My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me

Title: My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me
Author:  Hilary Winston
ISBN: 9781402786068, 
paperback, 5/26/2011


2/5 Stars



I expected more of this book than it actually is. 


Though i sympathize Winston's pain at having discovered a book about her by her jerk/weird ex-boyfriend describing their love life in detail and calling her "fat-assed," it just wasn't enough to make me like this book.


I understand from Amazon that in her ex- boyfriend's book "The Average American Male" (9780007263981- it's listed as fiction though Winston tells us, it's all fact) he talks about sexual adventures and such. Winston probably attempts to show more guts and exerts revenge in spilling all of her dating and sexual history but in the non-fiction genre.


The problem is I didn't much like Winston story. A lot of times she doesn't respect herself enough in her relationships, which are too many with gay men. She's funny, that's right, but as i went on reading, i found myself somehow disgusted. 


Let me explain why.


Don't we all have the girlfriend whom we adore, because she's lovely and funny and all that but we really have to disapprove of her love life because she keeps on selling herself short? Then it comes to a point we just don't want to hear her problems anymore. This is how i felt while i went through this book so i returned it. 




There are books i don't like, but still i keep, this one i had to return.

Description:

My Name is Earl writer Hilary Winston offers up a witty collection of tales about her misadventures in dating. This title includes a response to the affront of being the 'fat-assed girlfriend' of Chad Kultgen's "The Average American Male" (9780007263981). TV writer Hilary Winston offers up a witty collection of autobiographical tales about her misadventures in dating. Just when Hilary feels like her life is finally in order, she gets a sucker-punch to the gut: her ex has written a novel based on their relationship in which he refers to her throughout as the 'fat-assed girlfriend'. Her response to this affront is just one of the many hilarious stories in "My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me", a laugh-out-loud, tell-all in which Hilary sets the record straight for all her exes.

Gypsy Boy

Gypsy Boy: One Boy's Struggle to Escape from a Secret World by Mikey Walsh


5/5 Stars


Mickey Walsh will break your heart.


I knew nothing about the gypsy life before i got this book and i was greatly intrigued to see what it would take for just another gypsy boy to leave it all behind and decide on a life much like the rest of us are living. 


I expected to read about the phase in between, about adapting in a "normal" way of life and so on...instead Walsh goes into detail about his life as a gypsy. Don't get me wrong, i was not disappointed. You know something? I believe it was hard to be disappointed. His story is gripping. The relationships he shares with each member of his family is intriguing at the good times, horrifying at the bad times.


This book will certainly give a good insight about the gypsy life. How they live? What they value? What they think of us? 


 but ends abruptly and u  have to wait for the next installment 




Official Book Description:


Gypsy Boy is the first commercial memoir written by someone on the inside of the notoriously secretive culture of the Romany Gypsies.

New Moon (twilight saga 2)

Title: New Moon (twilight saga 2)
Author: Stephenie Meyer


Here's when I started questioning myself if I made a good choice by picking up the series and that maybe i should just have stuck with the first installment. Here the story is not as convincing, key characters are missing and there's a lot of overreaction which is not believable.


SPOILER ALERT: 


Why do i think that? 


First, the attraction of the first Twilight book was Edward and he's not in the second. There's Jacob instead and though this character has similar qualities with Edward, there wasn't enough Edward to make an interesting love triangle.


Second, Bella's grief at Edward leaving her (becomes delusional and wakes up screaming in the middle of the night) is over the top, it's unbelievable and it makes Bella look bad. Your boyfriend left you Bella, it's not like you witnessed the murder of your family...


Overall, i didn't like this book and i only wish this was the worst of the series.


Official Book Description:


The dramatic sequel to Twilight, following the tale of a teenage girl whose love for a vampire gets her into trouble .




My Rating:
2/5  Stars


Your teenage daughter/sister/friend will still like it. 

Twilight (twilight saga 1)

Title: Twilight (twilight saga 1)
Author: Stephenie Meyer


In my defense I read the four Twilight books, because every girl around me seemed to like them, because they were selling them like crazy and because  a movie was about to be made. Twilight was becoming a phenomenon and I wasn't going to be the one who knew nothing about it.


Anyways, Twilight's first book is not that bad, it's only really bad for vampire fans because  the vampire image is distorted for them when the Cullens are portrayed as  shiny "vegetarians."


I can get why teenage girls would go crazy over it. Edward Cullen is nothing short of a Greek god   but he's also a tortured soul who even though he can have any girl he wants he  falls for a plain, clumsy  girl. Well, isn't that what every girl dreams of no matter what age? You can say that he's also a purist and that i believe also plays a role in the obsession of teen girls and moms with him.


It's written well, meaning that you won't get bored as you read through it. Of course the book has more things than the movie, and it's better. I know the book is always better than the movie, but that's not always true with the Twilight series.


Official Book Description:
An electrifying debut novel of a young woman's love for a vampire.


My Rating:


3/5 Stars


The book is OK, but i am not its intended audience, and honestly I'm not that OK with having them in my library because I am not going to read them again. If i loan them i won't want to discuss them after. I'll probably give them to a teenage girl who by some miracle will still want to read the Twilight series even though the movies are out.


Get it for a teenage daughter, sister, or friend. They'll enjoy it if they like to read something even if the movie is out. But if it's a gift, this book has been circulating largely and if they don't already own it, maybe they have had borrowed from a friend. 

The Complete Persepolis

Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author:  Marjane Satrapi

This is a great graphic memoir. Satrapi's story will move you, sometimes it will make you laugh and sometimes it will make you cry. But what i like mostly about this is that it shines a light on Iran and its people pre-Islamic revolution (which could have been any western society) and post (today's Iran)

You can get it in installments, but I think it's better to just get the Complete Persepolis because you wont want to put it down. Also "The Complete Persepolis's" cover has a better illustration than the installments (you will find the latter each in a primary color)


N.B Persepolis (whether complete or in installements) has been banned from all the countries of the middle-east except from Lebanon. 



Official Description

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming-both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up. Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom-Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

My Rating:

5/5 Stars

Edition i own:

barcode: 9780375714832

publisher: Pantheon

How to Be Adored: A Girl's Guide to Hollywood Glamour

Title : How to Be Adored: A Girl's Guide to Hollywood Glamour
Author:  Caroline Cox

I love this book, it's so feminine and pretty!!! and I am one of those women who considers herself, sophisticated and cultured and would prefer to be called smart over beautiful any day of the week... Maybe that's why i like it so much because just having it reminds me that there's no fault in being a girl and wanting to be adored. 

The book talks from hair to diets, and everything that makes a woman feminine. It lists some Hollywood stars and how they do it (hair, make-up, diets)

I want to recommend it especially to career women who sit in cubicles all day. Put some pink in your life! Adore yourself.

My Rating:

4/5 Stars

I would recomend it for a home library, or a beauty shop, or a hairstylist's.

The Edition I own:
9780061992919
Collins Design

3,096 Days

3,096 Days by Natascha Kampusch

I really liked this book. Natascha just inspires you. 

Nothing that happened to Natascha was fair - to say the least. Her childhood, her freedom, her parents, her friends, her chance of a normal life, basically everything was stolen from her one day as she was walking to school.

Still the girl from early on adapts an attitude that would save her, and the would keep her strong, mentally unbroken.

In 3096 days. Natascha tells her lifestory in a"matter-of-fact" tone. You never feel that the story she's telling is embellished and yet there are great philosophies steted modestly here and there. You will want to learn from this little girl as she forgives her captor while she is still kidnapped, while she is still wronged, and  She explains that is why she doesn't break.

What i didn't like:


There is at the end of each chapter a diagram-thing that you photograph by your phone and it decodes it, (after you have sms'ed Austria and they send you the application to save on your phone) Once you decode it, you go on a special website to see pics and videos about Natascha...but it's so not worth the effort. The pics of the room where Natascha was held, you can find them online. There are videos in German (i think) about:
- the reenactment of Natasha's escape, (they just show the ground as she runs away)
- about her mom and dad's statements to the press (all in german-i think - with no sub-titles)
- and other things i did not understand because again they were in German (i think).




Official Book Description:

The incredible of eight years of above and humiliation.. and the fighting spirit that allowed her to escape unbroken.
On 2 March 1998 ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was snatched off the street by a stranger and bundled into a white van. Hours later she found herself in a dark cellar, wrapped in a blanket. When she emerged eight years later, her childhood had gone.
In 3,096 Days Natascha tells her incredible story for the first time: her difficult childhood, what exactly happened on the day of her abduction, her imprisonment in a five-square-metre dungeon, and the mental and physical abuse she suffered from her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil.
3,096 Days is ultimately a story about the triumph of the human spirit. It describes how, in a situation of almost unbearable hopelessness, she slowly learned how to manipulate her captor. And how, against inconceivable odds, she managed to escape unbroken.

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Though it's a good interesting, there are places in the book where the "matter-of-fact" tone will bore you. You don't HAVE to have it in your library, you can get it as an e-book.

The Edition I own:
ISBN: 9780670919994
Publisher: Viking