Saturday, November 6, 2010

Tim Gunn, You Rock!

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Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work by Tim Gunn

I usually try and stay away from books written by celebrities because they are usually very lacking.  Just because someone is a good actor doesn’t mean they can write!

I’d heard via the internet that in the book Tim came out as an asexual.  There was much debate about whether or not he was truly asexual or just celibate.  (The difference being that asexuality is not a choice – it’s a lack of feeling sexual attraction and celibacy is a choice not to engage in sexual activities.  Yes, many (I’d say most)  people  who are asexual are celibate, but it’s still different).  Really it’s not for anyone else to debate, if Tim says he asexual then he is, so I wanted to read the book for myself and see what he actual had to say.   In many ways reading this book was like digging through a box of cereal you aren’t interesting in eating just so you can find the prize!  And like that box of cereal the prize for me came close to the end!

Most of the book was about the fashion industry and Project Runway.  While I enjoy Project Runway, I’m not interested in rehashing events from previous seasons, I can’t even remember which contestants were on when!

What I enjoyed the most is getting to know the real Tim Gunn.  Getting to see how he is human and how the behavior of many bugs him!  I loved hearing about his romantic struggles (I didn’t love that he had so much heartbreak, but I could really relate to much of what he was saying!).  Tim is single and happy about it.  He doesn’t have sexual relations and he’s happy about that too.  It was like a breath of fresh air!  Thank you Tim for sharing your story with us!

100_Reading_Challenge     library-rc

Meh.

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Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

I have read a few novels by Anna Quindlen, most of which I have enjoyed!  I got this one on Kindle to read on my phone (I’m not a huge fan of e-readers but I LOVE always having a book handy on my phone!).  It took me a long time to get into it and it was on my “currently reading” list for months!  It just wasn’t that interesting to me, it seemed very meh.  I finally just pushed through and finished it.

100_Reading_Challenge

When “Gifts” Run Amok

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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender

NOTE: CONTAINERS SPOILERS!!!!!!

This was a book club book, and I was looking forward to reading it – it was one that was already on my “to read” list!  It started out pretty good – reminded me a lot of Garden Spells because it was about food evoking emotion.  It wasn’t nearly as well done as Garden Spells though.   The main character had a unique gift of being able to “taste” emotions in food.  About halfway through the book we learned about the main character’s brother’s gift – he had the ability to turn in furniture.  WTF???  Yeah, that was when I lost interest in the book.  Almost didn’t finish it either, but it was for book club so I forged ahead! Turns out almost all of us in the club had the same thoughts!

100_Reading_Challenge

Short Stories are not my thing

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The Ornithologist’s Guide to Life by Ann Hood

I have totally loved the other Ann Hood books I have read, however this one will not be my favorite.  It was a collection of short stories.  All fiction.  I enjoy books of short anecdotes such as David Sedaris or the Park Ranger books, but these stories are true stories, fiction short stories irritate me.   This book in particular was like a whole book of 1st chapters.  Any of these stories could have been developed into a full length novel and when then ended I was left asking for more.  It was very irritating and I almost didn’t even finish the book!

100_Reading_Challenge     library-rc

Garden Spells

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Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

This book was a lot more like Alice Hoffman’s novels!   I enjoyed this one a lot more than the other Sarah Addison Allen novel I read!  This book contained all the magic I enjoy with Hoffman’s novels, but it was rooted in reality!

100_Reading_Challenge    library-rc