Mosquitoland
This book was fantastic! It was recommended to me by a friend and I'm so happy I read it sooner than later. The narrator was very engaging and reminded me very much of Kristen Bell/Veronica Mars. The lead character had an attitude and sass that reminded me heavily of Veronica Mars so that clearly made me a little bias about the character. But it really is a fantastic story.
The synopsis from Goodreads:
"After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the "wastelands" of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.
So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane."
Why Not Me
Of course I moved Mindy Kaling's new book to the top of the list as soon as I got the audio book. I enjoyed this book almost as much as her first book. Hearing about how she fought for The Mindy Project, her body and confidence struggles, and also her advice and how she deals with these things was very inspiring. I've yet to encounter anything about or from Mindy Kaling that I don't love.
From Goodreads:
"In Why Not Me?, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it’s falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you’re constantly reminded that no one looks like you.
In “How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet’s Confessions,” Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, (“Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn’t the land of appropriate–this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman’s traditional hair color is honey blonde.”) “Player” tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. (“I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.”) In “Unlikely Leading Lady,” she muses on America’s fixation with the weight of actresses, (“Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they’re walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.”) And in “Soup Snakes,” Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak (“I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.”)"
I haven't decided on what book I'll be listening to next but I have a handful I'm considering. What books are you enjoying?
xo Jen
I've really been wanting to read Mosquitoland!
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