Tag: BlogHer Book Club

Quick upfront confession. Before reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, I knew who The Bloggess was. I’d even met her at BlogHer ’11. I was familiar with her large, expensive chicken & I follow her on twitter. And this book has set in my Amazon shopping cart unpurchased for a while. But I’m not a faithful blog reader of hers.

If her blog is much like the book {& I’d guess it is}, I’ve been missing out. I finished Let’s Pretend This Never Happened last Wednesday & spent a few days really wishing it hadn’t ended. I missed her ‘voice’, her stories in the days that followed. Because she’s funny & totally out there on display in a no holds back kinda way that makes you want to run away from all the chaos & yet sucks you right in. I finished Let’s Pretend feeling like a friend who’d experienced her memoir right along with her.

I’m thankful my childhood was not spent wearing bread bag shoes in rural TX, but I feel like I missed out that I didn’t experience cow fertility lessons amongst other HS classes available to Jenny.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened had me laughing out loud. The HR notes killed me. Her post-its to her dear sweet oh-so-understanding husband, slayed me. I could write the ones able hanging up towels correctly! And the chapter on her pup & the birds made me appreciate friendships while making me glad I life safely in the suburbs!

If you’re looking for a funny memoir about growing up TX Southern, check out Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. And while you’re at it, jump over to our BlogHer Book Club page to join the discussion.

A Good American by Alex George was a delight to read. It had been a while since I’d read historical fiction & this novel was an awesome re-entry to that beloved genre of mine.

To be honest, I really wanted this story to be true! I kinda fell in love with the characters.

The story is told by what for a long time is an unknown future grandchild telling the story of his grandparents: how they met, immigrated to the US, started & raised a family, how they became “a good American”. I loved that A Good American continued to follow the family through the good times & bad generation after generation.

Some of the good times, I kinda guessed & hoped would happen. A few of the bad times I saw foreshadowed but most of them were fairly surprising. And the twist discovered & discussed at the end, I never saw coming.

I loved the food & music & sense of family- the poignant coming-of-age theme & overall thought that while family might be wild & loud & big, they’re still family.

A Good American was a quick read for me. And while I read it during the day while pumping, I continued to think about the characters & story & was looking forward to getting more caught up on the Meisenheimer family the following day. I think you would too.

We’ll continue the discussion on A Good American on the BlogHer Book Club site. Feel free to jump over to see what we’re saying & even add your own thoughts.

While I was provided a copy of A Good American for purposes of this review, I was not otherwise compensated & all the opinions & thoughts mentioned are my own.

Here I Go Again by Jen Lancaster featured everything I’ve loved about her memoirs & other work of fiction {all of which I’ve just as quickly devoured}. The laugh out loud moments. The ‘I’ve been there’ times. Her characters you wished you knew & yet also glad you maybe don’t.

Jen’s wit kills me. And I love that her writing voice, whether for non-fiction or fiction is so true to herself. Any reader of her past works would immediately know her by her voice.

She makes Lissy, the main character, jump right off the page & kinda into your heart. Even though you want to hate the HS mean girl, I didn’t. I felt sorry for her. I was cheering her on.

Lissy was just a bit older than me, so I don’t share her {& Jen’s} love of David Coverdale {I actually had to google to find out who he is}, but if you share their love of 80s hair bands, you’ll be a fan of Here I Go Again too.

There were definitely parts that make you stretch your imagination, the believability if you will, but it was quirky & fun. To think you could & then actual see a re-do of old parts of life.

This book is very light, chick lit reading. It was perfect for the start of the new year. Perfect reading to escape the craziness & stress of sick babies. Here I Go Again {please tell me someone else starts singing in their head every time you read the title} would be a great spring/summer beach read too.

I can imagine we’ll be having a blast recounting Lissy’s antics & experiences over on the BlogHer Book Club discussion. I’m hoping we cover silly topics like HS memories & deeper questions like would we change who & how we were in HS. Join us there; I’d love to read your thoughts!

I received Here I Go Again as part of the BHBC for review purposes, but all the opinions are geniunely my own.