A Tale of Two Lea(h)s

Note: Today is now Saturday, but I started writing it yesterday. Carry on.

Today is Friday, isn’t it? I’m on spring break and took off from my other job to actually have some time to myself, so every morning when I wake up (for the past two days) I remind myself of what day it is. It’s nice not having to set an alarm.

Last night I went to the Penguin Teen Tour at Parnassus! It was so much fun, and I really enjoyed getting to meet all of the authors. April is the only one I had met before, so the others were new. I’ve talked with Rachel on Twitter before, so it was so nice to finally meet her.

Before going to the event, I stopped by the Nashville Humane Association where I  volunteer. They close at 5, and I had planned to get sushi before heading to Parnassus, but I just wasn’t hungry. So at 5:30, I plopped down in a chair at Parnassus. I brought my headphones and mp3 player to listen to my audiobook, so the time went by pretty quickly.

I’m currently listening to Troublemaker by Leah Remini. Lately I’m listening to audiobook memoirs that are read by the authors. I love it. This book is so interesting, scary, and funny. She goes into detail about the ins and outs of Scientology, and it sounds so complicated. I don’t know how those in it keep everything straight. But the book is so funny. I was sitting there and laughing – trying not to laugh out loud lest I seem like a crazy person – but instead I’m laughing to myself and still shaking. If anyone paid attention to me, I still probably looked crazy.

I am in love with this book. Remini’s Brooklyn accent is awesome, and it feels like she’s sharing everything with only you. I think most people are fascinated by Scientology as the only things we ever hear about it are really out there. While the religion isn’t what makes up 100% of the book, it does play a very large role as Remini grew up in the church.

On the other end of the spectrum, I also listened to Lea Michele’s Brunette Ambition. At first, I was excited about this book. I love Broadway and watched Glee back in the day. Michele got her start on Broadway as a child, and I wanted to hear more about that. However, her Broadway career was just a small sample of this book. Most of it is made up of lists – favorite foods, movies, designers, skin-care tips. There is an entire chapter about skin-care. She even lists things she keeps in her trailer refrigerator. I don’t care! Even her experience with Glee takes up about 20 minutes of the audiobook.

While I loved hearing about Leah Remini’s life, Lea Michele’s book would have made a great Cosmo article – not an entire book.

 

 

Monday Musts – Queen of Hearts, Lindsey Stirling, and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

I skipped last week’s Monday Musts (started by Lovin’ Los Libros) because I had no time. I teach and work a second job and just don’t plan. I blog as I feel like it, and sometimes there aren’t enough minutes in the day – and I refuse to go without sleep. 🙂 Anyway…

Everything on today’s Monday Must list is related. On the surface they have nothing in common at all. However, they all played a part in my trip to the TruthRiders event in Asheville a couple of weeks ago. My best friend lives in Knoxville, so I went to her house for the weekend, and we went to Asheville. First, it snowed. Well, actually, first, I had a migraine from hell and wasn’t sure I would be able to leave her house. Coke in a glass bottle and some Advil helped bring the migraine down to a more manageable state. Then it snowed on our way. In the mountains. (We kind of thought we were going to die.) We finally made it to the event about 30 minutes late. My head was still hurting, so I didn’t pay attention to anything that was said. I just tried to stay out of the way and will my head to stop pounding. We finally got up to Susan and Veronica after what seemed like a year. (Time goes by very slowly when you’re trying to function with a migraine.) Because I had TEN books for Susan to sign – most of which belonged to Johnny – my friend and I were the last people in line other than Stephanie Perkins and other local authors. We had decided that we wouldn’t talk forever so that we wouldn’t keep everyone even longer. Plus, we both had met Susan multiple times before, and I had met Veronica on an exciting tornado-filled night a few years ago.

Well wouldn’t you know that both of them are so delightful that we ended up chatting with them for far too long. It was Susan’s birthday, and I was happy to find out that we’re basically the same age. (She’s a year younger than me, but I thought she was several years older. My friend even mentioned that she looks like she’s gotten older in the sense that she now looks like she could legally buy beer. She in no way looks her actual age.)

Anyway, at the book store, they have a tree shelf thing with ARCs, and if you spend so much, you can pick out an ARC. Being that I am obsessed with all things Alice in Wonderland, I freaked out when I spied one book.