Damn, I read 17 books by this time last year. Stupidly long Life by Keith Richards and life drama distracted me from my ultimate goal of reading 20 books this year, dammit! :/
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American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot, Craig Ferguson. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

From amazon:
"In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson delivers a moving and achingly funny memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to the comedic promised land of Hollywood. Along the way he stumbles through several attempts to make his mark—as a punk rock musician, a construction worker, a bouncer, and, tragically, a modern dancer.

To numb the pain of failure, Ferguson found comfort in drugs and alcohol, addictions that eventually led to an aborted suicide attempt. (He forgot to do it when someone offered him a glass of sherry.) But his story has a happy ending: in 1993, the washed-up Ferguson washed up in the United States. Finally sober, Ferguson landed a breakthrough part on the hit sitcom The Drew Carey Show, a success that eventually led to his role as the host of CBS's The Late Late Show. By far Ferguson's greatest triumph was his decision to become a U.S. citizen, a milestone he achieved in early 2008, just before his command performance for the president at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson talks a red, white, and blue streak about everything our Founding Fathers feared."
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I've only watched Craig on his Late Late Show on CBS a handful of times, but every time I've watched it I've liked his style and sense of humor. I picked this book up at Borders during their blowout going-out-of-business sales because it sounded interesting and it was cheap to boot.

Highly recommend the book if you're a fan of his. Funny and very well written account of his life so far. Very entertaining, full of energy and lots of ups and downs. Somehow he managed to come out on top and I salute him! :)

Finding Sarah: A Duchess's Journey To Find Herself, Sarah The Duchess of York Furguson. 3 out of 5 stars.

From amazon:
"FINDING SARAH is an extraordinarily personal memoir by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. As she spends time with Dr. Phil McGraw, she gains a new understanding of her relationship with herself and with others. Suze Orman helps Sarah unravel the poisonous money issues she suffers from. Martha Beck teaches her how let go of her negative self-image. Many other friends and experts populate these pages and you will meet them all.

Sarah's journey, in so many ways, is everyone’s journey and as she shares her story with us she also shares the advice and wisdom she benefited from along the way. Her struggles with adversity have taught her that life’s lows can become a source of strength and courage. She knows, first hand, what it means to feel lost and she also knows that it is never too late to find your way back, to attain your goal, to take back control of your life and to make a special dream come true.

Through intimate diary excerpts and personal emails from friends and family, Sarah opens herself unsparingly. On every page of this book you will hear from Sarah’s friends and guides, her “real-life angels,” as they help her get to the root of her problems – from comfort eating to self-loathing, from reckless over-spending to notorious mishaps. You will learn from them, as she did. In this way, Sarah hopes not only to talk to you as a friend but to inspire you, through her own experiences, to look closely at your own life and where you wish to improve it, then to encourage you to follow your instincts and find your true path."
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I'll preface this by saying I'm not a royal watcher. Well, at least not any more. I was when I was a teen when Sarah and Diana burst out onto the scene, when things were really hopping. Even then, I didn't follow that closely, but, dammit, I did dig me some Fergie. She was always funny and real, a real change of pace from the stodginess of the rest of the royal family...I've always kept half an eye on her and how she's been doing over the years.

Sarah had a docuseries on Oprah's network that caught my eye earlier this summer that I watched. I thought the book would detail her journey a bit more intimately, but that didn't happen. It was basically a rehash of her show in written form with some extra bits of stuff added in. The emails from friends part was the most annoying for me. They were just sorta plopped in there, from random people that were typically not mentioned in the story save for a few of them. Just no real context to me for them to be there. They were nothing more than distractions for me, really.

I expected a self-helpy kind of book, but it was more self-helpy than I was anticipating. I was expecting more memoir type material. I sort of got it, by accident, LOL.

Verdict? If you love Sarah, you might like this book alright. Wait for paperback or get it from the library. Not necessarily a "keeper". If you want to read about her earlier life, go for her book My Story. Now *that* was a pretty damned good read!

Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag (2nd edition, ebook), Henry Rollins. 4 out of 5 stars.

From amazon.com:
"As a member of the seminal punk band Black Flag, Henry Rollins kept detailed tour diaries that form the basis of Get in the Van. Rollins's observations range from the wry to the raucous in this blistering account of a six-year career with the band - a time marked by crazed fans, vicious cops, near-starvation, substance abuse, and mind numbing all-night drives. Rollins decided to revise this edition by adding a wealth of new photographs, a new foreword, and an afterword to include some "where-are-they-now" information on the people featured in the book. This new edition includes 40 previously unpublished black-and-white photographs from Rollins's private collection and show flyers by artist Raymond Pettibon. Called "a soul-frying experience not to be undertaken by lightweights" by Wired magazine, Get in the Van perfectly embodies what one critic called the "secular gospel" of one of punk and post-punk's most respected and controversial figures."
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Wow. Brutal first person account of life on the road in a top punk band in the early to mid 80s. I thought Henry was intense from his spoken word work! Holy crap, what an intense young man he was! He's changed quite a bit, I think, but somehow stayed the same--every bit as intense, yet not nearly as self destructive. I would say this is a great read if you were ever into the punk scene, even periferally, in the 80s or are a Black Flag/Henry Rollins fan. I thought it was pretty eye opening stuff.

A Cat Named Squeeky: A True Story of a Stray Cat, Vic Reskovic. 4 out of 5 stars.

A book about a stray cat who adopts a young couple and stays in their lives and hearts for 19 years. A very quick read--took me about 5 hours of almost constant reading to read it (I took it to the airport with me and read it while I was waiting.) Definitely a great read if you're a cat lover who's been adopted by your cat like I was! :)

Just a Geek: Unflinchingly honest tales of the search for life, love, and fulfullment beyond the Starship Enterprise, Wil Wheaton. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

From amazon:
"Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture "Stand By Me", and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek.

In this bestselling book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family."
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I chose this book as my first Kindle book because I've been interested in reading the book since I read about it on Wil's blog so many years ago and because, well, geeky me thought it would be truly geeky to read a book about being Just a Geek on an e-reader.;) No, seriously.:)

The book is a compilation of entries from his blog from the early to mid '00s with added commentary for after thought and context. Very interesting style to read. The only disappointment I have is the Kindle edition did not come with John Kovalic's illustrations contained in the actual book edition before each "Act" of the book. Those would've been cool to see as I dig John's work. Oh wells--had I known at the time...

Anyway, a good read, even for the diet coke of geek girls like me. :)

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated, Alison Arngrim 4 out of 5 stars.

From amazon.com
"For seven years, Alison Arngrim played a wretched, scheming, selfish, lying, manipulative brat on one of TV history's most beloved series. Though millions of Little House on the Prairie viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character—and the freedom and confidence Nellie inspired in her.

In Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Arngrim describes growing up in Hollywood with her eccentric parents: Thor Arngrim, a talent manager to Liberace and others, whose appetite for publicity was insatiable, and legendary voice actress Norma MacMillan, who played both Gumby and Casper the Friendly Ghost. She recalls her most cherished and often wickedly funny moments behind the scenes of Little House: Michael Landon's "unsaintly" habit of not wearing underwear; how she and Melissa Gilbert (who played her TV nemesis, Laura Ingalls) became best friends and accidentally got drunk on rum cakes at 7-Eleven; and the only time she and Katherine MacGregor (who played Nellie's mom) appeared in public in costume, provoking a posse of elementary schoolgirls to attack them.

Arngrim relays all this and more with biting wit, but she also bravely recounts her life's challenges: her struggle to survive a history of traumatic abuse, depression, and paralyzing shyness; the "secret" her father kept from her for twenty years; and the devastating loss of her "Little House husband" and best friend, Steve Tracy, to AIDS, which inspired her second career in social and political activism. Arngrim describes how Nellie Oleson taught her to be bold, daring, and determined, and how she is eternally grateful to have had the biggest little bitch on the prairie to show her the way."
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I loved to hate Alison's character Nellie on "Little House" when I was growing up! Many years later I learned of her adult exploits on a TV documentary on child stars as adults and I was intrigued--stand-up comedy and a politicial activist for AIDS and child abuse? When I found out she wrote a book it went to the tippy top of my Christmas wish list...

The book did not disappoint. Well written. Lots of stories of her "Little House" days that were dishy but not too gossipy, at least not to me. She's had a helluva life, but somehow managed to come out pretty damned well. An excellent child star all grown up memoir, especially if you're a "Little House" show fan.