I’ve read two memoirs by Jancee Dunn so far this year, and now I’ve finished her foray into fiction, Don’t You Forget About Me, which was so similar to her memoirs that I had to keep reminding myself that she was not, in fact, the main character. I had the same problem with Nora Ephron, after reading two memoirs then Heartburn, in which the main character bore a striking similarity to Ephron. Still, they tell you to write what you know, and that must have worked for […]
Badkittyuno’s Review #13: Candy Girl by Diablo Cody
I know, I know, it’s Diablo Cody. But listen, I am no big fan of hers. And this book occasionally contains lines like “Love is mysterious and rad, like Steve Perry from Journey”. BUT. This book was actually pretty freaking funny, and Cody (mostly) stays out of her own way with the text. At the age of 24, after moving to Minnesota for a boy, Cody decides that she wants to try out stripping. You know, for fun. In her own words: “For me, stripping was […]
Badkittyuno’s Review #12: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
“It was after Nick had left me that I learned the lesson: its when you don’t love somebody that you do notice the little things. Then you mind them. You mind them terribly.” This was a book by someone who was trying very hard to be the next Nora Ephron, and fell just short. It’s a cute book. Janzen has some witticisms and insights that made me chuckle. But Nora Ephron she is not. Rhoda Janzen returns home to her Mennonite parents after her husband […]
Badkittyuno’s Review #11: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
“Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved.” From Goodreads: Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping […]
Badkittyuno’s Review #10: Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? by Jancee Dunn
Jancee Dunn’s first memoir, But Enough About Me, was a collection of stories about rock and roll interviews and crazy nights in the city interspersed with reminiscences about her wholesome upbringing and goofy family. In Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?, the goofy family takes center stage, which I really liked. There might not be any shocking information about your favorite celebrity in this memoir, but Dunn’s obvious love for her rather dorky parents (then again, doesn’t everyone have dorky parents) and her two sisters shines […]
Badkittyuno’s Review #9: But Enough About Me by Jancee Dunn
“The process of engaging your celebrity is not unlike being a photographer at the Sears portrait studio. You just need a different version of a squeaky toy so their eyes follow you and they smile occasionally.” Jancee Dunn grew up in suburban Jersey, with two little sisters, a former Southern beauty queen for a mother and a JC Penney exec for a father. She somehow stumbled into a job writing for Rolling Stone, and ended up traveling around the world as she interviewed celebrity after celebrity. […]