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Book Review: Pop Kids

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Image via BrightBlackHeaven.com

Rating: 2 out of 5

BEWARE: SPOILER ALERT!

I’ve been dreading writing this review as much as I was excited to read the book. I even blogged my ode to Davey Havok just to ensure the skeptics that I’m still a devoted fan of his.

But Pop Kids definitely tested that devotion.

Why you ask? Let’s sweat the small stuff first, then build up to the real issues, shall we?

1. Grammar Nazis, get out your red pens. Rumor has it that Pop Kids is self-published behind a vanity press. You all know how I feel about that, but I’m not about to dwell on whether it’s true.

However, I can see why this assumption holds weight. Now don’t chuck your books at me, but perhaps it’s because the majority of self-published books lack the amount of talent that it takes to compete in the industry. But even if there were many professionals involved in the editing and publishing process, I’d be surprised, because there were too many typos for Pop Kids to pass inspection. Miley Sirus? Vanessa Hudgins? Come on, if you’re going to write a novel about society’s obsession with pop culture, at least spell celebrities’ names correctly! That’s just lazy.

I know, Molly Ringwald. I’ll never look at “The Breakfast Club” the same way again either.

2. This book is 95% pornography. And not in a good way. Pop Kids is 320 pages and 70 chapters, and only a handful of chapters don’t contain any sexual behavior. That fact itself wouldn’t bother me if this book had been marketed as erotica. It shouldn’t, however, because erotica implies sex with substance. The whole plot revolves around Michael “Score” (short for Scorsese) Massi as he channels his passion for cinema by hosting Premiere parties in an abandoned hotel for his closest friends, whom he dubs the “Filmgreats.”

It starts off innocent with a showing of “The Breakfast Club,” but you know how it goes when you’re “watching a movie.” The parties rapidly devolve into full-blown orgies, topped off with plenty of drinking and drug use. Eventually, Score exchanges his cult classics for the latest Jenna Jameson and Sasha Grey skin flicks. Word starts traveling through the high school grapevine, and more people crash in on the craziness.

I’m no prude, but there’s nothing sexy about these scenes. Everyone is so wasted that in one chapter a girl freaks out when she gets a bloody nose after snorting too much coke. Clearly, under such intoxication, consent isn’t as enthusiastic as it could be. After so much objectification, you just come away from the book feeling dirty. And talk about monotonous! Pop Kids could have been half as long and the point, however pointless, could still have been made.

I’m sure Johnny Marr would disapprove!

3. There’s very few redeeming qualities to this story. I understand that liking the protagonist is not a requirement for good writing, so I’m okay with the fact that Score is a self-absorbed, obnoxious, pretentious waste of oxygen. He worships Morrissey but doesn’t know who Johnny Marr is. He cares way too much about designers and brands, to the point where I wondered whether San Pellegrino paid Davey for all the references.

It’s easy to say that Score’s just a teenager and excuse his overblown sense of importance. However, I find Score and his equally annoying friends disconcerting because their hypocrisy is actually dangerous. Score goes around burning churches, thus breaking the law, destroying property, and giving atheists a bad rep. He touts a straight-edge lifestyle, refusing to drink or do drugs, but he has no problem with substance abuse if it gets girls to take their clothes off. The Filmgreats engage in a ton of sexual activity, but won’t wear condoms because it’s “so ’90s.” What?! Oh sure, it’s all fun and games until someone gets pregnant. Not joking, two of the girls did.

I’m disgusted by how nonchalant all these people are when it comes to really serious issues. At one Premiere party, a teacher invites himself to the festivities, and at another a boy is supposedly murdered. Any of these disasters would cause a normal person to cease and desist, but what’s Score’s actual final straw before he burns down the venue of  debauchery? His crush was not as pure as she said she was. Boo flippin’ hoo.

Fahrenheit 451: The satire for the recovering pyromaniac!

4.  Satire is not a get-out-of-bad-writing free card. I know that there’s plenty of people out there who want to scream in my face, “You don’t GET it! It’s SATIRE!!!“

To those defenders, first off, pump the brakes, cool your jets, slow your roll, and any other calm-down-cliche. I know that it’s satire. I majored in literature, so I’m not stupid. I’m a book nerd, not a book n00b.

But it’s not good satire. Writing satire does not give you the liberty to ignore the essential elements of storytelling. Characters must be multidimensional, plots need the right sense of pacing, and the criticism excels when it is nuanced rather than over-the-top.

Aristophanes, Voltaire, Pope, Twain, Swift–these are a few of the greatest satirists because their mockery provided a call-to-action; their works packed so much intellectual impact that they incited societal change.

“A Modest Proposal” took the gruesome concept of eating infants to grab England’s attention toward Irish poverty. The dystopian classics Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and 1984 created outrageously oppressive governments to address political corruption and societal apathy.

I could go on about better comparisons, but I feel that the reason that they’re such powerful satires is that they can stand alone from satire. Without considering any deeper meanings, they’re–at their very core–examples of fantastic writing.

Despite its attempt with flowery prose, Pop Kids isn’t deep, although it gives off the impression that it’s trying so hard to be. And even if you’re purposely looking for a light read, it’s superficial and sad, not sexy and fun.

I’m not the only one posting a negative book review, but I’m prepared for the backlash from fans. Heck, I idolized Davey so much that I thought that I would love this book no matter what.

But you know what? I didn’t. If we’re being totally honest here, my adoration of Davey is the only reason that Pop Kids managed to get two whole stars out of me. But just like I can complain about my government and still be a damn proud American, I can be disappointed by a book and still love its author. 

So bring on the hate mail if you must. Scathing comments aren’t going to hurt more than falling off the pedestal on which I put this novel. Supposedly, it’s part one of a trilogy, and now I’m facing the dilemma of deciding whether reading the sequels would be the actions of a die-hard fan or a delusional masochist.

In the meantime, I’ll be psyching myself up by listening to AFI and reminding myself that Davey is capable of pure poetry.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

“I was too touched to see you clearly, far too young to realize, I had loved so dearly, you whose world I had designed, but the sweet smoke came with mirrors, and it brought tears to my wide eyes.”

Non-Fiction Week: On Writing

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Cover of "On Writing: A Memoir of the Cr...

Cover via Amazon

Rating: 4 out of 5

Today is the last day of non-fiction week, and I’d be lying if I said I’m sad that it’s over. Turns out blogging for five consecutive days is a lot harder than I imagined. On the bright side, I’ve reached a new milestone of 30,000 total views, so that makes all the work worth it!

I am glad, however, that I chose Stephen King’s On Writing as my last piece of non-fiction. I’ve never actually read one of King’s fictional novels, because I’m a huge scaredy-cat, but this half-memoir, half-writing-guidebook was one of my favorite books from my creative writing classes at UC Santa Cruz.

On Writing (2000) is great precisely because King has lived a fascinating life. I appreciated his honesty when discussing his drug abuse and enjoyed excerpts where he explained the origin stories of his novels (for example, did you know that it was King’s stint as a janitor cleaning girls’ locker rooms that led to Carrie?)

And let’s face it, King is so crazy rich and famous in the literary world that it’s natural to be curious to learn his secret to success. Readers usually love the “Toolbox” chapter the most, as he lays down his rules to good writing.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes, courtesy of Goodreads:

  • “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
  • “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” 
  • “Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
  • “Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”

King also shares edits of his own work and ends with a list of the books which most influenced him. I like his straight-shooting, unapologetic approach to writing, and I’m still reminded of his advice years after reading it.

And speaking of reading, I know that it seems a travesty that I haven’t read more of King. Anyone want to recommend a book or series of his that won’t give me nightmares? Please and thanks!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed Non-Fiction Week here at Book Club Babe! Now it’s time for me to enjoy the weekend!

Non-Fiction Week: Full Frontal Feminism

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Image via JessicaValenti.com

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Boston bombings. The Waco explosion. The MIT shooting. And that’s just the recent horrors in America. It’s been terribly heartbreaking this past week, so overwhelming you wonder whether the world is falling apart right in front of you. These tragedies make any book review simply a speck of triviality, but the blog must go on…

And to make things more light-hearted given the nature of the topics about to be discussed, I’ll be inserting music videos of what I consider my favorite feminist songs!


Starting with “Independent Women, Pt. 1″ by Destiny’s Child!

What Jessica Valenti does in Full Frontal Feminism (2007) is drive home the fact that you shouldn’t be ashamed to call yourself a feminist, because everyone should fight for equal rights between the sexes.

She starts off the very first page contemplating why it is that the absolute worst names you could call women AND men are all derogatory toward women only. “The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult. Now tell me that’s not royally f***ed up.“


“U + Ur Hand” by P!nk

Hopefully, you’ll immediately be engrossed in her argumentation, shaking your fist with agreement. The chapters of this book address essential aspects of women’s rights, including the demand for reproductive freedom and the battle against the materialistic beauty, fashion, and wedding industry complexes.

And importantly, she discusses how sexism impacts men as well. Upholding traditional gender stereotypes like “boys don’t cry” further strengthens patriarchy and keeps everyone from reaching their true potential.

Valenti got her start as the founder of Feministing.com, so she brings plenty of social science stats to the table. Here are some of the most powerful:

  • “One in six women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape. (Keep in mind, rape is one of the most underreported crimes, so that statistic is likely too low.)”
  • “A 2006 report showed that 87% of ‘pregnancy crisis’ centers–which have received more than $30 million in federal funding–provided false or misleading information about abortion.”
  • “The government stat reporting that women make only 76 cents to a man’s dollar comes from data that looks at women and men who work full-time. It doesn’t include women who took time off or who worked part-time. So there.”
  • “For every year a woman in her twenties waits to have children, her lifetime earnings increase by 10 percent.”


“I Don’t Need a Man” by The Pussycat Dolls

It’s hard not to become filled with rage reading about all the sexual inequality in this country, but what can you do? Here are some of the ways Valenti believes you can make a difference:

  • Support the pro-choice movement by voting down restrictive reproductive legislation and the sexist politicians who push it.
  • Speak out against abstinence-only education. Teens deserve access to accurate, comprehensive information in order to make knowledgeable decisions about their sex lives.
  • Don’t, under any circumstances, believe that a woman deserves to be raped. She can be a naked, drunk prostitute walking down an alley at 2:00 am and she should expect nothing but a hangover in the morning.
  • Don’t uphold marriage and motherhood as the only legitimate life paths for women, thereby looking down upon those who choose to be single and childfree.


“King of Anything” by Sara Bareilles

There are many other nuances about feminism that I could discuss, but that’s not the focus of my blog. Women’s rights is just an issue that I feel very strongly about, so please ask me any questions or share your own thoughts in the comment section.

I just wanted to highlight Valenti’s book as an example of fantastic non-fiction that urges you to rethink traditional gender roles and take notice of everyday sexism. She’s a strong, opinionated, passionate woman who refuses to censor herself to sound “ladylike.” Like all the authors this week, you can also follow her on Twitter. I recommend all of her other books as well!

And lastly, if you’re feeling really brave, check out my last favorite feminist song. It’s definitely R-rated so I won’t link to it, but just search for “The Loophole” by comedic female duo Garfunkel and Oates. You’ll either find it hilarious or horrifying–you’ve been warned!

Non-Fiction Week: Life After College

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Cover via Small Hands, Big Ideas

Rating: 4 out of 5

I think that it’s safe to say that only recently have people been trying to cash in on promising to relieve others’ anxiety about graduating college. Heck, most from previous generations didn’t even go to college, so life didn’t present as many transitions as it does today.

But now that the college attendance rate has been steadily climbing, young adults are experiencing an extended adolescence, especially since less than half will actually finish school in the traditional four years.

In a world of stressed-out over-achievers, nobody speaks their language like Jenny Blake, author of Life After College. Much like Christine Hassler whom I discussed yesterday, Blake has made a living as a Millennial life coach. By the time she was 25, she had snagged a job at Google, ran a marathon, bought a house, and created a blog. Her ambition drove her into the ground with exhaustion, so she decided to transform herself into a mentor for other 20-somethings.

Needless to say, I enjoy reading non-fiction books about coping with life transitions, and it was fun to compare Blake to Hassler. Hassler comes from a background in spiritual psychology, so she specializes in reaching the source of your emotional issues. Blake, on the other hand, is an expert in goal-setting, so her book offers practical, straightforward advice on getting what you want in life.

With chapters on work, money, home, organization, friends/family, dating/relationships, health, fun/relaxation, and personal growth, Life After College has exercises for everything. Along the way, you get tidbits from other college graduates via Twitter and interviews. Each chapter also contains recommended reading and inspirational quotes.

The book’s format is a huge plus, as it’s super easy to read, and has plenty of space to complete the exercises and write miscellaneous notes. Type-A folks will definitely appreciate its matter-of-fact layout and design.

As with any favorite mentor, I recommend reading Blake’s updates on lifeaftercollege.org (where you can download Google Doc organization templates) and following her on Twitter.

This would be a fabulous gift for a friend or relative graduating from college, as it’s a positive, useful text that doesn’t even read like others in the self-improvement genre. Think of it as your roadmap to the “real world!”

And the real world charges interest…

Non-Fiction Week: 20 Something, 20 Everything

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Cover via Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Do you feel a need to “have it all?”

Do you feel older for the first time in your life?

Are you stressed out by choices that seemingly will affect the rest of your life?

If you answered “OMG yes!” to these questions, according to Christine Hassler, you might be suffering from a new psychological trend called “the quarter-life crisis.”

At 25, Hassler ditched her lucrative job as a Hollywood agent because the stress and lack of fulfillment were making her crazy. Then when her next job and engagement to her fiance fell apart, she found herself on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

But instead of throwing in the towel, she decided to help other 20-somethings through their struggles by becoming a life coach. 20 Something, 20 Everything (which she published in 2005 at 28) caters to young women, while her second book The 20-Something Manifesto (2008) is gender-universal.

And although the book is a bit outdated, considering that Hassler’s new boyfriend which she gushes about goes from being her husband to her ex-husband in a few short years, she still effectively addresses the anxieties of Generation Me.

If you prefer self-help with structure and well-thought-out guidelines, Hassler is for you. Her whole coaching strategy revolves around three questions: Who am I? What do I want? How do I get what I want? 

Life doesn’t work like that, Marnie from “Girls.” There’s fun in figuring it out for yourself, and Hassler can help you!

She takes a basic foundation and examines the nuances behind these questions. The book provides 69 exercises to confront your preconceived notions of success, the societal pressures you experience, and the changes you can make to achieve a more balanced, rewarding life.

Through the chapters addressing love, work, and independence, she sprinkles words of wisdom from older women she interviewed to further demonstrate that what you’re feeling is normal and that you are not alone.

While it’s interesting to read statistics of living as a Millennial in books such as Twenge’s Generation Me, it’s also nice to look at the emotional issues as well. A lot of self-improvement texts are full of hot air, but 20 Something, 20 Everything has so much substance that you walk away knowing that you got your money’s worth. Why spend thousands of dollars working with Hassler personally when her book is therapy enough?

And the best part? Her advice applies to everyone! Male, female, gay, straight, rich, poor–everyone has felt lost and overwhelmed at times. You can go through a “crisis” at any age, especially when you’re dealing with unresolved issues or trying to live by anyone’s standards but your own.

If you’d like to experience Hassler’s advice for free, I encourage you to follow her on Twitter. Although she takes a more spiritual approach to life coaching, most of her sentiments appeal to a wide audience.

So what do you think? In what ways could your life use a little boost?

Non-Fiction Week: Generation Me

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Cover of "Generation Me: Why Today's Youn...

Cover via Amazon

Rating: 4 out of 5

GenY. Millennials. NetGen. iGen. Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., is throwing another term in the ring to describe the current generation of young adults: Generation Me.

Twenge defines GenMe as anyone born in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, thereby including the later part of GenX, but I’d argue that that timeline is much too long. Typically, we’re talking about those born between 1982-2000. (Sorry, Twenge, you’re too old to play in our clubhouse!) Some extend the demographics a little longer, and overlaps can exist, but in my opinion, 9/11 serves as a stark divider between generations in America.

Media outlets would have everybody believe that anyone under 30 is snotty and spoiled, which Twenge addresses in the full title of her book: Generation Me: Why today’s young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled — and more miserable than ever before.

Who wouldn’t pay attention with a title like that?

Huh? Pay attention to what? I’m too busy texting people right next to me.

What I like about Twenge is that she actually examines the stereotypes to determine to what extent they apply. Using data from 12 studies on 1.3 million young Americans, she highlights the differences between the babies and the Baby Boomers.

Here’s just a sample of her research:

  • GenMe is not very religious: Only 18% of 18-29yo attend weekly religious services, and while few would label themselves non-believers, most prefer their faith unorganized.
  • GenMe has high expectations of success, but few actually meet them: 75% of college freshman in 2003 desired an advanced degree, but only 4% will go on to receive a Ph.D. In 1999, teens also predicted they would be earning $75,000 at 30yo. The average income at that age that year? $27,000.
  • GenMe has delayed traditional markers of adulthood: Average age of first marriage is 27 for men and 25 for women. “In 2002, 57% of men and 43% of women ages 22 to 31 lived with their parents.” And only 37% receive their bachelor’s degrees in four years.
  • GenMe is house-poor: “The number of middle-class families who paid over 35% of their income toward the mortgage more than quadrupled between 1975 and 2001. With the median home now selling for $219,000 and the median family income at around $43,000, the average American family would need to spend 5 times their income to buy this home.”
  • GenMe is buried in debt: “Average student loan debt has increased 85% in the last ten years alone; 66% of recent college graduates owe more than $10,000, and 5% own more than $100,000.” And that’s just undergrad!
  • GenMe is risking its health: Only 25% of adults 25-34 have health insurance, and bankruptcies caused by illness or medical debt increased 2,200% between 1981 and 2001.

I’ll admit that after reading this information, you can feel so overwhelmed that you just want to give up. How can anyone survive with such a rapidly rising standard of living?

Sounds about right!

And even though over half my paycheck goes to rent, I’m lucky enough to have a Bachelor’s and Master’s with only a small student loan, a full-time job that provides health insurance and a 401(k), no credit card debt, and a family that supported me until I was able to find a place of my own.

That doesn’t mean that life can’t take it all away at any moment. Everyone is only one accident, illness, or layoff away from poverty. So I’d argue that these hard economic times mean that the majority of 20-somethings are working insanely hard to support themselves.  Sure, there’s always freeloaders mooching off their parents or the government, but for a generation that doesn’t expect to receive Social Security, most try their hardest to move up the income ladder.

But times were tough in the old days too. So why is GenMe medicating depression and anxiety like never before? I’m so glad that Twenge pulled from this quote from “Fight Club,” because it explains the sentiment perfectly:

“God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of the history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve been all raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

Although, it’s awfully hard to stay pissed off when staring at Brad Pitt…

And it’s that gulf between expectation and reality that has GenMe miserable. Twenge discusses how telling kids that they can “achieve their dreams” because “anything is possible” is damaging. Inflating their self-esteem and giving them trophies just for participating has increased narcissism to rampant proportions.

Ask any teacher who’s been working for decades, like my mother. She has witnessed the decline of children’s behavior due to their parents treating them like special snowflakes who are perfect and can do no wrong. And there’s nothing a school can do when parents refuse to have their child held back a year or recognize their learning disabilities.

It seems harmless to let your children dress themselves or pick what they want to eat. But when parents forfeit all decision-making power, their kids grow up to be obnoxious princes and princesses.

Amen!

And when they realize they’re not actually princes and princesses? They’re now part of a disgruntled, attention-deficit workforce, making employers frustrated by high turnover.

I’m not saying that all young adults are ungrateful brats. But too many are, and it’s giving GenMe a bad–but often deserved–reputation. Yet, it’s easy to point fingers, because who do you think raised us? The Baby Boomers and GenX are simply reaping what they sow.

So what can we all do? Twenge’s last chapter gives some suggestions for several groups:

  • Employers: Recognize hard work and give praise when deserved; Offer good salaries, benefits, and flexible schedules; Establish paid maternal/paternal leave.
  • Educators: Provide better career counseling; Create a system of public pre-schools; Change school hours to mirror working hours.
  • Parents: Teach self-control and good behavior; Don’t automatically side with your child; Limit media exposure to violence.
  • GenMe: Limit consumption of materialistic media; Avoid overthinking; Value social relationships; Cultivate realistic expectations; Get involved in your community.

I particularly love the idea of changing school hours because it would make afternoon day care unnecessary, keep kids from getting into trouble, and improve academic performance. Why adults start their day at 9am, but kids who need more sleep are forced to start at 7:30am boggles my mind!

Ultimately, I recommend Generation Me to anyone interested in generational research and would like to learn more about what it means for the future. Whether you’re 27 or 72, Twenge’s findings demonstrate that there is much to discover about how young Americans play a major role in society.

“When Life Gets Really Hard” from #whatshouldwecallme…If only!

Audiobook Review: Jinx

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Cover of "Jinx"

Image via Amazon

Rating: 2 out of 5

If you’ve been reading Book Club Babe, you already know that I’m a devoted Meg Cabot fan. I may have a whole shelf of her work, but this was the first time that I bought one of her books in audio.

I’m still waiting for Awaken, Cabot’s sequel to Underworld, which will be released this July. So I decided to check out Jinx (2007), one of her few stand-alone novels. Unfortunately, it was aptly named, but it was one big ball of bad luck.

Jinx is titled after the protagonist Jean Honeychurch’s nickname. Terrible things seem to keep happening to this 16-year-old, so she runs away from her home in rural Iowa to live with her aunt, uncle, and three cousins in New York City.

One of those cousins, Tory, immediately becomes Jean’s rival when Jean catches the eye of her crush, Zack. But what happens when this competition between cousins takes a paranormal turn for the worse?

I could go into more detail, and honestly, I wouldn’t spoil much. What’s the point of keeping part of the plot a secret for the whole first third of the novel, if you already know about it from reading the summary? Talk about anti-climactic!

I also already knew that Cabot has a tendency to be melodramatic, but I figured what should I expect when she’s writing about teenagers? Well, even young adult fiction has to have standards.

I kept getting horrible vibes a la Fifty Shades of Grey: whether it’s E.L. James droning on about her “inner goddess” or Meg Cabot harping about “the knot in my stomach,” authors need to tone down the obnoxious metaphors!

You know why the green light is such a powerful symbol in The Great Gatsby? Because Fitzgerald doesn’t talk about it every five sentences! I understand that Jean is a nervous outcast, but I wanted to drive into oncoming traffic every time she described her stomach knot. I get it, you’re scared! Stop wasting my time with over-used clichés and move on!

I empathized most with Zack, who seemed completely fed up with all this petty cat-fighting. Although cat-fighting might be inaccurate, since Jean is the typical girl oblivious that her love is actually not unrequited after all. Yawn.

Maybe I’m just too old for high school drama. It’s easy to tell a fictional character to snap out of it and get some confidence, but I know that it’s easier said than done in real life. I wish that I could go back and tell my 16-year-old self to stop worrying what the “popular” kids think about you, because those bullies weren’t worth the brain space anyway.

I’m just going to chalk Jinx up to being an older novel that’s not representative of Cabot’s level of work. I’m also skeptical of trying audio versions of her books in the future, since I may be more accepting of teenage immaturity in print. Hopefully, Awaken will redeem my previously high opinion of this queen of teen fiction! Fingers crossed!

(Bonus) Book Review: How to Look Expensive

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Yesterday in the excitement of my new blog design, I gushed about how awesome my younger brother is. Today, I’d like to offer my thoughts on a book that I’ve borrowed from one of my best friends, Celia. She’s turning 25 this week, and we spent Friday shopping, eating, and being pampered.

Weeks ago she wanted to know what I thought about Andrea Pomerantz Lustig’s 2012 book How to Look Expensive. Since this is nonfiction, it won’t count toward my official reading list, but there’s nothing wrong with mixing things up every now and then!

Lustig, known as the “Beauty Sleuth,” has worked for Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Sephora.com. Her book pulls her best tips, tricks, and tales from Hollywood’s experts. As she discusses hair, makeup, and other beauty topics, she caters to four celebrity types: Park Avenue Pretty, Hollywood Boho, Glam Globe-Trotter, and Modern Movie Star.

Unfortunately, these categories aren’t distinguishable enough to matter, as the looks and styles are often interchangeable. And unless you’re a total beauty rookie, most of the advice is just plain common-sense. Don’t pile on products? Stop smoking? Wear sunscreen? If you haven’t absorbed these yet, maybe you should change your moisturizer.

Paging Beauty Editor-in-Obvious!

Maybe I’m a bit jaded…or simply lucky to have so many friends who rock their war-paint. Celia introduced me to highlighter and bronzer, and my Sacramento pageant girls taught me the importance of doing your brows. But if your friends aren’t as cosmetically inclined, the book covers all these topics, so don’t fret!

Although I question how much Lustig was influenced by the beauty and cosmetics companies to throw them shout-outs, the products and websites she mentions are worthy whether you have a celebrity’s budget or not. It’s nice that she ends each chapter with what you can accomplish with a $20 save to a $500 splurge.

As for me, here’s some items on my beauty to-do list: Invest in lip liners to go with all my lipsticks, experiment with applying foundation with brushes instead of sponges, see what all the fuss is about with BB cream, and finally buy a curling iron to control my already curly hair instead of wearing it up or straightened all the time.

And stuff I couldn’t care less about? Tanning, dyeing my hair, maintaining a manicure, and spending a fortune on treatments like eyelash extensions and microdermabrasion. I like the concept that beauty is about enhancing what you already have, but I also recognize that concerning yourself with looking gorgeous 24-7 creates unhealthiness like perfectionism, narcissism, low or overly high self-esteem, and even serious mental health disorders.

Not to mention, all your focus on patriarchal standards of beauty distracts you from truly living to your potential by pursuing more noble endeavors. Obviously, you can be a feminist and still enjoy your mascara, but let’s not kid ourselves. It’s not mascara that got Queen Elizabeth, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Rosa Parks to make a difference in the world.

But if you’d like an easy-to-read book to class up your vanity, by all means check out How to Look Expensive. However, if you’re more interested in practical, more-than-novice tricks of the trade, I’d suggest the many beauty blogs and YouTube tutorial channels out there. You’re better off searching the Internet for what you need, all without spending a dime!

Lastly, if you want to crack up, watch Jenna Marbles videos on “What a Girl’s Hair Means” and “What a Girl’s Makeup Means.” Jenna’s my fav YouTube celebrity, but as usual with her, there’s plenty of profanity and sexually explicit material, so click at your own risk and enjoy the laughs!

My First Guest Review!

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I’ve been hosting my ‘little blog that could’ as Book Club Babe since July 2011, and although I’ve reached quite a few milestones and gained some fantastic followers who share my love for all things literary, I’m always overjoyed to use my blog in new ways and share it with contributors. Blogging is an awesome vehicle for collaboration and insightful discussion, and I would be remiss if I didn’t enthusiastically participate!

Thus, I’m pleased to announce my first guest book review! Claire is a talented writer whom I met in the Classical Studies program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This week she passed her comprehensive exam with flying colors and received highest honors in the major! I’m positive that after she graduates, we’ll be seeing more great things from her! And don’t forget to check out her own blog: http://clairemariedavidson.wordpress.com/

Please give Claire a warm Book Club Babe welcome and share your opinions of her review! I hope that you also feel inspired to submit your own!

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (2012)

Review by Claire Marie Davidson

Rating: 5 out of 5

Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things, an anthology of pieces from her popular advice column on The Rumpus, Dear Sugar, is so much more than an advice column. In place of reductive suggestions, Strayed offers expansive meditations, multi-layered stories, and humor, all with a spirit of “radical empathy,” as Steve Almond puts it. She doesn’t distance herself from pain; instead, she embraces it entirely in her work, exploring loss through her responses. In this way, she problematizes the conventional question-answer format of advice columns, turning the reader’s attention instead to the process of a person’s “becoming.”

By connecting the letters to her own life experiences, Strayed localizes and familiarizes pain, wrestling with it on the pages and uniting herself with both the reader and the letter-writer.  In one letter, a father whose only son was killed by a drunk driver writes to her in a list format, which starts, “1. It’s taken me many weeks to compose this letter and even still, I can’t do it right. The only way I can get it out is to make a list instead of write a letter.” His letter ends with the question, “22. How do I become human again?” Strayed responds in a numbered list, which begins:

1. I don’t know how you go on without your son. I only know that you do. And you have. And you will.
2. Your shattering sorrowlight of a letter is proof of that.
3. You don’t need me to tell you how to become human again. You are there, in all of your humanity, shining unimpeachably before every person reading these words right now.

Strayed’s response transcends advice– it offers an intimate, emotional reaction. She suffers with the dad. She acknowledges how infinite the dad’s sense of loss is and, at the same time, delves into the multi-faceted, form-evading reality of humanity and mortality, memorializing his lost son through her words. Her poetic response offers both precision and complexity. This is the magic of Strayed’s writing: through her journey of loss, she creates something beautiful.

 

Claire Marie Davidson is a student at UC Santa Cruz, where she is pursuing her B.A. in Classical Studies and Creative Writing. She loves to read, write, and run. You can check out her blog at http://clairemariedavidson.wordpress.com. 

She is super excited to be a guest blogger for Book Club Babe!

Book Review: My Nerdy Valentine

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Rating: 3 out of 5

Vicki Lewis Thompson’s Nerd series is one of my favorites among romance novels. They’re just as fluffy and predictable as other love stories, but instead of all the controlling vampires and the clueless victims who fall for them that you see in the genre, they depict hard-working, talented women and intellectually stimulating men. Of Thompson’s seven stand-alone novels in this series, My Nerdy Valentine is the fifth that I’ve read (You can read my review of Gone with the Nerd here.)

Unfortunately, My Nerdy Valentine was not as nerdy as I wanted it to be. Thompson’s other books have featured introverted, fashion-inept electrical and software engineers, but stockbroker William Sloan’s only perceivable nerdy traits were an embarrassing hat and a love for trivia. He wasn’t portrayed as having a supermodel’s body, but that’s easy to dismiss since he’s certainly not lacking in sexual abilities.

William’s leading lady Amanda Rykowsky is an intern for a prominent sex therapist, so their “meet cute” occurs when Amanda runs into William after a sex toy shopping excursion, thus spilling her collection in the hall of their building. If this racy premise sounds intriguing, you’d be disappointed: although Amanda’s job creates sexual tension throughout the novel, the two don’t seal the deal until two-thirds of the way in. And not once do they actually use any of Amanda’s “office supplies!” For a romance novel, talk about disappointing!

Thompson always inserts a mysterious antagonist into her stories, but this time, there’s no mystery about it. In the weeks before Valentine’s Day, Amanda starts getting creepy cards and voicemails from a secret valentine, so William offers to be her pretend boyfriend to protect her. Despite the cliche, what’s more of a bummer is that the reader knows who the perpetrator is all along. I preferred the novels where Thompson at least attempts to make things suspenseful.

Overall, it’s a decent escapist read for the V-Day season, but I’d recommend Nerd in Shining Armor and Nerd Gone Wild if you’re interested in trying Thompson for the first time. I’d also appreciate any suggestions to other romance novels if you’ve got them!