Sleepytime by Joe Brumm

Reviewed by Kristin

Or, a love letter to the creators of Bluey books and episodes, from Kristin

In case you haven’t heard of Bluey, she is a cartoon dog. She has a little sister named Bingo, and they live in Australia with Mum and Dad. The show has attracted worldwide attention and is now showing on Disney Plus. The shows and the books can be viewed and read on many different levels, which seems to be why adults like Bluey as much as their kids.

Bluey and Bingo love to play. You won’t find any alphabet songs, number games, or learning to go potty here. They learn through play with their friends and their parents. They go with Mum and/or Dad to the creek, the beach, or the playground. They have cookouts and picnics with family friends. There is much laughter, silliness, and love. The background music is often classical, and the theme song is an earworm.

I have found that some of the paperback books published are a little stilted, as if someone decided to take a show script and copy and paste it into a book. That’s not entirely a bad thing, as adults may want to avoid screens with their young children, whether at bedtime or not.

Sleepytime, however, is another story (no pun intended). Both the episode and the book are beautifully presented. Little sister Bingo is the focus of this story, as she decides that she wants to do a “Big Girl sleep” and wake up in her own bed. Mum has read Bingo a bedtime story or two, tucks her in, and says, “Remember, I’m always here if you need me.”

Bingo drifts off to sleep and begins to dream of floating through the universe. Her bunny Floppy floats along with her, swooping past suns and planets. It’s about this point that I realized Bingo’s dreams are actually related to her sleepwalking into a variety of other beds. As she finds a really big planet and decides it’s fun to jump on, Bluey joins in (as they both kick Dad, aka the big planet).

As Bingo continues to travel the universe (and her blanket slips off) she becomes cold, and is drawn to an approaching warm sphere of light, which of course, is Mum. Mum tucks Bingo in again, and says, “Remember, I’ll always be here for you. Even if you can’t see me. Because I love you.” (Cue the tears from the adults…)

I highly recommend this as a peaceful bedtime story for toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

Reviewed by Kristin

In this new memoir, Matthew Perry does not hold back. He talks openly about his family, friends, and lovers. He also talks a lot about his love of a good view and the millions of dollars he has spent fighting his addictions. His honesty comes through as he talks about a whole lot of bad choices, and a few good ones, that he has made.

While being shuttled back and forth between his divorced parents, young Matthew was often sent on an airplane bearing a sign “Unaccompanied Minor”. The theme runs through the book, a kid’s loneliness and uncertainty at being put into the care of flight attendants and airport personnel at a young age. Matthew grew up, but the feeling of being unaccompanied continued. The feeling of not being good enough followed him through every relationship. Near the end he does throw out a comment like “Hey, I’m not going to do that in my next relationship, and by the way ladies, I’m still single!”

A major health problem—or you might say a disaster—helped Matthew to the realization that he had to quit smoking, drinking, and taking drugs. No spoilers here: in the very beginning he talks about his colon exploding as a result of opioid use, and the indignity of living with a colostomy bag for a year. Many surgeries later, he is still hoping that everything holds together and he won’t end up with his bodily waste collected outside of his body once again.

The book is certainly a tell-all, mostly about himself but also about those around him. While a few friends and family are always held up as blameless and supportive, Matthew also writes about those relationships that he wishes had gone another way. He’s not above name dropping either, both for celebrity exposure or for shock value. Reviews have lambasted him for mourning the death of River Phoenix and immediately lamenting that yet “Keanu Reeves still walks among us.” Matthew also repeats the line later upon hearing of Chris Farley’s death. He claims to have just picked a name out of the air, but two mentions of Keanu Reeves seems a little harsh.

For those reading just to hear about the ten-year run of the television show Friends, Matthew drops many little details about his time on the set. Mostly, he talks about how he somehow managed to work while his addictions clawed at him, and how his co-actors and producers worked with him through various stints in rehab centers. The cast truly became an ensemble as they supported each other through many highs and lows. (Cue the theme song: “I’ll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I’ll be there for you, like I’ve been there before. I’ll be there for you, ‘cause you’re there for me too…”

Yes, I watched Friends like many others around the world. I started rooting for Monica and Chandler to get together way before it actually happened. The show was a comfort watch in the days when you had to turn on the TV at the right time to catch your favorite characters lounging on a big orange couch in Central Perk. This memoir took me back to the places where I was in life while watching the show. It is an unflinching look at the struggles of one man, and I appreciate that Matthew is sharing this with us.

After all his health issues and rehab stays, Matthew says there is just one thing he knows he can do—he can help others trying to get clean and sober. He says that he has worked with hundreds of people in various groups. I hope that someone with their own struggles can also read this and find a bit of hope.

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman

Reviewed by Kristin

The Netflix Original show Orange is the New Black has become a pop culture phenomenon with over 6.7 million viewers watching the latest season during its opening weekend in June 2016.  Seen as an edgy commentary on the culture of incarcerated women, of whom there are 1.2 million in the United States, the show has drawn in binge viewers who care passionately about the characters and their storylines.  With this in mind, I decided to listen to the book Orange is the New Black on a recent solitary road trip.  Now, I would much rather read a book than listen to one, but distracted driving is frowned upon, so I downloaded several books from the Tennessee Regional eBook and Audiobook Download System (R.E.A.D.S.) and hit the road.

In 1993, Piper Kerman travelled from Chicago to Paris to Belgium with a checked suitcase full of drug money at the request of her lover.  Kerman was nervous and very uncomfortable with this task, although she had been keeping company with Nora Jansen, travelling around the world while Jansen worked with an international drug cartel.  Naïve?  Perhaps.  Nonetheless, Kerman says that she soon decided to make a break and returned to the United States, cutting all ties with anyone involved in the drug operation.

Five years later Kerman was notified by U.S. Customs officers that she had been indicted in federal court on charges of drug smuggling and money laundering.  In that time her life had changed dramatically.  She was working as a freelance producer in New York and engaged to be married.  Although indicted in 1998, the federal case dragged on for several years and it was 2003 before Kerman was sentenced to fifteen months in prison.

Now comes the part that everyone pictures when hearing the title of the book—a young, Ivy League educated, white woman goes to prison and finds herself in an orange jumpsuit.  Even though she read all the books about going to prison, Kerman found herself in a bureaucratic system for which she was totally unprepared.  From not knowing the proper procedure to put money in her commissary account, to not knowing how to make her bunk to pass inspection, to mistakenly complaining about the food to the head inmate chef, Kerman was fearful and completely lost.

In time, Kerman adjusted and discovered that it was okay to make friends.  Small kindnesses helped her through her first weeks and eventually she came to the point of being able to help others.  The uncertainty and powerlessness she felt were difficult as the months dragged on, but she was able to find her place.

Fortunately for Kerman, her stay in a federal women’s correctional facility was much less eventful than her fictional counterpart’s experiences in the Netflix show.  Both the book and the show depict problems that exist in the United States correctional system.  Overcrowding, lack of resources, racial rivalries, lack of adequate staff training and organization are all problems faced by many if not all facilities.  But perhaps Kerman has made a larger audience aware of these issues and the greater visibility will inspire positive reforms.  This enlightening look at the inside of a women’s prison was an interesting way for me to pass the miles.

(Be sure to check out what titles are available in both e-book and audiobook format at R.E.A.D.S. at https://reads.overdrive.com/ )

Note:  The first year of this blog, we ran a review from Nancy about surviving jail.  As with most of her reviews, it was both memorable and hilarious.    You can read it here.

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Reviewed by Holly White

I am a big fan of the TV show Castle, where NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett acts as a sometimes-unwilling muse for mystery novelist Richard Castle.  Castle uses his friendship with the mayor to get what he wants, which is to follow Beckett around as she works her cases as research for his novels.  Beckett finds Castle annoying, but is forced to tolerate him.  Every time there's a dead body, Castle tags along throughout the investigation, getting in the way, disobeying orders, and putting himself in danger.  To Becket’s surprise, he sometimes even helps.  Even more surprising, she finds herself attracted to him.  On the show, Castle starts writing books that are obviously based on Beckett and the others which pleases some people and annoys others.

Since I know the show is fiction, you can just imagine my astonishment to find that there are actual books in print by “Richard Castle” and follow the ones described on the show! Each Castle character is represented in the books, with enough differences to let you know these are fictionalized versions of the “real” people you know from the show. Each character in the book engages you and charms you. You get to know these people, their individual quirks, their personalities, their relationships. You laugh out loud as they pick on each other.

The first one is Heat Wave, in which NYPD homicide detective Nicki Heat isn’t happy when she’s told she’ll have to work with Jameson Rook. He’s not a cop, just a hotshot journalist doing research for an article, and she’s sure he’ll be in the way. Then a tycoon falls to his death and Heat and Rook find themselves caught up in the world of the rich and powerful, where secrets can get you killed—and there are a lot of secrets.

This isn’t the type of book I would usually read. Mysteries are not my usual flavor, but I started reading it because of the show, and then found I couldn’t put it down.

The plot is well done, playing you out just enough line but keeping you on the hook. The book is well paced; it never bogs down in descriptions, but keeps the action moving, something I particularly appreciate in any novel. There were several twists and turns, so I was not able to figure out who the murderer was until it was revealed in the story’s climax. Perhaps a reader who regularly reads murder mysteries might have done better at this, I don’t know.

But to me, the real mystery is who really wrote these books. I haven’t been able to find out, after some not-so-intensive Internet search. The real author is not revealed in the convoluted acknowledgments at the back of the book, which cleverly allude to Sir Edmund Hilary (the first man to climb Mount Everest) and Tenzing Norgay (the sherpa who helped him). I say convoluted because the acknowledgments are hard to follow, since the author thanks both real and imaginary people, interchangeably, some whom I recognize and some whom I don’t. I’m sure it’s in there somewhere, and a clever mystery reader could find out if they really wanted to. But for now, I am enjoying this mystery of not knowing. It’s a delicious one that I want to savor until just the right moment to find out.

The book isn’t high literature, but it isn’t all fluff, either. It’s just a fun read that keeps you curious, and makes you want to read all the rest of the books in the series, which I plan to do. If you read the book and like it, watch the show; I think you’d enjoy it. If you like the show, read the book. And if you happen to figure out who the real author is, please don’t let me know. I’m enjoying the mystery.

If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll love this book.  If you’re not a fan but you like mysteries with fun characters and snappy dialogue, you’ll enjoy this book.  I know I did!

Here are the books in the series so far:
1. Heat Wave
2. Naked Heat
3. Heat Rises
4. Frozen Heat

Holly White is a Bristol Public Library patron who has voluteered to write some reviews for us. We look forward to her next reviw!  Other guest reviewers are welcome.