A friend gave this book to me, telling me that he couldn't pass it up once he'd seen the "Cleaning Out Your Closet" flowchart. Rude, I say. Just becauA friend gave this book to me, telling me that he couldn't pass it up once he'd seen the "Cleaning Out Your Closet" flowchart. Rude, I say. Just because I'm in a near-constant state of wanting to clean out all my belongings, leaving my home fresh and organized and filled only with the things that I love best and that make me happy.
(Okay, maybe it's a fair point.)
Grace Helbig is a prominent voice from the new generation of YouTube stars that always makes me feel ancient. She leverages her personable, self-deprecating voice to warmly poke fun at the fashion industry. This is by no means an actual style guide, although there are smatterings of good advice strewn in. (Incidentally, I always find it a bit disingenuous when celebrities share their favorite makeup/accessory pieces, including the full brand name. You might as well include a "Buy" link with a kickback percentage.)
Helbig's strength lies in her personal stories. She won me over by jumping right into an introduction that focuses entirely on her eating disorder. There are no quips in these 10 pages and no attempts to back out of an honest portrayal. I wonder if this was a hard sell for her publishers; as she says herself, "Whoa...way to kick things off on a fun, lighthearted note." It caught me by surprise, but it made me form a deeper connection with the subsequent chapters, especially the portions at the beginnings of each long section, wherein she describes elements of her relationships with her parents. These stories relate to fashion, of course, but the traumatic shopping experiences with her father and her descriptions of her "drug dealing" Avon lady mother spark with the kind of generous storytelling where Helbig truly shines.
I would have preferred to read a straightforward memoir rather than the mishmash of fashion tips, terrible puns, and painful-to-read "Sweatpants Sagas." It's a beautifully composed book, though, with ample photographs that add to the humor, and a clean, inviting design. If you're already a Helbig fan, or if you're drawn to books that liberally mix satire and earnest self-discovery, you'll enjoy Grace & Style....more
Sharp, smart, funny, with a real heart. Amy Poehler has an almost manic sense of humor, but she somehow manages to pull you along with her, rather thaSharp, smart, funny, with a real heart. Amy Poehler has an almost manic sense of humor, but she somehow manages to pull you along with her, rather than leaving you in her dust as she flings herself from one story to another. She also indulges in the most unapologetic name-dropping I've ever seen in my life. In other circumstances, this might prove irritating, but it's offset by the irresistible amounts of charm infused in her narrative.
She's loud-mouthed, determined, hard-working, often angry, and simultaneously candid and close-mouthed about her personal life. She skims over her divorce - whose business is that but hers, after all? - but gleefully details her youthful (and sometimes not so youthful) indiscretions. She makes no attempt to paint her childhood as anything other than warm and happy (creativity and artistry aren't always tugged from the depths of detachment and despair), dips into numerous tales about her cold and cash-strapped winters in Chicago and New York as she tirelessly worked her way up the comedy ranks, and relates events that leave her in an unflattering light (the one sketch she regrets participating in, for example, and the way she avoided responsibility for it for years).
It's a refreshing Hollywood story that basically tells you: you're not going to read this book and learn how to make it big. You're not going to drop a script in an actor's or producer's lap one day and rocket to fame. It's a slow, exhausting grind with sporadic opportunities along the way that you have to grab when they appear. It's thankless. It's difficult. It's not impossible, but it is unlikely. This level of frankness is both inspiring and disheartening, but there's a reason she's the one writing the book and we're the ones hanging off every page.
It's a fast, fun read, with a wealth of personal stories and behind-the-scenes information about her time in improv, SNL, and Parks and Recreation. Amy Poehler's not someone you're going to casually befriend on the subway, but if she's in your life, you can be sure you're the lucky one. This book provides an intriguing glimpse into her teeming brain....more
This book is, quite simply, a love letter for a classic film. And I, in turn, loved every page.
The Princess Bride was a particularly formative movie fThis book is, quite simply, a love letter for a classic film. And I, in turn, loved every page.
The Princess Bride was a particularly formative movie for me. Like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, It's A Wonderful Life, and a few other films that played on near-constant repeat throughout my childhood, The Princess Bride imprinted itself on my imagination from some of my earliest memories. The humor, the creativity, the romance, the adventure, the earnest cheesiness: I love everything about it. So there's something indescribably charming and comforting about being welcomed into this behind-the-scenes narrative. It's that same warm relaxation that I slide into during holidays with my family (or used to, anyway - holidays seem to get harder as you grow older) or when curling up with a favorite book with its page corners worn thin and soft from use. Reading about The Princess Bride is, in a sense, like coming home.
I can't deny that the entire book is filtered through some pretty heavily rose-tinted glasses. Everyone was nice on set, professional, and great to work with. Everyone was smart, clever, and funny. Is that all true? I don't know. Maybe there were some clashes and some big personalities. Maybe one of the actors was a diva and stomped angrily off set when he didn't get his way. Or maybe it really was this beautiful little gem of an experience, with a mixture of young, wide-eyed, and experienced actors joining together to make something that would appeal to generations.
While I suspect that at least some of these stories have been told in other places and may be old news for some fans, most of them were new to me. I loved finding out about the cast's initial interactions with one another, William Goldman's inability to stay quiet on set, Andre's dietary habits, Cary's broken toe (badly hidden by true English stoicism), and Wallace Shawn's hilariously unrelenting fear of being replaced by Danny DeVito. And I suppose it says something when a story about a tremendous on-set fart transitions seamlessly into one of the saddest, most heartfelt moments of the book.
All of these anecdotes are wonderfully told with compelling sidebar additions from the director, screenwriter, and various cast members. The book is put together with deep, visible affection for its subject, much as the movie itself was borne out of a genuine desire to see a unique book translated faithfully to the screen.
Of course Neil Patrick Harris wouldn't write a "traditional" autobiography. The Choose Your Own Adventure format was both intriguing and infuriating; Of course Neil Patrick Harris wouldn't write a "traditional" autobiography. The Choose Your Own Adventure format was both intriguing and infuriating; I have to confess that while I'm 99% certain I have completed the entire book, part of me wants to go back through all the pages to make sure. It's certainly a fun callback to a format I enjoyed in my youth, down to the inclusion of elements such as the page(s) you couldn't reach unless you "accidentally" turned to them (in my case, it's more of a methodical marking down in a notebook which pages I haven't yet read and then working my way through them once I hit dead-ends in the narrative). Beyond the complexity and eclectic nature of the contents, though, there's a compelling, genuine emotional core.
Part of me wishes I could read this in a more linear narrative, because the very nature of the book fragmented the story in ways that left me leaping back and forth across NPH's life and searching for the gaps in the narrative. I'm curious about the audiobook format, which would have necessitated a less user-directed jaunt through the timeline. Would reading the pivotal moments in a different order change the feel of the story? Or, like the magic tricks scattered throughout, would each "choice" lead to a carefully orchestrated outcome?
Regardless of the minor frustrations involved with not knowing at any point how many pages I had left to read, I felt like I truly got a glimpse into Neil Patrick Harris as a person, an actor, a magician, a son, a husband, a father, a friend, and a larger-than-life personality who thrives in playing host to diverse audiences. The ever-present humor is sharp, pointed, and both good-natured and biting. He doesn't shy away from calling out various people who have been less than positive figures in his life, and it's truly fascinating to catch a glimpse behind the scenes of certain relationships and professional experiences. The most poignant portions, though, are the sections where he talks about his family: his husband, David, and their twins. The deep love suffusing these sections is palpable. His life wasn't always a perfect one, and there are certainly painful moments mixed in, but it is, overall, a portrait of a fairly beautiful, happy life built from love and hard work.
There's one line I particularly wanted to pull out: "...you realize that you have no excuses for being the slave of your own story...you have to move on from your past, live in the present, and create your own future by following your passion."
This, to me, is the heart of the book. It's not necessarily about tracking life from Point A to Point B and certainly isn't about dwelling on areas where things went badly wrong (though it isn't entirely healthy to ignore those, either, or to forget that they happened). It's about putting one foot in front of the other, taking chances, and remembering that "even if [taking a risk] doesn't go the way you planned or wanted, you'll still learn from it." And often, it's those risks that lead to the best bits of your story....more
Loading...
