Bark At The Ghouls

Recent Mini Reviews Let's face it, most of my reviews lately are what most people consider "mini" anyhow. Most of the time I'd rather be reading than writing an essay deconstructing every part of a book, so it is what it is. Here are the quick takes and the thoughtless thoughts about the recent(ish) books I've read.  How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix ⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was a good read with some terribly flawed characters who pissed me off multiple times before I learned all of the circumstances. It's a well-crafted spooky read with some great characterization. Stick with it if the fighting between the siblings starts putting you off. I probably would've quit if I weren't listening on audio because it's long and the arguments drove me nuts but I'm so glad I finished. I’m also pretty sure my mother’s creepy ass Ashton Drake dolls feature heavily in this book so that was an extra level of creep. Recommended if you don't mind being very a...

Recent Mini Reviews Because I am nothing if not lazy! Here's a bunch of other stuff I've read recently(ish).  Again, they are mostly audio. Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark I HIGHLY recommend you listen to the audiobook version of this book because it is narrated by the writers and you'll miss a lot of the emotion in the words if you don't hear them tell it. I also suggest that you only pick it up only if you are a fan of the My Favorite Murder podcast - otherwise you might not get what it is all about and you'll probably be very disappointed and will be left scratching your head at the title. It's not a guidebook instructing you how to "Stay Sexy & Don't Murdered" (that's the tagline of the true-crime comedy show), it's a book about the podcasters very personal, very intimate struggles with family, mental health and their careers. As a fan of the show, I found it both intere...

This book is so gross and so irresistible! Bad Call by Mike Scardino True Story Released July 2018 Amazon  |  Goodreads  | Better World Books   An adrenaline-fueled read that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. BAD CALL is a memoir about working on a New York City ambulance in the 1960s.  Bad Call is Mike Scardino's visceral, fast-moving, and mordantly funny account of the summers he spent working as an "ambulance attendant" on the mean streets of late-1960s New York. Fueled by adrenaline and Sabrett's hot dogs, young Mike spends his days speeding from one chaotic emergency to another. His adventures take him into the middle of incipient race riots, to the scene of a plane crash at JFK airport and into private lives all over Queens, where New Yorkers are suffering, and dying, in unimaginable ways. Learning on the job, Mike encounters all manner of freakish accidents (the man who drank Drano, the woman attacked by rats, the man w...

Furiously Happy  by Jenny Lawson Non-Fiction,  Unabridged Audiobook  8+ Hours BUY / GR LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, Jenny Lawson baffled readers with stories about growing up the daughter of a taxidermist. In her new book, FURIOUSLY HAPPY, Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. And terrible ideas are what Jenny does best. According to Jenny: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer abo...

Gift from the Sea , Memoir, 130 pgs Over a quarter of a century after its first publication, the great and simple wisdom in this book continues to influence women's lives. I found this audio in the bag I keep in the car. It's a nonfiction account of one woman’s ruminations on life while she escapes to a beach cottage for a few weeks. This was written in the 50's but much of it still feels eerily current and will resonate most with introverts. The MP3 player in my car didn’t like the way this disc was formatted and played the tracks out of order so I can’t review this properly as it kept skipping around. If it weren’t so short (2 hrs or so) I would’ve thrown in the towel but it was short enough that I got the gist without getting too frustrated. I don't recommend reading it this way though :) It’s basically about taking time outs from your life to find your “center”, living with less stuff and fewer distractions and experiencing relationships i...

Yes, Please by Amy Poehler Audiobook In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by. 3 out of 5, here's why: This book neither made me laugh nor did it make me cry, as promised in the blurbage. I guess this confirms that I am heartless. I am what I am. Despite that, and despite not knowing much about Amy Poehler, I thought it was an interesting and often amusing listen and I learned a lot about the author's life and her rise to fame. It skips around in time but that didn't bother me because she tells us she's going to do so right from the beginning. She seems like a super fun person who has worked hard to get where she is. She ha...

4 of 5 stars Yikes this book is a serious downer. You’d think the lifestyle of a big rock and roll star at the height of his stardom was nothing but luxurious decadence and fun times, right? Well, it is and it isn’t. When you haven’t dealt with your childhood pain, struggle with depression and a crushing loneliness and life on the road seems endless and empty and you self-medicate with sex and heroin, well, things quickly turn into a nightmare. Nikki Sixx, bassist and song writer for Motley Crue, hit it big in the 80’s. He had it all. Fame, money, girls, drugs, booze but he also developed an addiction that nearly ended his life and turned him into a raging, paranoid, dangerous guy. Somehow he miraculously kept a diary in 1987. I don’t know If I buy that or not but I just went with it because his story is so hard to stop reading. In this diary, he details his self-destruction, his depression, his ego and bad attitude and the horrible, reckless things he does when he’s on drugs (wh...