CBR17 Book 50: "Great Big Beautiful Life" by Emily Henry

Page count: 384 pages

Audiobook length: 12 hrs 2 mins

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR17 Bingo: G (A book title starting with G)

After months of online research, Alice Scott has tracked down the reclusive former tabloid darling Margaret Ives and hopes to persuade the woman to let Alice write her biography. Imagine the unpleasant surprise for Alice when it turns out that Margaret might not want to tell her life's story at all, and she basically wants to 'audition' Alice and another writer for the next month, before she makes up her mind. That other writer, Hayden Anderson, acclaimed journalist who won a Pulitzer for the last celebrity biography he wrote.

Since Hayden seems taciturn and generally disapproving of everyone, and especially Alice, Alice hopes that she, with her much more outgoing personality, might persuade Margaret to pick her to chronicle her eventful life. Meeting with the woman several mornings a week, Alice comes to realise that while Margaret has a story to tell, it doesn't start with her own birth, but involves several previous generations of the Ives family, all with skeletons in their closets and delectable secrets which have never previously been uncovered. 

Since they are both stuck in the small seaside town together, taking turns interviewing Margaret, Alice and Hayden keep running into one another, and as the weeks pass, Alice discovers that Hayden might not be so arrogant and unpleasant as she initially believed. Because of the iron-clad NDAs they've signed, they can't really speak about the information they're getting from Margaret, so it becomes more natural for them to talk about other things. By the end of the month, when it becomes time for Margaret to make her choice, Alice is no longer sure that she wants to be in competition with Hayden, and that no matter what decision Margaret makes, it's going to lead to heartbreak in some way or other.

Some things have become clear to me over the last few years. I will auto-buy and even pre-order any book by Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood, and I will probably enjoy the heck out of said books (or love them fiercely). As with Funny Story last year, I bought Great Big Beautiful Life and devoured it in about 48 hours, and then got the audiobook and listened to it again, taking more time to soak in the story and the characters. 

With this book, Henry is doing something different from her previous romances, in that this book is just as much a tragic family saga, slowly unfolding in the tales from Margaret, and Alice and Hayden's romance becomes more of a secondary plot, just as important, but not quite the main focus. It's Emily Henry channelling Taylor Jenkins Reid, if you like. From reviews I've seen online, this shift has worked fine for some readers, while others didn't like it at all.

Because Margaret is a fascinating character, I didn't mind it, and especially when revisiting the book in audio for the second time, I came to see that Alice and Hayden's story is still woven through the entire framework of the book, and that there was a wider connection to everything in the story that was wrapped up very satisfyingly in the end. It also made me tear up a few times, but that's partially because it deals with some pretty heavy grief themes throughout, and it doesn't take much to make me cry these days. 

The audiobook is narrated by Julia Whelan. She does an amazing job, as always. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 33: "Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets and Advice for Living Your Best Life" by Ali Wong

Page count: 240 pages

Audio book length: 6 hrs 20 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Books Bingo: About someone you want to learn more about

I don't think I'd heard of Ali Wong before her first Netflix special, Baby Cobra. I've now seen all her stand-up specials and also enjoyed Always Be My Maybe, a fun romantic comedy she wrote and starred in with Randall Park, and famously got Keanu Reeves to star as himself. I've heard very good things about Beef, but there's just too much TV out there at the moment, and too little time (especially if I also want to have time to read and have a life). 

I got the audiobook of this in an Audible sale a while ago, and figured that if her stand-up is funny, her book would also be entertaining. She narrates it herself (her then husband, now ex narrates the afterword) and does a good job. Structuring each chapter as a letter of advice to her daughters (for them to read as adults, there is quite a lot of swearing and very graphic details about her life), Wong talks about her career, her dating life, being a woman in a male-dominated industry and a number of other topics. Her now ex-husband obviously features a lot in the various stories, and from the section he reads he seems like a nice guy, (who still acts as Wong's tour manager, as far as I can tell). 

Judging a book by its cover: Ali Wong is a good-looking lady, so I'm not sure why she wanted to look more like a wax figure on a 70s TV set than a person on the cover of her book. The sparkly dress is pretty, there's just something about the whole image that I find off-putting. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR15 Book 48: "Scandalized" by Ivy Owens

Page count: 320 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Still reviewing books I read in July. It's really quite sad that I haven't been able to get my act together more. Let's see what I actually remember of this book. 

Georgia "Gigi" Ross has been in London trying to investigate a sordid news story involving powerful nightclub owners and probable sexual assault and is pretty much exhausted when she's on her way home to the US. Once her flight gets cancelled, she feels close to a breakdown, especially after discovering that there are no free hotel rooms for miles. She finds an unlikely rescuer in Alec Kim, the older brother of her best friend from childhood (who moved away years ago, and they haven't been in touch for ages). He has access to a suite and offers her a room and a chance to shower and freshen up. Gigi is deeply grateful, yet also pleased to discover that the teen she once had a crush on has become a very handsome, charming, and friendly adult. 

While Alec might not have noticed Gigi much while she was running around with his sister as a tween, the attraction between them now is undeniable. Once it becomes clear that Alec absolutely isn't expecting anything untoward in return for letting Gigi share his hotel room, they go to the bar to share a drink and hours of reconnecting then lead to them acting on the attraction, spending a night of passion together. Gigi isn't really expecting to see Alec again and also feels quite betrayed once she gets home to the small flat she shares with her friend, and discovers while he seemed familiar as more than someone she once used to know. Alec is the wildly popular star of a huge BBC soap and in America to promote it along with the rest of the cast. He didn't want Gigi to know the truth about his fame during their night together, knowing that so many women are attracted to him for his celebrity status. He wanted Gigi to see him as himself.

Because their shared night together pretty much knocked each of their worlds, Gigi forgives Alec and agrees to keep meeting him in secret while he's in America. Their relationship is further complicated when it becomes clear that someone close to Alec could be a material witness in the sex abuse scandal that Gigi is trying to uncover, and it isn't exactly ethical for Gigi to be sleeping with a source. 

Ivy Owens is the pen name of Lauren Billings, one half of romance writing duo extraordinaire Christina Lauren. She wrote this book during the pandemic, which is an excellent use of her time. While Christina Lauren used to write and publish really steamy romances, their current output is a lot more fade to black, so it was nice to see that this book actually had some excellent smexy times. I also really liked the supporting cast, especially Gigi's soap and celebrity-obsessed roommate. 

While this book isn't going on my instant classics shelf, it was an entertaining read and I will absolutely be looking out for more books from Ivy Owens in the future. 

Judging a book by its cover: It's rare that I would prefer an animated cartoony cover to one with actual people on it, but I much prefer the UK cover that's on the book I own to the American cover, which has a kissing couple with fireworks in the background. This one is much more elegant. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR11 Book 54: "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life" by Samantha Irby

Page count: 288 pages
Audio book length: 9 hrs 17 mins
Rating: 4 stars

#CBR11 Bingo: The Collection

Official book description:
Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when life is a dumpster fire. With We Are Never Meeting in Real Life., "bitches gotta eat" blogger and comedian Samantha Irby turns the serio-comic essay into an art form. Whether talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making "adult" budgets, explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette--she's "35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something"--detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father's ashes, sharing awkward sexual encounters, or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms--hang in there for the Costco loot--she's as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.

Things I knew about Samantha Irby before reading this book:
- Literally NOTHING.

Things I now know about Samantha Irby, having finished her book (in audio, she reads it herself):
- Her narration is not as good as Jenny Lawson's, but she's pretty good at it anyway.
- She's black, queer and describes herself as fat
- She has a number of medical issues that, among other things, make it impossible for her to have children
- Even if she could have children, she wouldn't want them anyway
- She grew up in Chicago and lived there for much of her life
- Her childhood was really quite awful (poverty, abuse, drunken, dead beat dad)
- Scattering her father's ashes on a road trip to Nashville did NOT go as planned
- She doesn't know how to make a budget and often spends money irresponsibly
- She worked as a receptionist at an animal hospital for more than 11 years
- She's convinced me that I never want to be the receptionist at an animal hospital
- She's bisexual, and has been in serious relationships with both men and women
- She (as of the writing of this book) now seems to live somewhere rural with her wife and said wife's children from a previous relationship
- She's very funny, and seems to not give many f*cks about anything much at all
- I should probably check out some more of her stuff.

If I knew nothing about Samantha Irby, why did I decide to read this book? This year, despite seeming to struggle to read even half as much as in previous years, I am taking part in a large number of reading challenges (I may have a serious reading challenge addiction), including the "Diversify Your Reading" challenge, where each month is dedicated to a specific genre. This month, it's humour, and since I had seen this book recommended by several Cannonballers in the past, and Jenny Lawson also speaks highly of it, it seemed like a good choice. That it also fits into the "Collection" square for Bingo is an additional bonus.

I like a good, clever internet blogger and anyone who appeals to a number of Cannonballers and the amazing Ms. Lawson is probably worth some more of my time. This was a fun, quick read and can be recommended to others who are looking for a non-fiction collection for the Bingo.

Judging a book by its cover: The book has an eye-catching bright yellow background and a scruffy-looking kitten that seems to be complaining about something. I'm assuming this is supposed to be Helen Keller, Samantha Irby's mean and dysfunctional cat, who she talks about at some length in the book. Bright colours and a cute animal is more than enough to get a person to pick up a book, so it's not a bad choice.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR8 Book 124: "Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame" by Mara Wilson

Page count: 265 pages
Audio book length: 7 hrs 22 mins
Rating: 4 stars

I wasn't initially going to get this book. While I've seen Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, possibly the two films that Mara Wilson is most famous for, I haven't really watched any of the others she was a child star in, nor do I follow her Twitter or writing career as an adult. It just didn't seem like this would be all that interesting to me. Nonetheless, this book got a lot of positive write-ups from people with good taste, including Patrick Rothfuss and Wil Wheaton (himself a child star once upon a time) and several of my Goodreads friends. I do like an entertaining audio book, so I changed my mind and used a credit on it. Now I'm glad I did.

As with a lot of celebrity autobiographies, Ms. Wilson reads the book herself, and she has a very wry and self-deprecating way of telling the stories about herself. As she reveals later in the book that one of the things she does for a living now is storytelling, it should come as no surprise that this is a well-told book. The book is an anthology of observations, many dealing with Ms. Wilson's childhood, not just as a child actress, but also dealing with her anxiety and OCD, the death of her mother and how and why she made the choice to give up acting when she became a teenager. There's an open letter to Matilda, the character she is most famous for, and there are stories about her college years and her writing as an adult. The chapter dealing with her mother's death and how it feels growing up without a mother, even though she seems to have a lovely stepmother; the one where she talks about determining the fairly severe levels of her OCD, not to mention the one where she talks about Robin Williams and learning about his death were probably the ones that affected me the most.

The reason this book doesn't quite get one of my highest rating is that it really is quite short. I was surprised at how quickly it was finished, and some of the stories are just not all that interesting and felt a bit like filler. This book was written before Ms. Wilson came out openly as bisexual, and as others have already pointed out in their reviews, I suspect some of the chapters would may have been written a bit differently if this was public knowledge. It's a good book, and Wilson is a witty story teller. While not on the same level as Craig Ferguson's or Amy Poehler's books, it was stil a good read.

Judging a book by its cover: It's a fairly simple cover, and shows Mara Wilson as she is probably most well-known and recognised. As a little girl, from her role as Matilda. I suspect most people don't know what Wilson looks like as an adult (I had to do a Google image search), so putting one of her most iconic images on the cover of a book that deals with her life as a child star, and has several chapters dealing with Matilda, it seems like good marketing strategy. I know she says in the book that she hates being called cute, but she really was.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 97: "Why Not Me?" by Mindy Kaling

Page count: 240 pages
Audio book length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
Rating: 4 stars

Back in 2012, before the husband and I had spent a few weeks of the summer catching up on what was then available of the American version of The Office, I read Mindy Kaling's first book Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? and liked it, and her, a lot. Once Mindy Kaling got her own show, The Mindy Project, I even watched all of the first season and about half of the second season before I got distracted by other shows, reading and computer games. Any sitcom the husband and I don't agree to watch jointly tends to get forgotten about, because if I'm at home by myself, I read, fritter away time on the internet or play computer games.

I noticed a while back that Mindy (I'm going to assume I'm allowed to use her first name, since I spent nearly five hours of my life recently listening to her talking directly in my ear) had a new book coming out, but didn't really feel like it was a huge priority, not like Felicia Day's memoir or Jenny Lawson's new book (which I'm listening to right now (well, not RIGHT now, I'm currently blogging, but you get the general idea)). So what changed my mind? This very positive review from fellow Canonballer ModernLove, combined with very enthusiastic Goodreads status updates followed with a good review from my book twin on the internet, Narfna. It didn't hurt that I had free Audible credits to burn, either.

I don't regret buying the book or the time I spent listening to it. There's a lot of good stuff in the book, and it's clear that Mindy Kaling has become a more proficient writer, willing to share more of herself in the book than in her last one. She talks about the success of her new show making her famous in a way being a writer and supporting character on The Office never did, and in what ways that has changes her life. A lot of women, especially young ones, look up to her and consider her a role mode and it's obviously something that Ms. Kaling takes seriously. I always like these celebrity-written books more when they mix the light and the frivolous with the more weighty, open and serious topics. Here we get Mindy's style tips, insight into her time at college, some ruminations on her close friendship with her ex-boyfriend, fellow writer and actor B.J Novak, juice cleansing, stories of the time she was invited to meet President Obama, and other fun anecdotes.

She also writes about the pressures of body-image in the industry, of being a bad sport, judging others too harshly, about her work ethic and how nothing comes effortlessly, even when it may seem that way. The chapters are short and the book is a very quick read, even in audio form. I'd seen the chapter where she writes an alternate reality for herself, where she never became an actress, but ended up teaching Latin in a prep school on the Upper East side mentioned as a particular highlight. I agree that it was delightful. Unfortunately, listening to this chapter in audio got a little bit annoying, since the whole thing takes place in e-mail conversations, and the constant repetition of e-mail signatures and e-mail headings got quite repetitive. Her love of and affinity for romantic comedy really shines in this chapter. Overall, this was a fun book and I liked it better than her first one. I also want to go back and catch up on the seasons of The Mindy Project I haven't seen yet.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR4 Book 9: "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" by Mindy Kaling

Page count: 240 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: January 23rd, 2012
Date finished: January 24th, 2012

I have never watched a single episode of the American version of The Office (I know, what cave have I been living in?), but after reading Mindy Kaling's very funny autobiography, I'm absolutely going to mainline as many seasons as I can find.

Last year, I read Tina Fey's Bossypants, and it was as many other people have also agree, absolutely hilarious. Through CBRIII and IV, and on other review sites on the interwebs, I saw mention of Mindy Kaling's book, and while not as funny as Fey's book (possibly made funnier by me loving Mean Girls and 30 Rock), it still made me burst out laughing (to the point where I got weird looks on public transport) about once a page. It's a delightful and very quick read. To quote Kaling herself: "This book will take you two days to read. Did you even see the cover? It's mostly pink. If you're reading this book every night for months, something is not right."

Kaling makes humorous observations about her childhood, living in New York, Hollywood (her list of movie piches especially cracked me up), life, romance anddating, her own appearance and the media's perception of her. She even includes a selection of photos from her Blackberry and instructions for her own funeral. It's not in any way a profound or soul searching book, it's written to entertain, and suceeds brilliantly. I suspect that if you read and enjoyed Bossypants, you'll like this too. If you don't find that sort of biography funny (what's wrong with you?), you should probably give it a miss.

CBR3 Book 34: "Bossypants" by Tina Fey

Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Page count: 288 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: April 24th, 2011
Date finished: April 26th, 2011

I picked up Tina Fey's autobiography after reading very positive reviews by fellow Cannonballers. I don't read a whole lot of non-fiction, but as a big fan of Mean Girls and 30 Rock, I was pretty sure I'd like this, even before I read the glowing reviews.

Bossypants is not a very long book, and anyone expecting great revelations about Tina Fey and her life may be in for some disappointment. While Fey reveals a lot about herself through stories of her adolescence, insights into her honeymoon, tid-bits about working for Saturday Night Live, creating 30 Rock and even trying to arrange her daughter's birthday party while getting ready to parody Sarah Palin on SNL and having Oprah guest on her sit com, most of the book is observational comedy, not a tell all book about the life of a female writer and sit com creator.

It is a very funny book, however, and I frequently laughed out loud, both on public transport and in the comfort of my home (much to the annoyance of the husband, who kept having to have jokes that may not be that funny out of context explained to him). If you find Liz Lemon on 30 Rock amusing, you'll probably like this book, as it seems Tina Fey has put a lot of herself into her TV character.