The Real Girl Next Door--#36

 This is a memoir by Denise Richards, probably most famous for being an ex-wife to Charlie Sheen.  She has 2 girls with him and while their marriage was short the relationship is long--with ups and downs.  She has tried to keep him involved with the girls but his crazy life gets in the way.  She sounds like a really nice person that is just trying to do her best.  I am sure she has her crazy moments--she married Charlie Sheen for god sakes but it sounds like she has really made her children and people around her as most important.  Also throw in working in Hollywood, while maybe not an A lister, she has name recognition and from wikipedia still appearing on TV and movies.  I have been watching 2 and a Half Men reruns so when I saw this book in the thrift store figured I would give it a read.

I have posted it on PBS, it is the only copy but since a 10 year old book might be sitting for a while or maybe not--hard to predict.

Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere--#35 finished

 It has been a while since I have read a book by Poe Ballantine and I have had this one on my shelf for a few years.  It is about his life in Chadron, NE and also about a person--sort of friend maybe more acquaintance that goes missing and is eventually found dead.  Questions about what happened--officially a suicide but just seems like too much there for the man to have acted alone.  All this while Poe is also talking about his life--struggles in marriage and raising a boy that is interesting certainly and likely on the spectrum too.  Poe has an interesting perspective on things in general and life and is able to bring that out in his writing.  There is also supposed to be a documentary about the man that was found dead--will have to see if I can find it.

There are a few WL for the book but my Poe Ballantine books are keepers, sorry.  I don't think I want to chance them and loan out either.

Monkey Mind--#34 finished

 The rest of the title: A Memoir of Anxiety.  The author has a real struggle with anxiety and really looks back at his life and things that have triggered it.  I have to admit that the reason I got this book is because of the toy monkey with symbols on the cover--my son has one & loves these toys--I guess since Toy Story 2 or 3.  I think everyone has some anxiety about stuff but not nearly to the degree of the author, good read and info on what he has done to get through it as best he can.

Not sure yet if I will post, like I said I like the cover.  There are 9 WL for it so can move at some point if I want.

Playing For More--#33 finished

 This is a book by QB Case Keenum about his football life and his relationship with God.  Not really a book I would read but I picked up at a thrift store and since he was in St Louis for a year--I think the last year the Rams were here, I figured I would give it a try.  I didn't know much about him so reading his story of high school and college was interesting and then his bouncing around in the NFL.  This was written right after his big season with the Vikings but they still wanted a different QB so he just signed with Denver at end of book.  Story since then is still bouncing around in NFL but glad to read about his success too. Quick read.

I have posted it on PBS, it is the only copy but no idea when if ever it will move.

Captive Audience--#32 finished

 The writer Lucas Mann, looks at his life and then also the lives of people on reality TV.  I had enjoyed his book about Class A baseball in IA area and thought I would try this one too.  I don't watch the reality TV shows that he does--Housewives, Kardashians, The Little Couple and many more it seems.  That part of the book didn't always make sense and the parts about his life just seemed like part of the story.  I think if these were shows I watched I probably would have enjoyed it more.

I got this as a throw in from an order on PBS--it is an Advance Reader copy so not a published copy.  I cannot post it on PBS so it will go in my giveaway pile.

Caught--#31

 I had read a short story book by the author & had put this book on my request list but not really sure why. Her short story book I remembered as okay.  Oh well, I got this book and on the cover says "Now a major CBC Television Series...".  I didn't remember hearing about this but figured just missed it.  A couple guys get arrested taking a boat of marijuana into Newfoundland Canada in 1970s, one of the guys skips bail & disappears while the other Slaney goes to prison and after 4 years escapes.  Reconnects with pal & pal has a life now but knows they have to repay people that lost money on last adventure so another boat trip is setup, pal stays home because has new life now while getting out of Canada for Slaney is good thing.  They hope to make enough money to escape into the world. Some good twists & turns, basically the police are helping Slaney--get away from prison and do the boat trip back to Canada with more marijuana so they can arrest him again & also his pal--Hearn.  They do arrest both, Slaney no bail & sentenced to 20 years.  Hearn gets bail & then police get caught listening in on a meeting with lawyer & let him off.  Troubling ending I guess.

I posted it already on PBS & there were no copies & woke up this morning a day later & it is requested.  I will mail it off today or tomorrow with a couple other WL books I had posted.

I'm Living Your Dream Life--#30 finished

This is a non-fiction book about a young couple living in San Francisco area of CA that wanted to do something different.  The looked for & found a resort on a lake in northern Wisconsin and bought it.  The title comes from people that come to stay saying they--the owners--are living my dream life.  She is basically pointing out the hard work involved the struggles of remodeling and then building new cabins of finding good workers and dealing with the people that come in every week.  Nothing too surprising really once you step back a bit & think about it.  I wanted the book because they also say they are the first Disc Golf Ranch/Resort--they have put in more than the normal 18 disc golf holes on their resort & host tournaments there and also people just come by to play.  Not as much disc golf mentioned in the book as I would have liked but I guess DG is not a big audience.

I have posted it on PBS & it is the only copy so hope it will move but not much moving off my shelf right now.