June- 2

I watch a show on Showtime called Secret Diary of a Call Girl. It was one of those nothing else to watch on TV so I watched the first episode kind of days and I really liked it. It gets a bit too soft core pornographic at times but I also love the main character is so feminist and in charge of her sexuality. She's also not this teeny tiny woman, she's a normal size healthy beautiful woman. Anyways at the beginning of each of the shows it says its based on a book so I of course added the book to my list. I read Belle Du Jour: Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl by Anonymous. Now the book was as cool as the TV show with some minor easy to be overlooked exceptions. The difficult thing for me to grasp was that the book states it is a true story based on a European call girl. Now in the TV show it feels like it could be based on some truth but that the TV writers have taken lots of liberties. The book though had this constant reminder that hey wait this is all true stuff. Very different perspective to read from. Overall though satisfied my curiosity as far as the show being based on a book so no regrets in reading it.

Tina Fey is one of my favorite comedians. I recently watched the first several seasons of her show 30 Rock and found myself laughing most of the time. Her biography Bossypants came out recently and I was thrilled to read it. It was funny, heartwarming, and just all around enjoyable to gain some insight on a woman I admire so much. Some of it was a bit distasteful for me but I was able to forgive those sections pretty quickly. If you love Ms Fey as much as I do, you will very much love learning more about her, her family, and her career.

May- 2

In May the second Sex and The City prequel was released. The Carrie Diaries: Summer in the City by Candace Bushnell followed the life of Carrie as she moves to New York, meets Samantha (which was the end of the first novel) and then Miranda. At the end of this novel she meets Charlotte as well and our quartet has been formed officially. I love all things SATC so this book was no exception. Easy quick read and I hope there will be more prequel books though I'm not sure.

I also listened to You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon. This novel is a collection of short stories that overlap at times about various Army families. Basically it's like a short story book resembling the TV show Army Wives. It has more depth to it through the stories though than the TV show, perhaps because of how well the author shapes the characters. Definitely an interesting listen and though provoking.

April- 3

In April I listened to Nanny Returns. I really enjoyed the concept of revisiting the first part of this story that I really enjoyed reading many years ago. The original story was made into a movie, not the greatest version of the story of course but in fairness as an avid reader I'm never that thrilled with the movie versions of books. I was kinda worried that with the movie so fresh in my mind it would be difficult to enjoy the sequel novel. As I suspected it was difficult to go back into the mind frame of the original and not have the bias of the movie characters in mind. The story was a bit odd as well and just didn't seem plausible for the most part. I was mostly disappointed in what I hoped would be a cool sequel that just fell short. It was sort of nice to have some closure to some of the characters and I don't regret listening to the story, but I do wish it had had more substance to it.

April's second listen was author/actress Isabel Gillies Happens Every Day I can't remember how this one ended up on my list, but I didn't realize the author was an actress from a show I frequently watch until I was listening to the book. She plays Detective Stabler's wife on Law and Order SVU. She also has another connection to my world in that most of her book takes place in Oberlin Ohio. I think I identified with the book because she shares the story of the end of her first marriage and the effect that had on her and her children. She shares the story of heartbreak but also of rising up to be a mother to her children before being a bitter divorcee. It's a lesson a lot of women could learn something from. Healing isn't always easy but there are choices to be made that affect the outcome of families moving on.

The last read of April was something I picked up from the new book shelf at the library on a random visit. It was a parody of The Giving Tree, a truly wonderful book. The Taking Tree by contrast started off somewhat funny but just didn't hold the interest very well until the end. Overall I just wasn't sure what the anonymous author was trying to convey, which is a shame because it probably started off with a point...