Have a library card? May I recommend...

Thanks to our roof makeover, I have been spending almost all my free time at home either playing in the kitchen or reading library books. My love affair with fiction appears to be over but I am now learning the joys of reading the autobiography.

While the horrible nightmare of noise bashing above my head as they tore the old roof off and replaced it with a new one, I lost myself in Portia de Rossie's autobiography Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain. I always enjoyed her performances but absolutely grew to adore Portia in Better Off Ted.  When I heard that she had written her story about having an eating disorder and the pain of having to hide her sexuality to protect her career, it broke my heart. It made me want to learn more about her and her struggles in life.

I went through the insanity with her, hoping she would come out the other side happy and healthy. I wasn't disappointed and found the book quite healing to read. A bit exhausting though but hey, that was her life. I appreciated her unwavering honesty and I always love to get to know ambitious women. It is just so sad when that ambition turns against ourselves and threatens to destroy us.

This book was gripping, frightening, sad and yet so inspiring. I waited in line at the library for this one but it was worth it!



On a completely different plane of existence you have Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin. Now you absolutely have to be a fan of Kathy Griffin before reading this book or your head might explode. Yes, she swears just as much in the book as she does in real life. Yes, she is just as outrageous and I am so very glad. That is what I was hoping for and that is what I got.

At first I was worried that this was a spoof because hey, it's Kathy, she's a wildcard. But true to form, she is honest and brutal in the book like she is in real life. I loved hearing how she would go to the neighbours and air her family's dirty laundry for cookies and how she considered it her first real life gig. Another supremely ambitious woman in a world who rejects all those who do not look like Portia de Rossi.

Kathy never gives up and is one of the hardest working people I have ever read about. I love women who are so passionate about their calling, driven to succeed despite all odds. Ms. Griffin is definitely one of those women and she shares all sorts of stories about all the successes and dramatic failures she has had, all the people she has pissed off and the crazy gigs anyone else would have turned down.

She also delves into the truth of growing up in her family and is honest about issues there that must have been quite painful to write. I always admire her commitment to tell her truth and she does so in spades. I adore you Kathy Griffin!



I have only just recently started reading My Life in France by Julia Child and yes, I am in love. How I can relate to her having a wild affair with a particular place in the world, feeling such a deep affinity for a specific geographic spot and discovering food is her calling.

This is where I will be today. Hanging out with Julie Child in France. It is a beautiful sunny day but I am on my own and will be enjoying hearing all about France while on my couch letting the breeze coming through the window brush across my bare feet. This is where I used to spend my summers as a child and I am back in the same spot as a grown woman, reading about wonderful women changing their lives and following their dreams.

We may be spending the summer paying off our roof but when you have a library card, you can feel rich with books and stories.

Do you have an autobiography by a fabulous woman you would like to recommend? I would love to hear about it!