Not my Father's Son by Alan Cumming

I first spotted Alan Cumming in the remake of Annie. Even though the original will always have a special place in my heart, I thought Cumming's performance out shined the others performers, and I quickly found out who he was. I drudged up the movie of the remake of Cabaret, and I was transfixed.

He wrote this book because at the same time he was on "Who Do you Think you Are?" on BBC where he was on a mission to uncover the mystery of his grandfather's disappearance, his own father, after several estranged years, informed him, through his brother, that their mother had an affair, and therefore, Alan was another man's son.

I never really followed "Who Do you Think you Are?" on BBC, nor it's American equivalent, but I do have a fond memory of watching the David Tennant episode in Liverpool with Ren and her mother, and at a point where he reaches in a tomb of a relative and touches one of the skulls, they both exclaimed that he needs to watched out or else he'll get cursed! Haha!

Alan Cumming is an eloquent writer and speaker, and I feel like, in theory, I should be annoyed at this book. He talks about his acting and his traveling around the world, but he's incredibly candid and whereas there are a lot of actors that take their craft incredibly seriously, he doesn't, and knows he's incredibly blessed. I was captivated from the beginning, and though I was nervous that his Scottish accent would hinder the easy listening of the book, it actually brought the listener back to where Alan grew up on an estate in Scotland.

Alan travels back and forth in the book, talking about "Then" with the horrible abuse of his father, and "Now" his journey with BBC along with the journey of discovering whether or not Alex Cumming was, in fact, his biological father. You're unsure where it's going, but you know, that no matter what, Alan would be OK.

At least for me, I thought that since his father said that Alan wasn't his son, then it was the truth, right? However, with the twists and turns of this story, on top of his BBC episode, I didn't know what to expect by the end of it. And though it should have left me with a feeling of emptiness and sadness, the way Cumming handles it, with poise and grace, it allowed me to feel OK. That, no matter what, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

It's a riveting listen, and I would highly recommend the audiobook, even if you are not into it. Alan Cumming is phenomenal.

We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee

I remembered the movie coming out, and me thinking, "Ugh, that looks so stupid." Years later, I buy the audiobook. It was on sale, and I forgot that Matt Damon was in the movie, so I figured, why not? I think also Scarlett Johansson is also in the movie, but I don't know who she plays.

The audiobook opens with a British narrator. Oh sweet, it's a British family who bought a farm in the UK. Cool. A family who decided to take a risk by buying a farm! Interesting!

Uh, this book opens with a major bummer. Benjamin, Katherine and family moved to France... because, well... just because? I think they just wanted to move there, and both Benjamin and Katherine could work remotely. They purchased a house where Benjamin could fix up when Katherine started to become listless and not herself.

She has a brain tumor, and it's one of those really tough, rare brain tumors that no matter what a person does, it comes back.

This book is going to be devastating.

The first 50 pages of the book is not about the farm at all, but the set up Katherine's eventual passing. You hope, despite of all the odds, that her brain tumor is not going to come back after it's removed, but 3/4th of the way through the book, after they struggle their way through buying the farm, the brain tumor comes back, and Benjamin describes in heart breaking detail of his wife's demise. The way he wrote her was so tender, and even some of the grosser aspects of him taking care of her.

I loved the way he wrote, and of course, I always have a fondness of dry, British humor. Benjamin goes through the process of buying a very run down zoo, with the intent of giving the animals a good home. His entire family, his mother and his siblings, put a lot of money into it. It was a bit stressful hearing how many loans they had to take out, as well as the all the loans that kept falling through.

He had many antidotes about putting together a working crew, dealing with their personalities as well as accumulating money in order to get the zoo up to working order. I also enjoyed the bits about the various animals and their circumstances, with Benjamin's dash of absurdity.

Some of the reviews state that he was dry, but I didn't get that at all. It's possible that it made a better audiobook, with a sweet British accent that could read the British sarcasm and wit; capturing the absurdity of life, and the inclination to not take it so seriously.

I definitely like audiobooks where you can zone out and come back to them, without really missing a whole lot. What I've also realized that I like audiobooks where the plot is a bit simpler, so I can work and listen at the same time.

So, overall, it's a good book if you want an emotional wrecker with the pick me up of saving animals.

Audible Wednesdays: Down the Rabbit Hole, By Holly Madison

So, I'm not a fan of tell-all books and I'm not really even a fan of autobiographies or even biographies. I'm not sure why, but I never got into them.

However, categorized in "weird things Jordan likes," I am a huge Girls Next Door Fan. When the show aired on E! in 2005, it was predicted that women wouldn't like the show, because it was related to Playboy. However, as my best friend Eliza and I discovered, we really enjoyed the show, following the lives of the blond bombshells of Holly, Bridget and Kendra, who were girlfriends of 80-something Hugh Hefner. It's strange, because it shouldn't work. The show was about 3 women, who look like what we were all pressured to be (or some form of it) in a polygamous relationship with a much, much older man with a reputation as a womanizer, living in a mansion in California without pretty much a care in the world. The show documented their first ever playboy pictorial along with befriending other beautiful women flown in to either test shoot or shoot their pictorials.

But I think why women liked the show so much was because inadvertently, the show actually documented the women's friendships with each other, and how noncompetitive they were with the 1 man that they were dating. I know Eliza and I liked the show for many reasons, but along with the fact that it seemed like all the women, for the most part, got along on the show, it capitalized on their personalities.

I have the first season, and sometimes actually put it on to watch it. After reading this book, I may get the other seasons (minus season 6) and possibly even Holly's World.

When the book came out, I put it on a few wish lists and went on my way. I always have a stack of books to read, and so it wasn't high on my list. However, when Audible did one of their sales, it popped up, and instantly I bought it. $6.00? Of course!

After I was badly burned by Magnus Chase, I was worried that Holly reading her own book was also going to suck. However, she did a great job reading her work. It felt like she was over for a gossip fest, drinking wine and going on about her crazy life. I was always fascinated with Girls' Next Door, and I wondered if their life was as peachy as they showed it to be. I'm not sure what I was expecting, only to hear that he was a monster and the girls were miserable for most of their time with Hef. It was a bit satisfying that Holly called Hef on all of his shit.

We know realities shows, for the most part, are scripted now, but back then, we were none the wiser. It was well orchestrated how Hef looked, but what we should have seen was a senile, old man who loved to keep his ladies controlled and docile.

I found, for the most part, Holly to be fair on her rendition of everyone, including her. The only person that she didn't say anything terrible about was Bridget, who I bet is a sweetheart and a good friend. I really related to Holly, especially during her time trying to figure herself out, and having such low self esteem being with a guy who controlled her.

I was surprised by Kendra and Holly feud that festered between them. Holly seemed to be fair, casting her in both positive and negative lights during the course of their friendship. It was sad that it ended that way, but Holly didn't seem too upset over it.

Overall, it was a great book and I was glad that Holly climbed her way out of those situations to find her dream man and now have a kid. I thought it was a bit cheesy at the end, but her happiness seeps through, and she deserves it.