Princess of the Oddballs

Queen of the Oddballs by Hillary Carlip takes the reader into her past with all of its quirky star sightings, stalkings, and encounters. Those are just the tidbits to entice you into her journey of self-discovery. From her obsessions with famous women, like Carly Simon and Carole King, to her obsessions with becoming famous as a jailbird rockstar she invented, Carlip revisits her inner demons of low self-esteem. The year-on-year lists of events in the outer social world preceding each chapter are a great trip down memory lane.

The antics in her teen years with fire-eating and juggling are hilarious. Her alternative lifestyle in the book has less to do with her sexual orientation than it does with her ability to stick to her convictions and achieve the near impossible, like writing scripts and getting them made into films and plays. Her first book, Girl Power, made it to the Oprah show--and much like my dreams and many others--the actual experience did not reach her expectations. I imagine being on the Oprah show with my first book, sitting on stage with Oprah herself, who will gush over my fiction work. Now, that I've read Queen of the Oddballs I know that there could be an alternate ending to that fantasy--one in which I am in the audience and others are asked questions about the book and their contributions while I sit in the audience and stare, appalled. Ok, so I would not be writing a memoir or nonfiction piece, but it could happen with a fiction novel.

Overall, this is a quick read and entertaining beyond anyone's expectations. I had a great time reading this book and getting to know the author, Hillary Carlip. This was a great recommendation from my friend Sarah.