Book Thoughts: Recent Celebri-Reads

Back in February, I introduced a new little project of mine: Celebri-Reads, an online book club where each month we’re reading a different celebrity memoir. In July, I gave a quick update on some of the books we’d read by then. Well, it’s September now, and I haven’t done a Book Thoughts blog in a while, so here are my recent celebri-reads and my thoughts on them.

July’s Book: Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

So, I know Alan Cumming as the MC in Cabaret on Broadway and as ‘O’ from one episode of Sex & The City (which he remembers too). Other than that, my knowledge of him was fairly tenuous. Like, he spent a lot of the book talking about being on The Good Wife, and I’ve never seen a single episode (sidebar: should I? How is that show?).

This book was not was I was anticipating. Unlike many celebrity memoirs that focus on the highlights of fame and how the author in question achieved it, this book centered on very personal, very dark family secrets. It was fascinating to read, to be sure, but it was also incredibly emotional and more intense than I anticipated. There were vivid descriptions of child abuse throughout, which was often difficult to read and process.

Still the book maintained a hopeful quality and showed Cumming well in the process of healing (and gave hints as to how/why writing this book helped in this process), so I am happy to have read it.

August’s Book: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Will Mindy please be my best friend? Please? I share her love of Twilight and romantic comedies and writing in my PJs on my laptop in bed even though I have a very nice and well-designed office space (actually, I am writing this from said office space, but I am in my PJs.).

This book was interesting to read because it came out what seems like not that many years ago, but so much has happened since then (like, she had a baby!) that I’m really curious as to if/how she might update or change some of the things she wrote about in this book. Like, there was an Ocean’s reboot! And she was in it! And there was an all-female Ghostbusters! After she becomes my best friend, maybe she’ll tell me about her future-seeing psychic powers…

I liked the fact that the chapters were each mini-essays on a variety of topics. Her “listicles” (ugh, Buzzfeed, I hate you for making that a legitimate word in my brain) were fun and entertaining, and her stories about her career – successes and missteps – were enlightening and relateable.

I still want to know if she and Rainn Wilson are actually frenemies or if that was just played up for the book…

September Book: My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall

These are very early book thoughts because I’m only about thirty pages into this book (we’re discussing it at the end of the month), but I love it so far. I makes me miss Penny Marshall and her brother Garry Marshall and even though I know I should be reading, I find myself wanting to just curl up and watch A League of Their Own over and over again…

Have you read any good celebrity memoirs lately? Comment below or tweet me at @ThatColette and let me know which ones you’ve liked, so I can add ’em to my book club’s list!