Saturday, July 9, 2011

Some Serious Laughs

So, who doesn’t need a good laugh every once in awhile?  Thus far I have discussed a lot of “serious” books, so I think that it is now time to lighten the mood just a bit.  During one of my journeys around the Internet I happened upon a blog, a blog that was so laugh-out-loud funny that I keep going back time and time again.  I mean really, who is not going to laugh hysterically at a woman who admits to clogging the toilet on almost every vacation she has ever been on?  The blog is dooce.com, and the author, Heather Armstrong, is so refreshingly honest that you have to enjoy her writing.  This is especially true when she starts writing about marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, which she does in her book It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, A Breakdown and a Much Needed Margarita.  In her book, Armstrong discusses how life changed when her and her husband decided to start a family and subsequently welcomed their daughter, Leta, into the world.  I loved reading her hilarious descriptions about the joys that pregnancy bestows on the body and the miracle that is childbirth…really, for anyone who has been there, you really are going to get a good laugh out of this!  Now, Armstrong does turn towards the serious when she describes her battle with depression, which led to a brief stay in a mental hospital, but amazingly, even when dealing with mental illness, she can put a funny spin on life and the crap that it throws at us.  If you want to laugh until you cry, here is the story of how Armstrong clogged the toilet during her recent vacation to Mexico.
Speaking of laugh-out-loud reads, I just finished the latest installment of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.  Smokin’ Seventeen provides more of Evanovich’s trademark humor with a good dose of sex.  Stephanie’s love triangle between cop Joe Morelli, and bad boy Ranger continues, but the spice is kicked up a notch when Joe’s crazy Grandma Bella puts a curse on Stephanie.  Though, depending on how you look at it, it really isn’t much of a curse because all it leads to is her getting lots of action with both men!  Of course, it would not be a Stephanie Plum mystery if ex-ho Lula wasn’t pairing up with bounty hunter Stephanie to bring in a couple of skips (a self-proclaimed 70 year-old vampire and a naked guy), cars weren’t exploding and someone wasn’t out to get Stephanie. And that is just the tip of the iceberg!  Just as a little mental note, for those of you who have not read any of this series, it can be read out of order.  
If you are a fan of Janet Evanovich, you might also enjoy Stephanie Bond’s Body Mover Series.  While not quite as laugh-out-loud funny as Stephanie Plum, main character Carlotta Wren provides an enjoyable reading experience.  Once again, there is a love triangle, or actually square, of sorts.  This one is between Carlotta, an old boyfriend, a body mover for the morgue and a cop.  Add in parents who are wanted fugitives, a brother with a gambling problem and some interesting friends and it all adds up to an entertaining read that will leave you wanting more.  There are currently six books in this series, but hopefully more are on the way.  As an aside, Bond is also a romance writer.  I have read a couple of her books (Finding Your Mojo and In Deep Voodoo) and both were good reads.  I will say that while I am sure they are not as steamy as some romance novels out there, they are not for those looking for G-rated entertainment. 

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