“Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl” Carrie Brownstein

Jeff and I are always working on a TV show together. By working, I mean we pick a television show with many seasons and we watch it on Monday and Tuesday nights which historically are nights that we did not have custody of our four daughters. Our first show was “Shameless” and from there we moved on to “Homeland,” “Breaking Bad” and more recently “Billions” and “Outlander.” Our current show is “Portlandia.” I know many people have probably seen this show but I had not seen a single episode until this winter, and now I am obsessed. I love Fred Armisen, but I’m over-the-moon about the female lead, Carrie Brownstein. She is this perfect blend of Carol Burnett and Kurt Cobain. On “Portlandia,” she doesn’t just wear wigs and make-up to create different characters, she also adopts different voices and well-developed postures to go with these personalities. I think she is a comic genius, and I wanted to know her backstory. So this autobiography was a wonderful trip into Carrie’s childhood and early career as a member of a punk-indi trio named Sleater-Kinney. We see her parents divorce when she was 14, and her mother struggle with anorexia. We see her get outed as bi-sexual to her family in Spin magazine at 21 years old. We see her suffer panic attacks and get severe hives, and later shingles. We meet her sincerely close but complicated friendships with Corin Tucker and the Miranda July. For those looking to read a book about the inside scoop on “Portandia” or her relationship with Fred, this is not your book. There is literally only one sentence about the television series, which leads me to hope that Brownstein is planning a second memoir about that show after it is finished. This book is a rock musician’s memoir in the best sense of the phrase. It is about touring with her band in the Pacific Northwest, trying to find out who she is and where she wants to go with her life. In “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl,” Brownstein comes off smart, vulnerable, brave and quirky, and destined for fame. She is not only someone you would want to idolize but also someone you think you could be friends with at the same time. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.