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toddtyrtle's reviews
910 reviews
Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Del Close, Charna Halpern, Kim Howard Johnson
3.0
The content itself was really good - quite helpful. I didn't care so much for the actual delivery, however. I am *not* a fan of SNL, and don't really see the 'genius' of Chris Farley and other SNL cast members (maybe in improv he was better? Definitely what I've seen of Tina Fey doing improv vs. sketch comedy supports that possibility). So in that sense it felt like a great offering at the altar of Lorne Michaels. And that name dropping really detracted from the experience of the book such that I found myself having to just remind myself of the value of the content even when the examples of *why* the content was good had just the opposite effect on me.
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
4.0
Great book - should be required teen reading along with Doctorow's Little Brother and M. T. Anderson's Feed.
Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum
4.0
Not a book that would have caught my attention were it on the shelves - I read this one entirely at a friend's suggestion. And even if I had picked it up on my own, I'm pretty sure that I would've given up in the first fifty or so pages, her relationship with 'S' seeming to dominate the story and truth be told, generating more than a few eye rolls on my part. However, that aspect of the book made what came that much more powerful. To see so much love, kindness, and strength in someone whom I judged at first to be tremendously boring and shallow really made me question my judgments of people in my own life. Very thought provoking. Thanks to my friend, Melissa for suggesting it.