The Potty Mouth at the Table by Laurie Notaro

I really used to enjoy Laurie Notaro's books. They made me laugh out loud, even after I read them over and over again. I don't know if I have grown too disenfranchised in my old age, or if I have read them so many times that the humor is gone. Her last book, It Looked Different on the Model was good, but I barely laughed. I decided to try The Potty Mouth at the Table to see if it would get different results.

My basic impression of the new book is that I may not be old enough to relate to a lot of these stories. Notaro's early books were about dating and jobs, a lot of twentysomething anecdotes. Later books were about getting married and buying a house. Now, the majority of the stories are about complaining about one thing or another. Most of her complaints seem valid, or at least I wouldn't want them to happen to me. It just ends up feeling like I'm hanging out with my mom when she's in one of her moods ("Let me go into a diatribe about how I dislike Obama/how you shouldn't wear a Harry Potter t-shirt because it is the devil/how SNL celebrities got famous from snorting blow").

I feel pretty bad saying this, but it seems like Laurie Notaro is turning into her mother, frequent star of her stories. Don't get me wrong, overall the stories were entertaining. I even chuckled a couple of times. The last essay about her friend's battle with cancer was both unexpected and very sweet. Again, though, I may be a couple years too young to fully appreciate this book. Maybe I'll give it another try in five to ten years and see if I can relate better.

I received my copy of The Potty Mouth at the Table from Edelweiss, courtesy of Gallery Books. It's available for purchase now.

Every Day by David Levithan

If you stare at the center of the universe, there is a coldness there. A blankness.
Ultimately, the Universe doesn't care about us. Time doesn't care about us.
That's why we have to care about each other.

I will just let loose with my geeking out now: I love, love, loved this book! It was so weird and amazing, and I love David Levithan's writing.

Every Day is the story of A. A wakes up every day in a different body. A can be a boy or a girl, gay or straight, rich or poor. A has been like this ever since he was born, waking up in a new body every morning. He easily makes no ties and leaves everyone behind until he meets Rhiannon.

He immediately loves Rhiannon, so much so that he reveals who and what he is to her. They start a relationship together. She loves him, but it is difficult for her to love someone who never stays the same. He is always the same person on the inside, where it's supposed to matter the most. It shouldn't matter what he looks like on the outside. But it does.

If you didn't get it in the first sentence, I loved this book. David Levithan has a way with words that made me want to highlight so many quotes. Every Day made me laugh and it made me cry and I just loved it. I know I said that before, but it bears repeating.

I received my copy of Every Day from Edelweiss, courtesy of Knopf Books for Young Readers. It's available for purchase now.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

At last, we have the book that asks the question we didn't know we wanted answered: What if Cinderella was a cyborg? The answer makes for a pretty solid young adult novel.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinder who was part human and part machine. She was adopted by a kindly man who later died of Letumosis, a contagious plague that is killing the population of earth en masse. She is treated as a servant by her adopted mother, and as a second class citizen by the rest of the world.

Cinder works as a mechanic by trade, and one day is tasked with fixing a robot for the royal prince. Kai is taken with Cinder, though she is a lowly mechanic. He has no idea that she is also a cyborg, and though Cinder finds herself falling for him, she is afraid of how he will react when he discovers the truth.

In the meantime, Cinder's sister Peony, the nicer sister, falls ill with Letumosis. Their mother sends Cinder away for plague research, but instead of ending up dead, Cinder learns about who, and what, she actually is.

Finally, in yet another plot, the earth is also on the cusp of war with the Lunars. Lunars are powerful people from the moon and they are ready to go to war unless Prince Kai marries their Queen Levana. There are stories that Levana had the rightful Lunar heir, Princess Selene, killed. Nobody ever found the child's body, and there are rumors that she was smuggled to earth and adopted. The Prince has been doing research on Princess Selene, secret research that could mean trouble with the Lunars if Levana were to find out.

I very much enjoyed this retelling of Cinderella. Cinder was a great character, admirably strong and determined no matter how much adversity she faces (Which is a lot). I loved the romance between Cinder and Kai, and Kai made me laugh out loud several times. The whole Princess Selene subplot was incredibly predictable (It's obvious from the very beginning), but thankfully it doesn't detract from the story. All the elements of Cinder add up to a great read, and I for one am anticipating great things for the rest of the Lunar Chronicles.


I received my copy of Cinder from Netgalley. It will be released on January 3rd, 2012.

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

Seriously, what is so difficult about talking, communicating, expressing your feelings? There would be so much less trouble if people would just take the time to say how they feel.

Take Enthusiasm for instance. Julie is tall and shy. She is best friends with Ashleigh, the Enthusiast. Ashleigh has sudden bouts of enthusiasm that lead her to take up new hobbies and interests such as candymaking and bug collecting. After reading Julie's copy of Pride and Prejudice, Ashleigh's new interest is acting and speaking like Jane Austen, culminating in finding true love by sneaking into a dance at Forefield Academy, the local all-boys prep school.

The plan does not go off without a hitch, but the girls are rescued by Grandison Parr and Ned. Parr ends up being the Mysterious Stranger, the boy that Julie has been seeing around town, the only boy Julie would consider for a relationship. Both girls dance with both boys, and by the end of the night both girls are smitten. Julie is into Parr and Ned and Ashleigh are perfect for each other. Unfortunately, Ashleigh decides that her Mr. Darcy is Parr. Julie is torn because Ashleigh is her best friend, she is generous and always puts Julie before herself...but she is head over heels for Parr! Julie decides she must give Parr up for good, just for Ashleigh's sake.

That's really the annoying part. I understand that these girls are in high school and don't know everything about the world, but Julie could have told Ashleigh that she had a thing for Parr. Would there be some hair-pulling and nail-scratching? Maybe, but at least the truth would be out.

Moving on, Forefield Academy is staging a musical and needs some girls from the public school. Ashleigh decides this is the perfect way to get closer to their respective fellas. Julie reluctantly goes along with the Enthusiast's schemes, but it just gets harder and harder for her to be around Parr while still staying loyal to her friend. Sidenote, I didn't get Julie's "incredible love" for Parr when she really just saw him around a couple times, danced and talked with him a little, and that's about all. It's actually a little overly-intense and vaguely stalkery. Just like high school was!

Enthusiasm was cute and fluffy, but not exactly mind-blowing literature. There's traces of Jane Austen in the relationships portion. I always feel as though I know who will end up with whom in an Austen novel, but the fun is getting to that point. Secondly, I didn't expect to like Ashleigh much, but she seemed fun and sweet, really incredibly conscientious towards Julie. I relate more to Julie, the one who is quietly passionate. It's difficult to have loud, enthusiastic people around because it's so much harder for others to understand that you like something as well. You almost have to give up the thing you love or risk being seen as an imitator or copycat of the enthusiastic person. Not that I would know anything about that personally or anything.

Anyways, everything is resolved in the end. And just like in Jane Austen, happy endings abound.