Nibbles & Bits, Vol. 6

Live wire, spit fire, or bite-sized ball of fire, this book had me laughing so much and was just what I needed to brighten my reading life

Hi readers,

I hope you are having a great reading week so far. I’m in the middle of reading several different books, and I hope to finish a couple of them in the coming days. I’m headed to Southern California on Thursday for a few days to visit relatives and do some sightseeing. I know we’ll be going to San Diego for one of the days I’m there, but other than that, I have no set plans, just some reading and relaxing.

Live Wire and Kelly, Mark, and the three kids

I had a “fun” granny that used to come to stay with us for a few months during the winter, and she loved to play games such as Rummy, Chinese Checkers, Game of Life, and many others. She also sewed Barbie clothes and would bring many outfits with her that made me the envy of all my little girlfriends in the neighborhood. Many girls that grew up in my era (’60s) had a mother, or in my case, a granny that watched soap operas. My granny loved “soaps,” and I have her to blame for my love of daytime dramas. I’ve watched several over the years, but one that I dearly loved was All My Children.

Arriving in Pine Valley in 1990, Kelly Ripa’s character Hayley Vaughan, looking sort of like Elvira, took AMC by storm as a troubled teen and soon became an audience favorite. AMC hired her love interest for the show in 1995, and pretend becomes real life when she and Mark Consuelos eloped in 1996. Still married today, they have three grown kids and are learning to experience life as “empty-nesters.”

In Live Wire: Long Winded Short Stories, Ripa tells us about her life in fourteen short stories that, for the most part, are linear. She says, “it will be a fun ride,” and I so agree with her. Occasionally, she will skip around and backtrack, but for the story she’s telling, backtracking makes perfect sense. With her wit and humor, often times self-deprecating humor, she tells of growing up and being a semi-normal strong-willed teenager, her early career at AMC, her transition to Live with Regis & Kelly, her husband and kids, and all the tales you can imagine in between. She rarely throws anyone else under the bus, but in her stories, she visits the underside of that bus several times with grace, humor, and so much transparency.

I really enjoyed reading Live Wire, and I think even a reader who knows nothing about her going in could enjoy it too. It’s laugh-out-loud funny at times, poignant and “I understand that for sure” at other times, but overall, it was a fun read for me. I feel I got to know her better as a real person instead of just a “TV personality.” I’m not usually much of a “memoir” reader, but this year I’ve read several and have enjoyed them all. This book isn’t for everyone, but if you like fun, laughter, pop culture, and transparency, it serves up a quadruple helping of each. Here are a few other links that might increase your enjoyment when reading the book:

• I loved this People interview with her. I wish I had found it before I read the book, as I think it set the tone for reading Live Wire.

• An interview with Gayle King of CBS News.

• Two of my favorite people whom I didn’t even know had a podcast, interview Kelly and Mark on their podcast Double Date with Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue. What a fun episode this was to listen to.

I’ve heard about this in the past, but I’ve never seen specific details about it. I don’t think much beyond the star rating system on Goodreads and how I rate the book immediately after I finish it, but maybe it’s time I start thinking about ratings differently.

In Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, this article captured my attention. I can’t wait to see the new Netflix series, but I want to read the book first. I think everyone else has the same idea as the Libby wait time for the book is at least a few weeks at all the libraries I have library cards with.

Librarians are just the best ever, and this article highlights the items a librarian has found left in many books over her twenty-year career. The library has set up a page on its website with pictures and stories of the found objects. Be sure to read the comments on the WP article, as some are priceless.

I’ve read many articles about this practice, and it only hurts the authors of books. I’m so happy to read that Amazon has finally cracked down on the horrible trend of readers reading the entire e-book and then returning it for a full refund. Hopefully, this will stop most of the abuses and allow the authors to continue making money from their books.

I normally don’t like to read memoirs or any book that is told in separate stories, so I was quite surprised at my delight and thorough enjoyment in reading Live Wire. I loved the pop culture aspect, the name-dropping of some of her famous friends, and the honesty about her life that she shares with readers. I loved it all.

I hope everyone has a great reading week, and I’ll be back in your inbox next week with some more bookish goodness. Happy reading!

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