Vera Wongs Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

My Rating: 4.9

Spunk Vera Wong lives above her tea shop in San Francisco. Vera has one customer, the same customer, every day. No matter as Vera stays busy checking up on her adult son. One morning, Vera comes downstairs and finds a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.

This was such a great book. I HIGHLY recommend that you get it on audio as the fabulous narration added so much to the story. While all of the characters were well done, Vera was such a great character and so full of energy and good intentions. I was laughing and cheering for Vera through the whole book.

Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson

My Rating: 4.8

Unlikely roommates, Lillian and Madison, become inseparable friends at their boarding school. Then Lillian has to unexpected leave the school and they haven't spoken since the scandal. Then Lillian gets a letter from Madison and they become penpals. Madison asks her to come help her. Lillian decides to go not knowing what "help" Madison wants until she gets there. Madison wants Lillian to care for her two step-children

A VERY unique book. This was extremely well written, funny and irreverent and completely loveable. My only complain is this book was far too short!

This is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay

My Rating: 4.6

Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships. Welcome to the life of a junior doctor. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, comedian and former junior doctor Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line (with a foreword attempting to explain the National Health Service to a non-UK audience). Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking by turns, this is everything you wanted to know—and more than a few things you didn't—about life on and off the hospital ward. And yes, it may leave a scar.

This definitely has both comedy and tragedy as it looks at healthcare (and even though it is in Britain, most countries have similar challenges). I would think any pre-med student would reconsider their career choice if they read this book. There is a lot of British coloquelism and medical terms that are footnoted but not easy to reference on a kindle but I still found it easy to follow along and got some good chuckles.

The Year of Yes by Shomda Rhimes

My Rating: 5.0

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her. The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

Three things that stand out for me about this book:
1. I have never sat down and devoured a book cover-to-cover before
2. I have never laughed so hard
3. Every memoir/self-help book should be so real, honest & fabulous

It Ain't So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas

My Rating: 4.9

Zomorod Yousefzadeh (Cindy) and her parents move from Iran to California and she is determined to fit in. Despite the overthrow of the Shah, Iranian hostage takings and other Iranian events that some people feel Cindy must be personally responsible for, this is such a fun book filled with bean bag chairs, puka shells and other things I remember. It captures being a young girl and friendships.

This book kept me up far too late reading and laughing. That newspaper route scene still can make me chuckle! It captured so much including how it would feel to immigrate with your family and, despite being a child, that they look to you to understand the language and culture. The history lesson portions felt objective and well done. I absolutely LOVED this book and will be reading more by this author.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

My rating;  4.5

This is a light cute story of Don Tillman, a professor of genetics, who is an extreme/cliche example of Asperger's.  Don decides to find a wife and has a very specific idea of what he is looking for.  He embarks on The Wife Project.  When he meets Rose, she is the opposite of everything he thought he wanted - a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.   This sweet story entertained me all the way through and was the perfect thing to capture my overworked exhausted brain.

It is free through your library or $1.99 for the Kindle version through Amazon.

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

You have to be warped and not mind cursing in order to enjoy this book.  I laughed out loud reading this at the airport and on the plane.  It is hilariously funny.  It is short enough that you don't get tired of the harsh humor.  Definitely something for when you are in the right mood and need a laugh.

Rating: 4.5 Recommend

Bellwether by Connie Willis

A sociologist who studies fads and a chaos theorist are brought together by a strange misdelivered package. Employed by the HiTek company, Sandra Foster is trying to develop a theory that can predict how and why fads and trends begin. But her attempts to computerize her data (mostly in the form of magazine and newspaper clippings) are constantly frustrated by the awful Flip, the erratic, forgetful, careless interdepartmental assistant. The humor that comes from the chaos of the hiring of an assistant for Flip, who is (gasp) a SMOKER, and Management's efficiency meetings is so clever and really rings true.  This book has a witty, geeky love story that is about trends and sheep and is thoroughly enjoyable.

Rating: 4.4 Good

My Only Story by Monica Wood

Rating: 4.6 

Rita, an unconventional hair stylist, has a dream, and she is determined to find and help that lonely soul. He soon appears in the form of John Reed, an unassuming, dejected thirtysomething hovering at the back of an Alanon meeting. As their friendship blossoms into romance, John reveals that his brother brutally murdered his wife and then killed himself, leaving their three-year-old daughter, Aileen, orphaned. Aileen was, and still is, very precious to John, but the three maternal aunts who became her legal guardians will have nothing to do with him because he so closely resembles his homicidal brother. Assertive and persistent, Rita helps John win over his aunts, but as their acceptance of John grows, so does a chasm between John and Rita.

This is a light and easy read and I especially loved the eccentric and quirky Rita and her big heart.  I found myself chucking over lines like: "Either people shrink with age, or short people live longer" and how she collects various people's hair snippets, and stores them in a glass jar, creating "a mix of love and betrayals and partings and death."  This is the first time I have rated a book as both a "Beach Read" and a "Best of" category but, this was a thoroughly enjoyable light little book.

How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathon Tropper

Doug Parker, whose life is frozen into place at 29 when Hailey, his wife of two years, is killed in a plane crash. Unable to leave the suburban house they once shared, he spends his days reliving their brief marriage from the moment he found her sobbing in his office over troubles with her first husband. At the same time, Doug's magazine column about grieving for his wife has made him irresistible to the media (book deals, television spots and the like are proffered) and to a wide array of women who find him "slim, sad and beautiful." Though stepson Russ is getting in trouble at school and Doug's pregnant twin sister, Claire, who has a hilarious potty mouth, moves in and no amount of crying to strippers can keep Doug from the temptations of his best friend's wife or Russ's guidance counselor. Alternately flippant and sad, Tropper's book is a smart comedy of inappropriate behavior at an inopportune time.

This book is laugh out loud funny and is the perfect antidote to a stressful day. 

Rating: 4.7 Definite Recommend

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper

Jonathan Tropper writes compulsively readable, laugh-out-loud funny novels - if you enjoy dark humor....which I do! Judd Foxman is oscillating between a sea of self-pity and a "snake pit of fury and resentment" in the aftermath of the explosion of his marriage, which ended "the way these things do: with paramedics and cheesecake." Foxman is jobless (after finding his wife in bed with his boss) and renting out the basement of a "crappy house" when he is called home to sit shiva for his father--who, incidentally, was an atheist. This of course means seven days in his parent's house with his exquisitely dysfunctional family, including his mom, a sexy, "I've-still-got-it" shrink fond of making horrifying TMI statements; his older sister, Wendy, and her distracted hubby and three kids; his snarky older brother, Paul, and his wife; and his youngest brother, Phillip, the "Paul McCartney of our family: better-looking than the rest of us, always facing a different direction in pictures, and occasionally rumored to be dead."

Tropper is wickedly funny, a master of the cutting one-liner that makes you both cringe and crack up. But what elevates his novels and makes him a truly splendid writer is his ability to create fantastically flawed, real characters who stay with you long after the book is over. Simultaneously hilarious, hopeful and uncomfortably honest, This Is Where I Leave You is as much about a family's reckoning as it is about one man's attempt to get it together. If you have a warped sense of humor, the affectionate, warts-and-all portrayal of the Foxmans will have fans wishing for a sequel.

Rating: 4.5 Recommend

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

Bridget Fitzmaurice works for a women's shelter in the Bronx; her older sister, Meghan, cohost of the popular morning show Rise and Shine, is the most famous woman on television. These sisters lost their parents at an early age and Quindlen does a wonderful job of effortlessly showing their sisterly bond.  Bridget acts as a second mother to the busy Meghan's college student son, Leo.

This is a light easy to read novel (a la "beach novel") that is the perfect book to lose yourself in.  There is comedy, good prose and fabulous descriptions of New York and the lifestyle that goes along with living in Manhatten.  Quindlen writes frankly, articulately and believably about female relationships, which are the core of her novels.  This isn't a heavy or "best of" type of novel but, a delicious indulgence to be enjoyed for what it is.

Rating: 3.3 Strong OK

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

You have to be warped to enjoy this book.....and I enjoyed it...a LOT!  I have laughed out loud so much with this book. 


This is a story about an impoverished teen on an Indian reservation who has an alcoholic father and faces bullies and racism and the deaths of several close relatives as well as his dog, but don't let that make you think it is depressing as this will make you laugh.  This is a semi-autobiographical tale by Sherman Alexie, written for teen readers, that is in turns wacked-out, funny, heartbreaking, and jubilant. It is the story of Arnold, an Indian kid who has survived a precarious infancy and is growing up on a reservation outside Spokane. It is a powerful story of friendship between two teenage guys who have grown up together on the reservation. It is the story of Arnold's journey after he is persuaded by the math teacher to escape the rez school and transfer to a high school 22 miles away. This is a hysterical young adult book for teens....or seriously warped adults who are in need of a good laugh.

Rating: 4 Good