High on Arrival.
This book has everything you could want in a knocked out, true story, tortured daughterhood, druggie tales life....WITH loads of celebrity figureheads as cohorts.
This is a sad true story, but as a person who not seem to change the channel when Celebrity Rehab is on, this book is a page turner.  A good read and certainly not forgettable.

Catherine the Great is not a heart-stopping book, I did not laugh out loud or cry or feel very much of anything to be honest.  I did learn a bit about the 18th century life and this period in the history of Russia, Austria, Prussia, etc.
Mainly I felt ensconced in velvet pillows, brocade curtains, cobblestone castles and living life nestled under the thumb of a powerful queen.  Catherine had an interesting life, a meddling mother, a protective bubble, a role to play led by the rules and whims of others.
Excerpt from page 146:
Catherine was living the life of a royal Cinderella.  On summer days, she galloped over the meadowlands and shot ducks in the marshes along the Gulf of Finland.  Winter nights, she danced as the belle of court balls, exchanging whispered confidences and receiving romantic notes from attentive young men.  These moments were elements of her dream world.  The reality of her daily life was different:  it was filled with frustration, rebuff, and denial.
In reading the book I was struck by the constant illness.  The blood-letting and suffering one must endure in a world without Advil.  It seems people would take sick and wind up dead more often than not and it's hard to imagine that these days.
I am thoroughly impressed with the way Robert K. Massie is able to weave in Catherine's personal writings and other historical references seamlessly into the fabric of an exciting and detailed story.  Dull at times but certainly fun to read while waiting for the next season on Downton Abbey to begin.  I would certainly not have wanted to be the person involved in fact-checking the insane family tree connections though out the European royalty; I'd leave that up to the daughter of my Father's sister's husband's cousin.

This book was creepy, odd and fantastically fun.  I don't always go in for spooky thrillers but I really enjoyed this.  If you're ready to read something with no mama-drama this is a nice switch.

There are a million characters in this book.  It's hard to follow in the beginning.  Like walking down a street in Cairo, a person can not take it all in at once.  At first you find bits that catch your interest.  And then suddenly you're caught up in the city and the characters.  There are such a limited number of paths a woman can take in Egypt, I do not fault any of these women for doing what they can to find their way to comfort.

Intoxicated living

This is a story of life intoxicated; similar to Bright Lights, Big City- which is fantastic by the way.  One could read the entire book in the bath.  This book is dripping with the coolness factor of Hunter S. Thompson.

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy is a book which is young, ridiculous and a joy to read.  There's just enough tawdry to overcome the desperate silliness of the character.  She's adorable, selfish and wonderful while finding herself in Paris.
Quote from page 25 "A rowdy bunch on the whole, they were most of them so violently individualistic as to be practically interchangeable."

A cute story...simple, light and fun for summer.  Essential if traveling to San Francisco.