Tag Archives: books

New Scientology Tell-All Reveals Tom Cruise’s Telekinetic Powers

Ami AngelowiczNovember 6, 2009 //

Like many of you, I have long been curious about what kind of malarkey and tomfoolery is going on inside the cult Church of Scientology. What’s up with the uniforms? The audits with the weird metal rods? Xenu? And most importantly … is Tom Cruise really an extra-terrestrial? I’ve often found myself tempted to sneak inside a Scientology center with a hidden mic and snoop around like Nancy Drew, but my fear of alien abduction is far too strong. Well, no need to wonder anymore. Marc Headly, a former insider at the church, has written a tell-all book, called Blown for Good, about his 15 years of work with Scientology. And folks … you can’t handle the truth. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: 2009 Best Books List Has Zero Women Authors On It

Jessica WakemanNovember 5, 2009 //
  • The magazine Publisher’s Weekly compiled its annual list of the year’s best books and it has zero women on it. Zilch! WTF? Tell us the names of incredible books written by women in 2009 that you’ve read in the comments. [New York Times]
  • Meet Margarita Vargas, an 18-year-old girl and the one decent human being who thought to call the police when a 15-year-old girl was being gang-raped outside a high school homecoming dance in California while as many as 20 people watched. “I’m like ‘We should call the cops because that’s the right thing to do.’ I didn’t think about it twice,” Vargas said. “I think people are scared, especially in a community like this where ‘snitching’ is a big thing to people.” [CBS]
  • A dozen anti-abortion activists were arrested at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office in D.C., some for disorderly conduct and others for unlawful entry. Pelosi’s staff said the protesters were upset about the wording regarding abortion in Obama’s health care reform bill. [AP]

Keep reading »

“Nightlight,” The “Twilight” Spoof, Is Awesome

Nikki DowlingNovember 5, 2009 //

Sorry, but I haven’t gotten sick of making fun of “Twilight” yet. With its cheesy dialogue, hoards of screaming “Twihards” and complete and total sell-out status (think: “Twilight” tours, “Team Edward” T-shirts) I have no shortage of material. But I’ve been outdone by Ivy League satire specialists the Harvard Lampoon, who just released Nightlight, a 160-page book about an awkward geek named Edwart Mullen and his klutzy U-Haul-driving lover, Bella Goose. Edwart is a seriously craptastic driver and should the couple’s love continue to grow, Bella faces getting dismembered in a horrendous car accident. It’s a forgone conclusion that they’re going to get together, though, because Edwart likes the grapefruit-y smell of Bella’s blood. Oh yeah, and the front of the book reads, “About three things I was absolutely certain. First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe. Second, there was a vampire part of him—which I assumed was wildly out of his control—that wanted me dead. And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed me.” Wait, what’s that I hear? Pre-teen girls all over the world are screaming in rage. Heh. [LA Times] Keep reading »

Frisky Q & A: Author Abby Sher Talks Prayer, Yoga, & OCD

Ami AngelowiczNovember 5, 2009 //

As I tore through the pages of Abby Sher’s new book, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn’t Stop Praying (Among Other Things), I felt like I was in the passenger’s seat accompanying her on the bumpy ride through her lifelong struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. An extended meditation filled with humor and grace, and anxieties, fears, joys and sorrows, Abby’s memoir brought me right to the center of her vulnerable humanity and my own. I now understood OCD in a whole new way—not as something foreign, but as an antidote to the uncertainty of existence that we all can relate to. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand OCD, or themselves, more intimately. Keep reading »

High Glitz Or Child Tragedy?

Jessica GoldbergNovember 4, 2009 //

The coffee table book High Glitz would seriously freak out anyone who sat down on my couch. The collection of images shows beauty queen toddlers posing for the child pageant sub-genre called Glitz. These tots get glamour makeup, front teeth veneers, and couture costumes before being photographed. It speaks from an era I hoped didn’t really exist. So, are these beautiful images or child abuse? You’ll have to be the judge. I say somebody needs to take these kids outside to make mud pies. [Lil Sugar]
Keep reading »

Gail Collins’ 5 Most Significant Yet Overlooked Moments For Womankind

Ami AngelowiczNovember 3, 2009 //

Here at The Frisky, we spend an awful lot of time reflecting on, pontificating about, and debating the state of things for women of the world today. How would things be different without feminism? Did it even work? Are we better or worse off than our grandmothers? Mothers? But no dialogue can be complete if not placed within the context of history. That’s why I am so excited about journalist Gail Collins’ new book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, which is currently on the bestseller list. Not only was Gail the first woman to be an editor at The New York Times, where she continues today as a columnist, but now she has penned the new must-have text for modern feminists. Her simple message to our generation: We must not take our astounding journey for granted. While we all know the big moments in women’s history—getting the right to vote, appointing the first woman to the Supreme Court, etc.—I’ve wondered what smaller moments Gail thinks had a huge pull on who we are today. After the jump, Gail breaks down for us the five most historically significant moments for women that no one knew were huge at the time. It’s an inspiring herstory lesson. Keep reading »

A New Book Tells The Tale Of A Sierra Leoneon Woman Who Survived Against All Odds

Ami AngelowiczNovember 2, 2009 //

I barely knew that there was a civil war in Sierra Leone until it was declared over in 2002. I remember seeing an episode of “Oprah” about the horrors women were suffering there: rape, murder, AIDS, extreme poverty. I knew as horrific as it was, I needed to know more. So I will definitely be reading the new memoir Bite of the Mango that tells the excruciating details of Sierra Leone survivor, Mariatu Kamara, who was 11 when her village was raided by rebel forces who took her prisoner. Her story is so unbelievable that you would swear it was fiction.

Keep reading »

Hulk Hogan And 6 Other Celebs Who Attempted Suicide

Amelia McDonell-ParryNovember 1, 2009 //

Hulk Hogan‘s autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring, came out yesterday and, well, it’s pretty depressing. The Hulk says that after his divorce from Linda, he was suicidal and downed a bunch of Xanax with a bottle of rum, while holding a gun in his hand. Of the experience, he wrote, “I could feel the life draining out of me. It had me curling my index finger on the trigger of a loaded handgun and putting it in my mouth. Obviously I didn’t kill myself, but I came damn close.” Sad face. [People]

It’s startling how many celebrities have tried to kill themselves. After the jump, who’s tried and what changed their mind. Keep reading »

Will You Read Jerry O’Connell’s Parenting Memoir?

Wendy AtterberryOctober 29, 2009 //

In what has to be one of the worst-named books of all time, former star-turned-husband-of-Rebecca Romijn and stay-at-home-dad, Jerry O’Connell, will be penning a parenting memoir called Cry, Feed, (Make Love to Wife), Burp. You may remember the celebrity couple are parents to twin babies, born late last year. Here’s a blurb about the book: “O’Connell will describe life as a very 21st century father in a land of celebrity, the sterile California suburbs, and two-for-one diaper changing — everything from the moment he was told it was time for him to be a father, through the trials and tribulations of conception and childbirth, to the joys and disasters and joys again of staying home to raise two new babies.” Anyone else wonder what it means to be a “very” 21st century father”? Is that code for “he lets the wife wear the pants, while he wears the burp cloths”? [via Media Bistro] Keep reading »

What Are Women Fighting About? Ask Emily Gould

Jessica WakemanOctober 28, 2009 //

Emily Gould should know about women writers and criticism. In the spring of 2008, the former editor at Gawker published an article in the prestigious New York Times Magazine about nastiness in the blogosphere—to a certain extent, it was her own nastiness towards Gawker’s victims that she was referencing. Plenty of other writers responded in kind, mostly critical, and some of the critics were women annoyed with both Gould’s gossip-blog past as well as her sexily-reclining-on-her-back cover photo, saying: Emily Gould does not represent us.

Recently in an article called “What Are Women Fighting About?” for More Intelligent Life, Gould tackles the issue of how “women are often the cruelest critics of other female writers” for not accurately portraying women’s lives. Gendered critiques of women writers are a problem that’s dragged on for a long time (Anna Clark wrote about their “ambition condition” for Bitch magazine over a year ago). But Gould’s analysis is at least refreshing because, by her essay’s end, she has pledged to be more aware of her overly-critical-towards-women ways. Keep reading »

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