false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171138050m/88763.jpg 88763 2 In this zesty memoir, NPR commentator and flight attendant Gillespie riffs on everything from her work as a "bad German translator" to her belief that a lesbian ghost is haunting her house. Gillespie, a hard-living bleached blonde who yearns to own a house, is as charming as a friendly drunk who says one funny, impossible sentence after another. She chronicles her life in diminutive essays, with an appreciation for absurd, seemingly minor moments. The book's title comes from the curses yelled by a man who was taking an "asshole stroll" across the road, ambling along with the speed of a diseased bovine, Gillespie notes, when she almost hit him because she wasn't paying attention. She suspects the neighborhood denizens will be unhappy that someone like her is looking for a house in the area: "[The crack dealers] shake their heads dejectedly, knowing it's a bad day for the neighborhood when bleachy-haired honky bitches can't brake to accommodate a good asshole stroll." Among these bright moments of detail, Gillespie manages to tell the story of her family, and like any family worth examining, it has an unusually large number of oddballs. Her mother, who wanted to become a cosmetologist but was terrible at it, ended up as a weapons designer after falling into a job at IBM. Her usually jobless father excelled at charming people into buying him drinks and wearing designer shoes. Sometimes tender, but mostly just wry and a bit wild, Gillespie's writing is like the best radio commentary, leaving fans hungry for more. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 85663 2004 Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales from a Bad Neighborhood total:287|5:65|4:103|3:90|2:22|1:7| 287 1058 440 58 1 0 false false Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 08:53:40 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 11:37:55 -0800 2008
The essays about the author's childhood were ok. I have an obsession with reading about families more messed up than mine was. Her family was fairly messed up, and the stories ab...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 21:33:29 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 15:31:59 -0700 2009
Funny part. As a child she was sent outside to fetch the dog:

I did not know, nor should I have, that dogs get stuck when they're doing it, because it's part of the...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 30 16:38:13 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 16:58:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 05:27:24 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 19:49:13 -0700 2008 This RAW autobiographical collection of snapshots from the author's life is both laugh-out-loud hillarious and touching at the same time. She's clever-funny, and her brand of self-depricating humor is derived from the school of hard knocks and packs a punch. I love this bo...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 30 10:05:29 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 30 10:12:02 -0800 2007
But I found it a bit tedious after a while and started skimming throu...more...]]> 3 0 true false Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 09:29:45 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 07:07:49 -0700 2009 1 0 0 false false Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Aug 20 09:32:33 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 08:49:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jul 04 12:08:47 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 12:27:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jun 03 12:00:39 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 12:01:10 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri Feb 27 08:25:22 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 08:26:00 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 15:26:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 20:22:53 -0700 2009 4 1 false false Tue Jan 06 06:30:50 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 06:31:10 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Fri Feb 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 09:09:58 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 16:15:05 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jul 19 18:24:15 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 15:32:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 16:03:19 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 17:12:29 -0700 2009
i did love that she lived in so. cal and atlanta- my two favorite places. i knew all of the places she was talking about and...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 08:25:26 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 29 15:27:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun May 04 11:20:29 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 19 12:13:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 04 06:28:22 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 19:33:58 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Dec 12 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 15:28:20 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 06:57:54 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Jun 03 12:28:50 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 06 11:15:33 -0700 2008
This is a memoir told in super-short vignettes, that I've been reading in bits and pieces over the past year. I wouldn't try to sit down and read it all at once. Treat it like a column or your favorite blog, and read a...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=88763