Showing posts with label Autobiography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autobiography. Show all posts

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham: Book Review


From the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO's Girls comes a hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays that establishes Lena Dunham as one of the most original young talents writing today.

In Not that Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one's way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and, most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.

Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not that Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. "I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you," Dunham writes. "But if I can take what I've learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile."

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

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Lena Dunham is an actress that I have yet to learn much more about in terms of actually just watching her on her tv show, Girls which she wrote, produced and directed. Since finishing her memoir I feel like I only really know who she was when she was younger and not as successful as she is now. The book includes almost every embarrasing moment, every down side to life and every upside, the perks of living in New York and not needing to worry about getting your license because who does that in a city where everyone gets around in cabs anyway. Lena has always been destined for success and a job in something where she can say the word, "vagina" ten times in a row without getting fired or having weird looks from her co-workers.

Lena is funny, sarcastic and intelligent and all this shines throughout her constant witty humor. The book is ordered in a range of topics which include personal body issues such as weight, diets, and sex. She also mentions love, relationships and friendships; all of which have a completely different outcome. We get an exclusive sneak peak into her schedule of what she ate each day and the count of calories so that we can start feeling self conscious about what we ate in the day and start counting the calorie intake of that. However, it's all good - this is Lena Dunham and she is teaching us that we can do everything she's done and still become a Hollywood success like herself if we dare to dream. I feel like the point of this book is to completely reveal herself as an open and honest person to prove that not everyone who makes it in Hollywood is all perfect and pristine. They're not all the type of people who will f*ck their way to the top in the hopes of big money and fancy parties so they can say they talked to JLo but really they just fell into her while drunk off their ass and said a brief, "Sorry".

Things I LOVE about Not That Kind Of Girl:

* Lena is totally raw and open about her experiences! If there was a definition of a type of girl that literally did not give two asses about what anyone thought of her or what she put in a memoir, the answer to that my friend, is Lena Dunham. She is such an out-there chick and to be fully honest I would absolutely love to have an interview with her and then go out for drinks after to get drunk and talk about what life means. Lena is the girl that you can't expect to be who you want and I appreciate people like that. We need more people in the world like Lena Dunham.

* The "10 Things I've Learned..." lists are the most hilarious parts of this book and I will re-read every single list again just to laugh out loud! If there is anything I've learnt about reading Lena's memoir, it is that I need to add the "10 things..." list because everybody loves reading ten basic things you like, love, hate or just learnt about something or someone. Okay wait, nah that's just me but if that's you too then I like you already.

* I feel sorry for the shit she's gone through even though she doesn't make you feel like that on purpose. It's the point of a memoir, you're honest with your readers! I absolutely love how she's so honest about her relationships and what she's had to deal with in the past. I'm so glad she's been able to find someone deserving of her and who makes her happy. The dicks who have just used her as a play-thing make me wanna go hug her and then hunt them down with a paintball gun and shoot them in the crotch. Yeah I'm a little sadistic when it comes to getting guys back for being an asshole to either me or others. Lena should have that friend.

Overall I have given this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars because she is so descriptive and has written her memoir almost like if her life was just out of a drama novel. It pulls you in and even though my eyes sometimes got lazy and didn't want to read or process some of the "big" words, Lena really looked like she put so much effort into this book so she really deserves some extra credit for her work. I hope that her tv show, Girls does really well in the future. I think I might start watching it at some point.

Thank you HarperCollins New Zealand for the review copy! Go like their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Harpercollinsnz?fref=ts

Go add Not That Kind Of Girl to your Goodreads list HERE


Go buy it on MightyApe with 1 day delivery in New Zealand HERE

Buy it on Book Depository with free shipping world wide HERE

Thursday, 22 October 2015

They Let Me Write A Book! by Jamie Curry: Book Review


“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Jamie, I’m 19-years-old. I make videos on the Internet, and enough people watched them that they let me write a book. I know. What is life?”


WELCOME TO JAMIE’S WORLD

Inside these pages is my life so far, and what I’ve learnt – or haven’t learnt – along the way. Read about my cowboy hat years, the year I dug a big hole, and the time I pulled down my pants at a badminton game.

I’ll tell you my top travel tips (drink water), how to have fun at a school ball (don’t go) and how to be an adult (eat an oyster). And I’ll talk about YouTube, because I suppose that’s what got us into this mess in the first place …



SPOILER FREE REVIEW
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Since reading Rosie Waterland's memoir, I made a deal with myself to not judge books such as these too much on poor grammar, punctuation mistakes or bad paragraphing. Basically I feel like the only reason you should do a review on an autobiography is the fact that you enjoy it so much that you want others to read it or it's so bad that you've got to be a hardcore fan to even appreciate the effort put in. Well here I am, writing one hell of a fabulous review (again) because this is DEFINITELY a book that I want you all to read. Jamie Curry is a nineteen year old kiwi/New Zealander girl, much like myself, who makes videos on YouTube and Facebook. Her rise to fame started when she casually started up a Facebook page with friends as a joke to make funny memes and basically make people laugh, even if it meant poking fun at herself to do so. The startling number of ten million likes on her page called, "Jamie's World" helped her gain worldwide attention and basically gave her a kickstart on her "YouTube" career where she continued her funny antics in the form of parody videos and basically speaking about hilarious situations where just her personality alone could make you giggle your heart out. Personally, having many friends online from overseas, I can tell you that the majority of them know exactly who Jamie is and what she is well known for.

As soon as I received this early copy of Jamie's book from HarperCollins NZ I literally sat down immediately (after tweeting about it of course which later lead to Jamie personally retweeting and following me so I'm pretty stoked about that) and started to binge read it. It literally took me two and a half hours before I finished it. I'm totally serious about that. It is quite a small book compared to some but don't get me wrong, it's all about quality, not quantity and that's definitely the vibe I got from reading it. I absolutely loved reading all about the weird, childish moments Jamie had throughout her sporty childhood and the infamous cowboy hat that she never took off, something which I'm sure she'll one day find some way of bringing back into fashion. Out with Lorde's witch's blood lipstick and in with the outdated-but-still-cool-because-australian's-wear-them cowboy hats. To be fully honest, I found myself feeling a little awkward when I got up to the page where she tells you to colour her picture in. Not because I don't enjoy colouring in, I actually find that activity quite soothing and stress relieving. It's just because I feel like one day if I actually did well enough with my career and became friends with her, I'd have to confess that I coloured her picture in for hours on end and even fangirled a tiny bit when she followed me on Twitter (not awkward whatsoever). I often found myself laughing out loud from some of the things she mentioned and how she said it. Of course, having watched Jamie's videos on YouTube for a few years now I feel like I am accustomed with her humor and therefore constantly thinking, Totally Jamie, I so get that. And don't worry, I totally get where you're coming from. I was a strange kid too.

If you are already a massive Jamie fan then this book is definitely for you. If you aren't then if you don't get cheesy humor and understand the meaning of having fun even if it means talking to a camera and making people laugh for a job, then I don't know whether you'd enjoy this so much. If you are just simply curious to peer more into the life of Jamie and figure out what makes her tick then yeah, totally! Go buy this because it'll be the best two and a half hours of your life. Or five days. However long it takes you to read it. However, don't be fooled by her typical facade of humor, Jamie does eventually get pretty candid with her personal struggles with OCD, anxiety and online hate. Reading about her internal struggles made me realise even more that she's definitely just like any other person. She's a small town/country girl who struggles with being in large crowds and needs to have a clutter free environment. I personally related to her a lot just with her anxiety and panic attacks, God knows how many I've had to go through and nearly had. Trust me, it's not pretty for the person or anyone else around them while the episode is happening unless that someone knows exactly how to help. I feel like everyone who has ever gone crazy over seeing Jamie in public or at an event needs to buy and read this book to fully understand what it's like for her to deal with stuff like that while trying to keep a straight face. Basically, this novel shows Jamie inside and out and gives everyone a better idea of who she really is and not always just someone who is constantly smiling in front of a camera for our entertainment. Jamie is one of the coolest and weirdest people I've ever heard about (hopefully one day I'll get to say "meet") but that's just how we like her and I'm sure she will appreciate all her fans and anyone else reading her book to understand her and have a respect for her personal needs as a human being.

I have given this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars because even though it wasn't life changing for me personally, I really did love it and it made my day just that little bit better. I feel better knowing that she's just a chill chick who I would personally love to have as a best friend and knowing that there is even a celebrity out there who knows exactly what it's like to have internal struggles which will most likely eventually be put out there for everyone to see. Jamie is an awesome icon for kids, teenagers and even adults out there and after you have read her autobiography, you'll most likely be rethinking everything you've ever thought and be asking yourself, "What is life"?

Thank you HarperCollins New Zealand for the review copy! Go like their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Harpercollinsnz?fref=ts


Go add They Let Me Write A Book to your Goodreads list HERE


Go buy it on MightyApe with 1 day delivery in New Zealand HERE

Buy it on Book Depository with free shipping world wide HERE

Are you suffering with a mental illness such as depression or anxiety? Here are some helpful links from BetterHelp that you can check out and find tips on how to live a happier life:

BetterHelp Advice - Anxiety
BetterHelp Advice - Depression
How To Deal with Depression: Tips, Techniques And Finding the Right Treatment

How Do I Find A Therapist Near Me?