"Official Book Club Selection" by Kathy Griffin

Before I jump into the review, I just want to say thank you and welcome to my new readers. I joined bookblogs.ning.com last week and since then, have found so many awesome book bloggers! It's a wonderful community, and I am so excited and happy to be a part of it. It's nice to find other people who love books as much as I do, and everyone has been so nice and welcoming. It's been a lot of fun reading other people's blogs and reviews, and I've found many new books I'm interested in. I'm really happy to be a part of all this! :)

Now onto the book. . . I just finished Kathy Griffin's new memoir, Official Book Club Selection, and thought it was fantastic. I'm sure most people know who she is, but if you don't, she's an actress and Emmy Award winning comedian. The television show that made her popular was the sitcom Suddenly Susan in the 90's, and she currently has her own reality show called My Life on The D-List, which is on Bravo, and has been doing stand up comedy for many years.

This memoir chronicles her life, particularly the years she spent trying to make it in show business. It deals with many different issues, both personal and professional. From reading this book, I definitely saw a more clear picture of Kathy Griffin and a side of her that she has rarely shared with the public before. Not only was the book hilarious and witty, as expected with Kathy Griffin, but she had some serious moments as well which made it more meaningful and genuine. She talks a lot about her family, including her late brother Kenny who she severed ties with after she discovered he was sexually assaulting people. She also discusses her parents a lot as well, with plenty of funny stories to go along. The book even included a very sarcastic Reading Group Guide and Discussion Questions at the end which were hilarious! If you read this book, be sure to read those two sections afterwards.

After reading this book, I feel a great sense of respect for Kathy Griffin because I'd never realized before all the obstacles she has had to overcome. She also shares a lot of the experiences she's had by generally saying whatever she wants whenever she wants. While it's gotten her into trouble quite a bit, it's both hilarious and admirable, because she's someone who is not afraid to be who she is, which is the best thing about her.

Many memoirs can be dry and slow-paced at times, but this one was not. It was great and kept me interested the entire way through. I am a Kathy Griffin fan, watching her show from time to time, but have never been a HUGE fan, and I still loved the book. I would certainly recommend this to anyone who has even a slight interest in her, or has ever watched and enjoyed My Life on the D-List. She is a riot, for sure. All in all, this was an excellent book and I loved it.

In other book related news, I got some used but new-for-me books this week. I got them for free from a woman on Craigslist (which I love, by the way, for getting cheap books!). It was about 10 books or so, most of which were Dean Koontz and Harlan Coben, so those will be fun to read. They write a lot of suspense and thrillers. My friend also had a Halloween party and decided to do a book exhange there. Unfortunately, one of my friends (also named) Stephanie and I were the only ones who brought anything. I traded her a Marian Keyes book for The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler which looks pretty good (though I wasn't thrilled with the movie. . . but the books are almost always better so I have faith in this book)! Hope you all found some good books this week too!

Rating: 5/5

Currently Reading: Hope in a Jar by Beth Harbison, who wrote Shoe Addicts Anonymous and its followup, Secrets of a Shoe Addict, both of which I really enjoyed when I read them last year. I would classify her novels as fun chick-lit with a bit of a serious side at times, so not total fluff (which I also love). She's a great author, and I've been looking forward to Hope in a Jar for a while. Review should be up next week sometime.