Tag «celebrity authors»

Single Sundays: If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t) by Betty White

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t) (from Goodreads):
It-girl Betty White delivers a hilarious, slyly profound take on love, life, celebrity, and everything in between.

Drawing from a lifetime of lessons learned, seven-time Emmy winner Betty White’s wit and wisdom take center stage as she tackles topics like friendship, romantic love, aging, television, fans, love for animals, and the brave new world of celebrity. If You Ask Me mixes her thoughtful observations with humorous stories from a seven- decade career in Hollywood. Longtime fans and new fans alike will relish Betty’s candid take on everything from her rumored crush on Robert Redford (true) to her beauty regimen (“I have no idea what color my hair is and I never intend to find out”) to the Facebook campaign that helped persuade her to host Saturday Night Live despite her having declined the hosting job three times already.

Featuring all-new material, with a focus on the past fifteen years of her life, If You Ask Me is funny, sweet, and to the point-just like Betty White.

breakdown

Author: Betty White
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humour
Heat Rating: N/A
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook

thoughts

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I enjoy listening to audiobooks when I run errands or go for a walk. I’m a multitasker at heart and so taking time away to be “fit” is hard for me–it’s time I could be using to read something!

So I found this book randomly when searching what audiobooks were currently available for immediate download from my library when I went for a walk one day. I’m a huge Betty White fan. She’s like the perfect hybrid of my two grandmothers and so I associate her with fond feelings. Plus: she’s such a boss! She does so much!

Image result for betty white gifs

The Concept:

I’m not sure how this compares to other Betty novels but this one is basically Betty sharing her personal philosophy on life. She talks (briefly) about everything from having pets to kids to starting your career to life overall.

I’m not normally one to enjoy celebrity novels that solely focus on their life philosophies–they don’t particularly inspire me and I find them boring to read–but there is something about Betty sharing her wisdoms about life that works for me here. I think it’s because I think of her as a wise grandmother and so it doesn’t seem patronizing to me.

The Writing/Narration:

I think this would have been boring to read if Betty wasn’t narrating this. She’s so expressive in her presentation that it is quite enjoyable to read. And she is so humble about everything too! I don’t think this would come across too well if I was just reading the words.

Did it Impact My Life?

Not particularly–just made me love her a little more…

My Rating: 3.5/5

overall

If you don’t enjoy memoirs or celebrities sharing their life philosophies, this is probably a pass for you!

Read if You Like: memoirs, Betty White
Avoid if You: dislike life philosophies, want an autobiography

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Single Sundays: Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living (from Goodreads):
Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman shares his humorous fulminations on life, manliness, meat, and much more in his first book.

Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman—who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best known as Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson? Combining his trademark comic voice and very real expertise in woodworking—he runs his own woodshop—Paddle Your Own Canoe features tales from Offerman’s childhood in small-town Minooka, Illinois—“I grew up literally in the middle of a cornfield”—to his theater days in Chicago, beginnings as a carpenter/actor and the hilarious and magnificent seduction of his now-wife Megan Mullally. It also offers hard-bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.

A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even hand craft (and paddle) their own canoes.

breakdown

Author: Nick Offerman
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humour, Celebrity
Heat Rating: N/A
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook

thoughts

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

My first exposure to Nick Offerman was as the enigma of Ron Swanson on the fanastic TV comedy Parks and Rec. So I am going to apologize in advance for the many gifs that I’ve added to this review.

Ron Swanson is one of my all time favourite TV characters and because of that, I love Nick Offerman. I don’t like to be that person who equates an actor to be the same person they play in a TV show but I have a feeling Nick and Ron share a lot of commonalities and view points. What those were exactly had me excited to listen to this audiobook. No way was I going to miss out on Nick Offerman’s verbal humour by reading the novel via paper!

The Concept:

Like most celebrity memoirs, this novel is a mix of life stories and life philosophies. It isn’t anything new or unexpected on that front.

The Writing / The Narration:

I love the way Nick Offerman delivers his sarcasm and wit. He’s a funny guy but also very intelligent. Like his character of Ron, he often delivers these unexpected nuggets of wisdom that just make you think.

However, I did find this novel excessively long. The audio version is close to 10 hours in length and I don’t want to listen to anyone for that long. 5 hours is my max for a memoir.

Did it Impact My Life?

I really liked how Nick reminds people to keep it simple in life. He’s blunt and straight-forward and I appreciated that a lot.

My Rating: 3.5/5

overall

While this was wayyyy too long for me, I did enjoy it. It definitely had its funny moments and it was exactly what I thought it was going to be. But if you don’t know who Nick Offerman is or enjoy celebrity memoirs, this most definitely isn’t for you. As Ron says:

Read if You Like: Parks and Rec, celebrity memoirs
Avoid if You: dislike long memoirs

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Single Sundays: Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Why Not Me? (from Goodreads):

In Why Not Me?, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it’s falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you’re constantly reminded that no one looks like you.

In “How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet’s Confessions,” Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, (“Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn’t the land of appropriate–this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman’s traditional hair color is honey blonde.”) “Player” tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. (“I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.”) In “Unlikely Leading Lady,” she muses on America’s fixation with the weight of actresses, (“Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they’re walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.”) And in “Soup Snakes,” Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak (“I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.”)

Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who’s ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who’ve never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper.

breakdown

Author: Mindy Kaling
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humour
Heat Rating: N/A
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: September 15, 2015
Source & Format: Own–Audiobook | This was a giveaway gift from the awesome Tonya @ Lilybloombooks

thoughts

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

When I won Tonya’s audiobook twitter giveaway, I struggled to come up with a book to pick. But when I looked at where I was on the hold list for Mindy’s Why Not Me?, I decided that it would be a great choice (I was VERY far down on the hold list and really wanted to read it sometime in the near future).

I really enjoyed my second attempt at reading Mindy’s first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me when I read it as an audiobook. So I was ready to be thoroughly entertained as I listened to this latest one.

The Concept:

In this book, Mindy gets a touch more personal in terms of what she writes about. While her previous book chronicled her life and professional past, this one gets a touch more philosophical shall we say. Meaning it’s a lot of Mindy sharing her thoughts on everything from weddings to dating to life in general. Which is fine and all but it isn’t as exciting or as fun as it could be.

Don’t get me wrong, I like this serious side of one of my favourite comedians. It really grounds her and makes you realize that celebrities are just like us despite their day job. I love that humanizing aspect that this book provides. Sure, at first it seems like Mindy is complaining about her life despite the fact that she lives better than the average person. But at the same time, as you listen to her story and thoughts, you realize she is just a person like the rest of us.

However, I felt like I was in the same position I was in with Amy Poehler’s book Yes Please!–I don’t want to listen to someone’s philosophy on life for 6 hours. I don’t find it entertaining, especially when I picked up a book expecting to laugh out loud throughout it. So while I appreciate the fact that Mindy is strong enough to share her insecurities and views on life with the world, I did get a little bored listening to it all.

The Writing/Narration:

I definitely didn’t laugh as much as I did in her previous book but that is ok. I appreciated seeing this alternate view to the Mindy I have in my head (who is this weird mash-up of all her characters that I have seen her play as well as her genuine self).

Her writing has a great flow and I love the way she narrates it. It is so much better than reading the words on a piece of paper because the tone gives so much more to the meaning she is trying to get across.

Did it Impact My Life?

Not really. I still want to be her BFF (even though she talks about the fact that she doesn’t understand why people always say that in her book).

My Rating: 4/5

overall

While not as funny as her first book, Mindy gives a solid effort in this book and it is entertaining nonetheless. Highly recommended for fans of Mindy Kaling.

Read if You Like: Mindy Kaling, celebrity views on life
Avoid if You: dislike Mindy Kaling (we can’t be friends anymore 😉 ), dislike memoirs

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Single Sundays: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Bossypants (from Goodreads):
Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update,” before “Sarah Palin,” Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon — from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve all suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.

(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)

breakdown

SERIESous’ Top Picks: Favourite Audiobook 2016
Author: Tina Fey
Genre: Nonfiction, Humour, Memoir
Heat Rating: N/A
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: April 5, 2011
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook

thoughts

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I probably should have started with Tina Fey’s Bossypants when I first wanted to get into celebrity memoirs. It seems to always grace the list of great nonfiction reads for women and one of my good friends totes her praises to everyone, especially this book.

I too, love Tina Fey. She is one of my favourite comedians and I am always impressed by her intelligence. I personally think she is one of the smartest and most talented female comedians in the entertainment industry and she never seems to get the credit she deserves if you ask me. And she also makes up one of my favourite comedic duos when she teams up with Amy Poehler:

Need I say more? I think it is fairly obvious that I had very high expectations for this one!

The Concept:

Like all celebrity memoirs, this book consists of Tina describing her road to frame and fortune through a series of personal essays but features her incredible wit and sarcasm. It’s nothing new really but the spin she puts on everything makes it very enjoyable.

The Writing/NARRATION:

Without a doubt, this is probably the funniest audiobook I have ever had the pleasure of listening to! Tina’s way of approaching things and the observations she makes are so smart and funny that this book was a lot of fun to listen to! Usually, it takes me awhile to get through an audiobook but I just couldn’t stop with this one.

Not only is it funny but it is also very smart. Tina’s intelligence really shines through in this book when she describes why she approaches situations that she finds herself in. She is such a strong woman and I think it really shows here.

Did it Impact My Life?

In a way it definitely did. I like the approach that Tina takes to women’s issues. Obviously, Tina is a feminist who strives for gender equality but she isn’t in your face about it nor is she one of those women who is “odd” because of it. She is extremely sensible and I think is an example of what the modern women should be when it comes to fighting for gender equality. She not only has broken a lot of the stereotypes about female comedians but she is so chill about it all that it really is amazing. She is definitely a personal hero of mine and this book really reaffirmed that fact for me.

My Rating: 5/5

overall

This book was everything I was expecting it to be: enlightening and hilarious! It was so much fun to listen to and I can only hope that she will be inspired to followup this book sometime in the future.

Read if You Like: Tina Fey, celebrity humorous memoirs
Avoid if You: memoirs

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Single Sundays: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) (from Goodreads):
Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

breakdown

Author: Mindy Kaling
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humour, Biography
Heat Rating: N/A
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook

thoughts

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I actually tried to read the paperback of this years ago when my roommate lent it to me but I just couldn’t get into it! And that absolutely shocked me because I love Mindy Kaling. She is one of my all time favourite comedians and I think the Mindy Project is one of the smartest and most humorous comedy shows in recent years. So why couldn’t I get into it?

I think it was the same problem as I had with Amy Pohler’s Yes Please book: I didn’t find the text to be funny. I need to hear the tone of delivery when a joke is told and I can’t do that when I read a book on my own.

In the fall of 2015 I decided to try my first audiobook and it was Stephen Colbert’s America Again. It was hilarious and confirmed what I had suspected: I can listen to humorous audiobooks better than I can read them. So when I saw Lindsey @ Bring Me Books post her review of Mindy’s audiobook, I was inspired to try and read it again.

The Concept:

This is basically a memoir of Mindy’s rise to fame and how she got to be where she is today. It’s your typical memoir book but I thought Mindy had a cool take on things. It wasn’t depressing or boring; rather it had a fun, humourous spin on things. I also liked that it had a linear projection but she added random tidbits here and there.

It was really neat to get her thoughts on The Office  (one of my all time favourite shows) and what it was like to work there. But I also enjoyed the stories of her early days. I think I love Mindy so much because she is so relatable. I think most women have had similar experiences to Mindy at some point in their life and getting her hilarious but heart-felt takes on things was great.

The Writing/Audio-Presentation:

One of the reasons I think I struggled with the physical book was that Mindy writes like she talks. Which is fine, but part of Mindy’s charm is her delivery. So to actually hear her say her words in the exact tone that she wants you to hear them in really made this audiobook work. It was super easy to listen to her and I’m sure I looked like an idiot laughing at some of the things she said.

Did I mention that BJ Novak makes an appearance as well? I simply adore BJ and Mindy together in a completely platonic way. They seem like the best of friends in real life and I think that is the coolest thing ever!

Did it Impact My Life?

Not particularly and I really don’t think it is supposed to either. But, it did restore my faith in celebrity memoirs…so long as they are audiobooks.

My Rating: 4.5/5

overall

I enjoyed the audiobook 20 bazillion times more than the printed copy. I feel like the humour is more apparent and it is just a lot of fun to listen to. However, if you don’t really like celebrity memoirs or the Mindy Project, you probably won’t like this one!

Read if You Like: Mindy Kaling, celebrity memoirs, humourous audiobooks
Avoid if You: don’t like Mindy Kaling

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  • Yes Please by Amy Poehler
  • Bossypants by Tina Fey

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Single Sundays: Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Yes Please (from Goodreads):
In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book is full of words to live by.

Review:

I love Amy Poehler! She is one of my all-time favourite comedians and I loved her on SNL. So I figured I would give her new book a shot because it was everywhere I turned. Somehow, I got my name early on the hold list at my library and had it in my hands shortly after its publication.

I have never truly read a non-fiction memoir by a celebrity before. I attempted to read Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? but I just couldn’t get into it. Which shocked me, because Mindy Kaling is another of my favourite comedians and I love her show The Mindy Project (love isn’t a strong enough word, I think absolutely adore is an apt description). Perhaps I went into the book with too high of expectations but I really think non-fiction memoirs aren’t for me and Yes Please had me reaffirming that hypothesis.

Don’t get me wrong–the book is well done and is exactly what I expect from Amy. It’s fun and I did laugh when I was reading it (not as much as I thought though); and she is very insightful and it felt like her words were very sincere and coming from the heart. You felt like you were sitting in front of her as she told her life story and it is very interesting to hear about.

But, seeing as I am half the age of Amy I felt like some of the references were a little lost on me. Bigger name celebrities I knew and I knew the names of her SNL cast members but some of the people she mentions I have no clue who they are so I felt like I was missing out on something.

The other thing about memoirs is that they are vain–and of course they are, they are MEMOIRS about a single person (in most cases) so they unsurprisingly focus on that one person. But I found that this book was mostly just Amy rehashing her life story and telling her personal philosophy on life and not humour at every turn (which I’m sure a majority of readers expected). Which is cool and all but personal life philosophy is “whatever floats your boat” so I didn’t really find it all that interesting and frankly a little boring. It also probably didn’t help that I was in the middle of exams and needed something a little more fun and dramatic to read to blow off some steam 😉

Conclusion:

This book isn’t a collection of hysterical laughs. It’s more about Amy telling her life’s philosophies while throwing in a few punchlines here and there. I guess I’ve just come to the conclusion that memoirs are just not for me. It has nothing to do with the writing or the person, they just aren’t my cup of tea so I’ll just stick with my fiction novels for now.

Rating: 3/5
Would I Recommend this Book to a Friend: Only if they are a die-hard Amy Poehler fan or they love memoir books.

Shorthand Stats:
Genre: Nonficiton, Memoir, Humour
Recommended for: 18+
Heat Rating: cold
Point of View: First Person, Single
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