Books I’ve read recently

Hey! It’s that Guy!: The Fametracker.com Guide to Character Actors, by Tara Ariano and Adam Sternbergh – One of my minor superpowers is being able to link That Guy in the movie/TV show we’re watching with either the actor’s name or at least one other film or TV show the actor’s appeared in. Which is kind of amazing, given how few films I’ve actually seen. I saw this book at Goodwill and decided I wanted to read through it and up my game. I was a little disappointed by how few women overall and men of color were in it (no Margo Martindale, Beth Gant, Lilli Taylor, Tonye Patano, Fadwa El Guindi, Brian George, Adam Beach, Wes Studi, Daryll Mitchell, or BD Wong), but then that right there makes this book a reasonable reflection of Hollywood’s hiring practices overall. This book is a great place to start if you’re into movies and haven’t really thought much about the second- and third-banana actors in them.

 Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen – I had a hard time getting into this. I’d heard it was such a great book, such a great movie. As I read it, I kept waiting for the Great to happen. I don’t necessarily mind the non-linear storytelling, but I had a hard time ‘hanging my hat’ on why she was really there in the first place, why she was subsequently released, and why telling this story was important (to her or to her readers). I thought it might just have been me, but my husband read it as well, and thought exactly the same thing.

Little Free Library: Take a Book, Share a Book, by Margaret Aldrich – Again, I found the writing less engaging than I’d hoped. Lots of good info on the Little Free Library movement/phenomenon. Some neat little projects towards the end. Some lovely sidebars about specific LFLs and some interviews with certain Stewards. I was disappointed repeatedly in the main text, though, when the author would describe some neat things people were doing with LFLs in their community, and there would be pictures of LFLs, but they didn’t go together at all. I wanna see pictures of the people and LFLs you’re describing!  I’d recommend it to someone who wanted to know more about the LFL project, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it otherwise.

What are you reading these days? Seriously – I want to know!