Book Shelf: Madonna, Rosie, Sedaris & More

Last month's book roundup proved quite popular, so I thought I'd fill you in on my latest reading exploits. Although I wasn't exactly focused on the classics last time around, I seemed downright snobby compared with most of this bunch:

At the moment I'm halfway through "The Imperfectionists," Tom Rachman's debut novel that chronicles the intermingled private lives of the reporters and editors of an English-language newspaper in Rome. It's my first attempt at a fiction book since 2008's "Band Fags" -- I'm so not a fiction fan anymore -- and even that read like a memoir as I know the author so well, so I'd probably have to go back even further than that. I was having a hard time warming up to this, but am slowly getting into it. (Influenced by my brother, perhaps, who cited it as the last notable book he didn't even bother to finish?) I'll let you know what I think when I'm done. Anyone a fan? Details HERE.

On the plane to Los Angeles (en route to Honolulu), I polished off "Celebrity Detox," Rosie O'Donnell's quixotic (psychotic?) memoir that chronicles her decision to step away from the spotlight, and then her tumultuous return to it on "The View." The book is five years old so I was reading it as she was on the tail end of another return -- the ill-fated "Rosie Show" on OWN -- but it didn't reduce its intensity or its pleasure for me one iota. The showdown with Barbara Walters -- whom Rosie (rightfully) believed stabbed her in the back during the whole Trump feud -- was utterly insane. And her take on celebrity -- from, you know, a celebrity's point of view -- is unprecedented in my view. Nobody likes famous people who wine about being famous (Julia Roberts int the '90s, Kristen Stewart now), but she's not complaining so much as shedding light on what it means and what it does to people. (It's not a flattering portrait.) As someone who grew up obsessed with celebrities (mostly tennis players and TV stars), I can't get enough of this kind of introspection from one of "them." But I think "The Rosie Show" failed in part because she's become the national spokeswoman for "survivors of fame" -- always a topic with her celebrity guests, which I LOVED -- whereas Oprah was the voice of people who have suffered far worse fates. It's got silly poems and stream-of-consciousness doodling in it, but "Celebrity Detox" it utterly addictive. Details HERE.

After initially poking fun at it, I finally read "Not About Madonna ," the memoir by Whit Hill, who was Madonna's roommate during the superstar's one year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. (Full disclosure: She saw what I wrote and offered me a review copy.) The lady's title doth protest too much, and sure enough, the book is largely about Miss Ciccone -- and why shouldn't it be? This is Whit Hill's story, and while many may think it's pathetic for her to still be talking about it, she does so gracefully, candidly and without apologizing. I found the book to be a bit long, and like Patti Smith's epic "Just Kids," the incredible detail of scenes, rooms and conversations from 35 years ago did give me pause on quite a few occasions. Still, hardcore Madonna fans will eat this up because it not only gives us an unvarnished glimpse at the pre-fame superstar (Whit actually stays friends with her past college and even sees Madonna perform with her early band) , it also forces us to face how we would feel if someone we had been BFFs with had become a living icon. All in all, a surprisingly fun read. Details HERE.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I read this -- I saw it at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove during our 13-hour layover in Los Angels en route to Hawaii -- but there's no denying that the story of Jaycee Dugard is mind-boggling fascinating. I was living in Orange County when the abduction happened, so it was huge news there given that Dugard's family purposely moved from Garden Grove to South Lake Tahoe so it would be a "safer environment." Having been obsessed with Patty Hearst as a child, I needed to dig into "A Stolen Life: A Memoir" to get a refresher on Stockholm Syndrome -- Dugard had countless opportunities to flee, especially after she became an adult -- and to fully understand how she survived this sickening abuse. The book will make your stomach turn, but Jaycee's spirit is truly inspiring. Details HERE.

My brother Bill first introduced me to David Sedaris with copies of "Holidays on Ice" and "Naked" for Christmas years ago, so I think I mistakenly assumed those were his first two books. A decade later, a friend told me about "Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays" -- which includes the famed "SantaLand Diaries" that I'd read in "SantaLand" -- but warned me that it was in fact Sedaris' debut, and that it wasn't nearly as polished as his later work. Curiosity finally got the better of me recently so I shelled out nearly 20 bucks for it at Barnes & Noble (kinda steep for a nearly 20-year-old paperback, no?) and dug in. Sure enough, the fictional stories were practically unreadable -- I think I stopped in the middle of "We Get Along" -- not funny, not interesting and faintly mean-spirited. But then the minute the essays begin, they're hysterical, completely foreshadowing the greatness that is to come. Sadly, minus "SantaLand" that only gave me three new pieces -- "Diary of a Smoker," "Giantess" and "The Curly Kind" -- but even at 6 bucks a pop, money well spent. Details HERE.

Next up:

Gotta finish my friend Ray Krueger's tennis memoir, "45-Love." It's an eBook and I'm old-school, so I've neglected to pick up where I left off reading it via a Kindle Clouder Reader (aka on a browser on my laptop). Details HERE.

And then over the weekend I broke down and bought Bill Clegg's addiction memoir, "Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man." (The sequel came out last week.) Details HERE.

And that brings us up to date. What's on your nightstand?