American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics, by Dan Savage

American Savage:

Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love and Politics

Author: Dan Savage

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Publication Date: May 28, 2013

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I've been a fan of Dan Savage's weekly sex advice column, "Savage Love," for as long as I can remember. Well not literally, but for at least 10-15 years. I don't always agree with the advice but I love reading it. It's nice to know that there is such a shockingly wide array of human sexual experiences out there, and that everybody basically wants confirmation that happiness is possible, even for them. It all makes me feel so, well, normal. But more than that, I appreciate that there's an advice column that runs in newspapers all over North America that is so fiercely pro-LGBTQ, and that shows people that being gay is, well, pretty normal too.

American Savage is a little like "Savage Love" in that I don't always agree with Dan Savage's conclusions (his views on infidelity are a little challenging for me) but I very much enjoy reading them.

I particularly liked that he didn't presume his audience would know everything about him or get all his references, so he found ways throughout the book to explain the details without sounding pedantic or condescending.

And my favourite part of the book was when he talked about creating the It Gets Better project to help LGBTQ youth see hope for their futures. "You have got to give 'em hope," he says, quoting Harvey Milk. While the subject of "what to do about teen bullying" seems to be a favourite one these days, particularly among adults with task forces and committees, I love that Dan Savage went out and did something, and it was something hopeful. You've probably seen a thousand of those "It Gets Better" videos on YouTube, but here's one of my all-time favourite ones (after the break):

The Sh!t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby's First Year, by Dawn Dais

The Sh!t No One Tells You

A Guide to Surviving Your Baby's First Year

Author: Dawn Dais

Publisher: Seal Press

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

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This is the book I wish I had read when my daughter was first born. Except that I could barely keep my eyes open and I was still convinced that my precious free moments were best spent scrapbooking the precious memories of my baby's new life into an adorable hardcover book that I would proudly show off for an entire week and then never look at again. I was a sleep deprived idiot. 

But had I been able to formulate cohesive thoughts during those first few months, let alone process complex sentences, I could have really benefited from this book, with such reassuring chapters as:

• "Breastfeeding is F'n Hard" (it really is); 
• "No One is Loving This as Much as Their Facebook Posts Would Have You Believe" (soooo true...if you don't believe me, go back and look at your own Facebook posts from when your child was first born--if your child was born after 2007 of course--and notice the lack of posts that say "that little @#!$ woke me up every 30 minutes for no good reason and I'm starting to suspect it's some sort of personal infant vendetta");
• "Your Newborn is Not Cute" (screw this, mine was adorable! ...sort of);
• "Who Needs a Health Plan When You Have the Internet?" (the internet is hella dangerous to new parents--just ask the very nice nurses at my local emergency room when I brought in my five-week-old because when I took her temperature I thought it was half a degree higher than the other eight times I had taken it that day, and is it possible that she has malaria or scarlet fever or something?); and
• "It Does Not Go By 'Soooo Fast'" (especially those first three or four months...those are like the longest night that never ends...I mean awesome, but also awful...both)

Man Up! Tales of my Delusional Self-Confidence, by Ross Mathews

Man Up!

Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence

Author: Ross Mathews

(Foreword by Gwyneth Paltrow)

(Afterword by Chelsea Handler)

Publisher: Grand Central

Publication Date: May 7, 2013

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ILOVEROSSMATHEWSSOMUCHANDIWANTTOBEHISBESTFRIENDANDHANGOUTWITHHIMEVERYDAY!! Sorry. I just got a little excited. I'll start again.

I LOVE ROSS MATHEWS SO MUCH AND I WANT TO BE HIS BEST FRIEND AND HANG OUT WITH HIM EVERY DAY! That's how he got to be friends with Gwyneth Paltrow. He met her on a red carpet and said, "Okay, we're best friends now." And now they are! Of course, I've never met Ross Mathews, but at the beginning of his book he says we can be best friends so I'm taking him at his word. Yay!

If you're not familiar with Ross Mathews, he was also known as "Ross the Intern" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. His unabashed enthusiasm for celebrities, television and, well, life were absolutely infectious. And all of that is in the book. The way he talks about what would otherwise be mundane details of life in a lesser man are handled with the gleeful enthusiasm you love so much in your new best friend. That's right. Ross Mathews is your new best friend too, even if you don't know it yet.

Oh, and if you're wondering what all the balloons are about, you'll be delighted to read about his elementary school's tradition of Balloon Day. One day a year the students of his grade school would write down their most sacred wishes on tiny slips of paper then send them up to the atmosphere in a magical sea of brightly coloured balloons. On lucky years, Ross Mathews got a pink balloon. And now, years later, he can have all the balloons--and wishes--he wants.

Ugh. I just read that last sentence and it's terrible. But the book is not. So fun!

The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society, by Darien Gee (narrated by Tanya Eby)

The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society

Author: Darien Gee

Audiobook Narrator: Tanya Eby

Publisher: Ballantine

Publication Date: January 29, 2013

Audiobook Publisher: Tantor Media

Audiobook Publication Date: April 8, 2013

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One thing I've learned since I've been book blogging is that it's a good idea to be specific in your reviews, even if you don't like the book, because other people may love a book for all the same reasons that you didn't. Case in point: The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society.

One reviewer, Gina on Goodreads, said it best: "I feel the need to point out that this is NOT some cheesy scrapbooking story where a murder takes place at a crop." That was part of a four-star review because Gina really liked that it was a cozy book but not a cozy mystery. Turns out, I didn't. See, I'm a huge fan of cozy mysteries. My blog is called "Cozy Little Book Journal" for just that reason. But every once in a while I try going off book (sorry, terrible pun) and try out a story that is just cozy. No mystery. Just cozy. I always assume that if I enjoy the sweet little small town societies in those murder stories, I'll enjoy them without the murder. Turns out I don't. Turns out I need the juxtaposition of sweet little old ladies in small towns solving multiple murders.

So The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society doesn't have a murder rampage. It's just a sweet little town with ladies who scrapbook and share their feelings about life. It's like "How to Quilt an American Quilt" I suppose. For me, that didn't quite cut it. But like Gina, I figure if I'm honest about why I didn't like it, that might help other people decide if they will.

I will say this though. I got both the ebook (from the library) and the audiobook (from Edelweiss) and I can attest that the audiobook narration by Tanya Eby is excellent. She tells the story well, like I was sitting by her feet at the fire with a warm blanket wrapped around my legs while she played with my hair and told me a story. Okay, that's a pretty specific image. Sorry if that got weird. 

Bottom line: I liked the narration but the story wasn't my favourite because I just don't care for the genre. I guess it evens out to a two-and-a-half star rating, which for someone else would probably translate to at least four stars (if they don't mind that there's no murder).

Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity, by Monica Kulling (illustrated by Esperanca Melo)

Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity

Author: Monica Kulling 

Illustrator: Esperanca Melo

Publisher: Tundra

Publication Date: March 12, 2013

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I was absolutely delighted by this book. The illustrations are fun, lively and full of movement (and full of interesting detail as well--the dog's ears and bowtie match the little girl's hair and scarf). And the story is so cute! Mister Dash is a clever and loyal dog (dogs made up of five different breeds are the most loyal of all, after all) who helps his owner, Madame Croissant, bake and deliver cupcakes. And he wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't for the awkward saddle bags and goofy baker's hat. Luckily he has help, in the form of Madame Croissant's granddaughter Daphne. Together, can they fulfill Mayor Chester Field's order of 500 cupcakes and deliver them on time?

I loved everything about this book. I especially liked that Madame Croissant peppered her speech with French words and phrases, which prompted my daughter Magda and I to try out a little more French ourselves (I keep meaning to brush up on my French!). I liked that Daphne calls her grandmother "Grand-mere" just like Magda and I both do. I liked that the mechanic who fixes the delivery van is female. My only complaint? The author didn't include a recipe for Madame Croissant's salted caramel cupcakes!
Magda's Take:
"I want to know more about the van. My favourite page is the picture where the van breaks down. Why does the mechanic call it a buggy? If the author makes any more books, I hope the van is in it. I want to see more of the van!"

Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity 

Acrylic on gessoed paper

Illustration © Esperança Melo

So Cool Sunday: Tent Book on Book

Oh I want one! It would be perfect for those times when you want your hands free but your book won't stay open. Oh, or if you happen to be reading in the rain for some reason. That's it. I need on right now. So cool!

via 

F***Yeah, Book Arts!

and 

Sumally

James Franco compares The Great Gatsby to Hamlet in Space. Sort of.

from Baldwin Wallace Theatre & Dance (source)

In James-Franco-is-a-stoner-and-I-don't-have-anything-else-to-write-about-today-news, James Franco is a stoner who has decided to write a review for Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby in Vice magazine. He argues that critics are being overly harsh about the director's adaptation, saying:

"Would anyone object to a production of Hamlet in outer space? Not as much as they object to the Gatsby adaptation, apparently...Maybe that's because Gatsby is so much about a time and a place, while Shakespeare, in my mind, is more about universal ideas, ideals, and feelings. Luhrmann needed to breathe life into the ephemera and aura of the 20s and that's just what he succeeded at."

'The Great Gatsby'/James Franco (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures/Getty Images) (from Yahoo! Movies)

Please please please let that mean that chronically scattered James Franco is planning an adaptation of Hamlet in space!

I'd also like to point out that this is not completely outside the realm of possibility. James Franco previously adapted Gus Van Sant's 1991 movie, My Own Private Idaho--which was loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V--by re-editing the original footage to showcase star River Phoenix, calling the resulting film My Own Private River. Then he wrote an article about it which appeared in the book Living with Shakespeare.

So what I'm saying is this: James Franco could totally decide to do Hamlet in space. YES! That is exactly the level of crazy ideas the world needs.

Speaking of space, let's all just watch Col. Chris Hadfield be amazing one more time, shall we?