Rob Delaney is apparently the funniest man on Twitter. I am not on Twitter, but I recognized some of the tweets in this book, so he must be funny enough to register on my non-Twitter radar. He acts, some. He’s also a decent writer, with a very sad and painful history of alcoholism that has led him to some very bad decision-making. Unfortunately, he combines all these elements (humor, career, alcoholism, stupid stunts) into one short collection of stories, with no sense of direction or cohesion. “I […]
Beautiful writing; bleak material
This is the second Elizabeth Strout book that I’ve read (the other being Olive Kitteridge), and while I cannot deny her gift as writer, I just do not enjoy her novels. The biggest issue is, she doesn’t seem to want them to be enjoyable. Like Kitteridge, The Burgess Boys is filled with unpleasant characters and terribly sad events. “You have family”, Bob said. “You have a wife who hates you. Kids who are furious with you. A brother and sister who make you insane. And a nephew who used to […]
I’ve been looking forward to this one, and it did not disappoint
I remember seeing Anna Kendrick in the first Twilight movie, and loving her. She was such a fun, bright spot in a really terrible movie. Then I saw her in Up in the Air, and thought, this one will be a star. Since then, I mainly associate her with Pitch Perfect, and her amazing Twitter account. This book is basically an expanded version of her Twitter — awkward stories that will make you cringe and crack up. “I lost a Tony award to Broadway legend Audra McDonald when I was […]
I was *really* tempted to toss this one in the freezer
This was a creepy, weird and incredibly effective horror book. If you’re into that sort of thing, don’t read the review — just go read the book. I wouldn’t recommend finding out too much ahead of time. That being said, it has two little kids in it and I totally admit to googling whether or not they made it to the end! “In a world where you can’t open your eyes, isn’t a blindfold all you could ever hope for?” Mallorie lives in a world of blindness. […]