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"  Ali in Wonderland by Ali Wentworth (Harper)  Unanimous applause greeted this actress-comedian&amp;#039;s tour of her fabulous life, from her East Coast blue-blood origins (mother&amp;#039;s name: Muffie Cabot) to being Schmoopie on Seinfeld to marrying George Stephanopoulos\u2014all recounted in a manner that had one reader wondering if Wentworth is &amp;quot;a long-lost sister of the Sedaris clan.&amp;quot; Probably best known for playing &amp;quot;Schmoopie&amp;quot; in Seinfeld&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Soup Nazi&amp;quot; episode, Ali Wentworth delivers a host of tall\u2014and small, and long, and short\u2014tales that will leave you weak with laughter. Offering the perfect blend of personal knowledge and gossip, Wentworth emerges from her WASP upbringing with a quirky perspective and comedic contempt for her world of privilege, much of it inherited from her mother extraordinaire Muffie Cabot, whose words of advice about coping with any crisis is &amp;quot;Go to the Four Seasons!&amp;quot; An ideal companion for any reader seeking a relaxing yet devilish evening, Ali in Wonderland takes you by the hand down the rabbit hole of great conversation with an old girlfriend, who just happens to be married to George Stephanopoulos. \u2014Marilyn Ludzki, Elmwood Park, NJ Ali in Wonderland is an uproariously funny memoir of the author&amp;#039;s life thus far, from dinners with Henry Kissinger and Donald Rumsfeld to L.A. comedy with Lisa Kudrow and Jim Carey to falling in love with George Stephanopoulos. Every page made me laugh. Wentworth&amp;#039;s book is perfect for book clubs, as you&amp;#039;ll want to talk about her outrageous tales. \u2014Jaime Boler, Laurel, MS Wentworth&amp;#039;s cheeky, self-deprecating style makes her memoir a very, very funny read. Towards herself, she is completely ribald; towards her loved ones (her mother in particular), she is tender and true. There is respect and admiration for her family that feels genuine and touching. \u2014Kathleen Coughlin Hefley, Longmont, CO Initially, I was turned off by the thought of poring over the life lessons of a well-to-do daughter of political magnates\u2014how funny could stories otherwise destined for a Social Diary really be? As it turns out, remarkably relatable and totally hysterical. I caught myself laughing aloud on more than one occasion, and couldn&amp;#039;t help but wonder if Ali is a long-lost sister of the Sedaris clan. \u2014Karyn Polewaczyk, Boston MA In this collection of personal tales, it feels like Wentworth is talking to you as a friend\u2014a very quick-witted friend at that. She manages to make light of some of her darkest, most painful moments. You may not be able to identify with some of her choices or experiences, but most will find something charming and accessible in her book. \u2014Jolene Singh, Fresh Meadows, NY Fabulously funny, charming, and real! Wentworth is a non-stop adventure on wheels. Her mother Muffie&amp;#039;s comments and outlook on life are priceless. A wonderful, refreshing and quick read. \u2014Lesley M. Goodman, Houston, TX Wentworth writes well, and is often funny, but nothing made me care about her stories or made me want to read more than a few of them for the entertainment value. The format of the book confused me\u2014is a memoir? A book of humorous essays? The short vignettes bugged me and made me wonder why I should move on to the next anecdote. \u2014Sharon Walsh, Geneva, NY  Growgirl by Heather Donahue (Gotham)  So you star in the little indie film that conquered the world, The Blair Witch Project, and then...nothing happens. Why not move to idyllic rural California and grow medical marijuana? Some readers sniffed at Donahue&amp;#039;s new vocation, but, hey: She makes clear it works for her! Heather Donahue soared to fame as the girl in The Blair Witch Project, but much of that fame was unwanted. In her memoir, Donahue spends a year growing medical marijuana in Northern California, and ends up finding herself in the process. Donahue&amp;#039;s voice is fresh, distinctive, and full of clever wit\u2014though at times I found it difficult to discern what was real and what was acting. \u2014Jaime Boler, Laurel, MS While this postures as an expos\u00E9 on the medical marijuana growers&amp;#039; community, it reads more like a confessional about Donahue&amp;#039;s lifestyle (and poor choices). There is only so much about her body odor, body hair, intestinal problems that I care to hear about, and this book goes way beyond that limit. \u2014Kathleen Coughlin Hefley, Longmont, CO Heather Donahue was afraid she had become a one-hit wonder after her unexpected success in The Blair Witch Project. However, she may not have been using the most insightful career judgment when deciding to move to northern California and run a grow house. Grow Girl is broken into a month-by-month instructional manual revealing to the benefits and disadvantages of working and living in the pot industry. But with so many movies and books (not to mention Weeds, an award-winning cable series) already devoted to this subject matter, Donahue may just be leading herself down a road to anonymity. \u2014Marilyn Ludzki, Elmwood Park, NJ Maybe it was the subject matter, or maybe I&amp;#039;ve just grown wary of a flooded memoir market, but this tale of a reality television participant gone hippie-chick-next-door didn&amp;#039;t leave me feeling inspired to do more than raise my fingers in a peace sign. \u2014Karyn Polewaczyk, Boston MA Donahue is a clearly a good writer, but she tries too hard to sound hip. Her desperate attempts to be clever make this memoir feel inauthentic. Ultimately, the New Age-y cast of kooky characters felt overdone and unbelievable. \u2014Sharon Walsh, Geneva, NY Though Donahue&amp;#039;s book is very witty and clever at times, I found myself zoning out during the all-encompassing &amp;quot;pot community&amp;quot; jargon, as it became too technical and almost text-bookish. \u2014Lesley M. Goodman, Houston, TX   Crazy Enough by Storm Large(Free Press)  The punk-rock coming-of-age of this actress and one-time Rock Star: Supernova contestant read a little raw for some readers&amp;#039; tastes, what with Large&amp;#039;s tales about her baroquely mentally ill mother, early sexual promiscuity, and dabbling with very bad drugs. But nobody said it didn&amp;#039;t make for a helluva compelling story. Storm Large is truly larger than life. I was expecting something scandalous from her memoir and was not disappointed. Large&amp;#039;s story is harrowing and, at times, hard to read. As an author, Large is raw, and that works to her advantage. As a reader, I never really doubted her sanity, though I could feel that she doubted it herself. The prose is part of what makes the story sensational\u2014you can feel her talking to you, and the story doesn&amp;#039;t feel contrived or whitewashed. You couldn&amp;#039;t make this stuff up! This memoir is not for the faint of heart, but if you want to know a true music success story, give it a whirl. \u2014Jessica Shaver Crazy Enough, singer-songwriter Storm Large&amp;#039;s memoir, gives us a disturbing yet strangely fascinating no-holds-barred look at mental illness, and how it affects generations of a family. The kind of care Large&amp;#039;s mother received in the 1970&amp;#039;s and &amp;#039;80s horrified me. Thankfully, as far as treating mental illness goes, the medical profession has come a long way. Some of Large&amp;#039;s actions, though, were a cry for help. She craved love and often substituted sex and drugs to fill the empty space, with disastrous consequences. \u2014Jaime Boler, Laurel, MS I enjoyed the second half of this book, which focuses on Storm&amp;#039;s adulthood, much more than the first half of the book, which deals with her adolescence and growing up as hypersexual, wayward child. As bad as things get for her and her family, Large doesn&amp;#039;t wallow in self-pity. While she deals with many painful experiences in her memoir, she manages to stay open and engaging\u2014a huge accomplishment. She was very brave to publish this book.\u2014Jolene Singh, Fresh Meadows, NY Large seems to look for no sympathy, and her account garners none, yet there is a place in our sisterhood for a woman like her. It may seem that she fills the awkward place of being the woman many might look to and say, &amp;quot;I am glad I am not her,&amp;quot; but for the fact that she pulls out of this and gives us art. She is &amp;quot;at large,&amp;quot; and we can embrace her for that. \u2014Kathleen Coughlin Hefley, Longmont, CO While Large&amp;#039;s memoir is blended with all of the ingredients designed to touch the heart, her vernacular is jumpy, and things that probably hold their own on stage don&amp;#039;t translate as well to the page. Large&amp;#039;s attempts to mask raw experiences with brash humor leave the reader wondering if we&amp;#039;ll ever get to know her true self. \u2014Karyn Polewaczyk, Boston MA Is calling this a self-absorbed memoir an oxymoron? This raw, in-your-face account of Storm Large&amp;#039;s life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll lacked any epiphanies or lessons learned. The more fascinating aspects of her life surround her mentally crazed, undiagnosed mother and their tumultuous relationship. \u2014Lesley M. Goodman, Houston, TX "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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