Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

Welcome back everyone!       This year we kicked off book club with Born a Crime  by Trevor Noah.  Trevor Noah is a South African comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television hos, who is widely known for being on the Daily Show on Comedy Central.  This is his story of his time growing up in South Africa during and after the apartheid era.       We enjoyed the stories of him being mischievous, clever but overall naughtiness as a child. His challenging nature and the way he narrates the story to intertwine the deeper issues with funny outtakes, shows how much he has overcome. You can definitely see the comic being form and molded as he was growing up. One thing that the members found fascinating  was his ability and talent for learning languages. Using it as a tool for survival, to trick people, getting out of trouble, and overall to make connections with those who under normal circumstances...

        Yes Please is a memoir self-authored by SNL actress, writer, and comedian Amy Poehler.        Sort of.       When I say it's sort of a memoir, I mean that it is autobiographical in nature and there are mentions of Poehler's personal life--however, she does not dive deep into detail about her life. The parts of her life that she talks about, she does so matter-of-factly and briefly before moving onto the next topic. In addition to this, there are sections that she hands over to other people in her life in order that they might weigh in on her ideas...or maybe just because she was tired one night and needed additional chapters, she she handed the reins over to Seth Meyers and Mike Schur who give some outside perspective about what working with Poehler and being her friend is like.  ***       But the autobiographical bits are not the focus of the book. I put myself on hold for ...

     Not My Father’s Son is a memoir written by Alan Cumming, a well-known Scottish actor who has graced various forms of entertainment from film and television, to plays and Broadway.  When approached by the producers of the Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC), of course he fully threw himself into the show in hopes it would solve the family’s mystery that revolved around his maternal grandfather’s death. What was unforeseen was that a very similar path of finding out the man who was his grandfather, he was also figuring out the puzzling nature of his father. In a series of events that happened during the filming for the show, Alan had to confront his father and the painful memories of his past, in particular remembering the abuse he had suffered much of his life from his father. Being a successful person, it is hard to imagine the sort of pain that Alan has gone through in his younger years. In his book, the memories of his childhood and younger years are pa...

I like Sarah Silverman in small doses because the potty humor can get old after awhile. I always thought she stole the show with her bit in the film The Aristocrats . So I picked up her memoirs with the notion that it'd have its fair share of snarky laughs and foul potty humor. In that sense, I was pretty dead on. Bedwetter starts out like standard memoirs - Silverman spends a lot of time talking about her childhood and zany family. What I found to be the most enlightening portion of the entire book was her adolescent battles with depression and yes, bedwetting. For once, Silverman uses just enough humor to relay how these traumatic experiences have affected her. My only gripe memoir was that once Silverman reached a certain level of fame, she resorts to a whole lot of name dropping (with one exception involving a sweet anecdote about Chris Farley) and not much else. There are also a lot of pretty gross photos of her and her TV show cohorts.

Kathy Griffin is one of those polarizing figures - either you love her extremely scathing commentary on celebrities and pop icons or you can't stand her. I happen to be in the former category - I love her stand up act and her Bravo show My Life on the D List makes me laugh out loud so I had to pick up her memoir. There's the usual "overcoming adversity to make it in show business" stuff, although you really get the sense that Griffin had to claw her way to any shred of publicity and fame because of her schtick. Overall, a funny and quick read.

(Before I give my schpiel with this book, let me just say that if you ever get a chance to go see David Sedaris read, you should definitely jump at the opportunity. I've seen him about 4 times now and every time is absolutely hysterical. His voice is what really sells his materials and makes his material go from amusing to laugh out loud. As a side note, the 2 times I've met him afterwards during his book-signing, I totally made a jack ass out of myself and I also think he might have hit on my boyfriend too.) Anyway, this is Sedaris' 6th book and contains the same witty vignettes and wily anecdotes about his life in France, his family, and ever-so-patient boyfriend Hugh. The title refers to the longest story in the book in which Sedaris travels to Tokyo in an effort to quit smoking. The great thing about all of David Sedaris' stuff is that it's all so relatable and quirky in a "yeah, you know you're right!" kind of way. Whether it's trying to keep ...

The title caught my eye and the book jacket helped. This book is somewhat autobiographical as the author is, in fact an English American. She was born in America and adopted by an English couple who brought her up in England and Africa. She comes to America in search of her biological parents which turns out to be a mixed blessing, once she connects with them. Pippa(can't get much more English than that!) discovers some hidden talents, learns to be more American than her English upbringing had allowed and learns about true love along the way. Well worth reading if you're looking for something light, the ending was a bit trite, but hey, what's wrong with a happy ending now and then? --Reviewed by Pauline Brady

Again, another work where the title pretty much explains the book's purpose. In 2003, Julie Powell was on the brink of turning 30 and about to enter a midlife crisis when she decided to cook all of the recipes from Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. During that time, she blogged about each recipe and quickly gained notoriety with a large following on the 'Net. What's nice about this book is that Powell doesn't spend a lot of time rehashing her old blog entries; rather, she gives a behind-the-scene look about what went on during her year in the kitchen (i.e. her family struggling to accept that what she was doing was actually worthwhile, problems in her marriage, her growing waistline, etc) . Powell is a very funny writer, so readers can expect some laughs along with a great deal of "food talk" Most of the recipes sounded fabulous, with some exceptions. Calves brains, anyone?

Fans of David Sedaris and Dave Eggers will undoubtedly appreciate this memoir by Kimmel, nicknamed "Zippy" because of her boundless energy as a child. Growing up in Mooreland, Indiana (population: 300), Kimmel regales readers with stories of her youth, family and eccentric neighbors with a quirkyhumor and surprising sense of sarcasm. The fight between her father, their next door neighbor, and a few dozen hounds is definitely entertaining. Overall, Kimmel's vignettes come together for a charming narrative and the book concludes on an especially nice note.