Like The Tomato
just me, my books, and my journals
- Title: My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress
- Author: Rachel DeLoache Williams
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Pages: 304
- Publisher: Gallery Books
- Published: 2019
I remember being interested in this book when I first heard about Anna Delvey maybe a couple of years ago. Then I forgot about it. The next thing I knew, Netflix released a show called Inventing Anna. And of course, I devoured that show – marathon’d it one Sunday. What do I specifically remember about it? I did not like Rachel. And you cannot blame me for that, just watch the show, and tell me how Netflix did Rachel dirty.
“You are here to read about Anna Delvey, and I don’t blame you” is the first sentence in the Preface of the book. And Rachel was right. I bought the book and read it because of Anna Delvey. I did not buy the book to like Rachel but instead to know what she experienced. The show did not really expand on who Rachel is despite having an episode titled “Rachel”. But then what do you expect, Inventing Anna is a show about Anna, not everyone else.
The book was really easy to read. It was nonlinear at times – starting with the Marrakesh trip, then inserted with tidbits of who Rachel is, and the story of Anna’s and Rachel’s friendship. I liked how the book was set up. Starting with THE trip was a good strategy, with the later parts of the book dealing with the aftermath.
The book says it’s “The True Story of a Fake Heiress”. It wasn’t. Sure the book was about the Marrakesh trip and the aftermath. But I think it’s about the friendship of two people that soured and ended because one person decided to put one friend in such a horrible situation.
Anna’s and Rachel’s friendship read as superficial. At least to me. However, it does not make it any less real. The friendship was there, it was just a bit focused on having fun.
The conflict mainly focused on Rachel having to chase Anna down for the payment that she was owed for the Marrakesh trip. Rachel had to struggle financially in order to barely make ends meet. It was a very stressful situation that I do not wish on anyone. With Rachel not having any other choice but to get authorities involved.
Rachel was relatable. Her journey from being this timid person just letting things happen to standing up for herself and taking control of a very dicey situation is very commendable. The book humanized Rachel for me. Sharing tidbits of her life made her relatable to me. From her childhood, her love of The Great British Bake Off, and her tendency to box up her emotions and deal with problems on her own. I swore I was reading about myself – I mean, you know, aside from this traumatizing fiasco, mingling with people, and working in a magazine. I even made a note in the book “We are almost the same person. We could be friends in real life”.
I liked this book. I came in expecting a rundown of what happened in Marrakesh and what happened afterward, which I did. But what I got was so much more. I saw a friendship that had a very dysfunctional power dynamic that ultimately lead to its end. I saw a person who stood up for herself and took control of her life. Would I recommend this book? Yes. I would. Like I said, this book humanized Rachel for me. And after reading this, I could definitely say, that the show did not do her justice whatsoever.
By: Kate Moore
Format: Audiobook / Hardbound
Pages: 496
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Listening Length: 15 hours and 52 minutes
What do I do in my desperate attempt to battle a reading slump? Pick up a nonfiction about radium and how it affected the lives of the girls who worked in the watch making industry back in the day. Dark AF.
Nonfiction is something that I don’t pick up naturally. So when I decided to browse the genre in my library, it came as a surprise to me. What drew me initially was the cover. I mean, look at at it! Gorgeous! It was an instant borrow. I didn’t even read what it was about. I just went for it. And oh boy – it was a difficult read.
The book is about the radium girls – female workers of the watch industry basically applying this glowing material to watch dials. These basically chronicles the journey of the girls from the beginning of working in the factory through the trials that came years later.
I was lost in the pages in an instant. It was definitely a roller coaster ride of emotions for me. I was excited for them getting their first jobs, getting their own money. I was raging for them when they were placed in harms way by these corporations wanting to sell these watches. When they were not protected enough while working with radium. Then what little protection they had was taken away. I cried when each one of them experienced the fatal effects of radium to the human body. I cheered with them as they surge on to fight against the companies they worked for to get what they deserved for working in such greedy companies.
When I said I was hooked the first second I started listening to it, I was hooked. I wanted to see how the journey ended for these women. It was a rough journey, definitely one of the most difficult reads I’ve ever experienced. And I loved every single minute of it. The fact that my anxiety was definitely triggered while reading this book is a positive thing.
So if you are feeling up to reading some history and what kind off pushed OSHA that we have today, I recommend you pick up this book.
I’ve said this so many times, I am a mood reader and I consider that as my own personal curse. My next read will always be dictated by my mood…and it could really be a hell of a challenge.
So what does it really like to be one?
I often struggle with finding the next book to read. Just because my mood changes so abruptly sometimes, I often had difficulty finding the next book to pick up. I can pick up an X number amount of books in a day and still not find the right book. The struggle will always be real.
I don’t have a “To Be Read” schedule. I’ve always had a problem with sticking to a TBR list. And this one hurts because I love crossing out something off a list. I am often jealous of people who can just pick the books that they would read for the rest of the month and successfully stick to it. But because my mood at the beginning of the month won’t be consistent for the rest of it, I always end up scrapping the whole list. The “To Be Read” pile is there, I just don’t have a list.
I have a lot of unread books. I have a lot of partially read books too. I learned early on that I can’t really force myself to read a book. Not that I haven’t done that in the past, I have, and it never ends up good. So I am not scared of putting a book down and setting it aside for a later time. I don’t see the point of forcing myself to finish a book. It’s unfair for me and the book. Hence, my pile of to be read books is forever growing.
I don’t really follow the list of new releases or anticipated releases. I don’t find myself getting overly excited for it. Or I can be excited but still won’t pick that book up until maybe a few months after or even a year after. The only exception to this one was Harry Potter of course.
I can’t join a read-a-long or a book club. These group readings could be fun and I often find myself wanting to join one. But since the books being read in these group settings are often predetermined, it’s difficult for me to join or engage at all. I definitely struggled with the required readings for school.
I struggle with reading slumps as much as I hate to admit it. It could be days, weeks, or months before I’m able to find a book that I am in the mood for. A book hangover definitely has been a contributing factor to some of these. But most often than not, it was because I couldn’t find the right book.
My reading count is definitely not consistent every year. Like I said, I could be in an extreme reading slump and not able to read for a long periods of time. Or it could be like last year and I found the topic and genre that I was in the mood for and just fly through the books.
I can’t participate in a yearly reading challenge, or any reading challenges to be honest. May it be just saying I will read an X amount of books for a year or following a reading prompt for that year or just picking a book from a TBR jar. I would definitely fail. Trust me, I tried so many times.
I go through different genres. I have my favorite of course. But being a mood reader definitely gave me the chance to explore different genres. I love it. Although, I still have to find myself picking up more non fictions. If my mood decide to shift me there, that would be great.
I can also fly through books once I find the right genre or topic I’m in the mood for. Since my mood can fluctuate a lot, I try to read as much books as I can in a short amount of time under that specific topic/genre. This was not often the case, last year was definitely lucky. From September until the present really, my mood apparently hasn’t changed. So I have been flying through books in one genre/topic. Since then, I often finish a book a day or two.
Bottom line, being a mood reader can be crippling at times and I do get frustrated once in a while, but I have learned to just go with it. Sure the downside is there, but I like the advantages too. The past year has definitely been a game changer. Since I am stuck in a genre right now, I have a choice to stop reading for a while and pick up a different genre at a later time. Or just go with it and embrace it. And that’s what I did. I am on book 14 for the month of January, so I can’t complain.
I finally unpacked all our books. A little over a year here in Washington and all our books are now on bookshelves. Organized as well – the books are definitely arranged alphabetically by author, then alphabetically by title for authors we own multiple books of, and obviously the series in order of release.
The reorganization of our book collection was definitely not planned. Well, a little bit planned – since we needed to get extra shelves, I knew I wanted to do it but I just didn’t know when. But with my anxiety on high lately, I needed something to focus on. And the process did help to pull myself out of my head.
So…the process took a few hours. I started around 3 am – I know, crazy but my anxiety doesn’t really pick a time and when it’s on high, I definitely can’t sleep. So I knew the timing was perfect. I was done by about 11 am. Not too bad. I moved the little furniture we have in the living area to make room for the floor sorting. We had a number of books from authors whose last names start with the letters B, S, M and T, which I found weirdly interesting for some unknown reason.
We currently have 5 tall-ish bookshelves against the wall. We got these ones from Ikea to line the wall of the living area. We agreed on not shedding too much money on sturdier bookshelves at this time because we know that this apartment living is something temporary. And I wanted to build a customized bookshelf once we have a permanent living situation. We also decided to get a smaller 12 cube shelf which we got from Amazon to house our smaller paperbacks and mangas.
We do own a number of graphic novels and hardbound books, which are not photographed here. I still yet to organize those. They have shelves of their own, just not organized. That would be for a later time since organizing our paperbacks, fun as it was for me, was very tedious.
One thing I didn’t do though, and I should have, was tally the books. The last count we did was almost 3 years ago, and the total was a little over 5oo books. Our collection definitely grew from that number. I will definitely do the count once I organize the rest of the books. I am also planning on creating a spreadsheet just to catalog the books. So this organizing business is definitely not done.