BTT: The Best and the Worst

I didn't do last week's BTT, so I'm going to combine both last week's and this week's into one since they are so closely related.

8/13/09: What’s the worst book you’ve read recently? (I figure it’s easier than asking your all-time worst, because, well, it’s recent!)

This would probably have to be The Mist by Stephen King. It was cheesy and kind of dumb and really, just like any other lame "monsters are taking over the world!" story. It was way too predictable, the characters were the same ones that you expect in any story like this (the hero, the nonbeliever, the child, the "I told you so!" person...), and the ending didn't give any resolution. Not Mr. King's best and even the prospect of seeing Mark Wahlberg makes me want to see the movie.

8/20/09: What’s the best book you’ve read recently? (Tell me you didn’t see this one coming?)

Now this question is TOUGH. I feel like I've read a ton of really great books lately! Although, a lot of them are a part of a series. I finished the Jessica Darling series recently and that was witty and hilarious, especially the fifth book. And, I also just recently finished the fourth book in the Outlander series, Drums of Autumn which, of course, was wonderful. The only non-series book that sticks out to me lately would be Without You: a memoir of love, loss and the musical RENT by Anthony Rapp. That book just really struck my heartstrings, it was so well excuted. I know that that might by an odd way to describe a book, but the use of the lines and lyrics from Rent in relation to the different points in his life really made the book stick out to me.

What about you? What are your recent bests and worsts??

Review: Memoir of Anthony Rapp

Without You: A memoir of love, loss, and the musical RENT

by Anthony Rapp

306 pages

I love the musical Rent. LOVE it. Seriously, it's so great and moving and beautiful and the music just sticks with you. I've seen it a few times live, one of which was at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, MI where Jonathon Larson (the writer of Rent) spent a couple summers earning his equity card prior to moving to NYC and writing Rent. That performance was probably the most moving one that I've seen since a lot of the people there had know Jonathon. Wow. I was left speechless.

If you haven't heard the story of Jonathon Larson and how Rent came to be, then you should read this or rent the DVD of the movie version (which features most of the original Broadway cast including Anthony Rapp) and watch the documentary on the second disk. Look out for the picture of my beloved Barn Theatre (that I've been going to with my parents since I was young).

But, this book really isn't about Jonathan Larson or the making of Rent. It's about Anthony Rapp's experiences with playing the character Mark Cohen for years (from the workshop production to Broadway), living as a homosexual, relationships, and dealing with the loss of him mother to cancer, along with other things that came around. Rent just happened to his backbone through years of strife and heartache in his life. The lyrics to the songs and the core of his character Mark just resonated throughout his real life to make this a very moving memoir. But I think that my favorite thing about reading this was I could distinctly hear Anthony Rapp's voice (as Mark Cohen) while I was reading it. It had a little bit of everything I look for in a memoir: realness, challenges, some hilarity, some heartache, and a good dose of hope at the end.

9 out of 10. Such a good book.