You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) Felicia Day 4/5	Published 2015 First Sentence "Whereby I introduce myself to people who have no idea who the hell I am, but have found themselves in possession of this book."
Publisher's Description: From online entertainment mogul, actress, and “queen of the geeks” Felicia Day, a funny, quirky, and inspiring memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to Internet-stardom, and embracing her individuality to find success in Hollywood. The Internet isn’t all cat videos. There’s also Felicia Day—violinist, filmmaker, Internet entrepreneur, compulsive gamer, hoagie specialist, and former lonely homeschooled girl who overcame her isolated childhood to become the ruler of a new world…or at least semi-influential in the world of Internet Geeks and Goodreads book clubs. After growing up in the south where she was "homeschooled for hippie reasons", Felicia moved to Hollywood to pursue her dream of becoming an actress and was immediately typecast as a crazy cat-lady secretary. But Felicia’s misadventures in Hollywood led her to produce her own web series, own her own production company, and become an Internet star. Felicia’s short-ish life and her rags-to-riches rise to Internet fame launched her career as one of the most influential creators in new media. Now, Felicia’s strange world is filled with thoughts on creativity, video games, and a dash of mild feminist activism—just like her memoir. Hilarious and inspirational, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is proof that everyone should embrace what makes them different and be brave enough to share it with the world, because anything is possible now—even for a digital misfit.
Dear Reader, This is going to be a short review, sorry! However, I clearly enjoyed this - especially as an audio-book (narrated by Felicia Day herself). One thing that stuck out for me was how much I WOULDN'T have gotten along with her if we met in childhood days. She describes herself as a know-it-all, and I couldn't stand that. However, what her shortcomings were as a child (mostly based on her upbringing) didn't interfere with this awesome woman she is today. Okay, not just awesome but brilliant?! Did you know that she comes from a line of scientists and doctors? She was born with a brain and used it in a totally different way than would have been expected. Follow the same path? No way! Follow your dreams is more like it. She tells us this many times throughout this book and I think it's a good message - especially coming from someone who veered off the path and made it work. Her background story makes you believe you can do anything if you put your mind to it (but it probably helps to have extremely intelligent genes too). This is a perfect book for a laugh and a must read for any Felicia Day fan. Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

How to Grow Up: A Memoir

How to Grow Up: A Memoir Michelle Tea 3.5 / 5	Published January 27, 2015 First Sentence "I chose the apartment because of the persimmon tree outside the bedroom window."
Publisher's Description: A gutsy, wise memoir-in-essays from a writer praised as “impossible to put down” (People) As an aspiring young writer in San Francisco, Michelle Tea lived in a scuzzy communal house; she drank, smoked, snorted anything she got her hands on; she toiled for the minimum wage; and she dated men and women, and sometimes both at once. But between hangovers and dead-end jobs, she scrawled in notebooks and organized dive bar poetry readings, working to make her literary dreams real. In How to Grow Up, Tea shares her awkward stumble towards the life of a Bonafide Grown-Up: healthy, responsible, self-aware, stable. She writes about passion, about her fraught relationship with money, about adoring Barney’s while shopping at thrift stores, about breakups and the fertile ground between relationships, about roommates and rent, and about being superstitious (“why not, it imbues this harsh world of ours with a bit of magic.”)  At once heartwarming and darkly comic, How to Grow Upproves that the road less traveled may be a difficult one, but if you embrace life’s uncertainty and dust yourself off after every screw up, slowly but surely you just might make it to adulthood.
Dear Reader, I have long been a fan of Michelle Tea, which is why I picked this book up even though I don't tend to like memoirs. So, Tea's voice in this book balanced out a lot of my disinterest in learning "life lessons" from people. I found it to be, overall, a good read, although certainly nothing life-changing. Tea had a few great pieces of wisdom to impart, particularly (for me) in her chapter on "How to Break Up," advice I really could have used around the time I lived in Boston with a particularly loveless & selfish person. (Although knowing my neediness at that point, I probably would never have heeded it. - Which Michelle Tea also totally understands; she's like a wise & "been there" aunt.) I also really enjoyed "Beware of Sex and Other Rules for Love" (Tea makes herself quite a few ground rules following her "crazy sexual period" where she decides what she really wants in a partner she plans to share her life with). And I had to laugh at the first sentence of the "WWYMD?" chapter: "What would Young Michelle think of today's Michelle? -- Who cares? That Michelle was a jerk.") Tea doesn't take herself too seriously, and has learned to question the beliefs and ideals she once had, which I do appreciate. I also did enjoy how well the author was able to make a memoir - essentially, her collection of essays - flow into a pretty cohesive and overarching life story. However, I have to admit I was a little bored by other parts of the book, those that just didn't engage me. While I could relate to her adoption of the punk rock fashion and "lifestyle" in her teenage years, I wasn't all that interested in the story of when she achieved her lifelong goal of attending Paris Fashion Week, or purchasing a $900 leather jacket. I was interested in her rationalization for experiencing those things, and I understand that growing up with nothing and suddenly having money can make you see the world differently, but I had to say I cringed when she risked her job to do something that felt so...frivolous. Maybe she knows something I don't know, though. Besides, it is her life, her money, and her passion. So what if it isn't mine? That's okay. (And I actually think that is one of the things Tea tries to express in her book.) Tea's frank discussions about how she feels about not having gone to college, her recovery from drugs and alcohol, and her newly-established family life were all quite engaging, and I think the true meat of this book. It was what kept me reading, even through her chapters on affirmations (a 12-step concept), her take on Buddhism (kind of yawn), and her validations for getting Botox (blerg). And despite the wildly varying quality and quantity, each chapter did have something valuable to impart on the reader. Tea was able to learn from her life - both her mistakes and her triumphs - and has come out the stronger on the other side. Which is why I think she felt the need to write this, and why I think many will get something out of this. My three favorite quotes from this book? "...I was haunted by the question, What do you want to be when you grow up? I never wanted to be a nurse, or a truck driver. There was only one job in the whole world that I had ever heard of that sounded good to me: I wanted to be a librarian." ★ Not going to college does not mean you've opted out of educating yourself." [Nor does finishing school, at whatever level; you should always be choosing to learn & improve!] ★ "I try to make choices that will align with my highest beliefs. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't and in between I try not to have a panic attack over it." I'd suggest picking this book up if you need some inspiration, especially if you worry your life has maybe gone in the wrong direction. Michelle Tea's life has gone pretty much every direction possible, and yet by anyone's standards she is pretty darned successful. It reminds us all to reflect on our own lives more impartially, for some true perspective. Yours, Arianna P.S. While poking around online looking for an image from her wedding (beautiful couple), I stumbled across a photo of the jumpsuit she wears on the book jacket! -- http://elisashea.com/post/5781067153/michelle-tea-tap-dancing-on-her-birthday-at-her P.P.S. I am including the list of chapter titles here because I typed them all out as I read them in an effort to remember things, and I figured why not share them if the work has already been done? 1. You Deserve This 2. Fashion Victim 3. My $1,100 Birthday Apartment 4. I Have  Trust Fund from God--and So Do You! 5. Beware of Sex and Other Rules for Love 6. How to Break Up 7. Too Cool for School 8. The Baddest Buddhist 9. Getting Pregnant with Michelle Tea 10. Ask Not for Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls 11. You Can't Fire Me; I Quit 12. WWYMD: What Would Young Michelle Do? 13. Eat Me 14. I'm So Vain 15. Confessions of a Gym Rat P.P.P.S. I received this book as an ARC through the Penguin First-to-Read program.

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Paperback:

Kindle:

Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave Solomon Northup 4/5	Published 1853 First Sentence "Having been born a freeman, and for more than thirty years enjoying the blessings of liberty in a free State - and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into Slavery, where I remained until happily rescued in the month of January 1853, after a bondage of twelve years - it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public."
Publisher's Description: This unforgettable memoir was the basis for the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave. This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and two kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the deep south. These are the true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave - many believe this memoir is even more graphic and disturbing than the film. His extraordinary journey proves the resiliency of hope and the human spirit despite the most grueling and formidable of circumstances.
Dear Reader, Reading this was very powerful and something I would recommend everyone to do. This journal (or would you call it a memoir?) is written with such a story-telling feel that I had to constantly remind myself this was a true story. I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm a purest at heart and love to read the book first. I find if I see the movie, it construes the images while reading the book, taking away the fun of imagining what things would look like. I'm actually reviewing this book without watching the movie at all! I will get to the movie, it won awards for obvious reasons and the book clearly presents some fantastic reasons of it's own. For those of you, like me, that wanted to wait to see the movie (or live under a rock)... I will start with a short synopsis of the book. Solomon Northup, the Author, was a "freeman" living in New York with his wife and family. One day he takes on a job with some characters and winds up drugged and kidnapped to be sent South and sold into slavery. This amazing account of his struggles goes into massive detail (even though the book is fairly short), each chapter gives us insight into what it was to be a slave. Since Solomon started off as a free man, he had to learn how to be a slave himself... this journey tells us exactly how it was and we learn step by step along with him. For example, he goes into lengthy detail on how to pick cotton, cane sugar, harvest crops and more. We learn that the only Holiday slaves got off was Christmas, and we get to peek into the celebrations of the Holiday. We learn what it feels like to whipped and left out in the sun for punishment. Every detail Solomon gives us, brings us one step closer to an awful truth, one history should never forget. To be honest with you, I started thinking I've read so much on slavery and the Civil War that I couldn't be surprised by much on the topic. I was wrong! I did NOT know that "freemen" were kidnapped and sold as slaves. It just goes to show you that there is SO much we don't know and we should never stop learning from our past. I urge you to pick this book up (the e-book is FREE) and read it. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - As usual, I feel the need to share some of the things I've come across while googling. Clipping from "The New York Times" article from 1853. Solomon wasn't the only "freeman" kidnapped & sold into slavery! Solomon Northrup's Descendants

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of Twelve Years a Slave here:

Glitter and Glue

Glitter and Glue: A Memoir Kelly Corrigan 3.5 / 5	To Be Published 2014 First Sentence "Growing up, my mom was guided by the strong belief that to befriend me was to deny me the one thing a kid really needed in order to survive childhood: a mother."
Publisher's Description: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place comes a new memoir that examines the bond—sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine—between mothers and daughters. When Kelly Corrigan was in high school, her mother neatly summarized the family dynamic as “Your father’s the glitter but I’m the glue.” This meant nothing to Kelly, who left childhood sure that her mom—with her inviolable commandments and proud stoicism—would be nothing more than background chatter for the rest of Kelly’s life, which she was carefully orienting toward adventure. After college, armed with a backpack, her personal mission statement, and a wad of traveler’s checks, she took off for Australia to see things and do things and Become Interesting. But it didn’t turn out the way she pictured it. In a matter of months, her fanny pack full of savings had dwindled and she realized she needed a job. That’s how Kelly met John Tanner, a newly widowed father of two looking for a live-in nanny. They chatted for an hour, discussed timing and pay, and a week later, Kelly moved in. And there, in that house in a suburb north of Sydney, her mother’s voice was suddenly everywhere, nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, escorting her through a terrain as foreign as any she had ever trekked. Every day she spent with the Tanner kids was a day spent reconsidering her relationship with her mother, turning it over in her hands like a shell, straining to hear whatever messages might be trapped in its spiral. This is a book about the difference between travel and life experience, stepping out and stepping up, fathers and mothers. But mostly it’s about who you admire and why, and how that changes over time.
Dear Reader, I read this book in 3 days.  I suppose that says something about both its accessibility and its engagement level.  This book was, however, nothing like I'd expected.  Having never read anything by this author before, I wasn't prepared by her other works.  Amber and I got this book as an ARC at BEA 2013, and we'd both been eager to get to it, especially having met the author and gotten our books signed.  I think the title appealed to me most of all: it evoked memories of crafting - making paper crowns and wands with which to become a princess - with my own mother when I was little. So, I guess in one way, I was (completely unexpectedly) prepared for this book: it was ultimately about the relationship between a mother and daughter, reflected upon by a daughter who has reached womanhood and her own motherhood, and therefore is trying to sort out her complicated and often frustrating relationship with her mom.  I think Kelly and her mother had an especially interesting relationship because Kelly was the only daughter in the family; having a sister to talk to and relate to might have helped her immensely during her adolesence. They definitely did have an often-at-odds relationship, which I found fascinating to watch unfold throughout the book.  But, in the long run, I wasn't quite sure this book "gave" me anything.  There wasn't much of a resolution to the whole thing, besides that Kelly had come to the realization that she did, in fact, really need her mother. It was interesting the way the author explained her coming to terms with this through the story of her experiences in Australia over a three-month period, when she was in her early twenties.   She nannied for a recent widower's children, and while they came to understand and manage life without their mother, Kelly simultaneously began to understand the connection she and her mother had.  While essentially child-rearing for the first time, she began to watch herself adopt many of her own mother's mannerisms. I feel like maybe if I'd read a few others of Corrigan's memoirs, perhaps I would have felt as if this were a more complete story, one that fit in neatly with her other works to form a whole portrait of a person.  As it stood alone, though, I didn't feel like it was ... quite substantial enough.  I enjoyed the narrative, but in the end felt as if I'd just finished an article reflecting in detail on one part of one woman's life, not an entire book.  That's not a bad thing, though - just an observation. I'd recommend this to women who struggle with the mother-daugther relationship, either with their mothers or their daugthers.  I think it was a heartwarming and entertaining book, which hit upon some good moments and did draw some great parallels between the author's situation in Australia and her situation at home.  Certainly a fun and light-hearted little read.  (Especially the relationship with her father; that was always adorable to watch.) Yours, Arianna

Wild

Wild Cheryl Strayed 4/5	Published March 2012 First Sentence "My solo three-month hike on the Pacific Crest Trail had many beginnings. "
Publisher's Description: A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.  Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
Dear Reader, This book has heart. I listened to this as an audiobook and the only downfall of this format was the narrator they selected. She had done a book I had read recently (this past year) that I didn't like. The Author was pretentious and it embedded in my mind with this narrator. I know that is quite unfair to the narrator but unfortunately, this is what happened. I can't say it ruined it for me, because obviously based on my rating... it didn't. Wild is the story of a woman who had the courage and conviction to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. This trail is extremely dangerous and she did it alone. Girl power! Cheryl went through some hard patches in her life that included divorce and her mother passing away. These events brought forth a yearning for her to do something exciting and challenging. I can relate to this COMPLETELY. I went through a divorce as well, and after I struggled to find my own self. I went back to school, changed careers and then decided to leave it all to join up with Nature's Classroom and live life very differently from most people. This was refreshing and ultimately changed my life , in good and bad ways. Doing something like this is possible for everyone and I can only say that everyone should do something unexpected of them once. This is the biggest point the Author touched home with me and I think is an excellent lesson for us all. Getting back to the book, Cheryl not only decided to hike this dangerous trail but doing it alone (as a woman) makes it ten times as dangerous. Throughout the whole book I was on edge, wondering when something really bad was going to happen. Isn't it a little sad that memoirs and biographies have done that to me? I don't know about you but it seems that most books dealing with real life events have to revolve around tragedy in order to be published. This was not the case here and even though I was still on the edge of my seat waiting... it was so refreshing to read a book that was true to the nature of the story, the wild. Cheryl is such a strong woman to have done this, she is quite the role model. The best part about her is that she has faults, and many of them. She is not little Miss perfect, the girl with enough money and time to burn. She comes from a poor background, dropped her low income job (after saving enough money) and planned this trip with nothing left for the end except a few hundred dollars and a semi-plan to move where she ended up. Anybody who says they can't just up and leave to do an impromptu trip will be sorely mistaken after reading this book. There is such a gritty truth to Cheryl's story and now I see why the book got such rave reviews. I highly recommend you read this one. Happy Reading, AmberBug