2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

Let's talk about the books we've read this month!

I am very happy with my pick for the month, An Unsuitable Boy by Karan Johar. If you like Bollywood, this is a really fun read.

I read The Book of Leon: Philosophy of a Fool which any fan of Leon from Curb Your Enthusiasm will love it. The whole book is written from the point of view of Leon so not for those faint of heart haha

So far I have read Bunny Tales. it was kind of a hot mess, in that it felt like the author was trying to convince herself that life in the mansion wasn't so bad, but really it was awful. I am waiting on two other ex-Bunny books so i'll be interested to see how they compare.

Now i'm working on Uganda Be Kidding Me. I don't know if Chelsea has changed or I have but I her books just aren't all that funny to me anymore.

Did a big push to finish Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, since it's a shorter book. I did end up enjoying it and it's making me curious about the series, but I guess I was expecting it to be this huge take down and it's not, exactly. It's her personal account of her time in there... of why she believed in the church and how it made her feel. When she described how it made her feel as a teen and what it was teaching her (the topics sound like things one might learn in therapy, but I'm sure with a twist), I 100% got it. I was like, "Yea, it would be nice to feel that way." That was the stand out part of this novel to me. (I will say that she does recognize that those feelings of empowerment were because of manipulation by the org.)

I read Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard bc I saw it at the airport on the 30th of October, and had it on my to-read for aaages bc his comedy was so formative for me as a teen lol.

I liked it! The content wasn't 100% of interest to me most of the time, but the way he writes about his life is very charming and I found the way he talked about his gender/sexuality so interesting and affecting. Also, really related to the way he talked about building his career, finding the confidence within to do what you want, and just pushing forward, using that confidence as a shield - really inspiring. I want to end up doing as much random, interesting stuff in my life as he does, just totally unrelated to my career, just doing it bc it's challenging and enjoyable lol.

You can tell that my busy period at work is over because I actually got a lot of books in for this month's challenge. I started off with Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison. I definitely enjoyed this book. I do think there are times she is trying to make herself come off as a little more naive than she actually was but it's kind of to be expected and overall it was a good read.

I followed that up with one that I think is sort of borderline since I don't know if Greg Sestero qualifies as a celebrity or not but The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. This was a pretty fascinating look into the making of The Room and I'm very excited for James Franco's adaptation tbh. Side note - I've heard the audiobook of this is amazing for Sestero's impression of Tommy so I might need to check that out as well.

Next up was Coreyography by Corey Feldman and I honestly found it a little heartbreaking because the guy never really stood a chance. Stage parents are the fucking worst. :\

After that downer I checked out Bonfire by Krysten Ritter and honestly? I loved this book. It was pretty impressive for a first time author and I hope that she writes more in the future. I kind of got Veronica Mars vibes from it which I loved. This was honestly one of my favorite books that I've read this year.

I wouldn't call the next one a positive experience but I finally tackled Tyra Banks' YA novel Modelland. This was actually the longest of the books that I read this month and honestly... it was pure nonsense. Like did this have an editor? So much of it just sounded like word salad... albeit word salad that you definitely read in Tyra's voice so... kudos to her on clearly writing this completely by herself I guess. Honestly I'm not even totally sure what happened in this book. Would not recommend.

And I finished up this month's challenge with Revenge of the Nerd: Or . . . The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger by Curtis Armstrong. I've read a lot of celebrity memoirs and this one really felt much more honest than a lot of ones that I've read. Some tidbits from the filming of various projects (including the time he got really annoyed with Tom Cruise and managed to drunkenly convince him that Louis Armstrong was his grandfather) was interesting. As a Supernatural fan I have to say that the chapter on that show was such a bummer to find out how he was treated on the convention circuit by the con organizers (and genuinely disappointed the fandom seems to be ignoring this for some reason?) but overall a good read!

Damn, Kelly!

After reading Bunny Tales, i finished Uganda Be Kidding Me. it was....not great. Not very funny, not very interesting. I think i've outgrown Chelsea, which is a shame cause some of her early books had me rolling.

Then i finished the month up with Here Comes Trouble. I'm not 100% sure Michael Moore counts as a 'celebrity' but i read it anyway. It was very well written but honestly in many ways it was kind of boring. For the most part Moore has had a pretty average upbringing and while he certainly has had some crazy experiences (crashing a press-only photo-op in Germany with the President!), overall the book was more like reading 400 pages about you're average guy - which makes him more likable (to me anyway) but not super-exciting to read about.

I read two of Carrie Fisher's books; Wishful Drinking and The Princess Diarist. I really enjoyed both of them. Carrie was such a great writer.

I just finished The Princess Diarist. I didn't love it. I guess I never saw that much appeal in Harrison so I couldn't relate to her infatuation at all and it made me a little uncomfortable even though I don't mind Leia/Han at all. I think I might have enjoyed it more 10 years ago though, I remember feeling similar angst at that age. The long chunks of fan dialog was a snore to get through too. Overall it was just ok.

I'm updating so late! I finished In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero at the end of November, but waited to post until after I finished The Princess Diarist, which just happened since I kept putting it off. Both books were decent! I appreciated In the Country We Love not only for the family story, but also for the story of her rise to fame since I've watched both of her shows. The Princess Diarist had some great parts, but other parts I skimmed, like her actual diary entries and the autographs chapter with so much rambling from fans! I do want to read Wishful Drinking by her though if it has the same conversational writing style that parts of The Princess Diarist had.