Playing With Myself by Randy Rainbow

Hello everyone.  I hope your day is going well.

Today's book deals with several sensitive topics, the author does this with heart and comedy.  If you are politically driven, don't like a raunchy laugh or are easily offended, perhaps skip this review.  I promise to have a delicious thriller up next. 

I recently read Playing with Myself by Randy Rainbow.  Randy is a popular personality on YouTube.  He does parody videos with rewritten songs generally from Broadway shows.  He is enormously gifted and if you have a sense of humor, he will brighten your day.  I gave my speech about politics because once Trump became President, his administration was the subject of many videos.  I thought this book would be about how Randy makes those videos, using a green and a computer, and it is, but there is much more substance, which surprised and delighted me.  The book tells the story of when he was a child, figuring out he was gay, eventually telling his parents.  He encounters plenty of mean kids in school, as we all do.  Randy talks about wanting to be a performer but almost falling into his current career.  There are loads of sarcasm, profanity, laughs galore and even a few tears. If you're interested in the people he's met and has worked with, the author does not hold back, naming them all specifically.  He has charming stories about Carol Burnett, who I'm so happy to say is actually due the adoration I've had for her for years.  You'll read about Stephen Sondheim, Steve Martin, Patti LuPone...the list of his admirers is endless and the stories amazing.  Best of all, the reader is treated to a peek into Randy's relationship with his mother, which will make you choked up and smile at the same time. This is a feel-good book you'll be glad you read.

If reading nonfiction isn't your thing, I get it, in general it isn't mine.  At the least do yourself a favor, put away your political affiliation, pull on your big boy/girl pants, and go look up Randy Rainbow on YouTube.  You will be amazed at his talent.

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a fantastic day.

Am I having a fantastic day? Oh gosh, thanks for asking, it's okay.  I'm tired.  I'm always tired. Why?  Because I am a bad sleeper.  There is one person to blame for that and it's not me, it is my mother.  Oh yes, my mother was a saint in most ways except when it came to naps...she insisted on them when I was a kid.  I was the only one of all my friends who had to come inside from playing to take a nap.  I would be over at Laurie's house, playing jump rope with several of the neighborhood girls and my mother would open the door and start yelling, "April, come home, it's time for your nap."  First of all, when you are eight, nothing gets you labeled faster than being called home for any reason other than dinner.  Secondly, I missed out.  Not only did I have to slunk home but I was forced to lie in bed. With the windows open on the glorious play outside kind of day, I had to listen to all my friends continue to have a blast...without me.  It was torture.  Whenever my husband says anything about a nap, to this day, I shoot him a dirty look.  In addition, now I'm a bad sleeper at night.  I hate sleeping and have seen every TV show on at 3 or 4 AM, in fact, I have most of them memorized.  All because of being called home for naps.  

I recently read Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough.  This book was so good, I don't even want to waste the time to tell you what it's about, just go buy it. If you enjoyed Behind Her Eyes, this is even better. Okay, for those wanting a bit more, this is the story of Emma.  Emma is a divorce attorney up for partnership at her firm.  She supports her family, her husband stays home taking care of the house and kids.  Emma is counting down the days to her fortieth birthday, because that's when her mother went mad.  Not just a little crazy, like I'll eat my chicken nuggets with no barbeque sauce crazy, but locked away crazy.  Mom's break with reality started when she couldn't sleep just prior to her birthday, now Emma can't sleep.  No matter what she tries, tea, pills, sleep eludes her.  As the days tick by Emma doubts her sanity, is she sleep deprived or worse.  After all, her mother always told Emma they were exactly alike.

I just don't want to tell you about this book.  It is so good and I would be crushed if I ruined it for you.  In fact, I've got it set aside for hubby to read and it's driving me crazy not talking about it.  Just trust me, if you like thrillers, boy are you in for a wild ride.  This book will keep you up all night in the best way (reading....I mean reading). Let's be honest, you can only watch Frasier reruns so many times.

The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

Hello everyone.  I hope you are well.

Spring has sprung here.  I lied, spring has gotten drunk, suffered the hangover, and is resting quietly in a dark room, we have moved right on to summer.  I totally object.  I need at least three months without running heat or air conditioning. Someone ought to call mother nature and tell her that running both the heat and the air conditioning in the same month is unfair.  It plays havoc with my sinus and checkbook.  Why can't it just be pleasant?  While I'm on my soap box and giving my megaphone a workout, I just ordered groceries.  I'm not going to say I passed out, but a bit of hyperventilating was definitely in order, butter is now $7.36 here, lest you think I'm trying to buy an entire cow, no, that is just for one pound.  If you've never made butter, let me flex my housewife muscles, (stop laughing) I've made butter.  Yes, from scratch.  You put heavy cream in a container and shake it.  That's it.  What on earth could make that simple product be over seven bucks?  Honestly.  By the way, we only shook it the first time, every time after we threw the cream in the food processor, pressed the button and viola ...butter.  None of this has anything to do with a book except that relief from my personal butter crisis and the world's bad news has been to read.

I recently read The Resting Place by Camilla Sten.  She is the author of The Lost Village, which I enjoyed. The Resting Place, set in Sweden, follows Eleanor who has face blindness.  One night when going to visit her grandmother, she walks in on her granny, Vivianne, being murdered.  Due to Eleanor being unable to recognize faces she cannot identify the killer, not even their gender.  Eleanor is shocked to find she has inherited a mansion in the country, that she never knew existed and has been empty for the last fifty years.  This massive house comes with acreage, stables, outbuildings, the works.  Eleanor, her boyfriend, aunt, and a lawyer visit the house to inventory all the belongings.  Things start going wrong, odd parts of the house discovered, things are not as they appear.  A snowstorm blows in making roads impassable and being outside for even a minute dangerous. As secrets are revealed the need to run, the urge to leave, is imperative but impossible. 

This story was very entertaining, and I flew through this book.  I very much liked the last Sten book, but this was even better.  The plot was much stronger and the characters were fewer and more well defined.  I loved that nothing could be trusted in this multi-level story.  This was a good time from page one until the very end.

Treat yourself and go get this book, heck it's almost cheaper than butter!