Showing posts with label discrimination against women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discrimination against women. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Just the Funny Parts

Just the Funny Parts: ...And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boys' Club by Nell Scovell, 316 pages

In this sometimes funny, always honest memoir, Scovell recounts her experiences becoming — and almost always remaining — the only woman in the writers' room of TV shows in more than 30 years in Hollywood. The Simpsons, Late Night with David Letterman, NCIS, Newhart, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, the Kennedy Center Honors... Scovell's career has plenty of credits that a lot of writers would kill for. This is a story of the lack of diversity behind the scenes in Hollywood (and more specifically in comedy), as well as the story of a woman coming into her own through her experiences. I particularly enjoyed seeing her more recent career, when she began speaking out about the lack of female writers in writing rooms and working with Sheryl Sandberg to help support women. My only regret is that this was written before the #MeToo movement took off, as I'd love to hear her thoughts on that. A great memoir for fans of humor and Hollywood.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

The Trespasser

The Trespasser: a Novel / Tana French, read by Hilda Fay, 449 p.

Featuring Dublin Murder Squad detective Antoinette Conway solving the murder of  the young and pretty Aislinn Murray, found dead in her flat.  All signs point to the new boyfriend, but Antoinette Conway isn't convinced.  A well-constructed case with a satisfying resolution, but for my taste there was too much emphasis placed on Conway's struggles with her fellow detectives.