Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States
By Pete Jordan
Published by HarperCollins Publishers, 2007
ISBN 0060896426, 9780060896423
353 pages
If you worked in a kitchen, you've seen the life of a dish dog. You know what the the job entails and the little (tiny) perks it provides. Dishwashers trade some of the worst conditions and cleaning jobs you can imagine for the freedom to leave as they please.
Following 'Dishwasher Pete' through his travels is a very sweet and genuine story. However it seems that the real story is about growing up - Giving up something that has been your whole life's work, to have a life.
This book has an awesome Portland connection that I won't spoil.
Three out of Four Stars.
Sex with kings: 500 years of adultery, power, rivalry, and revenge
By Eleanor Herman
Edition: illustrated
Published by HarperCollins, 2004
ISBN 0060585439, 9780060585433
287 pages
I pretty much said it all in Elanor Herman's other book, Sex with Queens. The first is regal women taking lovers, this is the other side regal men taking lovers.
This was Herman's first book, and it's clear her writing has matured in her second book. In this book she's still struggling to find her niche point of view. I would have to say that her second book is the better read, However both are interesting and easy to follow.
I did have to consult a royalty of Europe family tree online, to keep track of who was whose sister, bastard or mistress. Inbreeding was all the rage, no wonder by the Tudor period half of them are insane. Mistresses were allowed to clean out the Treasury and in some cases run the country, even after they stopped sleeping with the king in one case (You'll have to read the book to find out watch french lady got away with this). All in all a good read.
Two and Three Quarter Stars.
Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
By Nic Sheff
Published by Simon and Schuster, 2008
ISBN 1416913629, 9781416913627
325 pages
This book makes my teeth hurt. The few days I spent reading it - I kept getting headaches and I had no idea why, until I finished. I was clenching my teeth the whole read. I have a family member that has been a long time Methamphetamine user (for almost my whole life), I always describe my time with them like watching ten televisions all on different channels and the volume all the way up, It's so overwhelming that I grind/clench my teeth until my jaw is sore and my temples burn. This books reads on that pace.
There is not any time to breathe. Midway though the book things are looking up, he's cleaning up, I was feeling good about the story. Then I realized there's just too many pages left for everything not to fall apart. It was crushing. I really like that this book was about the good kid gone bad. This is a biography, and part of my hope is that he embellished parts - but the other part knows better.
Three out of Four Stars.
Hole in My Life
By Jack Gantos
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2004
ISBN 0374430896, 9780374430894
199 pages
Maybe it's not possible to write a "I'm going to prison" story without including the first night rape.. I have to imagine that there are more compelling aspects to a life behind bars. Don't mean to sound cold, I know that this is a major issue in prisons. Television, movies and books won't let me forget, they remind me so much so that I've come to regard most of them as stereotype. Prison story = rape.
Gantos' manages to only spend a few pages on the topic and the book's better for it. This is his story of going to jail for sailing a VERY large amount of hash into New York in the 1970's. I think at one point in the book it's pointed out at the time to be the largest bust in history. If you've got a kid over 12, this would be a good "This is why you don't want to go to prison" book, without all the pandering and preaching.
Three out of Four Stars.
Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea 
By Chelsea Handler
Published by Harpercollins, 2007
ISBN 0061173398, 9780061173394
224 pages
She calls her Dad Bitch Tits. Either this book missed the mark, or maybe I missed the fucking mark. Chelsea Handler can be really funny, but I'm just not sure what happened here. She was either trying too hard or not hard enough. Don't get me wrong, parts are really funny - But the book has no flow, it feels patched together with paperclips and rubber bands.
I really wanted to like this book. I gave it more than a college try, I feel like I stuck it out through couples counseling with this book. In the end it just wasn't worth it. I feel like I'm that uncool kid on the outside of the joke. Thats it! This book leaves me with the same feeling I got when the popular girls would point and laugh in my general direction. That feeling that even though it's something about you, you're not even cool enough to realize that there is something to laugh about.
One Star out of Four.
My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, & Fenway Park
By Steve Kluger
Edition: reprint
Published by Dial Books, 2008
ISBN 0803732279, 9780803732278
403 pages
I really can't recall much of this book. Three teens write stories. One's a diplomats daughter, ones gay and in love the other ones mom is dead so he decides to write her about the Red Sox. Its not even about the championship season, his story is set in 2003. I'd love to say more, but well... Nothing really stuck. I don't know if this book is bad or good. I decline to give this a star rating, it seems unfair. So in keeping with the style of the book, I offer this instead:
Dear Steve,
I appreciate your dedication to the craft of writing, but I regret to say that I can't really remember anything about your book at this time. I'll keep your name on file, mostly as a reminder that whatever it is; it's something to probably pass on, someone will get back to you if there is a change. Thank you for taking the time to think of me the reader.
Respectfully,
BobbieGirl
P.S. Its not Bobbi. Its Bobbie.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
By Maggie O'Farrell
Edition: revised
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008
ISBN 0156033674, 9780156033671
256 pages
The first few pages of the book foreshadow just where this story is going. Not so much foreshadow as yell at you with a bullhorn from on top of a flashing sign: Bad Things Are Coming. And yet, when you finally read it - It's still like a goddamn ton of bricks: What would you do if tomorrow you got a call informing you of the brand new Great Aunt you never knew existed? Your dead grandmothers sister has been in a mental institution for over sixty years, because your Grandmother was too ashamed to admit they were related. Further, what if you discovered that this woman should have never been locked away? What if she changes everything you thought you knew about your family and your self? Would you meet her?
The book asks those, and many other questions of you, and gives you plenty of room to maneuver yourself around in the pages. It's not that the characters are hollow or poorly written, but it's written in a manner that almost pushes you and your own family into the roles printed on the page.
Two out of Four Stars.
