But his dreams were as gigantic as his surroundings were small.
—Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure
Review: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
So, stage parents are the actual worst.
I was too old for Jennette McCurdy’s Nickelodeon shows iCarly and Sam & Cat when they aired, but despite not being familiar with her work I was intrigued to hear about her child-star life from the slap in the face that is this book title and cover.
A modern Mama Rose/Gypsy story, Jennette’s childhood and young adulthood were monitored and controlled by her narcissistic stage mother, who never fulfilled her showbiz dreams and so thrust them upon her (unwilling) daughter.
Jennette’s mother wanted her to stay a young, castable girl forever, so she taught her eleven-year-old daughter calorie restriction — only one of the many ways she manipulated her child, along with forcing her into acting classes and auditions, guilt trips, gaslighting: the whole trauma package.
But this is a memoir of catharsis. Of reflection, coming to painful realizations, and moving on.
Jennette McCurdy is a good writer with a strong voice and perspective. Not to mention a wonderful sense of dark humor. The best memoir I read in 2022.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
A grown woman is like a coyote—she can get by on very little. Men are more like house cats. Leave them alone for too long and they’ll die of sadness.
—Ottessa Moshfegh, Eileen
46
by e e cummings
never could anyone
who simply lives to die
dream that your valentine
makes happier me than i
but always everything
which only dies to grow
can guess and as for spring
she’ll be the first to know
Current mood: dark library
Review: Goosebumps by R. L. Stine
These get an extra star for ✨️nostalgia✨️
I dug these bad boys up at my parents’ house over the summer when they were going through some of my brother’s and my childhood stuff, and I figured I’d save them to read during the spookiest time of year 😱
R.L. Stine knows how to tell a creepy tale! And, I can say reading these as an adult for the first time, he knows how to write kids well.
Haunted houses, undead neighbors, living ventriloquist dummies…all the creepy, unsettling stuff that goes down in these books are really just metaphors for the turmoil the kids in the books are experiencing—like the anxiety of moving to a new neighborhood, a new house, or the stress of competing with a sibling.
In Welcome to Dead House, a family moves into a new (old, and suspiciously inexpensive) home, and the children start to notice that the neighbors aren’t exactly what they seem 👻
And the creepy af dummy book (the cover used to give me nightmares as a kid!) is about a rivalry between twin sisters that manifests in their toy dummies. The girls use the dummies to play tricks on each other, only to discover the little wooden men have come to life 🤡😨
Goosebumps is like Are You Afraid of the Dark? in book form. They hold up! Recommend for a fun, quick read 📚
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.
—Veronica Roth, Insurgent
That Book Broad 