Tangled Vines

I feel like it's safe to say we've all heard of the Murdaugh Family at this point.

I've been following this case since day one. I mean this all happened less than an hour away from where I live. So I have been hardcore invested in this.

 

Tangled Vines does a deep dive into the entire Murdaugh Family. For decades, Murdaugh's ran wild through South Carolina. They literally help create the city and immediately took over the legal system. Every single generation of Murdaugh men have worked within the legal system in some capacity. But for some reason, Alex and his boys decided that meant they ran the city. Buster and Paul could do no wrong. Aside from constantly bailing them out, Alex preyed on families who were already going through some of the worst times of their lives. He saw dollar signs mixing with their tears.

 

I first became invested in this case when I heard about Mallory Beach.

I drive over the bridge where her body was found, regularly for work. Every single time, it reminds me that the Murdaugh's truly got away with everything. Well, almost everything.

 

There's so many conspiracies surrounding this family, that it would be hard to discredit them all. While John Glatt does touch on a handful of theories, he keeps it pretty cut and dry. Overall this was a well written, cohesive book on The Murdaugh Family Murders.

Looking for other books by John Glatt?

The Perfect Father

The Doomsday Mother

The Family Next Door

I Would Leave Me If I Could

I got a little musical bug in my ear the other day and could not stop listening to the album Maniac by Halsey.

I get in the moods where music speaks to me and Halsey's words were like poetry. I listened to the album on repeat for days before deciding I needed to re-read her actually poetry book.

The first time I read I Would Leave Me If I Could, I was in a happy, committed relationship. Since then, I've gotten divorced and experienced the deepest heartbreak I never could have imagined. I knew going into this a second time that I would take away something completely different.

 

It hurt. 

But it felt more like a growing pain.

The anxiety and depression hit me like a ton of bricks but gave me so much hope. It made me realize that heartbreak hits everyone a little differently but we always manage to bounce back. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to ask for help. It's okay to be vulnerable.

Listening to Maniac and reading I Would Love Me If I Could was one of the most therapeutic experiences of my life.

Looking for my original review?

I Would Leave Me If I Could

Sucker

I saw this book and immediately pre-ordered it.

The premise was vague but it sounded a looooooot like Elizabeth Holmes as a vampire. Which hello, that sounds absolutely amazing.

But is that what I got?

I mean.....kind of.

This was the purest form of elitism.

It was set in the Silicon Valley, at a start up company (obviously), with a snotty ass rich kid who opened his own record label with daddy's money. They're barely making ends met, when a woman from Chuck's past shows up to give him the opportunity of a lifetime. Olivia is developing a health and wellness company that could detect all kinds of illnesses with a single drop of blood. And the best part? She wants Charles Grossheart to be her muse.

Olivia Watt's company, Kenosis, is literally just Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos. I'm talking this author put her in the same kind of freaking clothing and everything. It's like this novel wanted to be "Eat the rich!" But just came out more as, I'm an entitled asshole and always will be.

It just really, really did not work for me at all.

Where Are Your Boys Tonight?

Am I a 27 year old emo kid?

God mom, it was never a phase!

If you think for a second that I haven't seen AT LEAST one emo band on tour this year, you'd be dead wrong. I literally saw Fall Out Boy for the 6th time in July. I saw Mayday Parade, Paramore, The Maine.....I'm sure there's more.

But reading this book was insane.

It jumps right into the emo culture of the 90's.

While I didn't really know a lot of those bands, I was excited to learn about the guys who literally paved the way for modern emo culture. To kick it up a notch, I downloaded every single band that was mentioned and found SO MANY that I am now obsessed with. The basics, like Dashboard Confessional, The Used, Brand New were already on my radar. But then bands like Thursday, Something Corporate, and Silent Majority started infiltrating my playlists.

But my heart belongs in 2005.

This era is aptly referred to as the emo boom.

It was the height of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at The Disco, Paramore, and countless others. This was when I entered my emo phase and just.....never left.

The connections that all of these guys have and continue to have is absolutely remarkable. I learned new things about bands that I've been listening to for nearly two decades. Seeing how the culture grew and became this absolute craze blows my mind. Hearing how they started bands, learning about the diss tracks, the drama, the love, the absolute friendship that came from this group. They created something that made my little emo heart feel seen. That's what they did for me.

Looking for books written by bands mentioned in this book?

The Boy with the Thorn in His Side

None of This Rocks

My Story

MARILYN DESERVED BETTER.

I love this woman with my entire being.

So yes, I will absolutely be biased in my opinion of her memoir.

Her memoir starts the way most do, with her childhood. The trauma she suffered from people who were supposed to love and care for her breaks my heart. She tells this story with such immense vulnerability. It details her rise to stardom along with all the heartbreak that came along with it. The photos she took to make a little cash, learning to live her life as an absolute sexpot, and living a very public persona while trying to nurture the little girl she once was.

One quote speaks volumes about how she was perceived in the public eye vs how she saw herself.

 

"The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves. Men sometimes didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. When they found this out, they would blame me for disillusioning them--and fooling them."

 

What I loved most about this memoir is hearing Marilyn talk about herself in a way that felt real. It felt natural. It felt like she finally wanted the world to see her as she saw herself. While her memoir is unfinished, I managed to snag an illustrated edition that included photos taken by Milton Greene. Dozens upon dozens of iconic Marilyn photos can be found in these pages and I absolutely loved it.

Looking for other books that feature Marilyn Monroe?

Music for Chameleons

Marilyn Monroe: The Last Interview

Blonde

Looking for books that have characters based on Marilyn Monroe?

Valley of the Dolls

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Thrillville, USA

This book was so intense from the start and I freaking loved it.

Thrillville, USA is a collection of daaaaaaark short stories that tie together in a round about way. It's really just stories about self-destruction. There's drug and alcohol abuse, death, infidelity, unemployment, homelessness, and really just the nitty gritty underside of life that no one really seems to want to talk about. It kind of reminded of Devil All the Time. Life was just constantly kicking the shit out of these guys while they were just trying to make the best of it.

Thrillville, USA is actually the dying amusement park where a lot of these stories take place. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly made me love this book as much as I did. It's not thrilling like the title suggests but it is depressing and messy and real.

WarholCapote

It's not a secret that I'm obsessed with all things Truman Capote.

 

But I'm also obsessed with Andy Warhol.

 

So when my sister handed me this book, I immediately jumped right into it and finished it while I was on my weekend trip.

 

Rumor has it, Andy and Truman had been talking about recording their conversations and turning all their drama and gossip into a Broadway show. A show I definitely would have wanted to see. When Rob Roth caught wind that there might actually be tapes recorded between these two icons, he jumped at the chance to find them. The Warhol Foundation confirmed there are almost 3,000 tapes in their possession that can't be shared until 50 years after Andy's death. So yeah, 2037. A handful of these tapes were released to Roth and he decided to re-imagine their conversations into a "play" of sorts, which resulted in this book.

 

These two men are absolutely icon in my eyes.

I will be not so patiently waiting for the next 14 years for those tapes to be released.

 

Looking for other books by or featuring Truman Capote?

In Cold Blood

Other Voices, Other Rooms

The Grass Harp

Breakfast at Tiffany's

The Complete Stories of Truman Capote

Music for Chameleons

Answered Prayers

Marilyn Monroe: The Last Interview

Tru & Nelle

No Saints in Kansas