What I've Been Reading Recently

Ever since I can remember I have been a total bookworm. I was probably the only kid who got her pocket money on a Friday and raced up to W H Smith to get the latest Sweet Valley/Babysitter's Club book or whatever else took my fancy that week. Book tokens were the best thing I could receive on Christmas or Birthday's and in fairness that hasn't changed too much as the years have passed (although sadly I don't get pocket money anymore).

The first six months or so of the year I had a bit of a book drought and read little to nothing and spent my commute playing Candy Crush, which thankfully I have now gotten out of my system and since coming back from holiday in May I have been knocking it out the park book wise and this is what I've been reading,

I am a big fan of autobiographies, I read more than a few in any given year and mostly stick to those of people who are in the entertainment industry (although I own and will one day tackle Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela's). As it happens two of the books I read over the last couple of months were for comedians, Lee Mack and John Bishop. Both are comedians who fell into comedy rather than perused it from a young age, Bishop especially as he didn't really start on the circuit properly until he was 40.

Bishop's book is very open, very honest (painfully at times) and really lets you see the measure of the man, while Mack's is dry humored and very honest about the craziness of comedy and TV and how hard it can be to crack both while staying true to yourself. Both are definitely worth a look.

The first book I actually read when I came back from my travels (and which I bought while browsing Barnes & Noble in Baltimore) was the latest from Kevin Smith. I am a huge fan of Smith's work to begin with and have enjoyed his previous books and this is no exception. He recalls funny stories, talks about how he managed to get from film student to successful indie director to showdowns with Bruce Willis and much more. He can be a little crude, but hey, what can you expect from the man who created Jay and Silent Bob?

I had heard rumblings for awhile about The Fault in Our Stars and wanted to read it before the movie adaption came out, needless to say I adored it, it was one the best books I had read in a long time and was really glad I got to the last seven chapters while I was at home so the travelling public did not have to witness the crying mess I was to become (this sadly did not happen when I read Never Let Me Go - I can only apologies to all those travelling on the DLR to Island Garden in August 2010). After such a positive experience with the book I went out and procured the rest of Green's work and I have to say of the two other's I've read so far I've been disappointed. Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines both lacked truly likable characters and without those I really wasn't invested in what was going to happen to them, thus making the plot a little pointless. I hope my next foray into his work will yield grater results.

For something a bit lighter in between I have read both books currently in the Geek Girl series. They took me each two days to read, are funny, sweet and instantly forgettable once you have completed them. The Geek moniker is very 'in' right now and I'm not sure I would really call the lead character as such, but for sheer silly enjoyment you can't go very wrong with these books.

 Two very different relationships are looked at in the next two books I read. Eleanor & Park looks at first love and all that comes along with it. Set in the 80's it isn't your usual run of the mill romance, with both characters getting well rounded back stories and situations to deal with that are never normally covered in this type of book. Rainbow Rowell has now shot up my list of authors and I can't wait to read the rest of her work.

Paper Aeroplanes again looks at first love, but that of the love of finding that first friend who really understands you. Renee and Flo are fantastic characters, both suffering from loss and not really fitting, who find each other and themselves in the process of their final year at secondary school. For a first time novelist, Dawn O'Porter did exceptionally well and I have the sequel, Goose in my pile of to-read's.

Two of my favourite funny ladies next. I had read Bossypants in 2013, but figured it needed a re-read in 2014 as it was just that damn good. Tina Fey is one of the most creative, funny and inspirational ladies in the entertainment industry and her book just backs up why she is as successful as she is, dry, self-deprecating and very, very funny, Fey tells it how it is and in a very memorable chapter answers back to some to some not so nice internet commentators.

Then there is Sarah Silverman, a lady who tells it exactly like it is and isn't afraid of what you will think of her. Her book is brutally honest and funny. In it she speaks of her crippling depression as a teen, her chronic bed wetting and how she went from a one season series writer on SNL to the star of her very own, off the wall, comedy show.  

Much like the TV series that is based upon it, the Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries (or True Blood series) have come to an end and I finally got around to reading the last book. In fairness I have no idea why the internet went into such a meltdown over it - all the clues were laid out in the previous book as to how it all might end and I certainly didn't feel cheated or upset with how the characters finally ended up. In many ways I'm glad the series came to an end as it did feel like everything that needed to be said or could have happened did about three books ago, but I will miss the craziness of Bon Temps every now and again.

Another quick read the book before you watch the movie, Divergent is very much akin to The Hunger Games  with a dystopian future, strong female lead and evil government to overthrow. I very quickly finished the first book in the series and started straight away on the second with the third in my to-read pile. Although not as fully rounded a character as Katniss, Tris is really interesting in so much as you actually don't know if she really wants to survive though it all. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it ends and if the movies can live up to the books.

My favourite book recently though has been Maya Van Wagenen's Popular. Over the period of a school year Maya decided to follow popularity tips from Betty Cornell's Glamour Guide for Teen's which was first published in the 1950's. She then documented in her diary how well these tips went which eventually ended up as this book. I really connected with Van Wagenen while reading this book, her writing just took me back to being a teenager again and how difficult and sometimes miserable it could be and again my emotions got the better of me as I was in tears by the end of it because she just reminded me so much of myself at that age.

The book is amazing, you will cringe, laugh and hope with Maya as she sticks not only to the rules of the guide but to herself, which even if doesn't make her a truly 'popular' person make her a spectacularly awesome one and I know which I would always rather be.