Tag Archive for: 3 Stars

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Choose Your Own Autobiography

Choose Your Own AutobiographyTitle: Choose Your Own Autobiography
Author: Neil Patrick Harris
Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Format: Audio
Pages: 291
Length: 7h 15m
Narrator: Neil Patrick Harris
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

I have been a fan of Neil Patrick Harris for a while. I loved him as Barney Stinson in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother and as Dr. Horrible in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. And, I thought it woud be fun to read his memoir.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY is written in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. This style lends mostly to true stories about Harris with the occasional “if you want to listen to your own horrible death, keep listening” anecdotes. Like most celebrity memoirs, Harris narrates his own audiobook. I really enjoyed listening to him recount his own story. I also really loved when he broke out into song. I really loved a lot of the over-the-top parts. I especially loved listening to the sometimes true, sometimes comedic notes from his friends. However, my favorite parts were the stories of his life with his husband, David Burtka, and their twins, Gideon and Harper. When he talked about his family, I saw a regular person instead of a celebrity.

Harris’ memoir is the first one I’ve read that focuses on the author’s entire life instead of some challenge they had to deal with. His memoir is just about him as a whole. Because of this, I didn’t really feel inspired like I have with other memoirs so I was a little bit letdown by the end.

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The Christmas Murder Game

The Christmas Murder GameTitle: The Christmas Murder Game
Author: Alexandra Benedict
Genre: Holiday, Mystery, Thriller
Format: Audio
Pages: 345
Length: 9h 5m
Narrator: Ana Clements
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

I thought the concept of THE CHRISTMAS MURDER GAME sounded fun and suspenseful. While I was never bored, I just didn’t think the execution was done very well and the writing was awkward. I feel like Benedict tried way too hard. The “sonnets” were very clunky and the anagrams were weird. Fortunately, listening to the audiobook helped hide the weird spellings. I also thought the use of “obvs” and “pud” (pudding) in the narrative, not dialogue, was really strange.

As far as the story goes, I knew who the main antagonist was pretty early on. It was fairly obvious, or obvs *rolls eyes*. I didn’t mind Lily but I thought some of her choices were a little suspect. Every other character was either annoying, selfish, or not developed very well. The circumstances that had to happen so the story could take place weren’t very realistic either.

This is a nit-picky thing that took me out of the story. It could be because I’m from the US and speak American English. Anyway, one of the characters is pregnant and this character and their cousins said that the cousins would be the baby’s aunt or uncle. Aunts and uncles are parents’ siblings not cousins. They’d be a cousin too–first cousin once removed, actually.

The It Girl

The It GirlTitle: The It Girl
Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle
Pages: 431
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

My Thoughts

The premise of THE IT GIRL really drew me in. I love dark academia and psychological thrillers. I loved reading why everything happened the way they did and what lead up to the main “thing.” I really enjoyed the split narrative: 10 years in the past when the “thing” happened and the present when some of the circumstances of the “thing” are questioned. The ending was really good. I wasn’t disappointed in learning how it all came together. I’ll definitely give Ware another go.

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Keep Moving

Keep MovingTitle: Keep Moving
Author: Maggie Smith
Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 215
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

KEEP MOVING was really quick read because it’s mostly pages of affirmations. I liked a lot of the affirmations, but my favorite parts of the book were the parts where Smith went into more detail, where she talked about her losses from losing her grandmother, two miscarriages, and divorce. Those were the times I felt a kinship toward her. Even if I hadn’t experienced loss quite the same way she had, I could still empathize with her and think of ways to apply her advice to my own life.

I really liked her perspective on things, especially when she talked about serotinous pine cones and how they only open and spread their seeds in the midst of fire. Or, how she likened trauma and loss to kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with gold. The ceramic piece is beautiful because of its brokenness instead of in spite of it.

The Family Upstairs

The Family UpstairsTitle: The Family Upstairs
Author: Lisa Jewell
Series: The Family Upstairs #1
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle
Pages: 344
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

My Thoughts

I thought the way THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS was written weirdly at first but it grew on me. I’ve never experienced only 1/3 of an unreliable narrator before and I didn’t realize it was happening until near the end. Coupled with that dark twisty ending, I’m glad I stuck it out.