Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded, Hannah Hart

Boy, I love Hannah Hart. There was a point when, after a few hours of watching her videos, I realized I was talking about her like she was my latest crush. Then I realized that she was my latest crush, and needed a minute while the whole world realigned itself a little. Anyway, I loved her goofy, very sweet cookbook so I pre-ordered her autobiography.

I am... not sure I can recommend this book. It's interesting and well-written, but it's the farthest thing from a light hearted, fun read.

A lot of the book is about Hannah's mother, who is schizophrenic, and was unable to really care for her daughters because of it. Hannah's younger sister was taken away by Child Protective Services. Hannah's father, who left and remarried, is a Jehova's Witness who disapproves of homosexuality. Hannah talks candidly about depression, self-harm, and growing up in a home that didn't have electricity or running water from time to time.

There are funny and charming stories here, and Hannah is almost always upbeat and positive about even the worst of her experiences. But I was so sad and upset reading about the things she has overcome that I wasn't sure I'd make it to the end of the book. I think what she really wanted to write was a book about our broken American mental health system, and her personal experiences trying to help her mother, and so the stories about YouTube and living in Japan are just sort of sprinkled on top.

Definitely check it out if you're interested, but don't mistake this for vacation reading or something fun to tell your friends about.

Grade: B
#74 in 2016

Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs, Dave Holmes

Go read this! It's hilarious and heart breaking, and you will want to read every part of it out loud to whoever is closest to you at the time. Dave manages to be very, very funny, while also reminding you of the crushing pain of being gay in the late 80s and early 90s, before being out and proud was really a thing for kids, especially at Catholic school. And he does it all to a mixtape of songs of the era that made me incredibly nostalgic. I'm a few years younger, but that just means I a) know all the songs and b) voted for him in Who Wants To Be A VJ on MTV, because TRL was requirement viewing for me after school, every single day, no matter how much I hated Korn and Limp Bizkit. My sister remembers my outrage during the trivia contest, shouting, "WHY AREN'T PEOPLE VOTING FOR THE SMART NERD WHO KNOWS STUFF???" when Jesse Camp inevitably won.

This book is a delight. You will feel all the feelings reading it, and you will want to tell these stories as if they were your own.

Grade: A
#73 in 2016