I love self-help books, and Letting Go of Your Bananas: How to be Successful by letting go of everything Rotten in Your Life by Daniel T. Drubin was an easy choice. The book was not what I expected. Lured into taking this particular book by the cheery bright yellow banana on the cover, I was not prepared for the textbook-like presentation and stilted style of writing. So much for not judging a book by its cover........





But the content--- exceptional!


Based on the premise that monkeys are captured because they reach into a bottle and won't turn loose of their bananas, the focus of the book encourages us to turn loose of the habits, people, and beliefs that have us trapped.





I will admit that I laughed through some of it, not because it is particularly funny, but because the author seemed pretentious, and perhaps the letting go of some of my "bananas" of choice would not be deemed earth shattering. But the book is good enough I recommend taking notes, and more importantly putting those notes in action. Which brings me to a riddle which is apropos for this book: Two frogs are sitting on a log and one jumps off. How many frogs are left on the log? TWO of course! Just deciding to jump off a log and jumping off a log are two different things.

When I was a child, my Grandma would wash my mouth out with soap if she even thought I had said something naughty. I can only imagine what she'd do if she saw what I was currently reading.

Tina Fey's Bossypants--once you tiptoe around the politics--and hurdle over the language-- is just plain ole funny. I picked it up because I wanted something different--something distracting from the present suffocating level of stress that has been my world of late. Well, it certainly distracted me--I almost spewed oatmeal out of my mouth at the breakfast table upon opening it.

I chose this volume as a means of escape, and it certainly transported me to another world. Tina manages to blurt out things that most of us would never admit to even thinking. This is the story of Tina before she was Sarah Palin, before Saturday Night Live, before her hilarious breastfeeding misadventures, before her disastrous honeymoon. She is irreverent, sacralegious, and filthy-mouthed--and just maybe more everywoman than I would care to admit. Disclaimer: DO NOT READ THE LAST 30 PAGES!

Was the level of obscenity in the book necessary? I hear this discussed from time to time. Someone will say, "that movie could have been just as good without all that violence," or, "there was no need for all that sex in that book--it would have been just as good without it." How can one judge? This is Tina's story. Not mine. I suppose she included what she deemed authentic in her world. And I could never judge. After all, I do remember the taste of Grandma's soap....