You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) {A Little of the Book Life Review}

 

Title: You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)
Author: Felicia Day
Publisher: Touchstone
Publication Date: August 2015
Source: Library audio book (own paperback)
Rating: FIVE STARS

From online entertainment mogul, actress, and “queen of the geeks” Felicia Day, a funny, quirky, and inspiring memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to Internet-stardom, and embracing her individuality to find success in Hollywood.

The Internet isn’t all cat videos. There’s also Felicia Day—violinist, filmmaker, Internet entrepreneur, compulsive gamer, hoagie specialist, and former lonely homeschooled girl who overcame her isolated childhood to become the ruler of a new world... or at least semi-influential in the world of Internet Geeks and Goodreads book clubs.

After growing up in the south where she was "home-schooled for hippie reasons", Felicia moved to Hollywood to pursue her dream of becoming an actress and was immediately typecast as a crazy cat-lady secretary. But Felicia’s misadventures in Hollywood led her to produce her own web series, own her own production company, and become an Internet star.

Felicia’s short-ish life and her rags-to-riches rise to Internet fame launched her career as one of the most influential creators in new media. Now, Felicia’s strange world is filled with thoughts on creativity, video games, and a dash of mild feminist activism—just like her memoir.

Hilarious and inspirational, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is proof that everyone should embrace what makes them different and be brave enough to share it with the world, because anything is possible now—even for a digital misfit.

 

So I've said this before. Audio books and I don't really mix all that great. It's not that I can't hear or don't want to listen to them. It's that I lose focus. So typically I only listen to audio books for rereads, just in case. And the reader of the book matters immensely. Rebecca Gibel, who narrated the Splintered series by AG Howard was amazing. Will Patton, narrator of The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater? Superb. Whoever it was that attempted to narrate The Hunger Games? Um... no. But Felicia Day? Narrating her own memoir? A-freaking-awesome. And it wasn't a re-read. I was on a road trip all by my lonesome and needed company.  :)

I can't say enough good things about this book. I've seen Felicia Day in a few things - the first few episodes of The Guild (time hasn't allowed me to continue, but I plan on it), Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer... but I've never really 'followed' her, per se. But this book... this book, despite all of our actual differences, made me feel like someone got me. And I still feel that's a little weird to say, given that it's not like we actually had a conversation. And we are ENTIRELY different people with different life styles and ambitions. But there was something about her openness, her honesty, that struck a chord with me. And I love her for it.

I'm not a gamer. I'm not "into" mass-multi-player-online-role-playing-games (see, I'm sure that's not even right... that's how much I'm not "into" it). I haven't the slightest what Felicia was talking about when on those subjects. But she made it relatable and did not come across as being put out by someone reading/listening to her book who didn't know the ins and outs of gaming.

I want to sit down with her and have coffee and pancakes and talk about life. #lifegoals  :)

If you've read it, do you share my enthusiasm? If you haven't, I really suggest you look into it. You might just be surprised. 

Smiles,
B

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

This is my final post for my Author Love series. Hopefully I'll be able to do it again sometime, with new-to-me authors to feature! :)

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

This week's featured author is:

Elizabeth Wein. Seriously. Did you read Code Name Verity? Do I need to elaborate? I jumped at the chance to read her next book, Rose Under Fire, and loved it just as much, for different reasons. I am super excited to read more from this author. I feel so connected to her characters. I *still* think about them. Still. I'm not a history buff, and in the past I've shied away from historical fiction. But these... these are amazing. She writes so beautifully. And everything in the books seems plausible, real. I am so glad I discovered her.

Smiles,
B

Find Elizabeth
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

 This week's featured author is:

Lauren Oliver. I have yet to read anything by her that I don't love. I know not everyone loved the ending to Requiem; some even hated it. But I didn't. I thought it was great. Her writing, her stories, the way she has qualms about breaking my heart into a gazillion pieces and doing a Mexican Hat Dance on them. I love that about her. I'd let her take me to the moon and back if she wanted to.

Smiles,
B

Find Lauren
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Next Week's Author:
The final one!  Hint: She is best known for one book, in which she tears readers hearts out and explodes their minds. It's a great book club book. And while she has quite a few other books, I imagine it will be this one book that stands out for most people.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _
Any guesses?

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

 This week's featured author is:

AG Howard. Her Spintered series is nothing short of amazing. She can write chemistry like none other. The world comes alive while I'm reading and I have no problem feeling like I'm traveling right alongside Alyssa. I look forward to seeing what other worlds she has in store for us once she is done with Wonderland.

And she interacts so much with her fans. She seems to genuinely love hearing from us and finding out what we think about her stories. 

Smiles,
B

Find AG Howard
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Next Week's Author:
Hint: She's written one series and a few stand alone novels. While I loved the end of the series, there were quite a few people who did not.
_ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _
Any guesses?

♥Showing Some Author Love ♥

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

 This week's featured author is:

Tahereh Mafi. I've only read three books that Tahereh Mafi has written. With good reason. That's all she has. But the characters she has created? The world? I love it. And I love the writing style, and how I get a sense of the character based on the writing. It's awesome. I'm super excited about the rest of her Shatter Me series, and look forward to anything and everything else she may write. :)

Smiles,
B

Find Tahereh
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Next week's author:
Another 'newbie' author... she's created a dark and creepy world filled with adventure, love, and tension.
_ _   _ _ _ _ _ _
Any guesses?

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

 This week's featured author is:

John Green. While I haven't loved all of his books, I have liked them. I enjoy his writing style and for the most part, his stories. My favorite, which is probably most people's, is The Fault in Our Stars. I'm uber nervous about the movie, but that's a different story. ;) I look forward to reading more by him. I realize that some people don't love his writing, or the way he writes his stories (I read a few reviews a while back (can't remember who, what, where, or when...) that claimed he was formulaic and predictable), but that doesn't make me like them less. Plus, he's a fellow Hoosier. :)

Smiles,
 B

Find John
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ YouTube

Next Week's Author:
Hint: She's a relatively new author, having only one partial series under her belt, but I already think she's awesome.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _
Any guesses?

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

 This week's featured author is:

Brenna Yovanoff. I bought The Replacement, simply because of the cover. It was Brenna's first book... I hadn't heard of her, obviously, but I didn't care. That cover, it was amazing. Dark, creepy. I read the book and didn't regret one word of it. I absolutely *loved* the story... *loved* the writing... I can't even begin to describe how much. It was just as dark and creepy as the cover, which, by the way, looks like this... 

 

(And, in comparison, the paperback cover... well, it just sucks.)

All that being said, I've loved every book since (there's been two).  She has another coming out in June 2014. I'll admit, I haven't liked the covers as much as the books go on, but the cover doesn't make the book. Obviously, just like any relationship, there has to be some instant attraction, but still. It's what's inside that really counts. ;)

Smiles,

B

Find Brenna

Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter 

Next week's author:
Hint: He's a local author to me, and according to Goodreads has only one series, featuring two books. :)

_ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _

Any guesses?

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

In case you missed it last week, I'm going to show some author love on this blog. To find out more, see my original post. :)

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

 This week's featured author is:

Maggie Stiefvater. So far every book of Maggie Stievfater's that I've read I have absolutely loved. I love her writing, the characters she creates... how I just want to live in the book with my new-found friends. I can't wait to read more of her writing and delve into her worlds... I don't mind searching for the magical Glendower or riding mythical deadly horses. Sign me up!

As she is very active on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog, I've discovered that not only is she an awesome writer, she's a super cool and talented person. She let her fans paint her car. Did you read that? She let fans paint her car! How flippin' cool is that? She is now raising not only her children, but fainting goats as well. She plays multiple instruments. She races cars. She's an amazing artist. It's pretty awesome that we live in an age where she is able to share her awesomeness with others all over the world. Where she can interact with her readers, which she does regularly.  :)

If you haven't read Maggie's books yet, I strongly urge you to check them out... *nudge nudge nudge*

Happy Thursday!

Smiles,
B

Find Maggie
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Next Week's Author:
Hint: She writes some creeptastic novels, but has only written three.
_ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Any guesses? :)

♥ Showing Some Author Love ♥

Okay. Raise your hand if you fangirl over books. Yeah... that's what I thought. I'd count the hands up but I don't have time. (Not to mention that I can't see you... ) How many fangirl over certain authors? Again? Wow. Okay, not really surprised. 

I have so many books I love. And I have a few authors authors that I would read no matter what. For real, no matter what. They could write a sci-fi book and I would read it. (In case you didn't pick up my meaning there, I don't read sci-fi... I've tried. I have yet to be able to get into it. I don't typically watch sci-fi movies/shows, either. Supernatural/paranormal, yeah. Sci-fi? Not so much. Anyway. I digress.) These are authors that I have yet to dislike a book, who's writing style I adore, worlds I don't want to leave...

I've decided to do a series of posts about these amazing authors (in no particular order), one a week until I'm done, starting, well, today. :) To give each their due. I want highlight them for how much I love them. So share with me, love with me... feel free to post with me! :)

I'm going to start with... 

Jodi Picoult. I know I feature mostly YA here, since that's what I'm really into right now. But my first love affair with an author's books was Jodi Picoult's. I discovered her by chance one day in the library. I had always loved to read, but when I checked out Vanishing Acts, I fell irrevocably in love with her writing, her story telling. And I devoured her books; all the ones up to that date, and I've bought them ever since (although, I hate to admit this, despite owning them, I haven't read the last few books she's published... Eventually I'll get to them. They're not going anywhere.)

It was also the first time ever I reached out to contact a celebrity of any kind. When I was a kid the 'in' thing, the 'cool' thing, to do was to write fan letters to your favorite celebrity. I never did it. I never felt the urge, really. But then I discovered a contact place on Jodi Picoult's website. And it said that she responded. I was skeptical, sure, but I did it anyway. And you know what? She responded. In like a day. Keep in mind, this was prior to My Sister's Keeper taking the literary nation by storm, and I can't say for certain (obviously) if she would respond that quickly today. But still. Just the fact that she responded blew my mind. I mean, I'm nobody to her. And I didn't ask anything, just told her how much I loved her books. It was so exciting.

And the coolest thing about author interaction? It never gets less exciting than that first time! :)  I've tweeted and emailed with a few authors that will make this list and, let me tell ya, it never gets old. Never.

Okay. I'm going to stop rambling. :)

Happy Thursday!

Smiles,
B

Find Jodi:
Goodreads ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Next Week's Author:
Hint: She's multi-talented and has written/is writing three series and one standalone, as well as contributed to anthologies.
_ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Any guesses? :)