Comedy is the best and dating apps are the worst

I've Got This Round: More Tales of Debauchery by Mamrie Hart was just what I needed after the last couple of books. Without realizing it, I desperately required a fresh dose of humor and Mamrie's voice in particular pulls one out of their own funk and reminds them that life should be fun. If you want to read a book by someone who feels like they are in your corner and rooting you on then you are in the right place. She has inspired/reminded me to continue to live authentically and for me. Also, I should travel more. Like a LOT more. If you've never heard of Mamrie I highly recommend you do two things: Watch her YouTube channels and read her first book. After you've done those two things you'll have a better understanding of just what you're getting into by diving into her second book which focuses less on the distant past and more on living in the moment. In I've Got This Round Mamrie set out to make moments that could be turned into a book and she succeeded with flying colors. She tests out a dating app which I had never heard about before and then I heard about it again the week after I finished reading this. (It's called Raya and I think it's for celebs. Full disclosure: I never researched it.) She goes on crazy trips with friends where everything is planned last minute and insane things happen. Some of the stuff that happened was so surprising that I literally looked up from the page and stared into space for several minutes. (I so badly want to tell you which things I'm talking about but I don't want to ruin it for you.) I have no idea how someone can consume the amount of alcohol that Mamrie does and still function as a normal human. It does make for hilarious content though so...worth it? This is a fun read that still manages to have a lot of heart. If you enjoyed You Deserve a Drink (the book and/or her YouTube show) then you will undoubtedly love its sequel. 10/10

Source: Amazon

What's Up Next: The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

What I'm Currently Reading: Death of a Hollow Man by Caroline Graham

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Aspidistra sounds like the name of an alien

Since it's been awhile since I read a classic, I thought I'd give Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell a shot. It kept cropping up on my radar and the name alone had me quite intrigued. I went into this blind...even to the extent that I didn't look to see what the heck an Aspidistra was. (I know now though and saw it mentioned fleetingly in Harry Potter so it's definitely super British-y.) For someone who is a huge fan of 1984, this book fell pretty flat. The book follows a man by the name of Gordon Comstock who fancies himself a poet but in reality is little more than a poor bookshop assistant. Right off the bat, I felt that Gordon had 0% likability and his actions made no sense to me whatsoever. At one point, I decided to look up what other people thought of this book because it has a decent rating on Goodreads. Everyone seemed to think that this was a profound story about the struggle against commercialism and "the Man". What I see is the story of a man who is self-destructive, self-absorbed, and annoying. He is constantly picking apart everyone and everything around him in terms of its inherent value to society (there's a really long bit about advertising on different food products which was bizarre). Bottom line: this one wasn't a winner for me. I won't completely discount Mr. Orwell though. I'm sure I'll give him another shot in the future. :-) Also, I'm sorry that this is the second negative review in a row. Sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles. 1/10

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

If this was Shark Week I'd be super relevant

The following book was kindly sent to me by the author, Matthew Danza, who requested a review.

I'm going to come right out and say that I didn't care for The Fin. I can see why some people would enjoy it but this just wasn't the book for me. There's a lot of teenage angst combined with gore which sounds like a good time but I felt like it didn't really go anywhere. The story follows Lee, an annoying and obnoxious teenager, living on a small island with her twin brother James and her father. (There's a secondary storyline about her estrangement with her mother which was awkwardly included but ultimately went nowhere.) Her good friend (who obviously likes her and who she likes back) is named Adam and he rounds out the main cast of characters. Based on the title of this book and the cover art, it's obvious that this is a story about a shark attack. Firstly, I felt the storyline was excruciatingly slow especially for a novella. Also, totally predictable. (And I think the author was going for a Jaws homage but it felt super forced and corny to me.) The only good thing about this book was that it was mercifully short. I think that the author was trying to do too much for the length of a novella. This was a 1/10 for me.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Start at the bottom and work your way to the top

If you've been reading the blog since the start of the new year then you'll remember my gobbling up of Lucy Knisley's books. (You can go back to these posts here, here, and here if you need a refresher or have no idea what I'm even talking about.) Well, I was finally able to get my hands on her first book, French Milk, which chronicles her 6 week stay in Paris with her mom when she turned 23. I had this book on hold for months and honestly I was a bit disappointed. However, because I know this was her first and her subsequent works were so much fun I'm inclined not to be too harsh. This book is entirely black and white which was kind of a bummer. She incorporates real photographs throughout which I actually really enjoyed.  I thought they lent a nice element when they coincided with her artistic interpretation. (She's included some of these in her other books at the very end.) While humorous at times, it lacks the zing of her subsequent books (which is one of my favorite parts). The art doesn't stand out as her best but I do think that's partly to do with the lack of color which I had come to expect of her. It's immediately clear to me how much she has grown as both an artist and a storyteller. Kudos, Lucy! Sometimes one finds that an author's later work lacks the punch and pizazz of their earlier forays but this is not the case with French Milk. I didn't find it nearly as compelling or engaging and I didn't feel a connection as I had with the other books of hers that I've read. I am very much looking forward to her newest which is all about her marriage and entitled Something New: Tales From a Makeshift Bride. If you haven't read any of Lucy's work to date then I think starting with French Milk will give you a greater appreciation for the rest of her body of work and in that vein I highly recommend it. However, if like me you started at a different point it kinda fell flat. 6/10

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Ridiculously raunchy

I'm almost sad that I've already finished You Deserve a Drink (although my fellow commuters are probably glad they won't have to witness my random gigglesnorts). It's exactly what it advertises. If you're looking for a quick read that is alternately hilarious, disgusting, and borderline unbelievable then you're on the right track with Mamrie's debut novel. She shares stories of her childhood up to the present day which almost entirely revolve around her unique talent of getting herself into unusual predicaments (mostly due to alcohol). Forewarning: Alcohol, illicit substances, sexual escapades, and naughty language abound in You Deserve a Drink. Did I just hear you all run for the nearest bookstore? Also, if you do read it and find it's amazingly hysterical then I highly recommend you check out her YouTube channel here.

Next up is a book that 1. I purchased solely because I watched a film based on a short story in this collection and 2. I had to search far and wide for because it's not really in print anymore. I'm talking about The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber. I can hear you all scratching your heads in confusion. Did you guys see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty starring Ben Stiller? WHY NOT?! Okay, well it was originally a short story written by James Thurber for The New Yorker. It's a poignant, heartfelt story of a man who lives almost entirely in a fantasy world in his own head...until he goes on an epic adventure and discovers just exactly what he's made of. IT. IS. AWESOME. This book includes several pieces which were originally published in that paper and was a bestseller when it was published in 1945. I will readily admit that I'm going into this with extraordinarily high expectations because that movie blew my mind (and the soundtrack is one of my faves). Wish me luck!


Quick note: If you have any recommendations please leave a comment below and if you're reading along with me I'd love to hear your thoughts on these books as well. I hope you're having a fantastic summer and that you'll visit the blog again. So far, I'm sticking to the weekly posting schedule and in some cases I've been posting more than once. In order for you to stay abreast of my postings, follow the blog so that you'll be notified via email. :-)

Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart

Ureneck clearly feels passionately about this subject. It's evident in his writing and his description of the events which unfolded. He used data from a variety of sources including interviews of family members of those directly involved with the evacuation of the Christian refugees in Smyrna. Going into this, I had absolutely no knowledge of this event and I now feel that I am informed enough to have a discussion about the events of that fall of 1922 (and early spring of 1923). According to the author, the event is mostly unknown to those residents now living in the area (called Izmir now) and the man Asa Jennings has been left out of most published accounts. It's hard to believe (and sometimes not so hard) the level of violence that humans can inflict on one another. I don't think it will ever be possible to truly ascertain the numbers of people which were killed during the massacre described in this book. When will humans stop trying to destroy one another? If you'd like to gain more knowledge about an area of the world that is very relevant in the news these days (I'm talking about Greece, guys) you could give The Great Fire a shot.

I'd like to move onto something a little more lighthearted. I've had this next book ready and waiting to be read for quite some time now. I'm talking about Mamrie Hart's debut novel, guys! You Deserve a Drink: Boozy Misadventures and Tales of Debauchery promises to be as hilarious as the YouTube channel of the same name. Each story from Mamrie's past is accompanied by a cocktail (she was a bartender so it's totally legit). You can drink along as you read! Note: I do not drink but I think she's hysterical so I am VERY excited for this one.

Yay for holidays!!

So my last entry was written in the airport on one of those iPads that are for public use (or I just jacked that one off of someone who was in the toilet). Either way it was a pretty short one and I think this one will make up for it in length. :-)

I gobbled up My Booky Wook in a week (I actually finished it on Saturday but it wasn't until this morning that I decided what I was reading next) because it was deliciously fun. It's one of those reads that make you feel like you're doing something wicked...or maybe that's just Russell Brand himself. While I was reading it, I had to keep reminding myself that it was a memoir and these crazy accounts were true (or as near to it as he can piece together afterward). He talks frankly about his addictions and the highs (pun intended) and the lows of his life. At times raunchy and at times poignant (often I'd say), Brand delivers his promise of a memoir that will keep you turning the pages. I don't recommend it to people who are either over-sensitive to language, religion, or life practices (I'm talking kinky stuff people). However, I thought it was brill (footnotes give you language tutorials!). I've already added his sequel, aptly named My Booky Wook 2, to my wish list.

As I mentioned above, I couldn't decide what I wanted to read next. This is not because I've run out of options. It's quite the opposite. In fact, I knew what I really wanted to read but I felt it was cheating...and then I didn't care. I'm re-reading an old favorite of mine that I haven't read in eons: The Hobbit. Yep it's (in my opinion) J.R.R. Tolkien's finest work and I am pretty thrilled to be re-visiting these fantastic characters. If you've only seen the films I highly recommend that you read this book. It will only make you want to continue your journeys through Wilderland, Middle-earth, and beyond. Also, Bilbo Baggins is just one of the best characters ever. EVER. I mean it's not called a fantasy epic for nothing. ;-)