Book Review: Dead Brilliant

Katie January 4, 2014 0 Comments

I really thought that I was going to like Dead Brilliant.  It seemed like it would have a lot of drama in it, but it took me too long to get in to it.  In fact, so long that the book ended up expiring and I was unable to finish it before it expired.

So unfortunately I can’t give you a decent review of the book. I think that it really missed the mark of what it was trying to do and if it caught my attention quicker in the beginning then maybe I’d have followed through.  It’s not often I don’t finish a book!

(Although, perhaps if it didn’t expire I’d have given it a second chance – I just didn’t have the option to.)

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

It’s all slipping away from Roc Molotov — his band, his girlfriend, and worst of all, his ability to play the game demanded by the star-making machinery of the music business. When the best record he’s ever made is about to pass unnoticed, his oldest friend and manager, Uncle Strange, concocts the perfect scheme. Roc will fake his death, on MTV, in front of millions of viewers, assuring massive success on his latest project and the ability to create a body of “posthumous” songs to feed the grieving fans and satisfy his still-active artistic imagination. The plan works to perfection, but the ever-restless Roc finds that being dead has its limitations in this novel that’s sex, death, and rock n’ roll, played in a satirical key.

Book Review: Growing Up Golem

Katie January 3, 2014 1 Comments

Growing Up Golem is How I Survived My Mother, Brooklyn and Some Really Bad Dates by Donna Mikowitz.  This book took me a while to get in to, and after reading one chapter I was almost ready to give up on reading it, but when checking out other reviews to see what others though everyone said that it was a great book so I decided to give it a second go.  A Golem, in Jewish tradition, is a creature created by magic, often to serve its creator.  Donna believes that she was created as Golem, half herself and half her mother, to serve her.  Even after she moved out she believed that her mother still seemed to have some remote control to still control her from afar.

Once I got into the book it did become the hilarious story that other reviews had said it would be. I also liked Donna’s writing style and how throughout the book she would acknowledge the reader with comments like, “oh reader”.  Certainly an interesting read and interesting concept on life.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

“Rich and wild, dark and funny, as fearless as her legendary journalism and as scary as a fairy tale. A serious writer at the top of her game. I love this book.”

—Terry Bisson, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author

In the tradition of Portnoy’s Complaint and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Donna Minkowitz’s Growing Up Golem is an incisive, often funny memoir about growing up inspired by the Jewish legend of the golem.  The author’s mother told Minkowitz and her sisters as children that she could do kabbalistic magic, and growing up, Minkowitz believed it. Her mother, a compulsively creative and unusually powerful figure, exerted even more sway over Minkowitz and her sisters than mothers typically do over their children, so it is the “magical realist” premise of the book that instead of giving birth to her, her mother actually created Minkowitz as her own personal golem, an animated servant made of clay.

In the book, Minkowitz struggles to control her own life, even as she publicly appears to be a radical, take-no-prisoners lesbian journalist. In her career, dating, even with friends – and especially with her own eccentric, hypersexualized, intellectual family – Minkowitz finds herself compelled to do what other people want, to horrible and hilarious effect. In sex, for example, she often feels like “a giant robot dildo.”

Matters come to a head when a disabling arm injury renders her almost helpless – unable to use a computer or even lift a glass of water. She must find a way to work, find people who love her, and stand up for her own desires – against the bossing she’s always tolerated from girlfriends, mother and anyone else she meets- before her injury gets even worse.

Book Review: When I’m With You

Katie January 2, 2014 0 Comments

When I’m With You is about an aspiring actress named Kat.  It is a modern retelling of the Jane Austen book “Northanger Alley” Kat gets the lead in all the school plays and now on Christmas break she gets to hang out with Josh who is a hot up and coming actor that went to the school and invited her along as his personal assistant.  When she gets to the set she finds out that they are looking for extras for a scene and wants to have a shot at it.  Josh said he already did her one favor by bringing an assistant when no one else did so he was not going to help her.  She ends up befriending one of the leads in the movie, Izzy and she gets her cast as an extra. Meanwhile, she seems to have a connection with Henry, the other lead on the movie.  They keep making “dates” like meeting for hot chocolate or dinner, but Izzy keeps  telling Kat that Henry is hung up working on lines or rehearsals or has left with another girl and pulls Kat away.  Kat continues to believe her even though Henry keeps telling her that isn’t whats happening.

When they film the scene with Kat as an extra, the director seems to like what she is doing.  But Izzy keeps deciding that HER character should be doing the ad libs and steals everything from Kat’s character. Now Kat isn’t even sure she will make it in as an extra.

Henry, Josh and Kat go to stay at Henry’s dad’s place (he is also an actor and supposed to be the reason why Henry gets all of his jobs) and Kat thinks that she sees his father with another actress – even though he is supposed to still be married to Henry’s mother.  When she mentions it Henry gets upset, but takes her to follow his Dad after he begins doubting him as well.  They see him leave with an actress and a couple of days later the news has made it to all the gossip sites.  Henry blames Kat for blabbing even though she assures him that it was not her! Henry doesn’t know who else would know.

Kat ends up leaving LA to go back to school early, thinking that Henry hates her.  But is that really how the story will end?

I thought that this was a cute story, a great YA novel and although I’ve never read Northanger Alley I did check out the snippit of the plot summary and it does seem to be a very similar storyline. Now I think I may have to check out some of the other Jane Austen Academy books!  A quick read and a lot of fun to be in the indie film world!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Dive into the fabulous, fun lives of six Academy girls as their friendships are tested, torn and ultimately triumph.

Kat is destined to be a star and her big break has arrived at last! As the assistant to a celebrity classmate on the set of a feature film, she’s going to show everyone she has what it takes. That is, until she discovers pursuing her dreams may mean forfeiting her heart. Unless she can find a way to have both…

* * *

The last thing that the girls at the elite Jane Austen Academy need is hot guys to flirt with. But over the summer the school has been sold, and like it or not, the guys are coming. And it’s about to turn the Academy—and the lives of its students—totally upside down…

The Jane Austen Academy series are modern retellings of Jane Austen classics set at a beachside California boarding school.

Book Review: The HBO Effect

Katie January 1, 2014 0 Comments

While I have never had HBO in my life, I am fully aware of their impact on things.  HBO is a bit of a pioneer when it comes to television and programming and this book explains that.  And it all started with a Christmas Ornament!  I am glad that the majority of the HBO shows are now either on DVD or in syndication because this book definitely got me interested in watching them or re-watching them – but more to see how they are put together than for their content.  The series finale of The Sopranos is still one of the most talked about finales ever.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

No advertisers to please, no censors to placate, no commercial interruptions every eleven minutes, demanding cliffhangers to draw viewers back after the commercial breaks: HBO has re-written the rules of television; and the result has been nothing short of a cultural ground shift. The HBO Effect details how the fingerprints of HBO are all over contemporary film and television. Their capability to focus on smaller markets made shows like Sex and the City, The Sopranos, The Wire, and even the more recent True Blood, trigger shows on basic cable networks to follow suit. HBO pioneered the use of HDTV and the widescreen format, production and distribution deals leading to market presence, and the promotion of greater diversity on T.V.(discussing issues of class and race).
The HBO Effect examines this rich and unique history for clues to its remarkable impact upon television and popular culture. It’s time to take a wide-angle look at HBO as a producer of American culture.