Biography – Page 2 – Feed The Bookworm

Perez Hilton: TMI: My Life in Scandal

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links, which are no cost to you but do give me a small payout if you choose to purchase via the link on the page.

The Rundown: that really mean guy (who is now super nice) who used to draw penises on celebs on his celerity gossip site promises to give all the dirt, then falls short.

Written and Narrated by Perez Hilton

Oh, where oh where do I start with this one. Well, this is hard, because I genuinely like Perez Hilton. Not that I know him, but I came of age in the era of the internet, and followed his site from the beginning. His site used to be really funny and full of raunchy. Then he got called out for being on online bully because he posted a video against bullying. He promised to stop writing nasty things about people. I haven’t visited in eons though, as my penchant for celebrity gossip isn’t what it used to be, and lets be honest, we now have Facebook for all of that.

Mario Armando Lavanadeira aka Perez Hilton ushered in (or so he claims) the beginning of the very first internet influencers, before it was even a thing. I found the beginning of the book about him growing up informative and entertaining, although a little dry. Then, we get to the good part. All the dirt. Wrong.

This book swung and missed on delivering anything we didn’t already know. I was hoping for some more juicy details on his fall out with Gaga, but again, no such luck. In fact, Perez confirms fall fairly huge fall outs with 3 different big name celebs, but manages to deflect any blame. Instead he claims “they got too famous for him.” As they said, there are three different versions, his, hers and the truth. Clearly here we are only getting a very one sided account.

He goes into extreme detail when it comes to his two big TV appearances, which I don’t ever remember seeing. He claims his appearance on Big Brother UK made him the most famous (or popular I can’t remember) contestant in the history of the show. I wouldn’t know, I don’t watch it, but I didn’t know he was on there until this book.

I appreciate how Perez repents in his book, mostly for being the worlds first online bully. He also apologized to Ariana Grande and her mom for a previously undisclosed slight, however I think it would have been more effective if he said it to them directly, first, before publishing it in his memoirs. Who knows, maybe he did, but the way he wrote about it makes me think otherwise.

Another reason I’m only going 3 stars on this book is because I found him to be an unlikeable narrator. I listen to his podcast and enjoy it. His TV hosting gigs that I’ve seen, I’ve liked. However I’ve been listening to a lot of author narrated memoirs lately, and this was not a good one. Perez’s narration style did nothing to make the book more likeable. I’ll admit, it was one I had to power through.

Over all, if you’re looking for a quick and moderately entertaining read, this book is for you. Just don’t expect to be left speechless by the new tidbits of information. There aren’t any.

This audiobook was downloaded for Audible using The Audible Plus Catalog

Evan Antin: World Wild Vet

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links, which are no cost to you but do give me a small payout if you choose to purchase via the link on the page.

The Rundown: that hot vet from Instagram wrote a book about his travels

Written and Narrated by Dr. Evan Antin

Where to start, where to start. As you’ll soon find out, I’m a sucker for a book written and narrated by the same person. There is just something about when an author reads their own work that gives it that little something…extra.

Dr. Evan, aka “The Hot Instagram Vet”, won over the social media audience by posing with all kinds of animals. But as he’ll tell you, he’s been doing it long before social media was a thing. In fact, he was on a study abroad program in Australia when he rented a car and set out to find some of the countries coolest reptiles.

The doc will take you to some of the most remote, inaccessible places in the world and bring it to life through not only the stories of the animals, but the people he meets along the way. His guides through the wilderness are invaluable as Evan tries to negotiate the social customs of the places he visits. At one point, he had to drink a blood clot from a freshly slaughtered goat in order to avoid a local faux pas. I’ll admit, I shuddered a bit at that one.

Not only is Dr. Evan a vet and an animal lover, but he is also a conservationist, trying his best to bring the plight of endangered animals all over the world to his viewers at home.

The only reason I knocked a star off of this one is that some of the chapters in the audio book ended abruptly. Sigh. Now I’ll have to get the physical copy and find out what happened in chapter 4 when he met the Kimono Dragon.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to embark on a world wide adventure from the comfort of their own home.

This audiobook was borrowed from my local library using the Libby App.

Jessica Simpson: Open Book

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links, which are no cost to you but do give me a small payout if you choose to purchase via the link on the page.

The Rundown: Celebrity writes a book about their life.

Written and Narrated by Jessica Simpson. Published 2020.

I’m going to give Mrs. Jessica Simpson a five star rating on this book based on enjoyability alone. Full disclosure, I listened to the audiobook version which she narrated herself. I’ve been a fan since I watched her on The Newlyweds, which seems to be about 100 years ago. And even though she doesn’t sing my preferred kind of music, no one can deny the lady is a power house. Open Book brings us through her life from the very beginning and doesn’t skirt around the dirty details. She speaks openly about her abuse as a child, treats her marriage to Nick with respect, and shows the love she feels for music. As someone who is not religious, I was a bit nervous as anyone who is familiar with the singer knows how strong her faith is. An while it was a prevailing theme in the book, it isn’t pushy or in your face. I was also floored by the dirty details of her relationship with John Mayer and Johnny Knoxville (my teenage crush), and I also completely forgot she dated Tony Romo. I’m a little miffed she didn’t talk about Ashley’s SNL fiasco, but I guess that isn’t her story to tell.

Listening to the audiobook of this was like sitting down for a chat with an old friend. She plows through the tough stuff like abuse, supporting her family, divorce, breakups and addiction with such force and finesse you can’t help but be impressed with her.

I’ll admit, I didn’t go into this book thinking it would be anything of substance, but I was proved wrong over and over again. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m off to watch Dukes of Hazzard (which is on Netfilx at the time of the publication of this review) and drool over Knoxville and Jess’s legs.

This audiobook was borrowed from my local library using the Libby App.