Spare by Prince Harry
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: January 10, 2023
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
For Harry, this is that story at last.
Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.
At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.
Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .
For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
By now, we all know, I love a dishy, celebrity memoir. Prince Harry does not disappoint. He starts at his childhood, before his mother’s death. He was traumatized by having to walk behind her coffin at her funeral. I had always assumed that he and Prince William wanted to do that. He’s honest about his wild party days – the drugs, the Nazi uniform scandal, etc. He also goes into quite a bit of detail about the time his nether regions got frost bite which, I could have done without!
A lot of the book is about his time in the British military. I didn’t realize that he was more than just a ceremonial soldier. He actually had several confirmed kills and I think that has affected him more than he thinks it has. He also writes about his former girlfriends, not just Megahan Markle. Of course, their relationship and their departure from Britain are the last part of the book. She was treated so horribly by the British press.
Even though he had a ghostwriter, (J.R. Moehringer) the memoir is written in a conversational style that sounds like I imagine Harry sounds when he’s chatting. I think that Royal followers will thoroughly enjoy this book. I feel like he addressed almost every scandal he’s ever been a part of and told his side of the story. Highly recommended.
By now, we all know, I love a dishy, celebrity memoir. Prince Harry does not disappoint. He starts at his childhood, before his mother’s death. He was traumatized by having to walk behind her coffin at her funeral. I had always assumed that he and Prince William wanted to do that. He’s honest about his wild party days – the drugs, the Nazi uniform scandal, etc. He also goes into quite a bit of detail about the time his nether regions got frostbite which, I could have done without!
A lot of the book is about his time in the British military. I didn’t realize that he was more than just a ceremonial soldier. He actually had several confirmed kills and I think that has affected him more than he thinks it has. He also writes about his former girlfriends, not just Megahan Markle. Of course, their relationship and their departure from Britain are the last part of the book. She was treated so horribly by the British press.
Even though he had a ghostwriter, (J.R. Moehringer) the memoir is written in a conversational style that sounds like I imagine Harry sounds when he’s chatting. I think that Royal followers will thoroughly enjoy this book. I feel like he addressed almost every scandal he’s ever been a part of and told his side of the story.
Highly recommended.
March 20th, 2023 in
Books |
No Comments
The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Publisher: Celadon Books
Publication Date: May 31, 2022
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings – Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally – feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child. What role will the “latecomer” play in this fractured family?
A complex novel that builds slowly and deliberately, The Latecomer touches on the topics of grief and guilt, generational trauma, privilege and race, traditions and religion, and family dynamics. It is a profound and witty family story from an accomplished author, known for the depth of her character studies, expertly woven storylines, and plot twists.
I picked up The Latecomer because I loved Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel The Plot (review hopefully coming soon.) The Latecomer is not a thriller like The Plot but I liked it just as much. It asks the interesting question about how it feels to be born from the “leftover” embryos after your parents go through IVF, several years after your siblings have been born. What would your life look like if you had been one of the triplets instead of the much younger singleton? It’s also about sibling dynamics. The triplets do not get a long at all, dashing their mother’s hope that they would always be a close family. That’s one of the reasons she decided to have a fourth child, thinking it would bring everyone together.
I really enjoyed The Latecomer. I could relate to the mother wanting her children to stay close to each other and to her. I have four kids and I hope they stay close. And my youngest is nine years younger than his closest sibling so he’s kind of a latecomer as well!
Jean Hanff Korelitz is on her way to becoming one of my favorite authors. Highly recommended.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for reveiw.)
March 15th, 2023 in
Books |
No Comments
Yearbook by Seth Rogen
Narrator: Seth Rogan and cast
Release Date: May 14, 2021
Publisher: Random House Audio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Seth’s Description:
Yearbook is a collection of true stories that I desperately hope are just funny at worst, and life-changingly amazing at best. (I understand that it’s likely the former, which is a fancy “book” way of saying “the first one.”)
I talk about my grandparents, doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish summer camp, and tell way more stories about doing drugs than my mother would like. I also talk about some of my adventures in Los Angeles, and surely say things about other famous people that will create a wildly awkward conversation for me at a party one day.
Yearbook is a collection of memories written by Seth Rogan. The audiobook is narrated by him and a cast of 80 other narrators, including Rogen’s mom and dad, Nick Kroll, Jay Pharoah, Jason Segel, Dan Aykroyd, Ike Barinholtz, Simon Helberg, Tommy Chong, and Billy Idol.
This is the kind of celebrity memoir I live for. Not only does he dish all the dirt, but he does it in a hilarious way. After you listen to the time he met George Lucas, you’ll never view Star Wars in the same way. He compares one studio executive – who he names – to the devil incarnate.
Not only that, he is very candid about his love of drugs, mostly pot and mushrooms. He has some very funny stories about things that happened when he was high. To be clear, he does not have a drug problem, he just appreciates them when he uses them.
There are childhood anecdotes as well, and he makes them interesting. In many celebrity memoirs, the childhood stuff is boring but not his. I didn’t know he started doing stand-up comedy when he was only 14 years old!
I actually listened to this book last year (I’m so behind on reviews!) but I liked it so much that my husband and I listened to it on a recent road trip. He enjoyed it too and it made the time pass quickly. Highly recommended.
January 17th, 2023 in
Books |
1 Comment
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: November 1, 2022
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The One Where I Was Disappointed
I love Friends. It might be my all-time favorite TV show. I was counting down the days until Matthew Perry’s book came out – he’s the first one of the six friends to write a book. Well, boo on me. I don’t know if I’ve ever been as disappointed in a book!
I knew he had a drug problem but I had no idea how bad it was. He’s basically been using drugs his entire adult life with only brief stints of sobriety. That’s not what turned me off though. It’s that he takes almost no personal responsibility for his addictions and blames everyone else. He repeatedly refers to having abandonment issues because he flew on an airplane once as an unaccompanied minor. Come on!
At one point he was taking up to 55 painkillers a day. If you’ve ever taken even a normal amount of them then you know they can make you a little constipated. So imagine what 55 a day will do to you! He ended up needing major bowel surgery and had to have a temporary colostomy. As an ostomate myself, I was really angry that he said his bag broke all the time and that doctors should be able to make a f**king bag that works. I have never had one break – they do work if you’re not a whiney baby who doesn’t learn how to take care of yourself properly. He said that the reason he finally quit drugs was that his therapist told him if he didn’t, he might have to have a permanent colostomy. It’s good that he quit but there are worse fates in life than having a colostomy. And that’s the end of my rant about that!
The timeline was confusing, jumping all around. There was some dirt and behind-the-scenes info, which I always appreciate. He kept saying that he wrote the book to help people but I got the impression that he’s very newly sober and his track record is not good. If I were an addict, I think his book would make me feel worse, not hopeful! I think die-hard fans of him or Friends will get something out of reading it but keep your expectations low.
December 5th, 2022 in
Books |
1 Comment
Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: June 1, 2021
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley Ford wishes she could turn to her father for hope and encouragement. There are just a few problems: He’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates. When the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley desperately searches for meaning in the chaos. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father’s incarceration…and Ashley’s entire world is turned upside down.
Somebody’s Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl in Indiana with a family fragmented by incarceration, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.
I first heard of Ashley Ford’s book when John Green featured it as one of his two favorite books of 2021. (The other was How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith.) Since I am the ultimate John Green fangirl, I put Somebody’s Daughter on my TBR list.
Ashley’s dad went to prison when she was very young and so she and her brother were raised by just her mother. Her mother was a volatile, abusive person, which made Ashley an anxious child with low self-esteem. In her search for unconditional love, she ends up dating a boy who turns out to be a horrible person. In addition, her mother ends up marrying a guy who is a complete jerk, to say the least and is not nice to Ashely either.
Listening to Ashely read her memoir was heartbreaking. She had no safe space as a child and kept going by imagining that if only her father wasn’t in prison, he would be her safe space and her life would be different. But one day her grandmother tells her the truth about what her father did to end up in prison and Ashley realizes this is probably not the case.
It’s amazing that Ashley persevered and is successful now. She figured out how to get into college and live on her own with almost no help. She’s impressively self-aware now and able to see clearly how the events of her childhood affected her psyche. Her writing is beautiful, even if what she wrote about is distressing. I’m very glad I chose to listen to this audiobook.
November 28th, 2022 in
Books |
1 Comment
Make It Nice by Dorinda Medley
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: August 17, 2021
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Throughout her life, Dorinda Medley has always strived to “make it nice” regardless of the circumstances. In her incredibly candid memoir, the real housewife of New York City opens the doors of Blue Stone Manor, her Berkshires sanctuary, welcoming fans into her beloved home. In her first-ever written life story, Dorinda clips away all pretense and noise to unveil the not-so-glamorous bumps in the road that have marked her colorful journey toward becoming the person fans, colleagues, and friends know and love today. This is a vulnerable and emotional account of love, motherhood, loss, and the not-entirely-planned adventure from her modest beginnings in the Berkshires to her personal, social, and professional ascent – told in her trademark manner.
Chronicling the life of the reality television star, Make It Nice also features life lessons for those who may experience similar challenges, as well as the celebrated hostess’s invaluable entertaining tips, all presented with the humor and wit that have “oh-so-well made” Dorinda Medley a most compelling compilation.
Dorinda Medley starred on The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) for seasons 7-12, before she was famously “put on pause” by Andy Cohen. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then this is not the book for you. If you are a RHONY fan, then I think it’s worth giving Make It Nice a whirl. It’s very short and has some good stories from Dorinda’s past. She writes about her first husband, her daughter, and her relationship with Richard and his death. It’s very much written the way Dorinda speaks – even though I read the print edition, I could totally hear her voice in my head while reading it. There’s not much about actually being on the show. I’m sure the Housewives all sign iron-clad NDAs about spilling too much dirt on behind-the-scenes stuff – unless Bravo is making money off it. Maybe she’ll spill more dirt if she’s taken off pause and put on game over!
November 23rd, 2022 in
Books |
No Comments
A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: July 28, 2020
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
The Devil Wears Prada meets Postcards from the Edge in a hilariously heartfelt novel influenced in part by the author’s time assisting Carrie Fisher.
Charlie Besson is tense and sweating as he prepares for an insane job interview. His car is idling, like his life, outside the Hollywood mansion of Kathi Kannon. The Kathi Kannon, star of stage and screen and People Magazine’s worst dressed list. She needs an assistant. He needs a hero.
Kathi is an icon, best-selling author, and an award winning actress, most known for her role as Priestess Talara in a blockbuster sci-fi film. She’s also known in another role: crazy. Admittedly so. Famously so. Fabulously so, as Charlie quickly discovers.
Their three-year odyssey is filled with late-night shopping sprees, last-minute trips to see the aurora borealis, and an initiation to that most sacred of Hollywood tribes: the personal assistant. But Kathi becomes much more than a boss, and as their friendship grows, Charlie must make a choice. Will he always be on the sidelines of life, assisting the great forces that be, or can he step into his own leading role?
Laugh-out-loud funny and searingly poignant, Byron Lane’s A Star Is Bored is a novel that, like the star at its center, is enchanting and joyous, heartbreaking, and hopeful.
I chose this book because in the acknowledgments of Steven Rowley’s book The Guncle, he accepts Byron Lane’s marriage proposal because Lane proposed to him in the acknowledgments section of this book. How cute is that? Anyway, on to the review:
Charlie is depressed and living without purpose. He interviews for a job as Kathi Kannon’s assistant and somehow gets the job, even though he has no idea how to be an assistant. Kathi is an older actress most known for starring as Priestess Talara in a hugely popular science fiction movie. She hasn’t worked in a while and she struggles with addiction and mental illness. Charlie has always been a huge fan of hers and working as her assistant is his dream job. But once he gets the job, he soon figures out it’s going to be a lot harder than he thought it would be.
Okay, so Lane used to be Carrie Fisher’s assistant in real-life and reading this book felt like reading his memoir of being her assistant. I think he probably wrote it as a novel instead out of respect to her because it’s clear in the book that Charlie loves Kathi with all his heart even though the relationship seems one-sided. I don’t think Lane would want anyone to think badly of Carrie Fisher.
Kathi lives on the same compound as her mother, Miss Gracie, (as Carrie did with her mother Debbie Reynolds) and Miss Gracie has the financial means to make sure that Kathi never hits rock bottom. She loves her daughter and wants to protect her but she’s actually not doing her any favors by being an enabler. Charlie’s main job seems to be making sure that Kathi still functions while she keeps doing drugs, mainly prescription painkillers, and making sure she stays on the medication that keeps her bipolar in check. He does his best to keep her from taking drugs but when there’s no rock bottom, it’s a lost cause.
I mostly enjoyed A Star is Bored but I did find myself wondering why Charlie loved Kathi so much when she didn’t really seem to care about him all that much. Right off the bat, he gives her his dead mother’s locket and seems to look up to her as a mother figure when she isn’t nurturing at all. After reading this book, it would be interesting to go back and reread Carrie Fisher’s memoirs to see how they match up. I don’t know if I have time for that though!
November 21st, 2022 in
Books |
No Comments
The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: (May 25, 2021
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for.
…are made of beautiful lies…
But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s 11th birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene – in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life.
…the truth will be exposed.
That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate.
When professional photographer Delta Dawn photographs Natalie Straub’s 11th birthday party, she becomes enthralled with Natalie’s mother Amelia and the rest of the family. She decides she must be a part of it and hatches an elaborate plan to make it so. At the same time, Amelia is becoming a bit unhinged herself dealing with her struggle to have another baby.
Delta Dawn is an unreliable narrator for sure and I love an unreliable narrator. The novel doesn’t go into her backstory – it just launches into her being unstable from the get-go. I would love a prequel on what made her so messed up. (Fun fact: the author is Dixie Carter’s daughter!) Even though some of the twists relied on unlikely coincidences, I found The Photographer to be very entertaining. Recommended.
November 17th, 2022 in
Books |
No Comments
To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books
Publication Date: February 12, 2019
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Avery Bloom, who’s bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who’s fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads.
When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends–and possibly, one day, even sisters.
But things soon go off the rails for the girls (and for their dads too), and they find themselves on a summer adventure that neither of them could have predicted. Now that they can’t imagine life without each other, will Bett and Avery (who sometimes call themselves Night Owl and Dogfish) figure out a way to be a family?
I’ve been reading Pamela Paul and Maria Russo’s How to Raise a Reader and they recommended this book in the Books that Make Us Laugh section. It sounded really cute and I’m not above reading middle-grade fiction for my own enjoyment. I didn’t realize until I brought my copy home that it was written by Meg Wolitzer, who wrote The Interestings (4 stars from me) and Holly Goldberg Sloan, who wrote Counting by 7s (5 stars from me). I knew then that this would be a great book.
Avery and Bett don’t have much in common except for the fact that they are both 12 years old and both being raised by single gay dads. Bett is a California surfer girl who’s laid back and goes with the flow. Avery lives in New York and is Type A and very anxious. One day, Bett emails Avery, who she has never met, that she has discovered their dads are in a relationship. Not only that, their dads are planning on sending them both away to the same camp for the summer so they can get to know each other. Neither Bett nor Avery are happy about this turn of events. They both want their dads all to themselves. And together they form a plan to make that happen…
This story is told through emails and letters. As a parent of a 12-year-old girl, I can vouch that the authors have captured what 12-year-old girls are like perfectly. This book is really funny but has some serious and suspenseful moments in it too. Even though it starts off as sort of a reverse Parent Trap, it takes some turns that I was not expecting. I was impressed that middle-grade fiction could keep me guessing like this book did!
To Night Owl from Dogfish is a really sweet book. Highly recommended!
November 14th, 2022 in
Books |
No Comments
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan’s fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear.
Something Jivan, a young Muslim woman living in the slums of India, posts on Facebook results in her being arrested and falsely accused of participating in an act of terrorism. Her old gym teacher is a rising figure in a right-wing political party and he can’t help her without hurting himself. Then there is Lovely, a hijra with big dreams of becoming a Bollywood star – is she willing to sacrifice anything to help Jivan?
From what I’ve read about the current political state in India, the author did a great job of capturing what it feels like to live there right now, especially for the lower class. I was grateful for Lovely – she was charming and funny. Her turn at the narration was a nice break from reading about Jivan’s hopeless situation. I didn’t know anything about hijras before a read this book – they are a third gender recognized in India. I’m intrigued and plan to learn more about them.
A Burning was beautifully written and just heart-wrenching. The plotting was excellent – it’s billed as a thriller and it does definitely have some twists and turns. I enjoyed it.
November 10th, 2022 in
Books |
No Comments
