Book Review: Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Title: Stories I Only Tell My Friends
Author: Rob Lowe
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Audible for iTunes
Books I've read this year: 105

We've been overhauling our yard. That is to say, we have been staying inside and watching while other people have come in to overhaul our yard. It's been a big project-- we bought the house to the east of ours last winter, but there were renters living in it, so we had to wait to do anything to it until they left at the beginning of September. Then we had to spend a certain amount of money on the house so we didn't lose our rent money to taxes. So we decided to landscape the back yard, which involved pulling out more than a dozen trees and more than a hundred big boulders, tearing out a wall and a fireplace, building a new wall, moving a swing set and the chicken coop, installing several truckloads of sod, and spending way, way, way too much money on the pool. We haven't even started the shed/fence/garage part of the project, but suffice it to say that we are in no danger of losing the rent to taxes any more.

Okay, that whole paragraph had absolutely nothing to do with Rob Lowe. Here it comes. Last week I looked out at the yard and my heart sunk. Yeah, we had new sod and our swing set looked great in its new box, but everything was so junky. There were tons of soda cans lying all over the place, and every time the kids came into the house they tracked mud everywhere. It was time for an intervention. So Rob Lowe and I went outside. I filled our whole trash can with trash. I swept and swept until the concrete looked great. I even swept down the steps of the house next door so I could keep listening.

I've always thought Rob Lowe was a handsome guy, and even a smart guy. I was a huge fan of The West Wing back in the day, so he will always be Sam Shepherd to me. But he's also a great writer, and a man who has had ten lifetimes of experiences. As an avid People reader, I will admit to enjoying hearing all of the behind the scenes stories that Lowe lived, but I also feel like the book presents him as a grounded, deliberate person, a person who faced his demons early on in life and learned to rise above them. It's both a good read and a really fun read.