All tagged Humor

Amy Poehler's Yes Please is Pretty Fantastic, Y'all

Amy Poehler's Yes Please is Pretty Fantastic, Y'all

Sarah Moon
Books

I have a weird relationship with celebrity-penned books. I loved Mindy Kaling's book and cannot wait for her follow-up, out next year. I really loved Esther Williams' memoir, Million Dollar Mermaid. But, I haven't been a fan of many others. (Including the one written by the female comedian that everyone but me adores.) 

However, I do love Amy Poehler.

I can tell you my very clear memory of first being exposed to her: It was the late-1990s and I was still able to stay up and watch late night television and she played Andy Richter's Conan-obsessed little sister and it was bonkers. I'm certain I'd never seen anyone quite like her before. When she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, I even managed to stay up and watch her quite a bit. 

 

Dear Googler, Volume 5

Dear Googler, Volume 5

Sarah Moon
Dear Googler

Dear Googler,

It's been awhile since we've posted an installment of "Deear Googler," the feature in which we answer the questions of Googler searchers who stumble upon Clear Eyes, Full Shelves thanks to the magic of search engines.

You asked, we answered.

XOXOXOX,

Clear Eyes, Full Shelves

 

Review: Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Review: Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Sandra
Books

Rosemary Clement-Moore’s name on a book assures me that I’m in for a delightful and clever  novel. It also translates to some late nights of reading until my eyes will no longer continue a marathon session filled with humor and a fantastical world.

The Goodnight family’s funny, eccentric, unique and lovable and they have the gift of magic. Their magic has wrapped itself around me from my first read of author Rosemary Clement-Moore’s Texas Gothic to her latest novel Spirit and Dust.

I first met the Goodnights with all their magical quirkiness Texas Gothic, which I loved for its humor and a thick coat of mystery with a few Nancy Drew references. None of the Goodnights fit neatly into predicable package, which is true of Spirit and Dust’s main character, Daisy Goodnight, who possesses a magical talent with a deadly twist.

The local cops kept staring at me. I couldn’t decide if it was the plaid miniskirt in subarctic temperatures, or the fact that they’d never seen anyone talk to the dead before.

Review: Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James (aka That Time That Sandra Read a Romance Novel)

Review: Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James (aka That Time That Sandra Read a Romance Novel)

Sandra
Rookie Reads, Books

I am not usually a fan of romances, but Julie James' Practice Makes Perfect is fantastic.

It brings to mind a delightful movie and cast: You've Got Mail. Indeed this one would make a great film. Julie James' romantic and funny novel has maybe even hooked me into romance as a genre. Anything that makes me laugh, think, "awwww how sweet" and look kindly on the characters and their actions, is a big win for me!

​The setting of Practice Makes Perfect is a fast-paced, high-pressure law firm in Chicago. The characters are a couple of thirty-two year old lawyers on the cusp of making partner in said firm. Payton and J.D.  had a contentious, but outwardly civil, relationship during their years working at the firm. But all bets are off when, only days before the announcement of promotions to partner, they're told that only one can come out victorious. 

They've each been at the firm for eight years with tension building to a nearly explosive level between them. The pressure isn't all it's cracked up to be. Everything is ready to explode between them as they await the firm's decision as to who will make partner. Whoever doesn't make the grade is expected to resign--immediately. Gone. No longer welcome.

A prank war breaks out between the two would-be law firm partners, making each scene crackle with humor and chemistry.

One hilarious scene ensues when during an important court case one of Payton's beloved Jimmy Choo heels breaks; she catapults into the jury box, rips the seam of her pencil skirt straight up the back and exposes her thong-clad butt to the courtroom. All right then! All hell breaks out in the courtroom along with much hilarity.

Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Sarah Moon
Books
...I had a shiny new plan.

And like most of my plans, it involved deviousness, blatant lying, and coffee.

I started with the coffee first.

About a month ago, I re-watched all five seasons of Alias (and, yes, I'm still mad about the suckitude of the final season) and found myself wishing that I could find books that fit the Alias-style mold: spying, action, romance and humor all wrapped into a quickly-paced, mysterious storyline.

Around the same time, I went to ALA's mid-winter exhibits and ended up in a conversation with one of the representatives from Bloomsbury about how I wished there were more young adult novels that were full of smart humor (I'd just finished reading and loving The Reece Malcolm LIst, which nails that). The rep then dug into her stash of review copies and handed me Robin Benway's Also Known As.

Strangely, not only had a never read Benway, I'd never even heard of her, despite that seemingly everyone on the internet adored Audrey, Wait!​

Clearly, the reading stars aligned, converging as Also Known As, a fun, fresh and absolutely charming novel.

Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Sarah Moon
Books
I was in the unusual position of holding all the cards. I had to decide what to do, and only I could do it. And I was going to do it. I had faced frightening things before and had been powerless. But not this time.

Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star was a real surprise for me in 2011. It had a bit of everything--mystery, paranormal, romance, humor--and it all came together in quickly-paced, gripping read.

The long-awaited sequel, The Madness Underneath, continues in the same vein, but amps up the over-arching intrigue factor, building the overarching mystery that began in the first Shades of London novel.

Note: the rest of review contains mild spoilers for the previous book in the series. If you want to remain wholly unspoiled about The Name of the Star and are curious about starting reading this series, please read Sandra's spoiler-free review of that book. 

The Madness Underneath revisits Rory, a Louisiana native in England who survived a run-in with the ghost of Jack the Ripper in the first novel, but was also profoundly transformed--in a very literal way. She's now a terminus, a human who can vanquish ghosts on contact. Her background means that she's mostly unflappable, even to her weird circumstances.

It’s possible that I have a higher tolerance for crazy talk than most people because of my background. I’ve channeled multicolored angels with my cousin and gone for discount waxes with my grandmother. I know two people who have started their own religions. One of my neighbors was arrested for sitting on top of the town equestrian statue dressed as SpiderMan. He just climbed up there with a few loaves of bread and tore them up and threw bread at anyone who got near him. Another neighbor puts up her Christmas decorations in August and goes caroling on Halloween to “fight the devil with song.”

Rory finds herself back in London after her parents sequestered her away in Bristol. She's rejoined her classmates at Wexford, the boarding school she left after her incident with the aforementioned ghost. Understandably, Rory has a difficult time adjusting, especially since her friends from the ghost catching squad (I call them the Ghost Busters in my head, but they're actually called The Shades), Stephen, Callum and Boo, seem to be missing. She's alone with her weird ability.

Review: The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

Review: The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

Sarah Moon
Books
We walk outside to the parking lot. Sunshine and blue skies. Again. I open my mouth to let her know about the name mistake, except that I really like the thought of being Devan Malcolm. And if I tell her, she’ll call up New City, get it fixed, and I’ll have to go back to being Devan Mitchell. And suddenly she’s the last person I want to be.

When just the right book comes along at just the right time, it's a real treat. Such is the case of Amy Spalding's debut, The Reece Malcolm List, which ticked so very many of my want-to-read boxes. 

Devan Mitchell finds herself suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar world when she's shipped to Los Angeles from a small town near St. Louis to live with the mother she never knew following the death of her father. Devan knew very little about her mother, aside from that she's a best-selling novelist who seemingly never had an interest in a relationship with her daughter.

When she arrives in L.A., Devan's world transforms. Always an accomplished singing and hardcore musical theater fan, she's enrolled in a private performing arts high school where rather than being the weird musical girl, she's kind of, well,normal. 

Devan chronicles the little bits of information she learns about her unusual mother in a notebook, while navigating her new, vibrant world. There's a bit of romance and a lot of unusual and realistic family issues explored in this memorable debut with a knock-out authentic teen voice. 

If I were to make a Devan-style list about The Reece Malcolm List, my review would look something like this...

Things I Love About The Reece Malcolm List

Dear Googler, Volume 3

Dear Googler, Volume 3

Sarah Moon
Dear Googler

I had to fit one more of these in before the end of the year, because, you know… it’s really, really fun. 

This time, I’m highlighting some of my favorite ultra-random searches. 

“Naked Floor Scrubbing”

Y’all, I don’t know why you’re Googling “naked floor scrubbing” nor do I understand why that search term leads you to this post on Clear Eyes, Full Shelves; moreover, I do not understand why everyone searching for “naked floor scrubbing” is in Australia, but I’m sorry to disappoint folks who are landing on this nerdy blog instead of finding what you’re looking for.

All I can do is caution that naked floor scrubbing seems like a bad idea for a number of reasons, particularly if bleach is involved. 

That is all.

“Playing football in the rain.”

Yes, please. 

I am not a big football fan. I find it rather dull. I do, however, love 1) fictional football and 2) football in the rain and mud. I grew up in a small town with a big, muddy football field and that’s where all the high school games were played, and that’s my frame of reference for football. If you want to experience this for yourself, I recommend merging both fictional football and football in the rain by watching the “Mud Bowl” episode of Friday Night Lights.

Noelle vs. The Embarrassing Book Covers

Noelle
Opinion

[Editor’s note: Noelle shares with us her story about a fight many a reader has had—to read or not to read books with “those covers.” You know what I’m talking about.]

Round One: Scorn

I have always been a book lover.

I have always been a fan of awesome.

But unfortunately, I haven’t always been so open-minded about certain genres—-especially those with questionable cover designs. Nowadays, I usually subscribe to the Stephon Marbury philosophy that [book] love is [book] love but only a few short years ago, I was that girl side-eyeing your selections in the Barnes & Noble checkout line, rolling my eyes at the ratio of abs to cover space and assuring anyone who would listen that I didn’t read those kind of books.

That is, until I did…

Round Two: Begrudging Curiosity

One of my college roommates was what I affectionately refer to as a Romance Shark. She was unabashedly addicted to romance novels of all kinds and had a multi-state swap network set up with her extended family. I held out for as long as I could but browsing her bookshelves and observing what she was reading was inevitable. 

Slowly but surely, I succumbed to curiosity. After more than a few books were “accidentally” left on the coffee table, my snarking evolved from catcalls at the shirtless dudes on the cover to,

Wait—so he’s a time traveling highlander?

 

and

What’s an urban fantasy?

 

The Romance Shark immediately sensed a weakness in my defenses—-blood in the water, if you will—-and dared me to read one—just one—of those books. 

And, crap… I liked it.

{List-O-Rama} Book Nerd Relationships

Laura
Listorama

Are you a book nerd?

Do you have a significant (human*) other?

Does your relationship with your books cause friction between you and your significant other?

Are you concerned that you will have to choose between your books and your significant other?

If you answered yes to 2 or more of the above questions, don’t despair. It is completely possible to maintain both of these relationships successfully. I’m here to share my secrets to Book Nerd Relationship Success™!

Here’s how, in six easy steps:

1. Coordinate opposing work schedules.

Now, there are couples out there who would be dismayed over this situation.

But honey! If I work during the day and you work at night, we’ll never get to see each other!
How will our relationship ever make it?!
 

But for the book nerd, this situation is ideal.

For instance, I work a typical Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm schedule. My husband works a swing-type shift and doesn’t get home until 9:30pm, sometimes 10:30.

As a result, I have at least three hours of reading time to myself after I punch out, and am (usually**) happy to close my book and give my full attention to my husband when he gets home.