True Crime, Spooks, and Star Wars… it must be time for my monthly reads.
This month (and, spoiler alert: December too) saw the trickle-downs of my Halloween horror novels. I also read a great self-help book, a celeb biography, and one of the newest Star Wars books. Actually, when I think about it, you’ll probably see all of those in December, too! Let’s jump into November’s reads.
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – When researching chilling reads for the month of October, THIS was on almost every single list. To be honest… I was not that spooked! I was very surprised, as people say the Netflix adaptation is terrifying. There were one or two spooky scary moments, but I have a feeling a “scary because it’s dated” movie adaptation would have freaked me out more.
The eponymous “Hill House” becomes the home for four strangers over one summer, with all guests having one thing in common: experience with the supernatural. Notably among them is Eleanor, who has escaped a toxic living situation with her condescending and passive aggressive sister and her husband. As time goes on, Eleanor begins to experience other worldly occurrences within the grounds of the estate, leading her to question what secrets lie within the house… and beyond.
While not finding the story bone-chillingly scary, I did find it captivating! I was wondering what secrets hid behind every corner, and on the edge of my seat to see what would happen to each character. Eleanor is a compelling character, as is Theodora, a Bohemian artist that Eleanor befriends while staying in the house. The book was written in the fifties so it’s not overly obscene. After “American Psycho” last month I was grateful for a more wholesome horror audio book. SPEAKING OF WHICH… - The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith – More fifties! More suspense! More books that got a turn of the century adaptation! I have yet to see the Matt Damon movie BUT I WILL. This was another fascinating listen on Audible, and I had no idea that the novel was 1 of 5 about Tom Ripley. They are very spaced apart though, so I’m thinking I’ll read book two in a year, the way you used to have to wait for new episodes of a show? Remember waiting? I don’t.
Tom Ripley is a nobody living in New York who, after a series of lies and half-truths, winds up living the high life with the most elite of the elite in Europe. Richard Greenleaf bankrolls Tom’s trip across the pond to convince his son, Dickie, to return to the states to assume charge of the family business. Dickie, with a hefty monthly allowance and a penchant for the finer things, has no interest in partaking in business deals when there’s Italian coasts to sail. Tom infringes himself on Dickie and his part-time lover and full-time friend, Marge. The results lead to a dark web of drinks, deception, and yes… murder.
This novel is so CRINGE-WORTHY. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is wonderful and the characters are interesting, but being able to feel how out-of-place Tom is with Dickie and his upper class friends is so uncomfortable. Tom tries so hard to force himself into Dickie’s life that it’s second-hand embarrassing to read (or listen. You get it). That said, the conclusion is so delicious and satisfying while simultaneously leaving you wanting book two. You find yourself wondering: what comes next? How long can this last? How expensive would it be to ski in Cortina? - In Cold Blood by Truman Capote – Considered the second greatest true crime novel of all time (I have put the ultimate greatest on my 2021 reading list), In Cold Blood is the true story of the Herbert Clutter family murders in late fifties Kansas (what was it about this month and the fifties? Hm). It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out “Wait, is this based in reality?” and in doing so, I found out the culprit (or… culprits?).
Herbert Clutter lives in a large farmhouse with his wife and teenage children, Kenyon and Nancy. One night, they find themselves victim of a home invasion that proves deadly. The novel is comprised of personal accounts, journals, and testimonies from people who lived in the tiny Kansas town that was wracked by the horrifying events of that night. To this day, while justice has been served, we do not know who REALLY committed the murders at the Clutter house.
Look, I’m not OVERLY fond of being thrown into shark infested waters or being eaten to death by spiders (or rats. THANKS A LOT, BRET EASTON ELLIS), but they aren’t overt fears I have. My biggest fear? Dying in a home invasion. So reading this book wasn’t my SMARTEST idea. Granted, Holcomb, Kansas was a tiny town, the farmhouse was relatively far spaced, and in the fifties we didn’t have much by way of home security. Times have changed! People aren’t afraid to call the cops if they hear a loud noise! I’m still scared. I’m gonna shift gears to a different book to calm me down now. First, some quoted quotes:
“Nancy Clutter is always in a hurry, but she always has time. And that’s one definition of a lady.”
“IT IS NO SHAME TO HAVE A DIRTY FACE—THE SHAME COMES WHEN YOU KEEP IT DIRTY.”
“It is easy to ignore the rain if you have a raincoat.” - Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi – A harrowing look at the actress I best know as Lindsay Bluth from “Arrested Development,” Unbearable Lightness is Portia de Rossi’s story on her life struggling with her body. TRIGGER WARNING: e*t*ng d*s*rder conversation for the rest of this synopsis! If this is unsettling, please skip to number five!
After getting the role of a lifetime on Ally McBeal, Portia de Rossi got the fast track to stardom. She was gracing the covers of magazines in the US and her home nation of Australia, all while dodging salacious rumors about her being found in the company of women in dark dance clubs. She literally laughed off the rumors in public, while secretly coming to terms with her homosexuality and battling anorexia. She describes waking up before the sun to exercise, needing to eat her minimal meals using specific utensils, and reaching disturbingly low weights to present what Hollywood wanted to see. Despite pleas from her wardrobe fitter, friends, and family, Portia continued down a destructive path until eventually reaching 82 pounds and organ failure. It wasn’t until she began to fight for her life that she embraced her body, her sexuality, and living life to the fullest. Not long into her life of recovery, she met her now wife, talk show legend Ellen DeGeneres, who played a big role in Portia’s cognizance of her own identity, making for a true full circle romance.
As someone who regularly combats destructive eating habits, I cringed reading her story as I realized that I have done a handful of the things she used to do to lose weight. I have never been as extreme, thankfully, but I recognized some tendencies that made me look inward on how I treat my own body. Loving yourself, while simultaneously trying to be healthy, while simultaneously trying to look good in a swimsuit, while simultaneously enjoying pizza and burgers and ice cream, is truly an art! I’m not an artist! That said, I have a good eye and I’m halfway decent at Photoshop, so it’s truly practice that makes perfect. Metaphors.
This story was very uplifting, but when I throw “Arrested Development” into her timeline of recovery, I can’t help but remember all the subplot’s about Lindsay Bluth’s looks, and the fat-shaming comments she received from her iconically cruel mother, Lucille Bluth. I found myself wondering if her recovery was known amongst the cast and crew and making jokes helped her laugh at herself and feel better. You can separate art from the artist, of course, but sometimes things are too raw, too personal. I don’t know, it was something I thought about while reading!
Some well put lines:
“When ability is matched by expectations, then anything less than an exceptional result was laziness. And laziness in my opinion was shameful.”
“I felt invincible at eighty-nine pounds. And I loved that for the first time since I was a small child, I could just be like everyone else. I wasn’t a model or an actress who had to eat special food, nor was I an overweight girl who complained about her weight, making everyone else bored and uncomfortable. I was just one of the family at that dining table, partaking in their rituals, their food.”
“Shame weighs a lot more than flesh and bone.”
- Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life by Jillian Michaels – For the unaware, Jillian Michaels is a ruthless fitness trainer who achieved her claim to fame by being the tough guide on NBC’s weightless show, The Biggest Loser. This self-help book is firm, fair, and honest, with tips on how to find your voice and embrace the life you’re meant to be living.
Jillian Michaels may be a titan of her industry now, but back in the day, she fell into training by accident when she happened to pique the interest of other people who noticed her workouts at the gym. She turned to the gym as a teenager when she was diagnosed with PCOS, a disorder that led her to balloon to an unhealthy weight for her life up until that point. She has a difficult relationship with her father, one that has improved with time but is still imperfect. In her book, she describes how her personal struggles were not reasons to suffer but reasons to strive. She provides insight on how to discover your passion, forgive yourself and others for mistakes, taking the steps to heal your trauma, and start the road to recovery to help you be your best self.
The book is chock-full of questions that leave room for you to journal! Unfortunately, this book is nine years old, so the references she makes to questionnaires and worksheets on her site are long gone (replaced by an app that may not even have these worksheets… and I already paid for the book!). That said, I opened a Google Doc, took down her questions, and answered them on my own. I learned a lot about myself, the things that I let hold me back, and how to change the things that keep me from going after what I want. A neat concept she had was this idea of a goal pyramid, where you break down a goal you have and how you can accomplish that goal by day, by week, by month, and by moment. I was able to find the pyramid template from the book, and made my own pyramid based on my weight loss goal! I made it the background of my phone and it’s really worked well for me so far, in the three or so weeks since I made it. Parts of the book were obvious, and parts of it were a wake-up call. I want to send it to my friends and family, because her voice made me feel like I can really achieve anything! And I didn’t have to join an MLM to do it! - From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by Assorted Authors – Remember a few months ago when I read that anthology of “Star Wars” short stories? Those were all based on “Episode IV: A New Hope.” THIS anthology was based on “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back!” There are short stories from the point of view of minor characters (like Bossk and Jaxxon) to brief fan favorites (Wedge Antilles and Boba Fett), and even the main characters (like Obi Wan and Yoda).
I love listening to Star Wars books, because it feels more like an old-time radio drama than an Audiobook. Two of the stories in this anthology were narrated by Sam Witwer, the voice actor who plays Darth Maul in the animated Star Wars series (multiple series, I might add)! The other voice actors killed it (whoever decided that Jon Hamm should be the voice of Boba Fett deserves an award), but because Witwer is so familiar with the cadence and tone of Star Wars, the stories he narrated were my favorite. He’s just so dialed in, at any moment I thought he was going to yell “KENOBI!”out of context. It makes sense if you’ve seen the shows. I digress.
The technically final story in the book (both this and the last anthology end with a satirical back and forth between two Whills as the opening title crawl of each film is transcribed) is from the POV of the droid 2-1B, who repairs Luke’s hand after his battle with Darth Vader. It was a favorite of mine, as it emphasized who Luke is as a character. 2-1B recognizes his greatness, and provides him with something he’s lost by this moment in his life and needs to rediscover, the very basis of the rebellion: hope.
I will read the next anthology, and if they want to make one for the prequels too, I am so down for it. I have to say, my late-in-life Star Wars appreciation has been a true highlight of 2020. From a Certain Point of View provides fun perspectives on background moments of “The Empire Strikes Back,” and even answers a few questions that you might have just left to the magic and mystery of the galaxy (there is a very cute comic that I want framed regarding the Dragonsnake on Dagobah). It’s very wholesome, and I struggle to pick a favorite! That said, “A Good Kiss” jumps out at me as a true highlight, worthy of it’s own standalone story on Disney Plus somewhere.
What awaits in December? A little poetry, a little movie magic, a galaxy far far away, and more!