I was never really a Sum 41 fan (or a pop-punk fan) but I was aware of them, and I like the song "Fat Lip." However, I love music and hearing the backI was never really a Sum 41 fan (or a pop-punk fan) but I was aware of them, and I like the song "Fat Lip." However, I love music and hearing the backstories about how songs were created and band dynamics and how people maintain such a hectic demanding lifestyle. This book was highly entertaining.
Deryck Whibley was a punk kid who played music from a young age. He got a record contract before he even graduated high school. It gave him a lot of control and influence in a time before he was ready for such burdens, but he handled it relatively well, aside from his partying. Eventually that lifestyle would come back to haunt him physically. This is a candid book read by the author with music clips included.
I used this book to get out of my slump. I keep starting books but never finish them. ...more
Are You There God? It's Me Margaret was a seminal book that shaped me as a pre-teen. It gave me a character I could relate to intensely about topics IAre You There God? It's Me Margaret was a seminal book that shaped me as a pre-teen. It gave me a character I could relate to intensely about topics I didn't feel comfortable talking to people about in real life. Judy Blume was everywhere when I was a kid so I kind of took her existence for granted. This book gave me the chance to find out about the author's life....more
“How was she supposed to put the pieces of her life back together when she kept breaking apart?�
The Women follows the life of Frankie, a well-to-do yo“How was she supposed to put the pieces of her life back together when she kept breaking apart?�
The Women follows the life of Frankie, a well-to-do young woman whose father has a hero wall in his study. Her brother joins the military and gets shipped off the Vietnam, and a conversation with his best friend tells her that "women can be heroes too." She decides to use her nursing degree to help the war effort by joining the Army nurses. Her time in Vietnam gives her a sense of purpose and strength and the strongest friendships of her life. It also leaves her with severe PTSD.
This book drew me in from the start and I didn't want to put it down. This isn't an era of history I often seek out, but I found it fascinating and relatable and easy to read. The descriptions of her time in Vietnam are vivid and exciting, which makes Frankie's struggles to return to civilian life understandable. I found the quality of the writing to be spotty. After she returns home, Barb and Ethel become one-dimensional, which is a shame because they start out as great characters. There are an awful lot of coincidences as the book evolves, too. However, I enjoyed the it and intend to find other novels by this author. ...more
"As tempting as a professional 9-6 job may be, the thought is delusional and I have no options. I think of my friends whose parent provide safety nets"As tempting as a professional 9-6 job may be, the thought is delusional and I have no options. I think of my friends whose parent provide safety nets that protect them from this instability and in this moment of uncertainty I hate them for it. I lean my head back and fight off tears. Your 20s tend to be a selfish period, and I'm under the impression my current predicament is unique to me, but all over the country 20-somethings are returning home to their parents' basements after graduating, forfeiting both their pride and their independence. They're searching for jobs, taking ones they never intended to, and wondering if they'll ever be debt-free again."
Stephanie Kiser was a nanny out of necessity. She wanted to write for television, but found no jobs out of college, and a PR job didn't pay enough. Although the job was demanding, it paid well and was emotionally rewarding, sometimes. This is an entertaining and thoughtful book about what it means to be a college graduate and the wealthy disparity in our country. ...more
I, like the author, desperately wanted to be popular and loved, but I hit my epiphany point much earlier than she did. 6th grade was miserable for me I, like the author, desperately wanted to be popular and loved, but I hit my epiphany point much earlier than she did. 6th grade was miserable for me because I spent most of the year trying desperately and failing to achieve a social status I would never attain. The following school year, one day while at my locker, I realized that I could never be "that girl," but that I had valuable and genuine friends who were nerds like me, and that the only way I would be happy would be to embrace my truth and the people who loved me for who I was. I spent all the years Kate Kennedy spent dying her hair and buying expensive name brands and drinking at parties pursuing the things I liked, excelling in school, and struggling with my overbearing mother.
Although I'm on the top end of the millennial spectrum, and many of the references to Disney channel stars and Katy Perry and youth use of social media came after my time so I don't connect to them, I found myself nodding with many of the observations in this book relative to my younger years. I too watched Grease and Dirty Dancing and Now and Then at the many sleepovers I relished in attending. I absolutely spent lots of time trying out different handwriting styles, taking on elements from my friends' writing that I liked (including a period where I drew type-style lowercase a's and the fact that I no longer dot my i's, much to my children's chagrin), and eschewing the popular girl bubble style because I refused to be a sheep. I learned my quick typing skills from hours on AIM (where I got to know my husband) and message boards. I couldn't wait to attend our annual church camp. However, I wasn't brainwashed by most of the stuff affiliated with megachurches, like the praise dancing or trying to save my peers, but I was affected by the concept that a girl was tainted if she had sex before marriage. And I absolutely was husband and future obsessed, and they seemed to go together. I prayed that God would let me find the man I was meant to be with before I graduated high school (and I did). I didn't want to have to wait for my life to begin.
This book made me realize how much of an independent, confident and free-thinking person I was at a young age. Maybe that is why I had such a hard time making lasting friendships with girls. I also think growing up poor may have saved me from some of the downfalls of being media and brand-obsessed because we couldn't afford cable and we couldn't afford to shop at the mall very often. But I didn't get through my era untouched. This book helped to point that out.
This is a thoughtful and vulnerable book about a woman examining her life in the context of her generation. She invites the reader to go on a memory trip.
"Since the 2016 election, I don't know how to exist without being in a state of feeling heated with my general disposition at a light simmer usually dialing up to a rolling boil by the time I pass Mario Lopez on channel 00 to get the news."
"Vulnerable people fall for systems that keep them oppressed."
"When we teach young women that their interests don't matter, that their participation in something makes it less desirable, that their taste or ways of expressing themselves are fodder for mockery, we're telling them that the things they like should be a function of being liked instead of doing what they love."
"Many of us spent our whole lives shrinking ourselves, our pain, our bodies, and our existence to make other people comfortable, feeling like our job was to make space for others and not take up space ourselves..."...more
Whoopi Goldberg has been a constant in my life, from watching Sister Act and Corrina Corrina as a kid, to watching Hollywood Squares while we ate dinnWhoopi Goldberg has been a constant in my life, from watching Sister Act and Corrina Corrina as a kid, to watching Hollywood Squares while we ate dinner as a family, to being given permission to watch Ghost and Jumpin' Jack Flash when I reached a certain age, to discovering The Color Purple as an adult. This book is focused on her love for her mother and brother, but it does tell the story of her childhood, first days of stardom and beyond.
Goldberg's mother was an enigmatic person who rarely answered questions without posing a new question of her own. She seemed to have it all figured out, and yet suffered a mental breakdown and went to a mental institution for a few years. As a mother, I found a lot of inspiration in the stories told here. I believe Whoopi's mother gave her daughter the confidence to think for herself and the support to make mistakes. She also modeled forgiveness and understanding, which helped when she encountered racism.
I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by the author. ...more
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