Title: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Author: Jenny Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess)

Pages: 384 (Paperback edition, including a new chapter)

Publisher: Penguin Group, U.S.A.

Pub Date: 3/5/2013 (paperback)

It’s nearly impossible for me to talk about this book without discussing Jenny Lawson’s blog, The Bloggess. I can’t remember when I started reading it; further, I would be hard pressed to tell you how I even found her online. I think it was one of those things where one thing lead to another and I ended up on her site.

I kind of have a thing for irreverent people. As much as I strive to not offend as many people as possible on my blog (see: near total lack of swearing and almost no effort to “rock the boat”), I think that I’m drawn to writers like Jenny Lawson, Erika Napoletano, and Jenna McCarthy because of their total lack of fear in expressing themselves. They aren’t afraid to speak their minds, and more often than not, the use of more…adult language is required to make their point.

Jenny has a fearlessness to her that’s infectious. I find myself laughing at the most “inappropriate” things because for whatever reason, I find some nugget in there to relate to. Sure, it would be difficult to draw the exact line of how I can possibly relate to someone whose childhood was eons different from mine, who has absolutely no fear in her writing, and who can sometimes use the word “fuck” as a comma. Somehow though…I do relate to her. She has an honesty and dare I say, joy about life that not a lot of supposedly more “well-adjusted” people who I know have. And I am not alone, as Jenny has an army of fans online who appreciate her as much as I do. It really is no wonder she’s loved online…I mean the woman has a whole page devoted to Wil Wheaton Collating Paper for those poor souls in marketing that send her ridiculous pitches.

Unsurprisingly, her book is not all that different from her blog…it’s just a bit more focused on her own personal story. The stories from her childhood are a strange combination of endearing and horrifying, but in a good way. She is not shy about discussing things like her father’s penchant for allowing wild animals in the house, as well as her struggles with mental illness. She discusses her upbringing and her family with heart, and even when she talks about some of the more difficult times in her life, she does so with such disarming humor that you can’t help but love her a bit. Like any other great memoir, I really felt I got to know Jenny in a much deeper and more personal way than I have as a regular reader of her blog.

And it isn’t as if she doesn’t share intimate details of her life in her blog…she does. But with the book, it was as though she had a bit more of a chance to allow the reader into her life in a slightly different way. Is she still the same old irreverent Jenny? Absolutely. Is this book for everyone? Probably not. I highly recommend heading on over to her blog to read a handful of entries before you decide to buy the book. If you enjoy her blog, chances are you will enjoy her book. If you feel like splurging a bit, I recommend the audiobook version, as it is read by Jenny, to hilarious effect.

Tonight, I’m off to see her at the Barnes & Noble in my hometown of San José, California. I’ll be back here to tell you all about it tomorrow.

Rating: A hilarious read, with sprinkles of heartbreaking. I loved it, but if you’re unfamiliar with The Bloggess…check out the blog before buying the book. For me, this was easily 4 out of 5 stars. For others, it might not be a good fit.

Cover image pulled from the author’s website.

Title: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

Author: Lawrence Wright

Pages: 448 (hardcover); 532 (Nook enhanced edition)

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Pub. Date: 17 January 2013

Review Note: This is a book I purchased for my Nook. I bought the “Enhanced Edition”, which included extra content such as interviews with people the author used as sources for the book, as well as the author discussing various points he was trying to make. Each video snippet ran about 2 minutes long on average.

I really can’t say for sure why I felt the need to read this book. It was a mix of morbid curiosity and general fascination I guess.  I found this book to be equal parts disturbing, dense and intriguing. If even a fraction of what is revealed within these pages is true, especially regarding the church’s apparent proclivity to harass naysayers, then one can only wonder how the church has survived for as long as it has.

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Title: Heads in Beds

Author: Jacob Tomsky

Pages: 256 (240 on Nook ebook)

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday

Pub. Date: 20 November 2012

Review Note: This is a revision of a now-removed review I did of this book in December 2012. I purchased this book as an ebook for my Nook Tablet.

This has actually been driving me a little crazy. I got some positive responses to my review of Heads in Beds…and it’s nice to have people read a review I have written and enjoy it.

Here’s the thing, though: for the first time, I felt like a bit of a fraud. Let me explain:

Part of why I have such enthusiasm for the possibilities that lay ahead for me (food blogging and opening up this blog for other facets of my life) is because I’ll be starting from a relative clean slate on those other topics. I have no real history in writing about food or restaurants, really. I did maybe two entries that highlighted a “foodie” kind of thing before I embarked on my Twenty/20 Project. Therefore, I was writing from my experience only, and on a self-imposed but closely adhered to daily deadline.

As for other facets of my life…that’s also a relatively clean slate. Anytime I have written about an experience I’ve had that has nothing whatever to do with books, I wrote from a place of more honesty than I ever have with book reviewing.

That doesn’t mean that my reviews have not been honest. They have. You’ll notice though, I have largely not been negative in my reviews. At first, it wasn’t a conscious choice really. It kind of happened that way. Slowly but surely, it became a choice. I was interested in being extraordinarily diplomatic with my reviews. There is a very thin line between being diplomatic and downright withholding my gut reaction.

My review for Heads in Beds is perhaps the first time in my reviewing life that I felt less like a diplomat and more like a total fraud. I felt like a fraud because I was too interested in having a review posted after a lengthy absence on here, and I therefore wrote it without too much thought. Sometimes, that’s a good thing – it forces me to not over-think it. However, some books produce a bit of a mixed response, and it’s only through allowing it to sit for at least a few days to formulate a review that is more true to my reaction. This is how I failed with Heads in Beds.

As I had said in the original review, I had become interested in the book largely because I was taken with his interview on Good Morning America. I was expecting a certain tone in the book, I suppose. A tone that was perhaps bratty and snarky, but not necessarily devious and overly vulgar. I stand by my original viewpoint that this book is kind of like that friend that you might have that tells great stories about people at work…and that you might wonder what they would say about you when you’re not around. It falls squarely in the “guilty pleasure” realm for sure.

Shamefully, I am only now admitting that this book was just not for me.

The comparisons circulating that liken Heads in Beds to Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential is not exactly accurate. I can see why people would say that; there’s a lot of adult language, questionable behavior and general disdain for authority. Bourdain is kind of like that, but here’s the thing – Bourdain loved his profession…whole-heartedly. Pretty sure nobody would argue with me on that point. He might be a brat, but he loved his job. He loved his co-workers…those in the trenches of claustrophobic, over-heated kitchens. There was a certain tone of camaraderie between himself and his peers.

Also? He didn’t actively advocate the blatant ripping off of the restaurant business. He let you glimpse it’s “seedy underbelly”, but he didn’t give you instructions on how to dine-and-dash effectively.

Tomsky’s crime in this book, in my very honest opinion, is that he pretty much gives the reader a guidebook on how to rip off hotels. Granted, the book is more than that, but the “tips” are there. Bold as day. It is perhaps because I have friends that have worked (or are working) in the hospitality industry, but that part of the book never set well with me. In my eagerness for diplomacy, I wrongly ignored that part of my reaction to the book. I’m actually more than a little embarrassed that I did that.

The parts of this book that aren’t all that bad are some of the stories he told. Unfortunately, his attitude is just abominable overall. There’s several portions of the book where he gives in to self-pity and frankly, it wears on the reader after a while.

As for the language in the book, it’s not for kids. This alone doesn’t really bother me much. Adult language can punctuate situations and describe certain life experiences in a way that cleaner language just can’t. Sometimes, someone really isn’t a jerk – they really are an asshole. So the language didn’t bother me. What bothered me was that he seemed to be using it to show what a bad-ass he was…and it sort of felt…inauthentic to me. Very much in the vein of “he’s trying a little hard here“.

Obviously, I wasn’t there, so how would I know? But to this outsider, someone who has no experience in the hospitality industry, it came off as an expression of being overly bitter. It kind of made me wonder why he wrote it the way that he did. His GMA interview, and subsequent publicity for the book is like listening to a completely different person. I wondered why there was such a divide between his “public” persona and this bitter, foul-mouthed brat in the book.

Truth be told, if one believes that his life was even half as difficult as the book says, then I can understand how someone could become bitter. It just felt like if he had harnessed the bad stuff and told his story in a different way, maybe the book could have come out a little better.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars. Snarky and bratty, with a good dosage of adult language. Can be entertaining, but perhaps would have benefitted from a bit more editing.

Title: Tiny Beautiful Things

Author: Cheryl Strayed

Pages: 338 (Paperback)

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday (Vintage)

Pub. Date: 10 July 2012

Review Note: This is a book I purchased on my own. I planned on reading it ahead of the release party hosted by TheRumpus.net on Friday, July 27th in San Francisco.

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Title: Agorafabulous!

Author: Sara Benincasa

Publisher: William Morrow (imprint of HarperCollins)

Pub Date: 2/14/2012

Pages: 272

Review Note: I requested an ARC from William Morrow (imprint of HarperCollins), in response to an informational email that is sent to me each month. 

Although I have secretly considered myself a bit of a comedy nerd, for some reason or another I had never heard of Sara Benincasa. After reading her devastatingly funny memoir Agorafabulous!, I can say with certainty that it is a freaking shame that I had not heard of her until a couple of months ago. And an even bigger shame that I didn’t violate my rule of not spending hours on Sara’s website before reading the book. I say that because as I sat down to write out my initial impressions of the book, I thought I had seized on a completely brilliant comparison.

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Title: Unnaturally Green

Author: Felicia Ricci

Publisher: Felicia Ricci

Pub. Date: 20 September 2011

Pages: 274

Review Note: I received a copy of this book free of charge from the author for review.

It has been quite a while since I’ve posted a book review, and I am so pleased that I am able to start off the new year by reviewing this book.

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