Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Sometimes when a book comes out with a huge publicity budget, it sets the reader up for expectations that are way too high. I think that happened here for me. I liked this one enough to finish, but I kept waiting to get swept away like the reviews said I would. It didn’t happen.
 I Might Regret This by Abbi Jacobson: I enjoyed listening to this memoir about Jacobson’s rise as an actress and writer. She also shares quite a bit about heartbreak and other realities of becoming an adult. Definitely a more down-to-earth Hollywood tale than Busy’s a few entries above. (Though I really enjoyed hers, too.)
No Happy Endingsby Nora McInerny: It was interesting to hear how McInerny created the next chapter of her life at the point where her first memoir ended. We don’t often get this kind of back-to-back look. I always enjoy her writing.
Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer: Loved it. Perfect for the grammar, punctuation, and word nerd in your life if you need to find a good gift. I read the first half and listened to the second half. Both experiences were delightful. My favorite quote is on a quick post I wrote here.
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott: I related to Philpott’s essays so much. And the last paragraph of the final essay is perhaps my favorite final paragraph of all essays ever. It’s a perfect end to the essay and the memoir as a whole. (I read half and listened to half.)
ALL 2019 BOOK REVIEWS AREÂ HERE.
Did you miss the April friendship advice posts? Those are below:
“Ghost This Friend or Have the Hard Conversation?”
A conversation about how it is to get friends to read your work
I was on the podcast Forties Stories where we talked A LOT about friendship
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6 Responses
I loved Daisey Jones and the Six. However, I listened to it and I think that helped me get “swept away.” It was the first audiobook I listened to that had MULTIPLE readers – as in every character was a different voice (some very well known – Judy Greer, Benjamin Bratt). So it really felt as though I was listening/watching a rock documentary and it was super-cool.
I heard the audio is excellent!
Thank you for your reviews! I will have to add some of these to my list!
Thank YOU for the nice comment! 🙂
Thanks for the reviews! Too bad about Daisy Jones – I have high expectations for that, but I’ll still give it a try. Dwyer’s – on my beside table and I can’t wait!!!
Thank you for bringing Nora McCineny’s book to my attention. I loved her podcast, “Terrible, thanks for asking”. It was professionally produced and riveting, although sometimes hard to listen to because of the subject matter. Nora is funny, articulate, warm, and a great storyteller. Not sure if she’s going to continue creating new episodes but there’s a lot there to savor. And speaking of podcasts, Nina, I really enjoyed your interview on the Life in the Forties podcast. (Was that the name?)