Wow, is that post title a cop out. Anyhow, this is a memoir from an Elphaba. An Elphaba stand-by, actually. It’s a fun look, for any musical theater geek, behind the big green curtain. What goes on in there? What do stand-bys do? How crazy are those costumes? Did the flying machinery ever break down? (Not answered, BTW). It’s also a memoir of a young woman plagued with insecurities and fears of failure, both in her professional & personal lives. It began as a blog, […]
Jeeves gets to the bottom of it
A valiant show, old boy. Sebastian Faulk has set himself a difficult task: to write in the style of a man who wrote as no one else ever had. Wodehouse’s style, his lightness and clever touch with a plot, and mostly, his two memorable characters, have set him apart from other writers of his generation & others. (And if you’ve never read Wodehouse, shame on you.) Mr. Faulk makes a reasonable job of it. The plot, like any good J. & W. tale, is convoluted, […]
Our house is a very, very fine house
This book came highly recommended by a psychologist friend of mine. While it is fiction, it gives a very realistic look into the lives of a family affected by autism. Told in the first person, you get an intimate view of how autism feels. Livvie Owen is 14, and she has two sisters, one older, one younger, and a mom & dad. They’ve moved multiple times, a result of both life circumstances–they live in a dying small town–and Livvie’s disruptive behavior, which landlords find hard […]
The good old days: Quite overrated, actually
I began this book in October, and it seemed a bit of a slog, and I’m not sure why. I love Bryson’s signature style of history enlivened with juicy tidbits of whimsy. The people involved are interesting. The stories are compelling. The year, 1927, was the year my mother was born, adding an extra element of interest for me. Maybe it was just that there were too many stories, too much to keep track of, for someone reading it piece-meal. 1927 was a busy, busy […]