Klausner takes an all too hysterical topic - dating - and relives her bouts into desiring men while twisting her extreme sense of humor around each tale and gives us all something to laugh about out loud. Making valid points of sense regarding each type of person she attempts to make love her, the author illuminates us readers with the emotional experience she undergoes. Unable to give up on the dating scene, Klausner allows us to see her progress while giving all dateables in her world a shot. And there are a lot of them. By finishing this book, she is on the edge of 30, and she delivers her revelation on the literal eve of the new year. Looking back, she laughs at herself, and relieved to be beyond the tumultuous twenties in dateworld, she looks to the newness and "maturity" of her thirties. Rollicking and completely adorable in an adult woman's way, I Don't Care About Your Rock Band will have you laughing a lot.

In 2008, deciding to live her life according to Oprah Winfrey, Robyn Okrant pledges herself to study the "way" (and therefore to live by) what Oprah and her team of experts prescribe to the audience of Oprah Winfrey. In Living Oprah, author Robyn Okrant retells and outlines her year of living life according to the Goddess of Talk Shows, Oprah Winfrey. Included ongoing records of her blog (LivingOprah.com) as well as clear charts of time and money elaborating on her expenses demonstrate how seriously Okrant takes her project. As she elaborates on the year, her past comes to the front, and as a book, it reads well as a memoir. As readers, we see the somewhat naive but rather open-minded (and sometimes neurotic) Okrant revealing pressure and fear of Oprah recommendations through her genuine fan's mind. Her plot to "do the right thing," allows us readers to commiserate with the author. She puts out the "realness" of Oprah as a person. She is clearly enamored with the lifestyle Oprah pushes, but she also realizes the branding that Oprah places on her "experts" in all aspects of life. This almost bizarre case, a point of celebrity influence here, allows us readers to find out what all the hype is about regarding the Oprah lovers of the world.

At first, The Madonnas of Echo Park speaks to the distressed past of junior high school love gone awry, but when digging deeper into this novel, you find the harsh reality of living as Mexican in Echo Park, California speaking to more internal parts of you. An onion of stories, each chapter is a layer of interwoven characters who encounter their reality out of their control. Fabulously (but not extraneously) described, The Madonnas of Echo Park brings your heart to the forefront, and you want to read it again and again. You know these characters - here are their stories you will not forget.