Goodbye July & Another Book

Can you believe July is almost over? This is my last week of the grueling summer work schedule and then I get a reprieve until All Hell Breaks Loose in August. There are some organization projects I'd like to tackle around the house, but who knows if I'll actually get to them. The way I see it, I have about 2.5 more weeks of reading for fun. I may just lay around all day, alternating between sleeping and chain reading.

What? Momma's going to have even more time off? Ugh.

The latest book:

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

I've come to realize that even though I like memoirs, I'm usually extremely irritated - sometimes even put off - by the author. A whole book about yourself? Who do you think you are? (<-- says the girl who writes a blog about herself, yeah, I know.)

I have watched a few episodes of Girls (Dunham's incredibly successful HBO show) and it makes me feel old. I mean, it's about, and produced by, a girl of a whole different generation. I don't relate to the blatant narcissism (even if it's ironic) and all the sex and drinking and partying and endless self-involvement. That's not to say that her generation is unique in any of that (hello, Woodstock), it's just hard for me to relate, as a woman, to her oh-so-popular-and-controversial form of feminism.

But! To each her own and all that.

Dunham, as self-involved and sort of crazy as she can be, is extremely smart and a very good writer. I'm impressed with her success at such a young age. I'm impressed by her success in a world (Hollywood) that typically rewards women more for their looks than anything else; she has really tackled it with her skillz. I want to be impressed by her confidence (is that the word? I'm not sure) to bare so much of herself and just put it all out there (literally and figuratively) as she tries to figure it out, but I can't quite go that far.

I guess I'm more intrigued than impressed. It would be exhausting (and she admits this) to truly dwell on how things affect you all the time, to never be able to get out of your own head. I mean, I thought I was bad! I'm practically a free spirit compared to her.

I'm interested to see where she goes from here, what will be her life trajectory. And if (when?) she writes more books, I'll most likely read them.