Man, another enemies to lovers book. When I read Red White and Royal Blue, I thought, wow I guess I like these. Then a bookish friend casually mentioned I was a huge dope since my favorite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Um, total enemies to lovers action.In The Unhoneymooners, Olive and Ethan are sworn enemies. On the day of her sister, Amy's wedding to Ethan's brother, Dane, Olive has a laundry list of tasks to perform as the maid of honor. One of those is to make sure she and Ethan have a separate meal not part of the extravagant seafood buffet, to which Olive has an allergy and Ethan a philosophical aversion. Both escape a vomitorium reminiscent of that scene in Stand By Me when everyone is barfing up blueberry pie that results from contamination of the seafood.The story could have ended there but Amy is a notorious sweepstakes winner. So much so that almost everything at the wedding was the spoilers of her contest entering, including electric lime bridesmaids dresses. So when she's too ill to attend the all inclusive honeymoon to Maui, she offers her spot to Olive. As identical twins, Olive can take her spot. Since Olive is recently unemployed she's available for this week long pampering. Since she lives in Minnesota and it's January, she has the desire to go to Maui. The only wrinkle? Dane has offered his spot to Ethan.What follows is fairly predictable but entertaining nonetheless as Ethan and Olive explore the island, their mutual attraction, and a budding...well you get it. I've already said it's an enemies to lovers book. So the situation is complicated by some unexpected run-ins in Maui and their families' belief that they hate each other.Ethan and Olive are asked to figure out some core principles of their relationship and the foundation upon which that relationship is built. It's a rough go. I was pleased with the way it turned out. Again, fairly predictable but with some steam and laughs.
3/5 Stars.
Funny, kind, thoughtful, and seriously... Funny - Amy Poehler is doing this life thing and having a good time. The only Golden Globes ceremony I have EVER watched was the one hosted by Amy and Tina Fey. They were magnificent. Yes Please was published in 2014 when Parks and Recreation was in its fifth or sixth season, 30 Rock was on the air, and Chris Pratt hadn't yet taken off his shirt in Guardians of the Galaxy (no, thank YOU Star Lord). In any case, what I mean to say, is it was published when Poehler was at the top of her game and her friends were all doing well and had interesting projects. Right now I think she's hosting a crafting show with Nick Offerman (I don't really watch TV so I'll have to take Google's word for it).In any case, Yes Please talks a lot about Amy's work with the comedy troop, The Upright Citizen's Brigade, Saturday Night Live, and then Parks and Recreation (which I've never watched but want to start). Through those experiences she has met a lot of people and been able to influence the types of shows and movies that are made by, for and about women. Overall, Amy just seems like a really NICE person who is also really funny but not in a cruel way. She has an entire chapter on apologizing for a skit that she did not properly vet and was a vicious portrayal of a handicapped child. Ouch. I hope to see Amy in future projects because she really is just a silly joy.
4/5 Stars.
Poor Eleanor Flood has spent the last ten years of her life fighting her own inertia. She's moved to Seattle with her famous hand-surgeon husband Joe, and is less than busy raising their 9-year-old son, Timby. Once upon a New York, Eleanor was the animation director of a popular TV show called Looper Wash. But since then she's sort of lost her way. But on this day, the day covered in this delightful book, she promises upon waking that Today Will Be Different. She will be present in her conversations with people, she will spend time with Timby, she will initiate sex with Joe. So of course her plan goes off the rails early when she is about to meet up with someone for lunch when she gets a call from Timby's school saying he has a stomach ache and needs to be picked up. Between Eleanor's awkwardness and inability to recognize/remember faces/names, a lot starts to go wrong. Joe, who is supposed to be a work is not. Her lunch date with friend Sydney Madsen turns out to be a lunch date with a former Looper Wash intern, Spencer Martel. Eleanor is forced to face the reality of her life and her wasted potential and talent. So the day does turn out to be different, just not in any of the ways Eleanor imagined. The thing I enjoy about Maria Semple's work, is that although the characters can be a bit out there, there are some real life gems in the way she creates conflict for the main characters - in this story between Eleanor and her sister Ivy. And Semple isn't afraid to not wrap up those conflicts in a neat bow. I appreciate that, because it's not true to life.
4/5 Stars.
This book was soooooo fun!! Don Tillman is a genetics professor in Melbourne, Australia. And well, he's a bit odd. He's probably on the autism spectrum, likely Aspergers, but he doesn't know it. So he has a very calculated way of speaking and evaluating people. He has two friends in the whole world, Gene and Claudia, a husband and wife who have an "open" marriage as Gene attempts to sleep with women from all nationalities. And somewhere in the beginning of the story, Don decides to solve his problem of being alone with "the wife project." Don creates a questionnaire to find himself the perfect wife. And in true Don fashion, as his life is ruled by a strict adherence to reason and rationality (to say nothing of the best use of time) he cannot deviate from the results his questionnaire is giving him.Sitting in his office one day, he is approached by a woman, Rosie, who has come to see him at Gene's insistence. Thinking she is a candidate for the wife project, Don asks her out on a date. But it's quickly apparent that Rosie has completely and utterly failed the questionnaire and is therefore, not a candidate for the wife project. Despite his adherence to rules, Don begins to seek out reasons to be with Rosie.I really enjoyed rooting for Don in this book. Although he was completely clueless and obtuse at times, I really wanted a good life for him. He was a good guy. Feel good and funny... this book was a real treat.
4.5/5 Stars.
I know it seems like all I've been doing lately is reading Harry Potter related things (like the play Cursed Child, or the Screenplay for Fantastic Beasts). I probably am due to go ahead and re-read the entire 7 book original series. There's a certain catharsis in reliving all the Harry Potter moments. But when Kindle offers me a $1.99 deal on reading some Harry Potter shorts, well, then, just take my money Amazon. Just take it.
A good collection of Pottermore descriptions which I appreciate being put into an anthology so I don't have to dig around on the site to find.
I'm a total sucker for anything that includes J.K. Rowling's name (or let's be honest, even her fake name) on it. This collection is a testament to the rich world she created with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone.
Keep creating J.K. I'm ready for anything.
This was a short volume Rowling wrote to raise money for Comic Relief. Written in full Harry Potter world form, the book gives the history of Quidditch from the middle ages through present day.
It was fun to read about the possible fouls and early forms of Quidditch. A short delightful read for anyone who loves the world of Harry Potter.
I really needed this book this week. It was funny, and light and interesting. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a collection of letters and e-mails pieced together to tell the story of Bernadette Fox, a wife and mother in Seattle Washington who has disappeared. But before Bernadette Fox was those things in Seattle, she was a famous architect, recipient of a McArthur Genius Award, and a free wheeling spirit whose creative side was channeled toward a vision only she could imagine. But, 15 years later, she's living in Seattle, wife to Elgin Branch, a VP at MicroSoft working on artificial intelligence technology, and mother to Bee, a super-smart 8th grader who decides as her gift for straight A's - she's going to ask her parents for a trip to Antarctica. Bernadette, who has become increasingly reclusive over the years, responds to the request by outsourcing a position as a personal assistance to an e-mail address in India.Meanwhile, down the slope from their home (actually an old school for girls), lives Audrey Griffin, a Seattle socialite who has never met a problem that wasn't caused by someone else. Audrey's best friend, Sue Lynn works at MicroSoft and reports back to Audrey all the things that Elgin is up to while his wife spends her day ruining Audrey's life. As smart as they are, Elgin and Bernadette don't communicate very well, so much so that when Sue Lynn informs Elgin about some of his wife's more odd behavior, he becomes concerned enough to stage and intervention - an intervention that goes horribly wrong and ends up with Bernadette running away, and an angry Bee left to pick up the pieces and try to discover what happened to her mother. I know reading the above synopsis may not actually seem like this book is as funny as it was, but it was actually very funny and delightful. It's a shame I had to rush through it, but I've recently discovered that my library will let you borrow Audiobooks for FREE! (can you imagine) so I may have overcommitted to my borrowing shelf!
4/5 Stars.
Whoops. This is an example of where going to a bookstore and flipping the book over to read a description is effective. Instead, since I love Aziz Ansari as a comic and I saw that the book was highly rated, and recommended to me by Goodreads after I finished and loved, Bossy Pants by Tina Fey (read my review here), I used my Audible credit to purchase this book.
I thought it was going to be about Aziz Ansari. I thought it was going to be funny. That's all I thought it was going to be. Whoops.
Modern Romance is co-authored by Ansari and a sociologist. And true to its title, it chronicles and examines romance in the modern age. How does technology (social media, smart phones, dating apps) effect dating today? And how does that manifest in the US and other parts of the world?
The book is really pretty good, even though I've been married for almost a decade and none of the subject matter even applies to me anymore. But Ansari is hilarious and a perfect foil for all the technical scientific and and study-related data. I found the section on modern romance in Tokyo especially entertaining.
I'm giving the book four stars because it was well written, researched, and presented. I just wasn't that interested in the subject matter at this point in my life. But that's my own fault for just assuming the book was something it wasn't.
4/5 Stars.
