Book Reviews: Mindy, Facebook + The Dinner

Today and the next two days in NWA are cold, rainy and grey. Bleh. (Where are the WARM + SUNNY April showers??) All I want to do is curl up in sweats with a big cup of coffee, Bon Iver floating through the apartment and a book that could enrapture me for days. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen. However, if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in such a situation, below are a few recommendations.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) – I’ve already talked once on my blog about how much I love Mindy Kaling. Seriously, she’s the best. If I was still unsure about her as I started reading her book, I was hooked by page 5. In her intro she’s answering questions about the book and her last question/answer is “What else should you know about me? (1) There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it. (2) I would like to be friends with Beyonce Knowles.” AMEN and AMEN! (Also, the dress code for her funeral is to be: chic devastated. Can we just be best friends now?)
Grade: A+

Lean In – Quite opposite from Mindy’s book, I decided to read this book after a co-worker told me about.If you’ve been following the media, you know there is SO much controversy surrounding this book, and I honestly don’t understand why. It was practical, honest and smart. In every single chapter I could relate to something she was saying. No matter what you believe about Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) or criticisms you’ve heard about this book, if it inspires more women to LEAN IN and take control of their careers as it did for me, that’s all that really matters.
Grade: A

The Dinner – I’m only about halfway through this book, but so far it’s brilliant. There is one setting – the dinner table at a restaurant. There is one family – the Lohmanns. There are a lot of topics of conversation, but only one secret underlying it all and underneath every bite of humor, you’re trying to figure out what it is.
Grade: B+

Furious Love – This is next on my list when I finish The Dinner. I’ve always been drawn to Old Hollywood – Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean and the stars of this novel – Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Their love is known as one of the most passionate of all time. They were married and divorced twice and though he was remarried at the time of his death, Liz said she believed they would have been married for a third and final time. Passion, glamour, betrayal, wealth – what more could one need in a novel??

xo xo