Now Watch This

Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV
Warren Littlefield
Pop Culture

Did anyone else watch all the shows on NBC on Thursdays? Well, you must’ve because for awhile, NBC was at the top with Friends, ER, Will & Grace, Seinfeld…the list goes on and on. But eventually their glory faded, all those shows went off the air, and Thursday nights just ain’t what they used to be (even The Office has gone downhill).

I picked this book up because I’m always interested in knowing the behind-the-scenes gossip of TV shows. TV networks, however, I’d never read a book about and a small part of me always fantasized about maybe one day moving to LA and trying to become a TV writer (then I snapped back to reality).

Top of the Rock is broken up into sections pertaining to certain hit shows, which I enjoyed. I never watched or cared about Cheers or ER or Mad About You, so I could’ve happily skipped those sections if I wanted to, but I actually did read them because the process that goes into making a TV show and putting it on air is absolutely fascinating to me. My only nitpick was the format, though I suppose this book could not have been done any other way. We get the person’s name and then what they thought. So it’s almost in script form. It’s a hard way to read at first, but I eventually, reluctantly, got used to it.

Anyone who adored the great NBC shows of yore will like this book. It’s a quick read and easy to skip around. You really couldn’t ask for more.

Making a Mess

Keepsake
Kristina Riggle
Fiction

There is nothing better than discovering a new author via browsing the selection of new books at your local library. That’s how I came upon Ms. Riggle’s new book, and you can be sure I’m writing down her previous books on my must-read list.

Keepsake is the story of Trish and Mary (the book alternates first person POV chapters between the two). Trish has two sons, an ex-husband, and a house overflowing with clutter. So much clutter that a bureau fell on her six-year old and sent him to the hospital. Now a social worker is on her case and if Trish can’t keep her hoarding in check, she’ll lose her child. This is the last straw for her teenager, who drives a few hours away to visit Mary and ask if she’ll help mom clean. Mary and Trish are estranged, and have been ever since their mother (also a hoarder) died. But her nephews need her, so Mary goes, hoping maybe she and Trish can get back the relationship they once had.

This book totally sucks you in. I read it in one night, that’s how good it is. Both Trish and Mary are fully fleshed-out characters. Trish’s stubborn denial and resentment of her sister made me dislike her one minute, then soften towards her the next when she revealed how much their childhood still tormented her. Mary is also a pain one minute then sympathetic the next. Real, human emotions. All the characters are great, actually. And the plot is so interesting, you will not want to put this down.

I highly recommend Keepsake, and I’m sure I’ll recommend Ms. Riggle’s other books once I get my hands on them.

Ready to Mingle

The Singles
Meredith Goldstein
Fiction

I did not like this book. I wanted to. I had myself all set for a chick-litty novel about a bunch of single people congregating at a wedding. There’s a lot of humor in that situation. But while certain parts were funny, I just could not get into it. By the middle of the book, I was skimming.

The Singles is about a group of single people invited to the wedding of one Bee Evans. We have Hannah, Rob, Phil, Vicki, and Joe. The various ways in which they know her and each other is quite interesting and of course, when they gather together, emotions run high, harsh words are said, and mistakes are made.

I don’t think I liked one character in this book. They were all fairly vile and did bad things. I wasn’t rooting for anyone. Well, maybe Hannah, a little. But Rob, her supposed love interest? What a tool. He was not redeemed for me by the end, and the vague ending with a question mark over the two of them left me nashing my teeth. Not to mention the dead pet storyline, another pet (no pun intended) peeve of mine. I hate reading about pets dying, there is no entertainment value in that. I love animals and do not want to be reminded that my own dogs will one day not exist, thank you.

Based on my review and how dark and depressing The Singles is, I suppose it can’t really be called chick lit. So if you’re looking for a light, fun read, do not pick this up. Don’t pick it up at all, in fact. You can find something better.

Breaking Away

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots
Deborah Feldman
Memoir

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an atheist, so memoirs about people breaking away from their religion are fascinating to me. This one got several good reviews, so I decided to pick it up and I am so glad I did.

Unorthodox is the story of Deborah, a woman raised as an Hasidic Jew. Now, I know next to nothing about Judaism, but Ms. Feldman did an excellent job of describing the beliefs and restricting (often ridiculous) rules of her religion. She’s also a great writer, and, to be shallow here for a moment, I really like the cover. Ms. Feldman begins the book as a naïve child, but after her marriage, she quickly starts to realize that she cannot stay a part of the Hasidic world for much longer. When she finally breaks free, you just breathe a sigh of relief (not that you didn’t know it was coming). I also appreciated how she didn’t desparage her family too much, even though she had plenty of reason to do so. This is just the way they were raised. You can’t ask someone to change when their beliefs and culture are embedded so deeply inside of them.

Anyone interested in other religions and anyone who has broken free of an oppressive religion will enjoy this book.

Post-College Blues

The Fallback Plan
Leigh Stein
Fiction

Despite the odd cover, I really wanted to like this book. I really, really did. The writing was good, the dialogue was funny. If only the main character hadn’t been so unsympathetic.

The Fallback Plan is the story of Esther. She’s just graduated from Northwestern with a theater degree and has moved back home, in with her parents, while she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life and find a job. I could totally relate to that part, so I quite liked Esther at first. She's witty, funny, and a dreamer, in spite of the fact that she's been battling depression for a long time. Then her mom gets her a job babysitting a neighbor girl during the day while the girl’s mother works and soon Esther finds herself with a purpose, all right—but not a good one.

A big part of the story was Esther’s depression. Okay, I get that, I realize how hard depression can be on a person. But after a couple of truly heinous romantic choices, I wanted to smack Esther upside the head. She had no ambition at all, either. Intercut between normal chapters were slivers of a screenplay (even though it wasn’t in screenplay form, another irritation) about pandas that Esther decided to start writing on a whimsy. That was distracting and annoying. Then I got to the end and I closed the book in a rage. I hate, hate, hate books that end open-ended. In The Fallback Plan’s case, there’s a Fourth of July party thrown by Esther’s parents and Esther leaves the party and then that’s the end. So we have no idea if she finds a new job, moves out, or meets a nice guy. Ugh, what a waste of time.

Despite Leigh Stein’s good writing, I would not recommend this book. There are plenty of better ones about struggling college grads.

Middle of Nowhere

Welcome to Utopia: Notes From a Small Town
Karen Valby
Travel

Anyone (besides my sister, of course) know the album from which I borrowed this blog post title? Bonus points if you do. If you don’t, read my review and at the end I’ll tell you.

Welcome to Utopia is Entertainment Weekly writer Karen Valby’s account of a small town in Texas. Now if you re-read that sentence, you’re probably thinking, so? There are lots of small towns in America. Why would I care about this one? Well, by the end of the book, you will. Valby does an excellent job following several Utopians as they go about their lives during the course of a year. There’s the group of old timers who’ve been around as long as the town, the high school students who want to get out and see the world and the ones who just want to stay and not rock the boat, and plenty of others. Ms. Valby does an excellent job describing the town and the people and she draws you into their stories so completely, I almost wanted to visit Utopia (I said almost—it is in the middle of nowhere in Texas, you know).

I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes reading about small towns and even if you don’t, you’ll want to read about this one.

Middle of Nowhere is the the title of Hanson’s first album.

Trust No One

The Con: How Scams Work, Why You’re Vulnerable, and How to Protect Yourself
James Munton and Jelita McLeod
Psychology

Yet another book that scared the ever-loving s*!t out of me. Good lord.

In case you couldn’t tell by the title, The Con is about all the many (and there are many) scam artists out there and how they reel you in, drain your bank accounts, and leave you with bad credit for the rest of your life. This book is awesome, honestly. And really, really scary. Munton and McLeod go into detail about every type of con out there in each chapter and then at the end give you tips on how to avoid getting caught in their trap. They talk about solicitors (on the phone, coming to the door, and emailing), street swindlers, Ponzi schemes, and identity theft. They use many real-life examples, too, so you can see how other people got lured in. I’m probably asking for it here, but most of the stuff about avoiding scams is just plain common sense. Why would you send a stranger a check for a thousand bucks? Why would you give someone who called you on the phone, claiming to be from your bank, your Social Security number? I mean, really, people. This book made me sad for humanity.

Everyone should read The Con, because anyone can get swept up in a scam these days, and you do not want that anyone to be you.