Ebooks I have read - Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Stories I Only Tell My Friends

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rob Lowe played Sam Seabourne in THE WEST WING and left after four seasons. My whole reason for buying this book was to find out why and I had to wait to the end to find out why. Before that, I had to get through his youth, his early attempts to break into acting, his early films and successes, the sex tape scandal (somewhat glossed over) and his drinking problems/rehab. Throughout the book, he is engaging, funny, entertaining and unapologetic, although as with most autobiographies there is more than a little 'it wasn't really my fault' going on.

There is more about his politics and his career than about his bedhopping and most of the stories are fun to share. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to have learned after reading it, but I'm off to rewatch all seven seasons of the best TV show ever (TM) THE WEST WING.

My Goodreads Reviews

First poor review

I received my first really poor review recently for New York City Legend. It was posted on Goodreads along with a one star rating and is added here in its entirety.

"A strangely dated book, set as it was in, at a guess, the 1990s. The plot centres around a magical realm populated by sprites and a unicorn that's enclosed within a portal on the 26th floor of an office block in New York. The office block is scheduled for demolition, and it's kind of up to Ben Darkly, a ridiculously bland vague-businessman-type-person to save the day. Kind of.

The plot didn't make a whole lot of sense, the romance was kind of token, at best, and the description of magic was very poor. Also, some amazingly casual racism (a character is referred to as 'the most attractive coloured woman he'd ever met'), and just a failure to seriously connect with any character central to the story made this an unrewarding read.

I think other authors have done Urban Fantasy better - notably Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and Holly Black's Tithe/Valiant/Ironside trilogy."

I admit to being disappointed, especially with the comment about casual racism since that couldn't be further from my mind. Still, everyone's opinion is just as valid and so I repost it here.

It was also the first full length novel that I ever finished and I'm continuing to develop my style, so it's useful feedback.