Is There Still Sex in the City? by Candace Bushnell

A special thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Grove Atlantic/Grove Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sex and the City was a cultural phenomenon—Carrie Bradshaw redefined the single girl. Fast forward twenty years and Candace Bushnell is back with a commentary on sex, dating, and friendship after the age of fifty.

In this book, Bushnell's topical chapters are a comment on trying to find love when you are middle aged, and how to navigate after divorce with the modern tools that are readily available to singles today. She also updates one of her more popular stories from Sex and the City, "The Bicycle Boys," about the dudes who are always trying to bring their bicycles up to a woman's apartment. There are other amusing anecdotes—getting Tindered, or the "Unintended Cub Situation" where a competent, put-together older woman temporarily loses all sensibility when she becomes the love interest of a much younger man.

Is There Still Sex in the City? is a satirical look at how middle-aged women are perceived, the unrealistic expectations put upon women by way of not aging and doing/having it all, as well as all the different stages and types of love—marriage, having children, not having children, divorce, and widowhood. This book is exactly what we need more of. What does it really mean to have it all? Who judges these things? Why are women constantly being compared to another woman's best instead of their own personal best? Some days it is a huge feat just to even get out of bed in the morning. The levels of expectations that women, both young and old, experience, and the pressures of society to be thin, beautiful, youthful, and successful are both crippling and unrealistic. These same pressures are not put on men, especially with appearance (see the section about the "Mona Lisa" treatment).

Bushnell is a fantastic writer. She's engaging, captivating, and razor sharp and this wry social commentary collection is no exception.

CANDACE BUSHNELL is the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle, The Carrie Diaries, One Fifth Avenue, Trading Up, Four Blondes, Summer and the City, and Killing Monica.

Hello, Friends!: Stories from My Life and Blue Jays Baseball by Jerry Howarth

A special thank you to Edelweiss and ECW Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jerry Howarth has been the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays for 36 years.  He has covered historic moments, like the rise of the Blue Jays through the 1980s that resulted in back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993, and worked with the best in sports.  His remarkable broadcasting career is legendary, evident in the tributes that poured in when he retired this past February.

In this book, Howarth brings together anecdotal stories about baseball, life, family, and work.  Baseball fans will enjoy reading about pivotal players such as Dave Stieb, Duane Ward, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, the late Roy Halladay, and more recently, John Gibbons, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, and Canada's own Superman, Kevin Pillar.

Jerry, you are a national treasure and Canadians are so grateful that you chose our country to call home. Congratulations on your broadcasting legacy and your well-deserved retirement.  Your kindness, integrity, and impeccable work ethic are evident in these wonderful stories.

Told in short, digestible parts, Howarth delights sports enthusiasts (especially Blue Jays fans) with tales from his time both on and off the field.  Hello, Friends! is a must-have for any sports fan.  

My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ellie Kemper is a comedian and star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and appeared on the US The Office series.  Her other written work includes writing for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, and The Onion. In this collection of essays, Kemper delivers some funny bits about her journey from the suburbs to Hollywood, and becoming a full-fledged New Yorker.

My Squirrel Days is a heartfelt compilation with nods to nature, Kemper's upbringing, her career, her short stint in field hockey, and adulting.  And because we are all a bit celebrity obsessed, she carefully name drops a select few.

Let me preface this by saying I did enjoy parts of the book; Ellie is charming and you can't help but associate her with that infectious smile, but I feel like her life is not overly interesting.  The "Hysteric" essay was the worst in the collection (total and unnecessary filler).  That being said, it is a quick read—she is so likable and endearing.

My recommendation would be to listen to the audiobook rather than reading it because you would get to experience Kemper's fabulous personality and humour that was lost on the page.  

Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Being Canadian, and growing up watching SNL, I thought requesting this book was a no brainer, but it was simply a rambling monologue that ends up being one long joke.  There were nuggets of real stories that were camouflaged with fiction.  After reading this, I realized that the joke was on me.