Reader's Nook: Half-Read Reviews

Happy New Year!

This year I resolve to stop resolving. Resolutely. No I do enjoy New Year's resolutions - going on forever without feeling you have the chance to start fresh makes life seem monotonous to me. I will get to those later though because I want to bring you two books that I did not finish! Amazing!

I am halfway through both of them and I have some very distinct thoughts on these two ladies words.

Yes, Please: Amy Poehler - I would just like to start out by saying Amy Poehler is a human just like the rest of us. That being said, she is superior to most humans I've met. The preface of this book made me cry. She writes stories of her life and doesn't apologize for the not-so-perfect parts. Even her divorce, which can dang near kill a person, it happened and now she's in love again and you're like, "WOW. I DON'T UNDERSTAND ALSO WHY AM I CRYING." She is an avid encourager of women throughout the book and truly believes that everyone has a voice that shouldn't be silenced. Ideas shouldn't be minimized. I laugh out loud a LOT - kind of like when I read Tina Fey's book. Amy also knows that her fans super endorse her and Tina's best friendship, which makes this book even BETTER. I own it so I'm taking my time through it, stopping to pick up other (young adult fiction) books along the way and coming back again. I'm so glad she wrote a book. I'm mainly glad she EXISTS to make the world better. Was that too much? Noooo.

Not That Kind of Girl: Lena Dunham - I'm so sorry guys this is about to be brutal. Actually if you don't want to read all of this just read Amy Poehler's review again just opposite. That's how much I hated this book. Here's the cool thing about Lena. She grew up with parents that let her stretch her creativity in all directions, in whatever way she liked. I am a fan of her tv show GIRLS even though it can get a privilege-y a lot, it's still relatable to girls in their 20's on some subjects. I truly enjoy how open she is with her life and her body and how she loves to advocate for women. Her book has those undertones there but it's hard to get through all the rambling to see that. There is a LOT of rambling.

The first section is about her sexual encounters and I was told that she reveals a sexual assault and tells how she copes, but I never made it that far. She talks about herself a LOT, an unnatural amount (it is a memoir but um...). It's all about her story and her experience and ultimately how everyone's story needs to be heard because everyone's story is important. I agree with this on some accounts, I also think that maybe she should have had more experiences where she... volunteered or something - or just THOUGHT about someone else before her. I dunno! Every single story comes back to her! And how she hates herself? Or something? I found myself saying "What was the point of this story again?" a lot. After I realized I didn't have to read it because it was Lena, or it was controversial, I decided to stop and I'm glad I did. It must be tiring to think about yourself that much.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh (probably)? I never want to be that person that criticizes a person and doesn't really know them but I mean... the book is written. Can't take it back, lady girl.

Obviously both are memoirs and even though Amy is talking about her life experiences I don't feel like I'm being punched in the face with them. I feel like I took the journey with her and at the end (er... the middle) we hugged and got a beer together. Lena's accosted me in an oddly aggressive way and I guess I wasn't expecting it. Props to both women for putting their stories to print and choosing to be vulnerable. Wifi high five!

Tell me your thoughts on both if you've read the whole thing! I've always wanted to start a book club that's just a cover for eating a lot. Except I would also want to read too. So I just described a normal book club didn't I. Right.