Sophie Atwater is the earnest, hardworking PR agent at the heart of The Star Attraction. The job doesn’t pay well but the perks include leftover celebrity swag, going to A-list events and restaurants as a business expense, and hobnobbing with Hollywood royalty. She is one of the most valued agents at the firm Bennett/Peters and when the opportunity to work with rising star ... Read More...
Seating Arrangements
Seating Arrangements is the weekend long drama of the Van Meter family, gathered in their house on Waskeke Island, off the New England coast. For the family patriarch it is a time largely viewed as a disturbance to the normal stately pace of his life. The tiny minded Winn Van Meter, lives up to his last name by meting out every penny and every action as receivable or payable ... Read More...
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Oftentimes when a book is filled with such outrageous, politically incorrect, hilarious humor it can become one note. Thankfully, when handled by a gifted author with the ability to create multi-faceted characters and situations this is not the case with Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Maria Semple is one of those people whose work you read and think, “I’d really like to go out ... Read More...
Portlandia: A Guide for Visitors
In 2011 the realm of sketch comedy was turned on its ear through the wacky genius of Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen. In a small Pacific Northwest town called Portlandia they birthed a roster of characters that were found to be unanimously funny by millions in America and funny in that too-close-to-home way for those of us who live in that real world city, Portland. In an ... Read More...
Does This Church Make Me Look Fat?
I missed Rhoda Janzen’s first book, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home so jumping into her newest book, Does This Church Make Look Fat?, was a bit like going to a new high school your sophomore year. Yes, they speak the language but you don’t know any of the backstory or the cliques. Also, I’ll admit it. I wanted to read the book because the title made me ... Read More...
Judging a Book by Its Lover: A Field Guide to the Hearts and Minds of Readers Everywhere
Judging a Book by Its Lover is a sharp, funny look at the world of books and reading by one of its biggest fans, Lauren Leto. A law school dropout who gained fame through her website, Texts From Last Night, Leto is also a voracious and thoughtful reader. Old-school jargon would call her a bookworm but that’s a term she’s working to discard: In this era of social media and ... Read More...
