That's Showbiz

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures

Emma Straub

Fiction

Another book that I wanted to like more than I actually did. It’s gotten such rave reviews, too. Oh, well.

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures is the story of Elsa Emerson, who grows up in a small town in Wisconsin. Her parents run the local playhouse and eventually Elsa realizes she’s meant to be an actress. She marries a fellow actor at the playhouse and they move to Hollywood to become stars. After snagging a few bit parts, she finally meets the head of a studio who suggests she change her name and they’ll sign her. Once she becomes Laura Lamont, she rises to fame, but must also struggle with her romantic life and staying connected to the family she left behind in Wisconsin.

While Ms. Straub is an excellent writer, something about this book was off for me. I wish I could put my finger on why I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. Maybe because I just felt so disconnected from Elsa/Laura. Some of her actions didn’t make any sense and the book skips so many important events that by the time I reached the end, I still didn’t feel like I really knew her at all. 

If you like tales of struggling starlets, you’ll probably enjoy Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures.

Right Here (Departed)

All Gone: A Memoir of My Mother’s Dementia, With Refreshments

Alex Witchel

Memoir

For those of you who don’t get the title of this post, it’s named after a song by Brandy. It’s a great song, too: if you’ve never heard it, go listen to it. Seriously, do it.

All Gone is writer Alex Witchel’s loving tribute to her mother who is suffering from dementia. Ms. Witchel goes back and forth between present day and the past, describing her life with her mom before she was diagnosed and life with her now. There’s a lot of talk of food, which surprised me, but then I thought about it and realized isn’t that the way a lot of us bond with our family members? The parts where her mom is slipping away from her are the most poignant. Ms. Witchel is a great writer, so this book is a quick read. My only complaint is that I figured the book would end with her mother’s death, but it just kind of petered out instead (not that I want Ms. Witchel’s mother to die, it just would’ve made a more powerful ending).

If you’ve ever had to take care of a parent with dementia or just love great writing, you’ll like All Gone.

Not for Me

It's time for another round of Why I Didn't Read/Like This Book.

The Next Door Boys
Jolene B. Perry
Fiction

I should've known by the description that this was a religious book but I ignored my instincts and picked it up, anyway. Stupid me. A girl who's just finished cancer treatments starts her first semester at BYU and all the boys fall in love with her (I lasted approximately two chapters before skipping to the end to see which boy was her "soul mate".) This book was boring and there were lots of God, Jesus, and Bible shout-outs. Not for me.

Shine Shine Shine
Lydia Netzer
Fiction

This book is told in omniscient third person, which annoyed me right away. Plus, it was boring. I have no idea why, when the subject matter is so interesting. A man who goes up in space returns home to find his family in tatters and has to put the pieces back together. I only made it three chapters in before I gave up. Sad, because it got such great reviews, too. But it was not for me.

Peanut Butter Sweets
Pamela Bennett
Cookbook

What's this? In a shocking first for Three Library Cards, I'm reviewing a cookbook (don't worry, it's only because I didn't have any other crappy books in my stacks to pick on). Normally, it doesn't take a lot for a cookbook to win me over, but I was not at all happy with this one. Most of the recipes are exceptionally lame and either have no imagination to them or sound totally unappetizing. I love peanut butter as much as the next person, but this cookbook was not for me.

Gone with the Wind

Low Pressure

Sandra Brown

Fiction

Sandra Brown is another romance author I used to love who suddenly turned to more suspense/mystery style novels. So disappointing, but what can you do? I still pick up her new books on occasion, and this was one of those times.

Low Pressure is the story of Bellamy, a Texas woman who has written a best-selling novel based on the horrific murder of her sister, Susan, during a tornado many years ago. A lot of people are upset about this book, people who have secrets to hide and want them to stay that way. One of these people is Dent, Susan’s boyfriend at the time of her death. As Dent and Bellamy bond over their screwed-up lives, she gets closer and closer to finding out the real reason she’s blocked most of that fateful day out of her mind.

As I’ve stated many times, I’m not a big fan of mysteries. But Ms. Brown is a good writer and sucked me in with lots of twists and turns, making me extremely curious as to who was responsible for Susan’s death. I’ll admit it, too, the twist of who did it surprised and pleased me. My only complaint would be how many scenes were just two people talking and remembering. I wanted more action. But when the main thrust of your story happened almost twenty years ago, that’s a little hard to avoid.

If you’re a Sandra Brown or murder mystery fan, you’ll like this book.

Love Will Keep Us Together

Daughters For a Time

Jennifer Handford

Fiction

First, let me just get out of the way the two little nit-picky things that took me out of this book: the part when the main character thinks about how she has to watch the episodes of a soap opera, Guiding Light, that she’s recorded (GL was canceled in 2009 and I’m pretty sure this book is supposed to be taking place during present day) and then when she makes a crack about having to restock the salad bar at Olive Garden (I'm sad to report that I know Olive Garden most certainly does not have a salad bar). Besides those two errors, this was a decent book. Decent, but not great.

Helen is thirty-five and married, and more than ready to be a mother. But when her infertility causes yet another miscarriage, her husband suggests they try adopting in China. Helen eventually agrees and they travel abroad to get their daughter, Sam. Once back home, Helen’s still adjusting to being a mother when her older sister announces she has the same cancer that killed their mother. Now Helen must be there for her sister and figure out how to keep her family together during this time of crisis.

I was a bit “meh” on this book. While I understood Helen’s motivations and fears, she still bugged me a lot. Also, Helen was terrified of how she’d adjust to being an adoptive mother, but as soon as she gets home, everything seems to be fine. It’s like two different novels patched together: the first is about adopting, the second is about losing her sister. I just thought the story could have flowed better.

For anyone who has adopted, especially overseas, you’ll probably like this book.

Talking to the Ghost

The Black Isle

Sandi Tan

Fiction

This is the most bizarre fiction book I have ever read. A woman has sex with an octopus and the main character almost sleeps with her twin brother, for god’s sake!

The Black Isle is the story of Ling/Cassandra (she changes her name halfway through the book) and it’s another war book, only World War I this time. What is it with me and war books? As a young child, Cassandra moves from Shanghai to the Black Isle with her brother and father. But Cassandra has a secret—she can see ghosts and they can see her. This is an epic tale that goes back and forth in time. In present, Cassandra’s an old woman reflecting on her past as she becomes a pawn in the war and politics. I wish I could give more details about what happens, but I really can’t because there’s so much going on.

Ms. Tan is a great writer, I’ll give her that, and there were so many jaw-dropping moments. Quite a few involved blood and I had to skim. There’s a lot of torture, a lot of unhappiness, a lot of weird effing stuff. I never wanted to put the book down, though, despite it being a tomb at 469 pages.

If you enjoy historical fiction sagas, this book’s for you. If you’re not into ghosts and corpses with dog heads (don’t ask), I’d skip this one.