Audiobook Review: Minding Miss Manners: In an Era of Fake Etiquette by Judith Martin

Minding Miss Manners: In an Era of Fake Etiquette by Judith Martin
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: June 9, 2020
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

From the most trusted name in advice comes a fresh, contemporary guide to modern manners dilemmas.

Minding Miss Manners: In an Era of Fake Etiquette is a modern guide to modern manners. Facing down the miscreants purveying false etiquette rules (no, you may not wait a year to send a thank-you note for a gift and yes, in an age of social-media-encouraged over-familiarity you can politely refuse to answer nosy questions), Miss Manners guides you through these turbulent times with her timeless wisdom and archly acid wit.

This book was so fun. I love the art of etiquette (I have a huge Emily Post book) and I love dry wit. Miss Manners is the master of both! She addresses modern situations like crowd funding, bridezillas and social media.

Her answer to a person who didn’t like being touched had me laughing so hard I was crying. It’s especially funny because the narrator (Miss Manner’s real-life daughter) sounds just like I imagine Miss Manners does. The person who didn’t like being touched said that an acquaintance comes up behind them and scratches their back, and says she does it because she knows the person doesn’t like to be touched. The reader wants to know how they should handle this woman. Miss Manners responds:

“As your acquaintance considers that annoying people is amusing, Miss Manners hopes that she will enjoy you giving a piercing scream the minute she touches you and shouting, ‘What are you doing?’”

Miss Manners gives practical advice too but even that is rendered with perfect wit. And she cuts both ways – several of the letters are from rude people seeking advice on how to be acceptably rude. Miss Manners has no problem putting them in their place.

This book is a fun listen. The format makes it a good book to listen to even if you only have little chunks of time – you can listen to several letters in just a few minutes. The print edition would make a great Christmas gift for the etiquette lover on your shopping list. Highly recommended.

(I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook for review.)

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Book Review: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.

Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination” that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run”?

Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.

Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice.

In The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.

Louise Erdrich’s grandfather Patrick Gourneau served as the tribal chairman for the federally recognized tribe of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians for many years. The character Thomas is based on him. And just like Patrick, Thomas is leading the fight against House Concurrent Resolution 108, which sought to terminate five tribes, including the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. All of the other characters except for Thomas and Senator Arthur V. Watkins are fictional.

Thomas works as the night watchman of the jewel bearings plant near the Turtle Mountain Reservation. Patrice is Thomas’s niece. She also works at the plant and is the first member of her immediate family to have a “real” job. However, working at the jewel bearings plant is barely enough to support her family. Her sister Vera is missing after moving to Minneapolis and Patrice must brave the big city to try and find her. Unfortunately, she can only afford to take a few days off for her journey. Then there is Wood Mountain, an amateur boxer. His coach is Lloyd Barnes, the math teacher. Valentine is Patrice’s best friend and works at the plant with her. There are many other supporting characters too. Unlike some books with a large cast, it was easy to keep track of everyone because they were all so different from one another.

One thing I loved about this book is the many intertwining threads running through it. Some were suspenseful, some were horrifying, some were melancholy and some, like the one with the two Mormon missionaries, were humorous. It was like reading several books all at once in the best possible way. I also loved how Erdrich portrays the sense of community between the characters on the reservation. There is a mystical element that I enjoyed as well.

As a work of historical fiction, The Night Watchman serves to remind us that our country’s attempts to erase Native Americans is not a thing of the distant past. It also highlights the extreme poverty found on reservations, with homes that don’t even have running water or electricity. It’s clear from the author’s note that a lot of research went into The Night Watchman to ensure that is it historically accurate. I think that this book would make an excellent book club selection. Highly recommended.

Giveaway! National Geographic Kids Weird But True: 300 Spooky Facts to Scare You Silly

My daughter loves the National Geographic Kids Weird But True Series so I was delighted to find out that there is a new addition just for Halloween. Weird But True Halloween has bright, colorful pictures that are sure to grab you child’s attention. These books are great for reluctant readers because they are fun and silly. The facts really are weird but true – I didn’t know most of them myself!

Did you know that…..

* There is an underwater pumpkin carving contest?
* The U.S. Defense Department has a zombie apocalypse plan?
* There are more Halloween emojis than there are U.S. states?
* Halloween is also National Knock-Knock Joke Day?
* There is no pumpkin in pumpkin spice?
* Snail zombies are snails whose tentacles have been taken over by parasitic worms?

This book would make a great Halloween gift for the kiddos – especially if you don’t plan to go trick-or-treating this year.

I’m excited to be able to giveaway one copy of Weird But True Halloween to a lucky reader with a US mailing address. Just fill out the form below. I will take entries until 11:59pm CST on October 13, 2020. Good luck!

Book Review: Sunny Days: The Children’s Television Revolution That Changed America by David Kamp

Sunny Days: The Children’s Television Revolution That Changed America by David Kamp
Publisher:Simon & Schuster
Release Date: May 12, 2020
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

In 1970, on a soundstage on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a group of men, women, and Muppets of various ages and colors worked doggedly to finish the first season of a children’s TV program that was not yet assured a second season: Sesame Street. They were conducting an experiment to see if television could be used to better prepare disadvantaged preschoolers for kindergarten. What they didn’t know then was that they were starting a cultural revolution that would affect all American kids. In Sunny Days, bestselling author David Kamp captures the unique political and social moment that gave us not only Sesame Street, but also Fred Rogers’s gentle yet brave Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood; Marlo Thomas’s unabashed gender-politics primer Free to Be…You and Me; Schoolhouse Rock!, an infectious series of educational shorts dreamed up by Madison Avenue admen; and more, including The Electric Company, ZOOM, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. It was a unique time when an uncommon number of media professionals and thought leaders leveraged their influence to help children learn—and, just as notably, a time of unprecedented buy-in from American parents.

Kamp conducted rigorous research and interviewed such Sesame Street figures as Joan Ganz Cooney, Lloyd Morrisett, Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado, Loretta Long, Bob McGrath, and Frank Oz, along with Free to Be’s Marlo Thomas and The Electric Company’s Rita Moreno—and in Sunny Days, he explains how these and other like-minded individuals found their way into children’s television not for fame or money, but to make a difference.

Fun, fascinating, and a masterful work of cultural history, Sunny Days captures a wondrous period in the US when a determined few proved that, with persistence and effort, they could change the lives of millions. It’s both a rollicking ride through a turbulent time and a joyful testament to what Americans are capable of at their best.

As the subtitle suggests, Sunny Days chronicles the children’s television revolution that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Television was still a fairly new medium and up to that point, kids’ shows had been shouty, slapstick shows like Howdy Doody or Soupy Sales. It had not occurred to anyone that television could be used to educate children. Educational programming began with the inception of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was a gentle program, focused on children’s feelings and their inner selves, while Sesame Street was a fast paced program focused on preschoolers, specifically disadvantaged preschoolers, learning their letters, shapes and numbers. From there, children’s television took off with other shows such as Schoolhouse Rock! and Free to Be You and Me.

A good portion of Sunny Days is focused on Sesame Street, which makes sense because they started it all. I didn’t realize how much painstaking research went into developing the show before it started filming. It’s no accident that it’s so successful and that it actually does teach children. It’s amazing how progressive it was in the beginning years. I don’t think a children’s show could get away with showing a mother actually breastfeeding her child in today’s world, like Sesame Street did when Buffy nursed her son Cody and explained what she was doing to Big Bird. They also broke ground in terms of how diverse the cast was.

Even though most of the shows in this book other than Sesame Street were just a few years before my time, I still thoroughly enjoyed this history of children’s television. I bookmarked several things that I’m going to search for on YouTube so that hopefully I can see them for myself. The only problem I had with Sunny Days is that there are so many people – producers, writers, creators, etc. who are mentioned throughout that it was hard to keep track of who was who. I would have loved a list of people and their job descriptions for reference.

Even if you’re a young whippersnapper and you didn’t grow up watching these shows, I think you’ll still enjoy this book – especially if you have an interest in pop culture. Recommended.

Book Review: Severance by Ling Ma

Severance by Ling Ma
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: August 14, 2018
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend.

So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.

Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.

I discover many great reads from listening to the New York Times Book Review podcast. I picked up Severance after hearing the host and NYT Book Review editor Pamela Paul, talk about it during the segment where she and other reviewers talk about what they are currently reading. I put it on hold (pre-pandemic) at the library but by the time it came in a couple of weeks ago, I had forgotten what it was about. It turns out, it’s about a global pandemic! I read it anyway, dubious that I could enjoy it given the state the world is in currently, and I’m glad I did. On the surface, Severance could be classified as a zombie apocalypse book but in actuality, it’s much more. It’s also about the immigrant experience and late-stage capitalism.

This book was published in 2018, making the similarities to today quite eerie. It’s a good thing I’m not a conspiracy theorist. A fungal infection out of China called the Shen Fever is sweeping the world. As the fever spreads in the US, the government becomes less forthcoming with the information about the death toll. People are urged to wear masks but not everyone does. Tourists continue to come to New York as the fever spreads. The New York Times prints the names of the dead on its homepage. I could go on.

A person infected with Shen Fever performs the same mundane task over and over until they die. For instance, Candace observes a fevered woman working at an abandoned Juicy Couture store folding sweatpants over and over. She has been there doing that for so long that half her jaw has rotted off.

Candace Chen is one of the last people to leave New York. Before the fever takes over, she works at a publishing company in the Bible division, with basically the same routine every day. She keeps coming into work long after her coworkers have left both their jobs and the city. When she does finally quit, she joins a group of survivors on their way to a place their leader calls The Facility, where they can start a new society.

Candace’s journey with them is only part of her story. She immigrated to the US from China as a child. Growing up the daughter of immigrants has always set her somewhat apart from her friends and coworkers in New York. The book alternates between three timelines – Candace’s present day journey with the group, her recent past in New York before the fever hit and her childhood. There is a lot going on in a fairly slim novel. Fair warning -the ending is not going to be for everyone. I didn’t care for it at first but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was appropriate. Recommended.

Book Review: I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman

I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 16, 2020
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Jessica and Emily Burnstein have very different ideas of how this college tour should go.

For Emily, it’s a preview of freedom, exploring the possibility of her new and more exciting future. Not that she’s sure she even wants to go to college, but let’s ignore that for now. And maybe the other kids on the tour will like her more than the ones at school. . . . They have to, right?

For Jessica, it’s a chance to bond with the daughter she seems to have lost. They used to be so close, but then Goldfish crackers and Play-Doh were no longer enough of a draw. She isn’t even sure if Emily likes her anymore. To be honest, Jessica isn’t sure she likes herself.

Together with a dozen strangers–and two familiar enemies–Jessica and Emily travel the East Coast, meeting up with family and old friends along the way. Surprises and secrets threaten their relationship and, in the end, change it forever.

Jessica is a high powered attorney who lives in Los Angeles. She and her teenage daughter Emily are embarking on a weeklong tour of East Coast colleges. Jessica hopes the tour will be a chance for her to reconnect with Emily, who has been pulling away the further along she gets in her teenage years. The book alternates between Jessica and Emily’s voices so the reader gets to hear both of their interpretations of the same events, which is usually humorous. I really like when story is written that way and you can see inside both characters heads to see what the motivation for their actions are. While the book is mostly about their relationship, the supporting cast of the other parents and children on the tour add even more humor.

I read this book at just the right time in my life. I’m the same age as Jessica and I have a sixteen year old son. Unlike Jessica, I don’t work and I have a husband and three younger children but our lives are still very similar. My son isn’t quite as snarky as Emily can be but I can empathize with the bittersweet emotions of knowing that this is time that your child is supposed to be separating from you but wanting them to stay with you and remain close to you forever. And thinking that you know what’s best for them and then finding out that sometimes you don’t. I think Abbi perfectly captures this time in a parent and teenage child’s life.

However, even if you’re not in Jessica or Emily’s shoes, I believe you will still find this book to be delightful. It’s a quick read with the right mix of humor and seriousness. It’s a great summer read, especially if you’ve been having trouble reading lately what with the world being on fire and whatnot. It’s quick and doesn’t require too much from you, although it still has substance. After loving The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and now I Was Told It Would Be Easier, Abbi Waxman is fast becoming one of my favorite authors.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)

Book Review: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
First published in 1989
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who’s “saying” the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. “To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable.” Forty years later the stories and history continue.

With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.

The Joy Luck Club is about four Chinese mothers who play mahjong together and their daughters. At the beginning of the book, one of the mothers has passed away and the club invites her daughter to take her spot. This book isn’t one continuous narrative. There are sixteen vignettes that are interwoven with each other. They provide a glimpse into the pasts of each woman which sheds light on why they are the way they are in the present day. The mothers all have some sort of hardship or tragedy in their pasts that have informed how they parented their daughters. Unfortunately, because of their culture, they are either vague or downright secretive about what has happened to them, which causes harm to their relationships with their daughters.

I enjoyed that this book was told from multiple perspectives. I like learning the motivation behind each character’s choices. The way it was structured allowed every woman’s character to be well-developed. I did have some trouble keeping track of which daughter belonged to which mother but luckily there is a handy dandy chart in the front of the book to help with that. Now that I’ve read the book, I want to see the movie, which I’ve heard is really good. I know I’m a little late to the party on that – the movie was released in 1993!

Book Review: Joss: Touch the Sky by Erin Falligant

Joss: Touch the Sky by Erin Falligant
Publisher: American Girl
Release Date: December 26, 2019
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

In the second book in her series: Joss Kendrick is always looking for new ways to soar. So when her cheer team needs a new flyer, she can’t wait to step up (literally). Her high-flying skills on her surfboard and skateboard make her a natural for the role. But when her skateboarding act at the talent show turns into a total catastrophe — make that a dogtastrophe — Joss loses her confidence all around, even at the cheer gym. The cheer competition is coming up fast, though, and her team is depending on her to nail a tricky stunt. The problem is, Joss doesn’t trust them not to drop her. She wants to do an easier stunt, but if she plays it safe, can her team still win? And if they don’t, will her team ever forgive her?

Joss Kendrick is the 2020 American Girl Doll of the Year. She is the first hearing impaired American Girl doll. She also surfs and is a cheerleader! The book that she comes with, Joss, is about surfing. Touch the Sky, which is sold separately, is about cheerleading.

My nine year old daughter bought Joss and she was excited to read this book. I’d never actually read one of the many, many American Girl books before and I was pleasantly surprised. This wasn’t a hastily dashed off, gimmicky book. It was well written and substantial. Joss is dealing with some serious stuff, like fear of failure. Also, she and her friends compete in a talent show and through a serious of missteps, end up winning first prize. Joss struggles with the fact that they won, even though they didn’t really deserve to.

My favorite thing about this book is the Joss’s hearing loss is totally normalized and I think hearing impaired little girls will be appreciate that too. This is not a book about Joss struggling to overcome her hearing loss. She is well-adjusted, her friends know how to adapt their actions when around her (making sure they are facing her when talking to her, etc.) and it’s basically a nonissue. This is book is about Joss having normal problems that all little girls have.

My daughter and I both enjoyed this book. It’s made me want to read more American Girl books, especially ones that go with the historical dolls as I’ve heard they are particularly good. Touch the Sky is a great book for any child, whether or not they own the doll or are hearing impaired.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)

Book Review: The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Kahn

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Hardcover Release Date: January 29, 2019
Paperback Release Date: June 2, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali has always been fascinated by the universe around her and the laws of physics that keep everything in order. But her life at home isn’t so absolute.

Unable to come out to her conservative Muslim parents, she keeps that part of her identity hidden. And that means keeping her girlfriend, Ariana, a secret from them too. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life at home and a fresh start at Caltech in the fall. But when Rukhsana’s mom catches her and Ariana together, her future begins to collapse around her.

Devastated and confused, Rukhsana’s parents whisk her off to stay with their extended family in Bangladesh where, along with the loving arms of her grandmother and cousins, she is met with a world of arranged marriages, religious tradition, and intolerance. Fortunately, Rukhsana finds allies along the way and, through reading her grandmother’s old diary, finds the courage to take control of her future and fight for her love.

A gritty novel that doesn’t shy away from the darkest corners of ourselves, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali provides a timely and achingly honest portrait of what it’s like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture and proves that love, above all else, has the power to change the world.

Rukhsana Ali is a senior in high school. She just got accepted to Caltech – and so did her girlfriend Ariana. She can’t wait to get away. Her strict Muslim parents don’t know she’s gay and she needs to keep it that way because they would never understand. Unfortunately, her mom walks in on her and Ariana. Rukhsana’s parents send her to Bangladesh, hoping to “cure” her. This is where the story gets horrifying. The lengths that Rukhsana’s parents go through to try and turn her straight are astounding but I don’t doubt that some children are put through all of the things that Rukhsana endured in real life.

Another thing that seems plausible and yet was extremely frustrating is the way Ariana treats Rukhsana. I found her to be completely selfish and wondered what Rukhsana saw in her. Teenagers can be selfish and short-sighted and Ariana is a prime example. The last bit of the book required a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. I wasn’t too bothered by it but I can see how some people would be. I won’t say more for fear of spoilers.

If I had to guess, I would say there are not many young adult books that have an LGBT Muslim protagonist. I think that LGBT youth, especially those that are Muslim, will enjoy reading a book with a character like them. This is a book that high school libraries should have on their shelves. Recommended.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)

Inside Out by Demi Moore

Inside Out by Demi Moore
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: September 24, 2019
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

For decades, Demi Moore has been synonymous with celebrity. From iconic film roles to high-profile relationships, Moore has never been far from the spotlight—or the headlines.

Even as Demi was becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood, however, she was always outrunning her past, just one step ahead of the doubts and insecurities that defined her childhood. Throughout her rise to fame and during some of the most pivotal moments of her life, Demi battled addiction, body image issues, and childhood trauma that would follow her for years—all while juggling a skyrocketing career and at times negative public perception.  As her success grew, Demi found herself questioning if she belonged in Hollywood, if she was a good mother, a good actress—and, always, if she was simply good enough.

As much as her story is about adversity, it is also about tremendous resilience. In this deeply candid and reflective memoir, Demi pulls back the curtain and opens up about her career and personal life—laying bare her tumultuous relationship with her mother, her marriages, her struggles balancing stardom with raising a family, and her journey toward open heartedness. Inside Out is a story of survival, success, and surrender—a wrenchingly honest portrayal of one woman’s at once ordinary and iconic life.

I was a huge fan of The Brat Pack back in the 80s and St. Elmo’s Fire and About Last Night were two of my favorite movies back then. I read Tiger Beat religiously. I thought I knew pretty much everything there is to know about the Demi Moore of the 80s and early 90s. After reading Inside Out, I realize I didn’t know much of anything about her.

She had a very rough childhood. Her parents were self-absorbed alcoholic teenagers when she was born and they didn’t mature beyond that point as she got older. My heart broke for her so many times. It’s truly amazing that she became so outwardly successful. Behind the scenes she’s struggled with substance abuse and an eating disorder. You would never know looking at her famous Vanity Fair covers that she had any kind of self-esteem issues but she has been haunted by them most of her life.

She goes deep when she writes about her relationships with ex-husbands Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher. She doesn’t paint them as villains or herself as a victim. She acknowledges that mistakes were made by all parties. She is surprisingly self-aware and introspective throughout the entire book. Ariel Levy (The Rules Do Not Apply) was Moore’s co-author so the book is impressively written for a celebrity memoir – for any memoir really. For that reason, I think Inside Out will appeal to a wide range of readers – not just Demi Moore fans. Recommended.