June Books

Bossypants by Tina Fey A

I really enjoyed this book.  For some reason, the cover of it really creeps me out so, by listening to this book as I was driving through Kansas, I didn't have to look at it.  It was a nice compromise.  

Very funny autobiography.  I especially liked the beginning when she was talking about her early years and then the chapter about how she played Sarah Palin. Also, the cruise ship story.  And I thought we had a bad experience. Fun fact:  We love SNL and almost always make it a point to catch Weekend Update. 

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler A
I read The Paris Wife (the story of Hadley Hemingway) a few months ago.  The Fitzgeralds made an appearance in that story and I've wanted to read more about them ever since.  This is a long book.  12 hours.  I started it on my way to Colorado and was the first book I downloaded with my new Audible subscription.  It's really pretty fascinating.  It's set up from Zelda's point of view and reads like historical fiction.  It starts with her as a 17 year old, living in Alabama, and follows her travels all over the world. Critics didn't love it, but I thought it was good.  Better than The Paris Wife.
It's really interesting to "see" how a mentally ill person describes her own downward spiral.  It was decided, later, that she would have been considered bipolar (so was her brother), but she was diagnosed as schizophrenic.  This story was entirely dependent on Zelda's point of view.  She seemed like a truly good person and, like most alcoholic writers at the time, F. Scott was probably a trying person to be around.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff…and it's all small stuff by Richard Carlson B+
I'm writing up a separate review on this one.  I just finished it yesterday.  It's mainly advice for a less stressful way to live, which is good, but there's not really a story to it.  It had some very good points, but nothing 110% over-the-top memorable.

My goal for 2014 was 3 books a month. I'm barely squeaking by this month.

Also…

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella A++
I've already read this 3 times.  However, as is my tradition, I like to breeze through the Sophie Kinsella books each summer.  I picked this up on audiobook at the library because I wanted something enjoyable to listen to while driving.  I just knew it'd be read in an English accent and I get a kick out of that kind of thing.
It's my second favorite Sophie Kinsella book (Why yes, I do have them ranked, in order, on my bookshelf).  I can't express how much I love it. I think it's because a lot of it is about food. If you are looking for light summer reading, go for it.  Then move onto Can You Keep a Secret? and Remember Me?.  You're welcome.

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian  Meh.
I didn't finish this.  In my exploration of the shockingly understocked Ft. Carson library, I came across just a few shelves of audiobooks.  That was depressing.  Audible.com is going to get a lot of my money over the next few years.  So I pulled out my phone and just started looking for the titles on the to-read list I keep handy.  I found none.  However, Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian was on the list, so I thought maybe this one would be good too.
It wasn't.  I mean, maybe it could've been for some of you, but I found it boring.  And kind of overdone.  There's SO many WWII books out there.  They have to be good for me to want to read them.  I made it to the second disc and it almost put me to sleep on the drive back to the library.

All in all, it was a very light month for books, but I did read some enjoyable ones.  Better a few good ones than a lot of bad ones, right?