Book Review: "The Boyfriend List: (15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver)"

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Cermanic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart reads as though it were the much-convoluted dating diary of one Ruby Oliver, average teenager. Or not so average...

When Ruby begins to suddenly have panic attacks, her mothers signs her up to start seeing a therapist. Her first assignment is to make a list of every boy she's ever had any sort of romantic connection to whatsoever, and well...that's what starts the ball rolling for all the chaos that ensues.

The teenage tales of woe told here are not only relatable, but extremely humorous at the same time. It pokes fun at the drama of high school life without painting it as a charicature. My only complaint is that it's hard to keep track of who all's who in this story, but then again, isn't that how high school works as well? Rating this one 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Accidents of Nature"

When you hear mention of a book with a premise of severely handicapped teenagers going to summer camp, you must assume that the book is going to treat these individuals as some sort of freak show, and that the story will be a very depressing one.

Except, of course, when the author is one of them.

This story takes place in 1970, when handicapped individuals were more or less cast out of society as though they were lepers. But these kids converge year after year at Camp Courage; a state-funded summer camp for disabled teens. Some of them have severe handicaps -- cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, muscular dystrophy, amputees, parapalegics, quadrapaledgics, etc... Some, the 'walkie-talkies', appear normal outwardly, but suffer from things like asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, mental illness, etc. All are welcomed as equals to the camp. and nobody feels out of place, as everyone is here for similar reasons.

More astoundingly though is just how vividly colorful the personalities of each of these characters is. People often dismiss the disabled as not being all there and not really having feelings, lives, hopes, aspirations, dreams, life goals, crushes, you name it...but this story touches on all of that and portrays them as the real people that they are. The real live, breathing, flesh and blood people. And it's with this, and seeing that they're not a bunch of sad individuals but rather, teenagers like anybody else who o the best they can with the hand they've been dealt, that serves as somewhat of a jolting wake-up call.

I personally was very sucked in by this story on many levels and really enjoyed it. I'm rating it a 5 out of 5 stars. :)

Book Review: "Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth"

Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth by Robert E. Owens Jr., PhD is a comprehensive handbook/guidebook for teenagers and families of teens who are discovering their own sexuality among the LGBT spectrum. It covers important issues such as the coming out process, homophobia, the AIDS epidemic, etc. As it's more of a textbook than anything, it's written very dryly, but for anyone looking for informative purposes in discovering themselves, this is a good place to start. The back section of the book is loaded chock full of further LGBT resources to turn to as well. It'd be a useful tool to have in your arsenal, so if you're among the LGBT spectrum and a teenager, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of this. 3 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"

It's not often that a  book can come into your life whose story, practically from the very first chapter til the last page, will rip your heart out, stomp all over it, utterly destroy you....but yet, you can't put the book down...

This. This is that book.

From the moment you open this book, you're plunged into a world of drama. It starts in the early 60's with a newlywed couple, doctor David Henry and his wife, Norah, expecting the birth of their first child. Norah goes into labor in the middle of a blizzard, and they barely make it to the clinic in time. The doctor who would have delivered the child got into a car accident on the way to the clinic, so David is left to deliver his own child...or rather, children. Unbeknownst to the couple, Norah had been carrying twins. The first, a boy -- Paul -- had been born perfect in just about every possible way. The second, a little girl named Phoebe, is born with Down's syndrome, which was practically a death sentence in those days. Having had the attending nurse act as an anesthesiologist, Norah had been knocked out for the birth and unaware she'd even given birth to twins until after the fact. She never saw the daughter, as David sent Phoebe off with the nurse, Caroline, to send her to an institution. However, as fate would have it, Caroline sees the horrible conditions of the institution and refuses to leave the child in such a place, as she has no doubt in her mind it would destroy her. Acting against the doctor's wishes, she takes the child to raise as her own.

Without giving away the entire plot, there is much drama from both sides: Caroline with the rigors of trying to raise a child that's not only not her own but is severely handicapped, David having to keep this secret with him for his entire life, never telling another soul that Phoebe had been given away but instead letting the world believe the infant had died at birth. The guilt consumes him; the grief consumes Norah, and the pressure of both placed on Paul end up causing him to lash out and rebel. There's so many twists and turns this story takes over the quarter of a decade that it spans over, it's unbelievable. This is easily one of the best books I have ever read in my life. There is no 'everybody wins' happy ending; there's a form of resolution, but not the type everyone would have expected here.

This book will grip at your heartstrings, twist them tight, swing your emotions around, and do it all over again, from start to finish. I highly recommend this book almost higher than any book I've ever recommended in my life. A huge, HUGE 5 star review!

Book Review: "Fat Cat"

As one is able to easily surmise both by the title and by the cover of this book, this is a story about weight loss. Drastic weight loss. Almost prehistoric weight loss--

Our main character, Cat, has been overweight for years. As part of a year-long science project, she decides to try living as close to cavemen as possible in the modern world to see what effects it would have on the body, and to hypothesize just how negatively modern lifestyles impact our health. Her friends try to tell her she's nuts for taking on such an endeavor... until it works. This more or less triggers a domino effect type reaction on all those aroun her, and the results are far more reaching than she could have imagined.

While some of the typical high school drama is a bit too *real* for me (honestly, if I wanted to relive my high school years, I'd take a trip down to the local high school for a day and re-acquant myself with why I hated those years so much...) and I had to keep putting it down from time to time because of this because it just frustrated me too much, it's otherwise a pretty interesting story that kept me coming back to find out what would happen. I'm ranking this book a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Confessions of a Teen Nanny #3: Juicy Secrets"

Well, I waded my way through the last of the Confessions of a Teen Nanny trilogy, and as usual with just about any series I enjoy, I'm sad to see it end. Although, there was lots of lovely juicy drama along the way! Some of the twists, you'll probably have seen coming since the beginning of the series -- others, these came out of seemingly nowhere and will knock you for a loop. There's scandal, there's intrigue, there's love, there's drama, there's...well, everything! Trust me, you'll love it. It's a fitting end to a wonderful series. 4 star rating :)

Book Review: "Confessions of a Teen Nanny #2: Rich Girls"

The second book in the Confessions of a Teen Nanny trilogy, I found this book to be very difficult to put down, as I kept getting so sucked into the drama of the storyline, I just HAD to know what would happen next. (I blazed through this book pretty quickly as a result. ;)) Without giving too much away, all I can say is this book is just dripping with revenge. And drama. And unexpected twists and turns. FABULOUS. Giving this one a big five star rating, and anticipating digging into the third book!

Book Review: "Confessions of a Teen Nanny"

With a title such as this one, one might assume that Confessions of a Teen Nanny would be a book akin to perhaps a slightly older Babysitter's Club type of story. Spoiler alert: this is nothing like that whatsoever. Imagine, if you will, being a teenager who by some act of fate manages to land just about THE sweetest babysitting job ever: nannying for one of the richest families in the entirety of New York City. The catch: the teen daughter is going to make your life an absolute living hell.

Without giving too much away, I just want to say that this story was actually pretty engaging, and it delights me to learn that this is part of a series, so there's much more to this story than just what lies between these covers. I can't wait to see where else it goes! Rating this one a 4 star rating.

Book Review: "Audrey, Wait!"

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway reads like both a dream come true and a nightmare all at the same time for rockers everywhere. Who hasn't dreamt of becoming a musician's muse, having a famous song written about them, and instantly becoming famously immortal to the point of brushing elbows with the rock world themselves; even famously making out with one of the hottest musicians of the moment? Careful what you wish for; the reality can quickly turn sour and into a complete and total disaster.

Such is the case of Audrey Cuttler. Just yesterday, Audrey was your typical 16 year old American girl, with a boyfriend in a local band and living your typical, average everyday life. That is, until Audrey and her boyfriend break up, and he writes a song detailing their breakup that quickly shoots him into superstardom -- and subsequently, Audrey as well by association. Everything Audrey has ever known as her normality is turned absolutely upside down...and not in a good way.

The story is written from a fresh point of view of a girl who's caught in a private hell of unintended, unwanted noteriety and all the problems that go with it, but sounds very *real* as a person. I also have a great appreciation for the song quotes at the beginning of every chapter, I felt they were a nice touch and addition to the story as well.

Basically, I love everything about this book and highly recommend it on every possible level. A big, big 5 star rating for this book!

Book Review: "Pure"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and be 100% honest... I only picked up this book because the concept seemed like it would be somewhat of a trainwreck. In my experience, it always seems like any story that places way too much emphasis on virginity -- for or against -- tends to come off all sorts of wrong, unrealistic, and oftentimes... unintentionally hilarious. Even the cover of this book made it feel like this wasn't even going to take itself seriously. But actually? I was wrong.

Well, it still placed an unrealistic basis on the topic of virginity -- how many people would become religious zealots because one of their friends broke their purity ring promise and end up trying to shove their beliefs on an entire school? -- but the story itself, for the most part, is pretty good. There's a lot of emphasis on how one person's actions tend to have a ripple effect far beyond just that of themselves and their immediate life.While the details may be a bit overdramatized, the general message is not if you look past the specific details they're pushing. And I think it's actually handled pretty well in that respect. Giving this one a 4 star rating!

Book Review: "Love & Haight"

Love & Haight by Susan Carlton is an excellent snapshot of the issues of an era; surprisingly captured by an author who wasn't even born yet in the time this story takes place. Despite its heavy subject matter -- abortion -- the author paints a shockingly honest depiction of teenage youth's life in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970's, still in the height of the hippie free love movement. It's fully immersing without turning cliche, which is usually a problem I find with most stories set in the 60's or 70's, so this was a refreshing change of pace. And while the whole story leaves you with this sense that the girl is going to have her mind changed and not go through with the procedure... I think I was most surprised that the story DOES go there. Nor does it make it out to be a horror story... it shows that life goes on even after such an event. But at the same time, it doesn't at all take the gravity away from the act, and is just all around well-written. I give it a big 5 star rating.

Book Review: "Lush"

While Natasha Friend's books may be aimed at a younger demographic, I couldn't resist the urge to pick this one up -- mostly to see how the disease of alcoholism, and in that of a parent, is portrayed. (Given it's an issue I've grown up around my whole life, and since I still live at home, it still applies.) I figured it would be approached in one of two ways: either in a charicaturistic fashion that would most likely leave me rolling my eyes, or making anyone who's an alcoholic out to be an absolute monster in a bid to scare people away from ever drinking. Instead, I found the story of a girl who's painfully real, and hits right at home. And this story doesn't just cover the father's drinking... It covers how the disease affects the entire family with his actions. The mother tries to drown herselfi n excuses and yoga; the baby brother is too young to know the difference one way or the other; and the main character, Sam, harbors much resentment for her father's drinking. (Understandably so... and in reading it, it made me feel a little better to know I'm not alone nor an awful person for having some anger towards my own father's behavior when he drinks. I imagine anyone who reads this who's living in a similar situation probably feels much the same way.) Then catastrophe hits -- I won't give away a spoiler here, because it's more or less one of the pinnacle points of the story -- and the father is sent off to rehab. And then we get the very realness of how the family is left to cope in his absence. In another twist, the main character unwittingly starts to walk in her dad's footsteps with drinking as well. (This is something not many stories of this calibre seem to touch on, and I'm kind of glad it did.) And the story's end is one that's up in the air.... it neither paints a rosy picture of 'Oh hey, rehab fixed everything and we have a perfect life now!' nor does it say 'Dad came home and started drinking again. The end.' It leaves you to come up with your own conclusions, which I think is a very real way of handling this, seeing as with alcoholism, it's very difficult to ever consider yourself fully cured, and relapses are often inevitable. But at least the ending gives way for hope, which is something that most people reading this book are in desperate need to cling to.

I'm rating this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Annie On My Mind"

It's long been established that Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden is basically considered to be essential reading material among the LGBT crowd. That said, it took me many years to track down the book in its physical format (I once found it in ebook form, but I have a hard time staying focused with ebooks -- I digress). And I'm glad that I finally got a chance to read this classic.

The story of Liza and Annie is quite an honest look not only at teenage love, but at finding oneself during those tumultuous teenage years -- made invariably more difficult when struggling with defining one's sexuality at the same time. It's a confusing, scary, secretive time (and one that I know all too well from first-hand experience) with more layers to it than an onion. And this story explores many of them. (Not all -- everybody's story is different -- but a lot that are fairly universal among the LGBT community.) Add in the additional factor of one of the girls going to an uppity private school and all hell breaking loose for it, being treated as some sort of social perversion (another thing that I identify first-hand with) and you've got an interesting, honest look at what quite a few of us have gone through. I only wish I had known this book existed back when I was a teenager, when it would've make me feel so much better to know I wasn't the only one.

The wrap-up of the story at the ending goes by far too quickly, and I wish it would have delved more into how it got from point A to point B, so I do knock this book down a few pegs for that, but ultimately, it's well-written and I still highly recommend it. 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie"

Pamela Des Barres' book, I'm With The Band, has at this point become somewhat of a legendary classic rock tome of intimate knowledge that only a personal muse would have about these rock gods. For years, I've been trying to get my hands on it; partly out of intrigue because my own mother had a similarly colorful rock and roll youth (and probably ran in similar, if not the same, circles as Miss Pamela) and partly because I wanted to learn of the intimate details of these rock legends I've revered just as highly as Pamela herself. I sort of feel like we're kindred spirits.

To my surprise, the book isn't entirely just a tell-all smut-fest of rock stars' bedroom proclivities. Actually, there's fairly little detail about what actually went on in those bedrooms (much to my dismay...I certainly would've loved to hear more detailed accounts of what went down, har har, with Keith Moon and Mick Jagger, just to name a couple), and it's more just an autobiography of a particularly colorful girl. It's filled with tons of unexpected surprises along the way, and definitely makes me yearn even more than I already did to have gotten to live through a different era. Sigh. At least we can live vicariously through Miss Pamela. 5 stars. :)

Book Review: "Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According To Kathy Griffin"

Can I just say I was overjoyed to finally get my hands on this book? It's been seemingly consistently checked out of my local library since it came out, so imagine just how overjoyed I was to find it was actually there? (Ironically, it was on the shelf right next to Steve Martin's book. If you read this book, you'll see why I find that hilarious.)

For how many hilarious anecdotes pepper this entire book, it also paints a clearer picture of Kathy as an actual person. A woman with a family, with her own short-comings, with.... oh hell, I'm not going to drag this down with that shit. ANYONE reading this book knows damn well they just want to hear her talk shit about any and every celebrity! ;) And she does plenty of it. (I was shocked there was only one teeny brief mention of Liza Minnelli though. I'd of loved to hear glorious anecdotes about her, given what Kathy's had to say about her many times in her stand-up acts. "LIGHTER!", anyone?) I'm kind of shocked just how much of her celebrity 'drama' has happened in my lifetime and I'd never even heard about these stories until this book. (Guess who's gonna pay that much closer attention to Kathy now?) Seriously though, this book is a hoot. I can't echo enough just how much you ought to read this. But, if you're faint of heart about swearing or rude humor, then you'll probably have a heart attack over it. (Doesn't mean you shouldn't read it!) 4 out of 5 stars!

Christmas Special Review #3: "A Dennis the Menace Christmas"

Let me go into this one saying that I was very skeptical of if this movie would even be any good or not, since I know how spinoffs often go. But this one, thankfully, isn't so bad. Dennis is still tormenting Mr. Wilson, as always. But as usual, his heart is in the right place. All he wants to do is bring the holiday spirit to Mr. Wilson, especially since he got assigned to him for a Secret Santa project. (And who could stay mad at that cute little face? The actor playing Dennis is adorable!)

The movie goes on to take on an A Christmas Carol turn with the whole Christmas past, present and future. Except this time, it shows Mr. Wilson as a child (who acted EXACTLY like Dennis), present, and future.....which shows how bad off Dennis's parents will be if Mr. Wilson forces them to pay for all the damages Dennis has incurred. Also, what will happen to Dennis.

So, the ending is fairly predictable....yet, at the same time, it's a major tear-jerker. (Either that, or I'm more of a sap than I thought.) Especially given that this is a sequel spin-off, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. Not perfect, but pretty good. 4 out of 5 stars.

Christmas Special Review #2: "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish"

For this second review, I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback that this one even exists. I mean, Richie Rich has never exactly been that popular of a character, has he? Whose idea was it to make a Christmas special revolving around him? Oh well, I digress.

The first thing that struck me about this special (and I know that I'm biased here in my observation, so pardon me) is that it almost feels like a cross-bred hybrid of Arthur and Eloise. The over-indulged, spoiled rich kid thing seems to run in the veins of both those films, so it's no wonder I made such a comparison. Add into the fact that Richie has an old English butler, and it definitely throws even more Arthur into the mix. Anyway...

I was expecting to take major issue with this one in assuming that there would be far too much emphasis placed on money (and its importance) to where the true reason for Christmas gets lost in the mix. This was not the case. But, the main plot in this film is that Richie has his own personal mad scientist who's invented a wish-granting machine. Feeling a bit despondant and depressed that given day, Richie wishes that he'd never been born. The world without Richie is a far different place.... and one thing I took issue with is that evidently, Richie is the only reason his parents stayed together in the regular world, as in this alternate universe, all his parents do is bicker like cats and dogs about every little thing and don't even seem to like each other and are constantly on the verge of a break up, so it seems. Which begs the question - did they only marry because of a surprise baby, perhaps? Who knows.

But unlike in many of these Christmas specials that do the whole It's A Wonderful Life thing, Richie's not dead, nor is he ghost-like. He can interact with people and things just fine. Just...nobody knows who the hell he is. This struck me as a bit weird, since if he'd never been born, then how is he existing? But then again, I suppose if they'd just poofed him entirely out of existence, there'd be no film, so there ya go. There's a lot of odd twists and turns, like if Richie hadn't been born, apparently his butler would've been in a hair metal band called Root Canal... (yeah, I don't know either.)

The film is another one that ends on a Gift of the Magi note. (Seems to be a common theme that runs throughout these, doesn't it?) Overall, it's not a horrible film, but it's a very easily forgettable one. 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

Christmas Special Review #1: "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas"

For many people, Disney and Christmas go hand in hand just as much as Rankin and Bass. (For you youngsters who don't get that part, Rankin and Bass are the company that gave you such specials as Rudolph.) There were always Disney Christmas specials on around the house when I was growing up, so I was excited to find out that new ones are evidently still being made. One such special being Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas.

I wasn't sure if it was going to be one long movie, or a compilation of the old Christmas cartoons they've done over the years, but it was neither of those. It was broken down into three short stories. Kelsey Grahmer (read as: Fraiser) narrates this baby in a beautifully poetic way. Likewise, the animation style is also very lovely, and even a little reminiscent of the animation techniques of old. (This is something I find myself yearning more and more for as an adult, now that I'm in a world populated by Pixar kids movies.) It also seems to try and channel the humor style of the old-school Disney cartoons... but on this front, it does tend to fall a little short of the mark and comes off as a bit unnecessarily hyperactive. But, all throughout, there's many subtle nods towards the old-school Disney Christmas cartoons, especially in the first short. They've got everything from Chip and Dale on their little Christmas train inside their tree, to Huey, Dewey and Louis all being obsessed with sledding, and even a brief nod to that old short where Donald ends up in a snowbank, looking like a snowman. The younger kids who haven't seen the old cartoons don't even get these, but for the grownups who grew up with them, it does leave a sense of warm fuzzies, which I figure is exactly why Disney threw them in (as it's Disney's forte).

The first cartoon is a take on the sort of cliched plot of "I wish every day were Christmas". It had been such a wonderful day that Donald's nephews wished every day to be Christmas... and the Christmas star granted them their wish. Which, just like in every other cartoon that's ever used this plot, starts out great for them, but they quickly grow sick of it and just want to regain their normal lives. There's bits of this one that even left me uncomfortable as an adult watching this, so I can only imagine what it must be like through the eyes of a child.

The second cartoon is a Goofy and Max one. It confused me at first, because I thought they'd inexplicably aged Max down, but then when I found out the plot for this one....yeah, I can see where they'd kind of have to, because it would've been a little weird to have a teenager going through the "Santa's not real?" plot. But of course, since this is one for the kiddies, Santa wins out in the end and is real. I'm not going to lie though, this one made me cry as soon as Goofy says his Christmas wish every year is the same thing, and he always gets it. Max asks what's that? And Goofy says, "Your happiness." (Oh jeez...I'm tearing up again just remembering it.)

The third (and last) cartoon in the special is a Mickey and Minnie one (finally! I had been wondering where, or if, Mickey would show up, seeing as the name of the special is MICKEY'S Once Upon A Christmas, after all...) and is basically another take on Gift of the Magi. As you can imagine, this one is heart-wrenching to watch. I found myself asking though, how on earth are we supposed to believe that Mickey and Minnie are that poor? They're the stars of Disney, and yet they're living like paupers while Goofy and Donald are well off to do? Is that how poor this economy has become, where we've come to not even question why Mickey and Minnie are living almost like hobos? That.....seems wrong. I don't know. Random observations. Anyway, as if it weren't hard enough to watch on its own, the tree-lot burning scene is downright traumatizing to watch, I don't care how old you are. But, it's still very sweet at the end, and more tears were shed.

Overall, for a modern Christmas special, this one's actually not too bad. I wouldn't sit super young kids through it....maybe start around 6 or 7 and up. It's likely to scare kids at parts who're younger than that. But apart from that, I'll rate this one 4 out of 5 stars.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It's the holiday season, and along with the endless decorating, baking, traveling, and shopping that comes along with it, also comes along a much simpler, almost guilty pleasure of mine... Christmas specials! In a bid to bring more readers to my blog, I figured I'll review as many Christmas specials as possible. Some are ones I've seen a million times over; other ones I'm seeing for the very first time on TV this year. Why, you ask? Eh.... too much time on my hands, why else? ;) Still though, read and watch along!

Book Review: "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea"

Much in the same vein as Kathy Griffin, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea is the irreverent (but hilarious!) autobiography by Chelsea Handler. Actually....I'm not so sure autobiography is the right term, exactly. It's little slices of life, random anecdotes, but is far from a full picture. Still...

Who couldn't love a book that has everything from fooling her classmates that she was going to star in a film with Goldie Hawn, to babysitting clients from hell, to life inside the clink, to a torrid love affair with a ginger, to shady pitch black dining establishments, to even shadier massage parlors, to dog sitting horror stories, to a re-gifting faux pas to end all re-gifting faux pas, to getting mugged by 14 year old Mexican girls, to midget escapades.....this book has it all. (No really. You only think I'm kidding.) I don't even know what exactly I can say about this one other than READ THIS BOOK. Even if you don't know who Chelsea Handler is, doesn't matter! Read it anyway! You'll be able to appreciate the humor. 5 stars!