Rachel
I like listening to celebrities narrate their own books. I feel like it really gives you an insight into the REAL person.
When I picked up Nevertheless, I didn't know much about Alec Baldwin. I knew he was in Pearl Harbor. I knew he was on 30 Rock. I knew he portrayed Donald Trump on SNL. I have heard his name everywhere, but I didn't know much about him.
Long story short, Nevertheless isn't a comedic celebrity memoir. It's not simple fluff. I actually don't know how to rank it. When I started the book, I thought “wow, Alec Baldwin sounds like an asshole”. then I thought “I could call him an asshole in my review, he'd never read it, but even if he did I doubt he would even care.” He just gives off this vibe that he doesn't give a F what you think. Then he delved into his childhood. And suddenly it's like the doors were flung wide open. I could see what impacted his personality, and why he has such a gruff personality. I actually felt rather sad for him and his family. I'm thrilled that he escaped it and found such high levels of success, yes it's clear that what happened during his childhood has impacted him for the rest of his life.
The early parts of his career were interesting. I actually never realized that the husband from Beetlejuice was the same guy in Pearl Harbor and 30 Rock (ok I've never actually seen 30 Rock. It's on my list...). To me, they look like two completely different people. Maybe it has to do with the timeframes. The actor in beetlejuice in young and full of hope for an acting career. The Alec Baldwin from the 2000s and 2010s is more mature. His personality is a bit bittersweet. He carries a weight with him wherever he goes. His voice is soothing, yet strong, yet full of opinion. The Beetlejuice Baldwin would have accepted advice. My impression of the current Baldwin is that he just doesn't care what you think.
Maybe I'm judging the man too harshly. I don't think there's anything wrong with his attitude. I think that's what makes him so successful. Listening to him narrate his own story gave me a new appreciation for the man. Is he someone I'd like to have coffee with? not really. but is he someone I enjoy watching on tv? Absolutely. He brings something to his work that other actors can't. He has his niche in the acting community, and I wish him the best success going forward.
Side note summarizing my opinion on the book:
Alec's narration is excellent. It makes this book. If he wasn't narrating it, I'd have stopped rather quickly. The book itself was good, but a one time read. I actually really enjoyed the last 1/4 of the book. It humbled the man. I finally saw past that gruff exterior and saw the human behind him. It wasn't a favorite celebrity book, but it was good for a day's listen.
This book is haunting.
I had seen this book receiving rave reviews. I read the back. Another WWII story? What can possibly make this any different. Oh, the girl is blind? Is that why the reviews are so high? How does a blind girl survive a war?
To find out, you need to pick up the book. When you do decide to read this, devote time for it. It can be heavy, but it is strangely beautiful. It reminded me of The Book Thief mixed with The Pianist. Yes, both of those also took place during WWII, but it goes deeper than that. There's an innocence to Marie that was similar to Liesel from The Book Thief. The writing style was also similar. Unlike the book thief, there is the story of survival. That is where The Pianist comes in to play. Marie must find a way to survive. Against all odds, she must.
There is also a magical stone that Marie's father believes will keep her alive. Unforunately, it means everyone around her will attract an unfortunate fate. That aspect was slightly strange in a WWII setting, yet also worked. Was it really magical, or was it just a story that helped a girl make sense of the world around her? Was the stone at fault, or was it just a trinket (like a stuffed doll) for comfort.
This is not a major adventure story, but a solid fiction piece that deserves the awards it has been given. Think of The Pianist and The Book Thief. If you're interested in something similar, pick this up.
Solomon is one of probably many free men who were sold into slavery. Remembering that this is a true story makes it hard to swallow. It is heavy material that cannot be “binged”. I can applaud Solomon for writing his story. In that aspect, I give him 5 stars. I did wish there was more about his life after those 12 years.
Really solid coffee table book. Each section is rather short (between 5 and 10 paragraphs per section). The size of the book is daunting, but the short chapters are encouraging. It is full of fascinating images (and the glossy paper they use smells divine!). The content ranges from ancient times (yes, more ancient than the Romans and Egyptians) and covers into the modern era. Overall a great book. Not one you can read in one sitting, but one that you can have on your table for years and enjoy in short bits at a time.
Side note: I borrow 99% of my books from the library (including this one), but I intend to save up enough to purchase a copy for my own bookshelf.
The best audiobook I've ever listened too (Yes, imo it was even better than Harry Potter).
Also the best book I've read so far this year. I have borrowed a physical copy and will be re-reading that next.
Update: 5/15/17 - just finished my first re-read of this book. Loved it just as much as I did the first time around. Fantastic book!
This was my first James Patterson novel. The audiobook showed up on my audiobook app and I thought “why not? This sounds interesting enough”
So how was it? Not bad. It was very fast paced with tons of twists and turns. Definitely fits that “guilty pleasure” line. Not exactly a “classic” or “groundbreaking” but a solid read for an afternoon when you want to play detective.
I did find out the killer semi early. That made a bit of the story drag. Still, it was entertaining. I may pick up another James Patterson novel in the future.
Last year I read Steve Harvey's book Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success. It was one of the best books I read. More books came and went, yet that one always stood out in my mind.
When Jump appeared as an audiobook, I jumped on the chance to read it. Ironic, because the book is all about taking action. I took much of Steve's guidance from Act Like a Success to heart. He had to struggle, and many times things seemed impossible, yet he never lost faith. That is what I admire most about the man.
Before reading his audiobooks, I only knew of Steve Harvey from Family Fued. He seemed to be very humble, personable, honest, and good-hearted. Reading Act like a Success really opened my eyes. He never gave up hope on his dreams.
His new book Jump is about taking that next step in life. You won't get anywhere until you jump. Bad relationship? It wont change unless you jump. Don't like your weight? You need to jump, sign up for a fitness class, start taking the stairs. Jump is all about action. Yes, you need to weigh the pluses and minuses. You shouldn't jump blindly, but you also shouldn't let fear hold you back in life. The most successful people have made it where they are because they jumped. The happiest people are the ones who followed their dreams. They jumped. If you have faith in yourself and believe in your dreams you WILL succeed.
Thank you Mr. Steve Harvey for yet another inspiring book.
There were some original ideas in here, and at times it was fun, but the changing time/places confused me. I felt like I was supposed to love/hate certain people, and they had stereotypical descriptions. Basically, I was bored. The total audiobook was 7.5 hours. I've listened to 40+ hour audiobooks that moved faster. A child with lots of free time would enjoy this. Being a 26 year old adult with limited time, this book just didn't grasp me. Time to move on to something else.
I have heard rave reviews of Terry Pratchett's books. I admit I've been curious, but 30+ books in a series seemed daunting. Did I really want to commit to that many!? No, I wouldn't need to read them all at once, but eventually (if I liked the series) I'd commit to reading them all. That is a LOT of reading! A Series of Unfortunate Events only has 13 books (and they're children's books!), yet that is also off-putting. How would I read a series that's triple the size, and probably double the page length. I'm speculating on page count, but there's probably at least 100 page difference between the books.
So how did the first book go? Well, it started like this: “Hmm ok. It's a witch. A young witch in a glade. Runs errands... It's like Kiki's Delivery Service. Cool.... uh oh, something's happening. What? a death? hatred? a trial? Oooh there's an underlying theme here. It's not just a regular fantasy novel where someone who is an outcast/freak/ugly/”ordinary” finds out they have magical powers, or a magical item and goes to save the day?? Lies! Oooh snarky sarcasm.... character zones out mid-conversation and thinks about food?? Well that's pretty realistic. They have emotions, and actual motivations?? This is actually getting pretty good. OOOh I need to go back and reread that. What happens next! I wish I could read/listen (used an Audiobook) faster. STUPID THING SPEED UP!! Oooooooooooooooooh! “ book ends. “Well... better build a new bookcase. I have 30+ new books to purchase.
A truly fantastic nonfiction novel. Robin Hutton captures the full life of Sgt. Reckless, a mare plucked from her home stable to help the American Marines during the Korean War. With stories from her companions, Reckless comes alive off the page. Many times I couldn't help but laugh at the little horse's attitude. An excellent read.
How do you write a new story set in the middle of Disney's beloved movie “Beauty and the Beast”. Truth be told, it couldn't have been easy. It must flow into the tight storyline without messing up the well known ending.
The story begins immediately after Beast gives Belle his library. The first 50 pages are spent recapping how Belle came to the castle, her imprisonment, and her hometown. Honestly, it was rather boring, but necessary for anyone unfamiliar with the story. As Belle continues to clean her way through the library, she finds a copy of Neverwhere, an enchanted book that will transports a person to a place called Neverwhere. There she meets a countess who is willing to help Belle in any way she needs. Belle becomes transfixed with the book. To her it is a sanctuary, a safe-haven. Is Neverwhere really as perfect as it seems, or is there something evil lurking underneath?
Highlights:
Jennifer Donnelly sure worked her magic to create an original storyline. I loved her characters Love and Death, and how she intertwined a magical book into the Beauty and the Beast storyline. I felt like it was a perfect piece that could be added to the movie as a bonus story. It still felt in character and didn't harm the original storyline or characters.
Lowlights:
- Not enough information on Love and Death. I would LOVE to know more about them, or have more appearances by them. Yes, there was plenty with Death, but more of their struggle would have been fascinating. I would have preferred them to summarize Belle and the Beast's story as opposed to Belle having to re-explain things to Chip. If she's been there that long, wouldn't she have told them all this hundreds of times?
- All the recapping in the beginning was rather exhausting. I understand it was necessary to set up the storyline, but it caused the story to drag.
- Mentioning Gaston. His name didn't serve a purpose to the story. Bringing up his name felt forced and made me think “Well, maybe Belle did fancy him, if she remembers him so well.”
- Too short.
Summary:
Overall, it's a decent little story that fits in well with the Beauty and the Beast timeline. As a Jennifer Donnelly fan I was rather disappointed. This book felt rushed (to make the Beauty and the Beast film launch timeline), AND I felt like Disney put numerous restrictions on her work. I would have loved for them to give her more reign to incorporate the rest of the Beauty and the Beast tale, or expand it more from the original story to include the two sister Love and Death. The completed book felt tugged in too many directions 1/3 Jennifer's brilliance, 1/3 pre-written beauty and the beast recap, and 1/3 disney execs telling her how to write it.
I have read/listened to a number of celebrity autobiographies. I have started to see a pattern. Make yourself sound like an ordinary person, talk about your childhood struggles, begin to elaborate on your success. Make yourself sound humble. Share your worldly advice. Talk about the struggles of aging in hollywood/friends getting sick. You are now blessed with superior wisdom.
Ok, maybe that's a little unfair. I actually enjoyed Billy Crystal's book. Some parts strongly followed the celebrity autobiography pattern, but his book is filled with some great one liners that had me laughing aloud. I also learned about another side of America that I rarely encounter. Prejudice. I had no idea that you could be dismissed from a golf course just because you were Jewish. Really!? Muhammed Ali could golf there, but Billy Crystal couldn't because he was Jewish?.... It was extremely eye opening.
The book had some slow parts, but had some great moments too. I think what gets me about these autobiographies is that the celebrities feel they need to put their entire lives into their books. I'd must rather have a more focused look at a certain time frame in their lives. (Ex: As You Wish by Cary Elwes focuses on his time filming the Princess Bride with some guest narration from the cast. This was a fantastic book because it was more focused. That's what I wish some of these celebrity books were like). Aside from that, this was still a strong audiobook and in my top 1/4 of celebrity autobiography books.
I listened to the audiobook version read by the author.
Parts of this book had me laughing aloud. Tina did great with the voices and characters in her reading. She had some great advice. There were parts that I didn't love. A number of pieces just sounded like complaints. She's definitely somebody you don't want to anger. For that reason, I got the impression she'd be the boss you feared instead of your new best friend.
I did enjoy this more than Amy Poehler's audiobook, but didn't love it nearly as much as I loved Mindy Kaling's books.
I tried to give this 3 stars, but after compiling the list below, I had to knock it to 2 stars.
The good:
- It's semi-charming.
- It has a sassy magic bookshop.
- The cover is pretty cool.
The bad:
- Animal abuse (The character kicks the dogs, slaps the pigs, and is happy to do it! Very disconcerting)
- Person abuse (Smallbone's actions are also unacceptable. And how the author tries to spin it that it's ok at the end?? NO! Turning people into animals and threatening them to get what you want is wrong. I'd be very concerned about letting children read this.
-Nick is unable to escape the town because Smallbone wont let him leave. He puts spells on the house that keep him trapped there (just like in Beetlejuice). Again, holding a boy hostage for your own amusements is not ok.
- Length - The book is WAY too long. It should be half this size. There is way too much stuff added just to make the book longer. It's unnecessary to know EVERY TIME Nick burns some eggs.
