Wow, Paris Hilton really is a moron.

The best one-hit wonders of the decade.

How much does it cost to party with the kids of Jersey Shore?

Vanessa Hudgens’ nude photos still haunting her.

Which Hollywood fam would you want to spend the holidays with?

My small, Canadian town is experiencing a bit of a heat wave. Albeit, heat wave for us means 30 C (86 F for all you Americans!), but still. During the day, it’s great; I get to play outside and work on my ever-increasing tan. However, at night, it’s gross. My house doesn’t have air conditioning so I’m trapped in a hot, muggy box.

Needless to say, I’ve been surviving the sweat by living out of my cool-er basement,  book in hand. And there’s only one author who can remove me from my misery: James Frey. I chose his latest, “Bright, Shiny Morning,” for the setting: Los Angeles. The sweltering heat of LA pummels my Canadian heat wave, but while I’m sweating away, I feel like I can relate to the Californians in this novel.

“Bright, Shiny Morning”, as I said, is set in California. It tells the stories of various individuals living in the Los Angeles area. From a Hollywood star living a double life to a brilliant, Mexican housekeeper, Frey paints so many pictures, the reader is bound to relate to one. His imagination never ceases to amaze me; he comes up with the most fantastic characters and keeps the reader engaged.

Despite the interesting story, it’s Frey’s style that attracts me to his novels. Typically, the novel is written in a frantic and disorganized fashion. But I find it beautiful. Frey’s writing makes me feel so much emotion, more than most authors are even capable of. He truly is a gifted writer and I am always excited to hear he has new material coming out.

If you’re looking for a great book to beat the heat with or some way to make a rainy day go away, “Bright, Shiny Morning” is for you. It’s an interesting, beautiful read with loads of substance.

Get more awesome book suggestions here.

Forget what those commencement speakers say, this is the real deal.

Oprah apologizes to James Frey!?

This is a sad way to lure in customers.

Adam Lambert hits eBay.

Oh no, Jennifer Hudson. No, no, no!

The 4 worst hangover remedies.

If you don’t know who the Red Hot Chili Peppers are, I just want to know what rock you’ve been living under for the past twenty-five or so years. They are one of the biggest rock bands in the world, recording seven fantastic albums including the 2006 “Stadium Arcadium,” which won 6 Grammys. Since this band has such a long history, an autobiography of the main singer is bound to be a super interesting and full of scandal.

And Anthony Kiedis does not disappoint.

Anthony’s autobiography begins right at the beginning: his birth in 1962. He chronicles his experiences as a child that lead to his excessive party lifestyle as an adult, many of which are with his father, Blackie, a drug dealer. He discusses all of his relationships and diligently reports on the formation of the original Red Hot Chili Peppers.

At some points the book becomes slightly redundant: drug abuse, rehab, clean, repeat. But that was his life and although this repetitiveness takes away from the severity of the issue of drug abuse, the stories that go along with this vicious cycle are amazing and can only be those of a rock-star.

And they stay with you. Even though I read this about 5 years ago, certain anecdotes have never left me and I still find myself thinking of them. Read More »

I work in a bookstore. I live and breathe books. I’m either ringing them up or, when I’m on my break, reading them, so I consider myself somewhat of an expert in the field. Most college ladies aren’t reading for pleasure these days. After reading all those books for class who wants to waste time on anything else?

Well, I’ve got a list of books here that are no waste. In fact, these are books that will change the way to think, the way you read and the way you view reading for pleasure. In that it may actually bring you some. I’m not selecting these books for their literary merit or their fantastic use of the English language. These are books that struck something in me, pulled at heartstrings, made me feel something. And I think that evoking such emotion is the only criteria for a great book.

In our desensitized world, when someone can make you feel so much with only paper and ink, I believe that’s an achievement.

1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita was published in 1955, and when you read it, you can understand why there is so much hype surrounding it. It tells the story of Humbert Humbert, a man who claims he can never love adult women, only children. He calls them “nymphets” and one day stumbles upon the perfect nymphet, Dolores Haze. The book chronicles his love for Dolores, but what I found to be fascinating was how you eventually sympathize with Humbert, even though nowadays his picture would be plastered all over “Dateline.” Read More »

The publishing industry has been rife with scandal in recent years. We’ve all been told how competitive the market is, but lately it seems like some writers will quite literally do anything — lie, cheat, or steal — in order to see their books in print.

Did I Type Life? I Meant Lie.

The phenomenon started with James Frey and his supposed memoir A Million Little Pieces. After getting all kinds of recognition, including the nod from Oprah, Frey’s book was discovered to be filled with lies.

But why would someone decide to write a bunch of lies? After a little more sleuthing, it came to light that Frey had originally pitched his book as fiction, but that it wouldn’t sell. In order to make the story more compelling — to editors as well as readers — Frey then repackaged it as nonfiction.

Fast forward to 2008, and here we are again — except this time, one fake memoir has become two. In late February, Misha Defonseca admitted that she lied about being Jewish, being a Holocaust survivor, and being raised by wolves. One week later, Margaret B. Jones, a.k.a. Margaret Seltzer, was outed by her sister when she tried to pass a fiction of foster care and gang activity off as her real childhood.

Jones’s book never made it to the stands, but Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years is another story. The book has circled the world in 18 different languages, and the author was once awarded $22.5 in damages when she took her publisher to court for breach of contract (!). To add insult to injury, the French have made a film about Misha’s remarkable LIFE, only to find out the F was in there by accident. Read More »

All my favorite people — Lindsay, Britney, Nicole, even Marc Jacobs!– seem to be going or have gone to rehab. My question is: When can I go?? From what I’m reading these days, rehab is like the new hot club you have to wait an hour on line to get into, only to be rejected at the door because you’re not cool or famous enough.

I’m assuming normal folk like you and me go to rehab all the time, it’s just not reported in the NY Post. I was generally brought up to think that rehab was a place I should not aspire to go to. And I’ll admit, even though I know James Frey was a big faker with A Million Little Pieces, I still drank seltzer with lime for a month after reading it whenever I went out — my plebeian version of rehab.

Nevertheless, rehab doesn’t seem to be doing these celebs any good — the process has become a ruse for attaining health and avoiding jail time. Read More »