN I was infuriated when it happened. He handles this all very gracefully.

- I learned more about his older cd’s. Honestly, I didn’t start listening to Common until my boyfriend had me listen to him about 4 years ago. I didn’t know who he was before that, at least not knowingly – I probably heard him before and didn’t realize it. So I’ve only listened to his last three cd’s, but now I really want to go out and listen to more of his older stuff.

And that’s about it. If you ever hear about Common, you’ll hear him described as a “conscious rapper” and that’s more or less true. Sure he raps about some grittier stuff, but I like Common so much because he’s socially, spiritually, and poltically aware and that comes through in his songs. He’s thoughtful and intelligent and his songs make you think. I hate when people automatically associate all rap with “thug / hate / sex / violence” music, I hate when people hear Lil Wayne on the radio and assume that THAT’S what all rap is. Common is the perfect rapper to clear up those misconceptions. He’s a great example of hip-hop.

So, overall an interesting read. Go listen to Common (I recommend his cd’s Be and Finding Forever) and if you like what you hear, then check out his book.

Sarah Says: 3 stars

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August 12, 2011 · 10:00 am

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

 
Over the past week or two, I’ve been going through one of those annoying bouts of I-don’t-feel-pretty. Hopefully most girls out there will know what I’m talking about. None of my clothes look good, my hair is annoying and won’t do what I want it to do, etc. Maybe I’m just a weirdo, but I go through these little phases maybe once a year or so. I don’t know why, but it usually doesn’t last too long, and by the time it ends I’m back to my bubbly, Damn-I-look-good self.

Anyways, I was in my spare room surrounded by all of my books and trying to decide what to read. And I remembered that Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck has been suggested to me a lot recently. And since I’m going through one of those annoying ruts, I figured it’d be a good time to read it.

In a way, it was. I read it pretty much in one afternoon, since it’s only 137 pages. And in a lot of parts, it was pretty funny. She talks about the insane amount of time that women spend on their hair. She talks about how crappy it is to get older, and how younger women should appreciate what they got while they still have it. She talks about parenting, and a couple of her work experiences, and renting an apartment in NYC.

Overall, it was amusing and enjoyable. But the book didn’t click a lot with me because let’s face it – I’m not in my 60’s, I have no kids, and I don’t live in NYC. I’ll probably enjoy this book a lot more when I’m 65 or so (though I probably still won’t have kids, and still won’t live in NYC).

One chapter I enjoyed a lot was “On Rapture”, in which she talks about the rapture and joy she feels when she reads an absolutely wonderful book. And how she completely resents every minute she has to spend in the real world, because she wants to get back to reading that  amazing book. I totally get that! I love it when I find a book like that. Plus, there’s a chapter near the end that is just a couple pages of her little tidbits of wisdom – which  are both funny, but some are serious too, and all of them invoke the importance of living life to the fullest.

Also, this book really did cheer me up a bit. I’m almost definitely better-looking now than I will be when I’m in my 60’s. I say almost definitely because I’m hoping to be one of those cool old-ish ladies with long, straight white hair and funky glasses. Keeping my fingers crossed!

And now, for my favorite quote of the whole book:
“The other day I actually lost a piece of cheese in my apartment.”

 

Sarah Says: 3 stars

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August 1, 2011 · 9:36 pm

A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenoweth

I have to admit, that ever since I saw her on Pushing Daisies, I’ve been a little bit fascinated by Kristin Chenoweth. She’s such a teeny-tiny lady, with a very quirky speaking voice and a crazy powerful singing voice. Her character on Pushing Daisies, Olive Snook, was adorable.  I just recently read and fell in love with Wicked by Gregory Maguire, so of course I started looking up stuff about the play and guess who played Glinda the Good Witch on Broadway? You guessed it. Anyways, that reminded me of how much I liked Kristin on Pushing Daisies, so then I did an internet search on her to see what else she’s been in, and then I saw that she had written a book. I promptly went the my library and checked out the book AND the audiobook, which she reads herself.

Yup, I adore her. This memoir is informative, funny, and thought-provoking, which is a lot for a 232 page book. She’s one of those stereotypical perfectly sweet Southern women, and from her book seems like such a genuinely nice person. Now, I really liked learning about Chenoweth’s life – her family, her introduction to music and the entertainment business, and the different projects she’s done. I was a little disappointed that there was only a short section on Pushing Daisies, but oh well. She mentioned The West Wing a lot, which I’ve never seen and now I’m thinking I should check out because it seems everyone has seen it but me. I have to say that oddly enough, the parts I liked most about her memoir were about her Christian faith.

I’m not religious. I went to a Catholic school as a kid, was baptized, did my First Communion, my Confirmation, etc… but by the time I left middle school, I was agnostic at the least and uneasy with organized religion. Since then my spiritual beliefs have become more atheist, and I’ve grown sort of a big aversion to organized religions – they irk me. I have friends of different religions, and I can respect anyone’s beliefs, and even study some when the mood strikes. But it’s more from an intellectual / curious approach, rather than a spiritual quest approach.  I just can’t get behind the idea of religion. A nice concept, but not for me.

ANYWAYS, Kristin was raised as a Christian in Oklahoma, and she mentions God and her belief in him quite a lot throughout the book. Normally this would annoy me, but somehow she made it work. She’s the kind of Christian that makes me wish I believed in some sort of religion, that I had those sort of beliefs and faith in a higher power.  She’s honest about her beliefs, and doesn’t apologize for them. She looks to her religion in times of sadness and joy. She actually studies her religion and thinks about her beliefs, instead of just prescribing to what her church or religion tells her. She embraces her own religion, respects the religion of others’, and tries not to pass judgement on other people. She actually puts a list in the book of the question she would ask God if she could, which includes some serious ones that we’ve all thought at one time or another, plus some funny ones, such as:

“What if you made it so that hate would cause hemorrhoids? Just an idea.”

Basically, if more people took Kristin’s approach to their religions… well I think the world would be such a nicer place.

I enjoyed this book. I switched between the paper version and the audiobook, but I really enjoyed listening to Kristin read it. She has such a distinctive voice, and she occasionally sang little bits here and there. Also, the book includes fun stuff like recipes. Some parts definitely made me laugh out loud, such as when she realized that her Ambien was making her unknowingly eat while she slept. And then there were some of the profound moments, such as when she’s giving advice to young actors and one piece of advice was:

“… let your ambition be about who you want to be, not what you want to get.”

And that quote right there pretty much sums up what a cool person she is.

I highly recommend this for anyone really, especially women. It’s a great memoir – it’s interesting and fun to read, but doesn’t reach for anything too profound – as Kristin herself says in the book, this is a recollection of some times in her life, not a tell-all autobiography. But I’ll definitely read that when she writes it.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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May 29, 2011 · 3:44 pm

>Bossypants by Tina Fey

>

For reals, I love Tina Fey. I used to feel like a jerk for saying that, because I really only noticed her when she did those Palin sketches on SNL, and then fell in love when I started watching 30 Rock (Liz Lemon is like the best TV character ever). I’ve been wanting to read this since it came out, but a couple weeks ago I was STILL like #40 on my library’s hold list, so when I got a good coupon for Borders, I caved and bought Bossypants. (Seriously though – Little, Brown, & Co publishers – it’s criminal that you’ve priced a hardcover book with less than 300 pages at $27. Are you insane? Good thing I had that 50% off coupon, and my extra 10% membership discount.) So now, having read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it, I feel justified in saying that yeah, Tina Fey rocks.

This is Tina’s recollections of childhood, school, awkward dating situations, jobs, and finally her awesome shows and being a mom. She’s witty and funny throughout the whole darn thing, while still remaining cool and intelligent. She’s one of those famous people that you could totally picture being friends with. And that’s saying something for me, because I honestly don’t have a lot of female friends.

A couple highlights / my favorite parts:

    • “Two peanuts are walking down the street. And one was a salted.” (This was just a random joke in the intro – TOTALLY perfect for my corny sense of humor.)
  • She dedicates a whole chapter to addressing some of the rude comments she’s seen about herself online. And man does she know how to bite back :o )

 

  • She defends the use of Photoshop, pointing out that it’s not inherently evil and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good. And that it’s better than plastic surgery.

 

  • While she pokes fun at her single-life encounters with the opposite sex, she’s respectful whenever she mentions her husband. She doesn’t get vulgar or sexual when she talks about him, it’s cool that she respects her married life.

 

  • She talks a bit about sexism she’s encountered over the years and voices her feminist stance. I have issues with modern-day feminists – mainly because the ones I meet are too “girls rule and boys drool”, and they tend to be really jerky about my desire to be a childless housewife. But Tina writing about how tough it is for female comedians, and talking about how infuriating it is to deal with people who have working-mom issues… it reminded me what feminism is SUPPOSED to be about. Choosing what YOU want to do, and not having to deal with someone else’s bullshit, criticizing you because what you want to do goes against the preconceived notions people have for what women are supposed to be like. So props to her for that.

 

  • She talks about the Sarah Palin sketches that brought her so much attention during the last election.

 

  • She talks about her work on SNL & how 30 Rock was created, which I really enjoyed because I love 30 Rock so much.

 

Overall, this was a great look into Tina Fey’s life and psyche. She seems like such a fun person. It gave me a lot of laughs along the way. The only bad thing I can say is that it’s too short. And I didn’t know she wrote that Mean Girls movie… it kind of makes me want to see it now.

Sarah Says: 4 stars!

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