Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

3 Stars

"Raising kids may be a thankless job with ridiculous hours, but at least the pay sucks."

While Gaffigan’s comedy specials bring plenty of belly laughs, the book was much more subtle. Maybe I’m just hilarious, or do all pale skinned people who bare fruit resembling Hitler youth experience most of the same things???? I suspect that those without children would have many more guffaws than those whose homes are already filled with the tiny terrorists. That’s not to say the book isn’t enjoyable – it’s just not "wet your pants from laughing" funny (if you’ve had more than one child, you’ll understand the reference).

Highlights for me were all of the opinions Gaffigan and I have in common (these moments probably confirm I am a huge asshole, but having someone else write them down for all eternity took some weight off my soul). These things include the annoyance of the Anne Geddes babies-as-flowers images, the joy of watching a teenager wipe out while on a skateboard, the fear that you will have an ugly baby, chiming in when your child is being bullied and feeling victorious when you’ve made their attacker run away crying, needing someone to hold you back from disciplining someone else’s rotten offspring, the dream of having an option of enrolling your child in a school "for everyone WITHOUT a nut allergy" to make packing a lunch easy again, and the need to have an "8 hour ladies luncheon" every once in awhile with your best friend (after which you come home completely inebriated) and my absolute favorite – if you are complaining about all the things you do with/for your kid – it means you are actually DOING things with/for your kid and therefore probably have every right to complain.



The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

2 Stars

Jodi and Todd take turns telling the story of the final months of their crumbling marriage.

Reasons for the low rating: (1) It was NOT a psychological thriller. A thriller would mean something "thrilling" happens during the book, right?. (2) Stop comparing books to Gone Girl. As always, apples and orangutans. The book wasn’t completely horrible – I was able to get through it pretty quickly. However, it had some real lulls in the action with page upon page spent describing the most mundane activities and the big "twists and turns" at the end were very "meh". I found I didn’t care enough about these characters to give a s*^t whether they lived or died. Those are the key ingredients for a 2 star rating.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

3.5 Stars

Individual narratives of the lives of Hattie Shepherd’s children that span the course of 55 years.

It had been a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg time since I read something just because Oprah told me too, but that’s exactly why I read this book. Suffice it to say that Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 is a second verse, same as the first. If you’ve read enough of Oprah’s selection, you’ll know she likes some misery in her book club. Luckily it was a quick read, because I don’t think I had enough wine in the house to drown my sorrows if this one would have taken more than a day. If you want a book with a silver lining, don’t read this. If you don’t mind spending an hour or two going over the pros and cons of sticking your head in an oven due to the overwhelming despair that embody the lives of everyone in the Shepherd family, dive on in.

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

4 Stars

A follow-up to The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls now writes the story of her maternal grandmother. 

This book sucked me in really quickly, but unfortunately only for about half of the novel and then the pace slowed considerably.  While very well-written and a solidly GOOD book, it didn't have the power of The Glass Castle and didn't even come close to being as fascinating.  In the end, I found myself a little empty and still needing to hear the story from Rosemary's perspective rather than her mother's.  What happened to make Rosemary the way she was????  Mental disorder?  Horrible mistreatment that she has blocked out?  What???????? 

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

4 Stars

Madison Spencer is 13, dead, in Hell and a basket case. She’s surrounded by a brain, an athlete, a princess and a criminal. Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s the "Damned" version of The Breakfast Club. Written as a series of "Are you there Satan? It’s me, Maddy" diary-type entries, once again I fell hard for the wondrous satire that makes Chuck Palahniuk tick. This one even has a sequel (yay me). If you get Palahniuk, you’ll dig it. If you don’t, it will have you doing rosaries for eternity in attempts to save his soul.

The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper

5 Stars

Joe Goffman is a self-described asshole. He’s such an asshole that he wrote a scathing "fictitious" novel about his hometown where he completed lambasted nearly everything and everyone contained there. He never dreamed the book would become not only a national sensation, but also an A-List movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kirsten Dunst. He REALLY never dreamed he’d have to go back to said hometown and face the subjects of his novel. However, when his father suffers a stroke, that’s exactly what he has to do.

　

Boy am I regretting my decision to keep requesting Tropper’s books from the library. I was like a junkie and just couldn’t get enough . . . and now I’ve read them all. "Joe" was Tropper’s sophomore novel, and it is where he came into his own. He hit the mark with the self-deprecating "asshole" lead and his merry band of friends/family. He found that magical balance of quick wit balanced and heart-stabbing emotion and has used it in every novel written from "Joe" on. HURRY UP AND MAKE THESE MOVIES!!!!!

Everything Changes by Jonathan Tropper

4 Stars

Everything changes for Zack when he wakes up one morning and discovers blood in his urine. While waiting for his biopsy results to come back, Zack deals with his lackluster career, an absentee father who decides to make his re-entry into the family after being gone for 20+ years, his upcoming engagement party, and the fact that he may be in love with his best friend's widow.

Like all Tropper books, Zack is kind of a loveable loser and is surrounded by an unforgettable ensemble cast. While I'm sure this spiel gets stale for some, it never does for me. Tropper has me laughing one minute and crying the next. He never ceases to create a cast that I want to know more about. This one had a couple of lulls in the storyline compared to his others, so it's getting 4 stars instead of 5, but I still absolutely adored it. Once again, Warner Brothers has optioned this book for a movie and I think all of his books will translate to film remarkably well.