The Book: The Late Bloomer’s Revolution, by Amy Cohen

The Story: Amy is thirty years old and unmarried and has no children and she has been fired from her job and can’t ride a bike. She starts to think that she’s old and washed up and decides to better herself.

What I Thought: Here’s the thing: I am a sucker for memoirs. Last year, I’d say a good twenty five percent of the books I read were memoirs and I liked 98% of them. Do you think it is a coincidence that this one and Breakfast with Tiffany were the ones that I hated? They were so similar it was almost comical. Both people have media jobs in NYC, cushy lives and are just giant whiners.

You hear me? WHINERS.

I guess that it does all add up to a book deal: she lives in NYC, has a job in media, meets famous people, is hot, has “hilarious” friends, and has an epiphany that she needs to get her crap together. The problem is that it didn’t read like a memoir at all. It read like the fluffiest piece of chic lit I’ve ever gotten my hands on. There was not a bit of raw, real emotion and it made the whole thing seem even more #firstworldproblems than it really was…. (That’s right- I just used a hashtag in my blog. It’s my blog. I’ll do what I want )

And the real bummer is that it didn’t have to be like that. Because she did have serious stuff come up- her fiancé dumped her totally unexpectedly and her mom died and she got fired and…. all these things that should bring out real emotion, real feeling from people. Not Amy. I mean, I’m sure she experienced real human emotions, real grief, but she didn’t write about them at all. The whole book was this “oh my God, I’m QUIRKY and ALONE!” and whine whine whine.

Barf.

That’s it. If you want to read a memoir, read something legit. If you want to read good chic lit, do your thing. This is neither.

Conclusion: Don’t read this. Don’t buy it for your single friends. Don’t even crack the cover. Yuck.

The Book: Always Looking Up, by Michael J. Fox

The Story: After Michael J. Fox quit working on Spin City due to Parkinson’s, he was kind of depressed- day-to-day life was a struggle and after years and years in front of the camera, he felt bored and lonely. He decided to use his disease, his fame, and his money toward something that really mattered to him: finding a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, which had effected him for almost 20 years at that point.

By surrounding himself with excited, influential people and putting his heart on the line, Michael J. Fox developed The Michael J. Fox Foundation. Their goal is to hire scientists who are experts in their field to focus their whole attention on Parkinson’s. Through this, the foundation has been able to develop amazing drugs and therapies that are helping the tons of people effected by this disease.

What I Thought: When I went to the library in search of Michael J. Fox’s book, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know that there were two. When the librarian handed me both of them, I know I looked confused. I decided to pick the newest one for no other reason than it was newer. I didn’t even read the book flaps. Had I read them, I think I would have picked the first one because what I was looking for was more of an overview of his life. While this book had a little bit of that, it really was more focused on his later life- his disease and post-TV/movie life.

That being said, I really did enjoy this. The first chapter just talks about his daily struggles- getting up and getting ready when his muscles just refuse to listen to him. For me, this was the most memorable part of the book. To be able to watch movies (Hello, Back to the Future, I love you!) where he is so adorable and totally in control and know that at such a young age that even brushing his teeth is quite the job… that’s tough. As I read the book and learned about all the good he is doing in the world, I kept reflecting on the fact that he’s doing all of this while almost unable to walk.

I sometimes get annoyed when celebrities “use” their fame to promote stuff, but I love that Michael J. was smart enough to realize that he could influence real change. He didn’t do it in this “look at me!” way- instead he got with smart people who knew what they were doing and basically told them that he wanted to be the face and the voice of this thing, but wanted them to use their knowledge, their training to make the real change. There is a powerful message in there.

Of course Michael J. Fox is brimming over with lovableness, but this book just hammered it home even more.

At points I got bored with hearing about the political side of what he does, but even in that I was impressed with his will, with his determination and with his vigor. He decided what he wanted to do and is totally going after it. I love that.

Conclusion: While I still haven’t read it, I think I’d recommend reading his first memoir first, but even as a stand alone, this is a moving book.

The Book: Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle’s Memoir, by Edwin John Wintle

The Story: Tiffany is a semi-wild 13 year old living with her mom and brother and just causing trouble at every turn.

Edwin as an urbane, successful New Yorker who is 40 years old and pretty proud of where he is in his life.

When Tiffany’s mom (Edwin’s sister) calls Edwin and says she can’t handle it, can he take Tiffany for awhile, he is kind of shocked. After he thinks it through, he realizes that that would be perfect for both of them.

She moves in.

Craziness ensues.

What I Thought: I love memoirs. I’m sure you’ve noticed. I would say about a quarter of the books I read are memoirs. I like the idea of pretty normal people encountering something that changes them, processing the changes and writing about it. I think that there is a raw emotion there that you don’t get with a full-life autobiography or really an other medium.

The raw-ness and honesty that generally draw me to memoirs was totally absent here.

I admit that I did enjoy Edwin and Tiffany’s relationship. I thought that it was turbulent and I could really identify with Edwin’s desire to change Tiffany but also to let her grow into the woman that she is meant to be. I have a crazy little brother and I always want to “fix” him into a better man, but the thing is this: He is on his own path and is going to do his thing. This is a hard thing to grasp and I thought watching Edwin struggle with that was the best, most real part of the book.

Here’s what made me pretty much hate the book: Edwin. Is that bad?

He’s a 40 year old gay man and that’s exactly how he sees himself. He doesn’t have much identity outside of his sexuality and he is just this caricature. He lacks any real emotional depth and the whole time I thought about how if I were gay, I’d be ticked about this book. It just promotes stereotyping in a way that is almost comical…. except it’s not. At all. It is insulting.

Even beyond that, he left two BIG things unsaid until the very, very last chapters of the books. It’s not like he hadn’t had a chance to say them. No, he had alluded to both things but was not forthright at all. When you find out these little bits, it is like. “Oh. Well that kind of changes a lot of what you said.” I hate that. It’s a MEMOIR. The idea is to be open and vulnerable and let people into your life. I thought that it was dishonest and it just didn’t work for me.

I don’t even really know what the goal in leaving out these huge chunks of information was. It didn’t make for a more cohesive storyline or anything… it was just weird.

So. That’s that. This wasn’t the best memoir I’ve ever read and if you are gay or have gay people in your life that you love, just don’t read this.

Conclusion: Skip it.

The Book: The Story of My Father: A Memoir, by Sue Miller

The Story: Sue Miller, a well known novelist, is taken totally off guard when her reliable, wonderful father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It’s a hard pill to swallow for any child, but for Sue it seemed especially hard because he had always been the firm foundation that her family was built on. Her mom was a little kooky and so her dad served to hold everything together.

In order to hold on to the person she remembered, she set out to document his life and in the process ended up documenting his mental decline as well.

What I Thought: If you have ever read Sue Miller’s novels, you know that she writes in this gritty, real, compelling way. She is just one of those authors who has a finger on people’s emotions and just the “human condition.” Hearing her use that same tone and emotion to talk about her own family was kind of extraordinary.

My Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s last year and it has been absolutely heartbreaking to watch her go from doing the crossword every morning to struggling to remember what grandkids/great grandkids belong to what children. She is the mother of 8 and her sons and daughters and her husband have just come around her and loved her in the best way that they know how. It is hard to watch her decline, but it is wonderful to see the love flowing out of the people who love her even as she is becoming less and less the mother and wife that they know.

With that as my background, reading this kind of tore me to bits. Sue Miller really struggled with watching her Dad’s memory and personality go but didn’t shy away from it. She spent time with him just loving him and being with him and struggling right along side him. One thing that she said that was really beautiful and true was that there are all these awful things that come with a disease like Alzheimer’s, but it seems like families always pride themselves on something. Her dad never got mean or violent and that just touched her, that even when parts of him were slipping away, he never lost that kindness and politeness that made him who he was. She saw all the negative things that were happening but made the choice to focus instead on this one positive thing that she could pull out. There is something really powerful in that.

Conclusion: If you have a family member going through this, I would recommend this without a doubt. Still Alice is another one that has really helped me empathize with my Grandma as she loses more and more of her memory. They are tough reads but really, really beneficial.

Day #3.  Today I babysat a friend’s 4 month old baby until the early afternoon and since then I’ve been cleaning and having fun with little ol’ Izey.  We are headed out tonight for a little bit of alone time.  Some friends are watching Isaac while we go get ice cream.  Sounds like a dream!  And here I am… reviewing. See? Review-a-thon is good for me!

The Book: The Geography of Love: A Memoir, by Glenda Burgess

The Story: When they meet, Glenda & Kenneth fall for each other in about an instant.  Kenneth has been married and widowed twice, they are 14 years apart in age, and Kenneth has a daughter who pretty much hates Glenda.

Through all of this, they are just wildly in love.

When Kenneth gets sick, they have to band together and fight together.

What I Thought: I know that this is weird to say, but I’ve read a lot of cancer memoirs. I’ve also read a lot of widow/widower memoirs.  Losing Shaun while we are young is one of my biggest fears.  Cancer is another.  Maybe the morbid, scared part of me just wants to delve into these things that kind of freak me out, I don’t know…. but whatever it is, this was not new ground for me.

Here’s what bugged me: From the jacket, I really didn’t know that this was going to be a cancer/dying memoir.  I thought it was going to be a story about the unsolved murder of Kenneth’s second wife.  That’s kind of what it insinuated, so when I kind of got into the book and it barely mentioned this, then turned into this cancer fighting thing, I have to admit that I was a little bit annoyed.  I was not at all in a good state of mind for this. I wanted kind of a mystery or something and not something depressing and awful.  I guess I just kind of felt that I was tricked, ya know what I mean?

That aside, I think that this was pretty good. I liked that Kenneth and Glenda are this well established, older couple with a stable, good relationship.  I feel like a lot of the memoirs I’ve read have been about younger couples or kind of couples that are on the outs, and it was nice to read about a well established, loving couple.  Watching Kenneth get sicker and sicker kind of destroyed Glenda, but her ability to capture that emotion and remember all those feelings was impeccable. She was just raw and real and put herself out there in a way that is brave beyond words.

There is a whole side story about Glenda’s mom getting diagnosed with cancer that was kind of off-putting to me and didn’t keep my attention in any way.  I found myself almost skimming over the parts about her mom, in fact.

And that’s it.  This was good but not great. It was falsely advertised for sure, but maybe that won’t bother you as much as it did me.  Go into this with a box of tissues and you should be just fine.

Conclusion: I think that if you go in knowing what you’re getting into, that this could be a pretty good read.

The Book: Girl Meets God, by Lauren Winner

The Story: Lauren was born into a kind of religiously-confused environment.  Her mother was a Southern Baptist and her father was a Reform Jew.  They kind of let her do what she wanted, religion-wise and she chose to become an Orthodox Jew.

As she grew up in the synagogue and studied (and came to love) the Jewish laws and practiced all the customs, she found herself leaning towards Christianity.

When she was in college, she made a huge decision and converted.

This book is really the story of that conversion and how it effected many different aspects of her life.

What I Thought: This is advertised as a memoir, although I have to say I’m not sure if that is entirely accurate.  The first half is set up that way- kind of this timeline of her life and her conversion and how she came to that decision and so on.  The second half is more like essays about Christianity and Judaism.  Just a little warning, in case you were going into this thinking that it was a traditional memoir.

I thought that this was pretty good.  I thought that Lauren wrote from a really honest, raw place in herself.  Religion is always deeply personal and her willingness to share about her religion and her confusion and conversion had to have been a tough one.  There are a lot of places where people don’t usually “go” and she went there for sure.

I did have a couple of issues with the book in general: I admittedly know very, very little about Judaism.  We’re talking an embarrassingly small amount.  The first half of the book, when Lauren was describing her life as an Orthodox Jew I found myself pretty lost.  A lot of times I didn’t know really what she was talking about.  I wish that she just would have given some background or given extra info.  My other issue was just the sloppy pacing/construction of the story itself.  It was kind of out of order and messy and…. Bleh.

What I really loved was Lauren’s determination and passion.  When she decided to pursue Christianity, she went for it in a big way.  She knew that this was entire life change and she was willing to do it.  She found great mentors, she joined a church that she was comfortable with and made herself really familiar with the New Testament.  Just her zeal and enthusiasm were really powerful.

Conclusion: Just so-so.  I’ve yet to read a book like this, so it is unique, but I wasn’t blown away. If you are interested in comparing religions, give it a go.  Otherwise, skip this one.

The Book: Ava’s Man, by Rick Bragg

The Story: After writing All Over but the Shoutin’, Rick Bragg was approached on multiple occasions and told that he just has to tell more about his family’s history.

In this book, he goes back another generation and delves into the life of his maternal Grandpa, Charlie and his wife Ava.  He had never met Charlie, but grew up with Ava and his family wound tightly into his life and by asking everyone to tell him stories, he kind of got this really broad view of who is Grandpa was.

Charlie was kind of this walking contradiction.  He was soft spoken, but could get his family hootin’ and hollerin’ in seconds.  He was gentle, but wouldn’t hesitate to get out his gun if someone was hurting his family.  He was rough and tumble, but couldn’t help but bring home “stray” people, including one that stayed with his family for decades. He was a drinker and a moonshiner, but his wife never saw him drink one time.

Through little stories told to him by family and pieced together, Rick Bragg put together a picture of his Grandfather’s life from the early 1900’s, until he died in the 50’s and even into the legacy he’s left today.

What I Thought: I read All Over But the Shoutin’ maybe 4 or 5 years ago and I remember really liking it, although if you would have asked me a few days ago what it was about, I would have mumbled something about the south and poor people.  Now I want to read it again so I can remember every word.

This book, Ava’s Man, seriously blew me away.  From the get-go I was just moved.  Rick Bragg’s genuine love for his family and his history comes out through the pages in a way that had me tearing up from page one.

Everyone comes from kind of “messed up” families, and mine is way more than a little messed up.  Sometimes it kind of makes me blush how messed up they are, but I love that Rick Bragg doesn’t feel all ashamed.  He relishes the idea that this person plus this person then this person plus this person added up to make him.  He never really says that, but you can tell that he just loves the idea of knowing his roots.  If you think about it, it really is amazing.

The relationship between Charlie and Ava made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.  They loved each other and they loved to talk and they loved to fight and they love, love, loved their children.  And the relationship between Charlie and his children? I love it so much. I love how he wanted the best for them and did everything for them and offered them the very best of himself. It is just this wonderful picture of a father.

His “bad” qualities too were just written so well.  He loved to fight, he loved to drink and he often had a still in his backyard.  While Bragg didn’t gloss these things over or make them seem glamorous, he didn’t make Charlie out to be some kind of villain because  he sometimes got too drunk to make it in the door.  That’s just how he was and… that’s it.  I like that. Charlie just lived fully and vibrantly and brought anyone who wanted in into that circle.  Yum.

But mostly what made this book was this: Rick Bragg can just frigging write.  He has a way with words, that’s for darn sure.  He writes in this really down home, story telling way without seeming hokey or over the top.  It just seems like sitting down for dinner and listening to these great family stories that have been told and told until they are all wore down and comfortable and perfect.  It is a wonderful tribute to a man who Bragg never met but has shaped his family life so much.

Ava’s Man was only 250ish pages and when I got to the end, I was honestly bummed. I could read this kind of stuff all day.

Luckily I have another book by Rick Bragg waiting for me in my TBR pile… and I MAY just have a signed copy to give away to my lovely readers on Monday.

Conclusion: A must read for everyone.  If you love memoirs, the south, or just great writing go get this today. Seriously.

The Book: Autobiography of a Face, by Lucy Grealy

The Story: When she was really young (9 or 10 I think) Lucy was diagnosed with a pretty horrible form of cancer.  No one ever really told her flat out what was going on, but what she knew was that she had to go to the hospital a LOT and also, well…. get half of her jaw removed.

She goes back to school after a summer of surgeries and treatments looking totally different.  People are scared of her, intimidated by her, sorry for her… everything in the book except for just “ok with her.”  For years and years while doctors try to reconstruct her jaw, Lucy is faced with the task of being the “different” one.

During this time she flips back and forth between hating how she looks and being a little bit excited about being “special.”

This memoir describes that internal struggle and her battle with cancer.

What I Thought: I know that this sounds a little strange, but I’ve read my fair share of cancer/disease memoirs.  I have no idea why I do it to myself.  I always end up this blubbering mess, but I usually come back for more.

All that to say: I am becoming a bit immune.  They usually kind of read the same. As far as story goes (I was fine & happy. I got cancer. I flipped out. My family helped me. I got sick during treatment. The cancer went away. I am still scared sometimes), I guess that this was pretty much the same old thing.  The thing that was striking was just this gritty honesty in Lucy’s writing.  It is striking and real and almost hard to read at times.

Just the idea of a 9 year old having cancer and getting all these operations and being poked and prodded just seems so unfair and awful, but Lucy didn’t really see it that way.  She was often protected from the truth of how serious her situation was, so in a lot of ways she was allowed to bask in the “glory” of being the sick kid.  She kind of liked all that attention and thought that the special treatment that she got apart from her siblings was pretty sweet.  I love that she admitted that.  I know for a fact that’s the kind of sick kid I would have been, and I kind of found myself identifying with her even though I never went through anything like that.

The whole book is just about identify and how she formed into the person she is today.  That’s the whole thing- it is relatable because everyone goes through this emotional issues when they are young and finding out how they see themselves and how people see them.  Lucy just went through this at this totally heightened extent.  It was amazing to read her search for love and acceptance from herself and the world.

I read on wikipedia that in 2002 she was found dead in a friend’s apartment.  The cause of death has been reported as accidental drug overdose and as suicide, so I guess it’s kind of this questionable thing.  Either way it’s way sad and I was bummed to hear that she went through all of that self discovery and died in this really tragic way.

I know that Ann Patchett was her roommate in college and has since wrote a book about it.  As much as I enjoyed this book, I will pick that up if I see it around.  This is a really interesting story and I’d love to see it from a different point of view.

Conclusion: Even if you aren’t a disease memoir enthusiast (or am I the only one?), check this out.  Really a coming-of-age memoir that any woman will probably relate to.

The Book: Two Kisses for Maddy, by Matt Logelin

The Story: Two Kisses for Maddy is a memoir about how a 30 year old guy went from being a husband to being a father to being a widow all in just a few days.

Liz had a semi-complicated pregnancy and ended up on bed rest in the hospital for the last few weeks before her daughter was born.  Maddy was born pretty premature but in good shape.  The next day, Liz got out of bed for the first time in weeks.  She was finally going to get to hold her baby girl… when the unthinkable happened.  She collapsed in her hospital room from a blood clot that had formed in her leg.  She never got back up.

All of a sudden Matt was a single father and a widow. So effing sad.

This book talks about his life pre-Liz, their relationship, her pregnancy and death, and then his life up through Maddy’s first birthday.

During this whole time, Matt was keeping everyone updated on what was happening through his blog.  This blog became mega-popular and he got support from many unexpected places.

What I Thought: So I’ve posted a little bit here and there about this book.  I’ve been following Matt’s story since just a few days after Liz died and I was really looking forward to seeing what the story would look like in book-form. I kind of thought since I knew how everything went down that I may not think that it was as sad.

Uh, no.

This was the most gut-wrenching thing I’ve read in a long, long time.  It didn’t matter that I knew a lot of what was coming or that I had kind of prepared myself for the saddest thing ever.  Weeping. Ugly-crying.  It was bad.

Because here’s the thing:  Matt and Liz remind me so much of Shaun and I that I couldn’t really separate it.  The fact that we just had a little guy too just made it seem so much like, “Wow. This could have been us.” During the weekend that I read this memoir I must have hugged Isaac and Shaun about 41,000,000 times.  It just seems so unreal that someone our age would have to, you know, pick out a casket for their spouse.  That’s a place I don’t even let my mind go 99.9% of the time.  While reading this, I kind of had to and… wow. I cannot even imagine how it was to live it once, put aside how hard it had to be to live it all again in order to write it.  Eek.

His love for Maddy and for Liz is just so evident.  Liz and Matt’s love for life and love for each other are a true encouragement.  I also love that Matt took this horrible thing that happened to him and is helping other widows and widowers.

The subject matter and my feelings aside, Matt can just freakin write.  His heart just really comes through on every single page.  He is honest and real and open.  I love that he included little bits from his blog before each chapter.  I thought that the book flowed well and I loved the pictures on the inside covers.  Yadda yadda. I’m gushing. Again.

I wonder if he will write another one has he starts to date and raise a toddler and continue to deal with his grief over Liz.  I’ll be the first in line to buy it.

Conclusion: Get a huge, economy-sized box of tissues, hole up for a day and read this.

The Book: Blankets, by Craig Thompson

The Story: This is Craig Thompson’s memoir of growing up in Wisconsin. With pictures and words he covers everything from sibling rivalry to his struggle with religion to his first love.

What I Thought: This was a re-read for me.  I read this for the first time several years ago.  It was my first encounter with graphic novels and I was seriously blown away.  I had just had a big religious struggle myself, I had just started dating my now-husband and I just related to Craig in this huge way.  I have recommended it a thousand times since then and it started me on reading every graphic memoir that I could get my hands on.

I was kind of in a reading slump so I picked this up, knowing that it would get me out of my slump.

I still loved it, but I have to say I was not nearly as impressed as I was the first time I read it.  I think that the “newness” of the genre has worn off so I wasn’t nearly as blown away by the mere idea of telling your life story with “cartoons.”  I am also just in a way different place in my life.  Not that I’m “all grown up” but I do have a husband and a baby and I’m way over any teen-angst and religious confusion that I was going through at the time.  All this to say that my glowing impressions the first time through had a LOT to do with where I was in life right then.

That being said, there is real merit to this book.  The drawings are beautiful. The attention to detail is spot on.  There is just real emotion that comes through every single frame.  The love story is sweet and cute but really “Dawson’s Creek”… not that that’s a bad thing.  I love me some Dawson’s Creek but you just have to be in the mood, ya know?

Conclusion: If you think of superheroes when you think of graphic novels, please read this.  It’s a great intro into graphic novels.  If you are a teen and really angsty, this will blow your mind.  Even if you’re not, give it a go.  Good stuff.