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Friday, February 17, 2017

Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham















Franny Banks is a struggling actress in New York City, with just six months left of the three-year deadline she gave herself to succeed. But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates - Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material - and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works.

Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet.


So I listened to this book on audiobooks because when I listened to Lauren Graham's other novel I was impressed by her reading skills. In fact I quite enjoyed how well she did and wanted to listen to her some more. I was not disappointed. She reads this novel in her Lorelai fun voice and that was great.

This isn't normally my kind of book, so I was surprised when I found myself enjoying it, and not surprised when about half way through my enjoyment dipped down to annoyance.

The writing style of this book was pretty unique, it's all from Franny's POV and her mind's rambling thought process "monkey monkey underpants". Her views on how her life is going and how she sees those around her was pretty interesting. If not a little confusing and sometimes made me want to skip through giant paragraphs of inner monologues.

 The book has a chapter written like the scene in a script, the voice messages on her answering machine are written out in almost every chapter and her Filo Fax date book is the first sentence in almost chapter as well, which helped the quippy fun (fast, this novel is very fast if that makes sense) feel of this novel.

However because of how it's written the secondary characters are a little flat and not flushed out enough to be anything other than place holders.

I enjoyed the plot and all the trials Franny goes through from wondering if she should do a topless movie to dealing with her dad's new girlfriend. I really liked the fact this took place in the 90's, I also think you should read Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between first to really appreciate everything Franny goes through trying to make it as an actress.

What I didn't enjoy (until the very end)  was Franny herself. She is selfish, whiny and immature. She is also a Special Snowflake and a Mary Sue. She is a great actress, but just doesn't know it. She is VERY pretty but has low self esteem. The two main men in this novel are attracted to her (almost love triangle bad boy versus too good to be true) and she spends the whole novel deep in self pity and self doubt. Plus she's kind of mean. The blurb is misleading, Penelope is barely a character and not awful in any way.

 I originally thought this was  a New Adult novel because of how Franny sounded and how she was written, only to be surprised at the end when it's revealed she's 27. Now I may have missed it at the beginning when it talks about her age, but I honestly got the impression she was under 25.  In fact if it hadn't been for the mention that she'd already graduated from college this character could have been 19.

Franny's saving grace is she does grow as a character and learns some pretty interesting lessons along the path of her story. Her mind also works the way  my mind does where even if I'm focused on something like work, inside my thoughts could be jumping from what to make for dinner to whether or not the aquarium is a better deal than the zoo, price wise. I think most people probably are crazier inside than they are outside.

So this is a coming of age story, but the character is coming of age at almost 30.


Sunday, February 12, 2017

Brand New Year! POPSUGAR reading Challenge 2017

UPDATE 01/02/2018
HOW DID I DO???
I missed 9.

So I haven't had a chance to update my book blog since the middle of December. I apologize.I had a baby, my fourth, and it was pretty traumatic. Read about it here

For the first blog of the new year I wanted to talk about the POPSUGAR reading challenge of 2017. Which I am going to try very hard to accomplish. I'm already six books behind my good reads goal, so this might be over extending myself, but oh well.

Every month I'll update you all on how it's going and what books I've checked off the list and whether they were worth you guys checking them out for yourself.

Here's the list:

http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2017-42561300


A book by an author from a country you've never visited  A Most Magical Girl- the author is Karen Foxlee who lives in Australia
A book recommended by a librarian The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins 5 stars
A book that's been on your TBR for over a year Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 5 stars
A book of letters Dracula by Bram Stoker
An audio book  Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham- This was pretty good!
A book written by a POC  Weeping Wells by Angel Chadwick -3 stars
A book with one of the four seasons in the title
A book that is a story within a story
A book with multiple authors Urban Enemies- Jim Butcher and others
An espionage thriller  The Burning Page by  4 stars
A book with a cat on the cover
A book by an author who uses a pseudonym Echoes in Death by JD Robb (Nora Roberts) 5 stars
A book from a genre you don't normally read Almost Famous Women; Stories (Historical fiction anthology) by Bergman, Megan Mayhew
A book with a subtitle The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures by Aaron Mahnke Five starsA book involving travel Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt- a girl walks miles and miles. 2 starsA book by or about a person with a disability  Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens Eddie Izzard, four stars. He has Dyslexia. 
A book that is published in 2017  Gardenia by Kelsey Sutton So good! Four Stars!
A book involving a mythological creature Hollow House- there is a creepy God in it- by Greg Chapman. 4 stars
A book you've read before that makes you smile After Realm by Renee Travis- a dancing princess retelling
A book about food  Back to the Kitchen: 75 Delicious, Real Recipes (& True Stories) from a Food-Obsessed Actor by Freddie Prinze Jr. 4 stars
A book with career advice  Adulting: How to become a Grown Up in 468 Steps by Kelly Williams Brown- Eh...ok 3 stars
A book from a nonhuman perspective    Creepy Carrots ( the pov is a rabbit) - 3 stars
A steampunk novel
A book with a red spine  Rose Blood by AG Howard- 2 stars- see review
A book set in the wilderness House at the Bottom of the Lake by Josh Malerman- The entire novel basically takes place in or on a lake. 3.5 Stars
A book you loved as a child  The Wizard Of Oz by Frank L Baum
A book with a title that is the character's name  Curious George Goes to a Chocolate Factory -- eh 3 stars
A book set during wartime
A book with an unreliable narratoFinal Girls by Riley Sager Five Stars
A book with pictures How to Train a Train- 5 stars
A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you Roses of May by Dot Hutchinson 5 stars
A book about an interesting woman Talking as Fast as I can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham- listened to this, such a fun great book. 5 stars
A book set in two different time periods The Girl From Rawblood by Catriona Ward 4 stars
A book with a month, or day of the week in the title
A book set in a hotel  Security by Gina Wohlsdorf- creepy slasher closed room mystery 4 stars
A book written by someone you admire   The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fischer 4 stars
A book that's becoming a movie in 2017
A book set around a holiday other than Christmas
The first book in a series you haven't read before  A Curious Beginning b Deanna Raybourn 3 stars
A book you bought on a trip.



ADVANCED LIST

A book that was recommended by your friend or spouse In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 5 stars
A best seller from 2016
A book with a family member term in the title Your Baby's First Word Will be DADA by Jimmy Fallon- 4 stars
A book that takes place over the characters life span I know I am, but What are You by Samanatha Bee- 4 stars
A book about an immigrant or refugee
A book from a genre you've never heard of before The United States of Absurdity (based on a podcast)  by Dave Anthony 4 stars
A book with an eccentric character Wicked like Wildfire by Popović, Lana  Five Stars
A book that's more than 800 pages
A book you got used  Curious George and The Dinosaur Discover- got at the DI back page ripped 4 stars
A book that's been mentioned in another book The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford 3 stars 
A book about a difficult topic Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty (about death) 5 stars
A book based on mythology Venturess by Betsy Cornwell 4 stars