#car commute

[stone-cold-groove]

Late for work.

[myberkeleyadventure]

My Take on Celebrity’s Memoirs/ Autobiographical Comedy Books

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of autobiographical comedy books authored by celebrities on my commute to/from work. With a one-way commute of about an hour, I can get through the books fairly quickly! I haven’t been posting too much on my blog lately, but thought to do a very quick, brief summary recap of the books I’ve listened to. Both as a way to keep my blog active, and just so I can document my readings. Keep in mind, I’m listening to these books (read by the authors, so it’s a cool bonus!) in my car.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling. 9/10 I really liked this book and Mindy’s perspective. I’m a fan of Mindy’s  through The Office, and just because I can tell she's a young, funny woman. I liked her first book of “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” and this was the first book I listened to, and the first to start this new trend. She talks about her career, her dating life, and just has a really quirky personality that I liked! If she writes a third book, I will definitely listen to it. This was over a month ago, so I honestly can’t remember too many details of the book. I do remember feeling really bored at her fictional “what if” character; she said she’d have been a Latin teacher if she didn’t become an actress and there was a series of emails (all fictitious) and a fake plot regarding her working at a school. This was hard to sit through and listen; would’ve been easier to read through.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler. 7/10 I liked Amy Poehler for her work in Parks & Recreation and just because she’s a funny woman. (Note: I’m drawn to books written by funny people, and bonus if it’s a woman!) The book was interesting but there were times I felt pretty bored. There wasn’t anything “juicy” about her book; she wouldn’t talk much about her divorce or anything like that. It seemed a rather professional but funny book unlike Kaling’s book (funny and casual and cool book). I also sorta got tired of her mentioning so much about her improv history, how writing a book is so “hard”, how her kids are crazy and being a single mom, and things like that; it definitely felt like she was complaining and over-exaggerating some aspects of her life and it bored me. But on the whole, this book was still enjoyable.

Seriously... I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres. 8.5/10 I love Ellen. Not only is she funny, relatable, and has a cool talkshow, but she is older and her book definitely reflects her added years of experience. She talks about being comfortable in her own skin, being ok with the aging process, and etc etc. I actually gained some more comfort and liked her little life tidbits. I liked this book and I felt like it was in a similar vein with Mindy Kaling’s book.

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick. 7.5/10 I’m still a little on the fence about this one. I’m not a huge Anna Kendrick fan (I really only know of her from Pitch Perfect) but decided to listen to her audiobook anyway (female funny person). She is a bit relatable and has a humble, down-to-earth grounded personality but sometimes, at the same time, not so relatable? Or maybe just to me. She talks about drinking, and drugs, and partying at a young age and I wasn’t able to relate to that personally. I liked that she talked about her being a “late bloomer” and losing her virginity later; that made me feel she was pretty open and telling. Or the discrepancies between wearing super expensive wardrobe and living in an apartment with a tar-stained carpet.

Read Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris. 4/10 Ok, ok granted I didn’t listen to much of his book. But apparently, this book is hard to listen to because I think you’re supposed to switch around pages etc and this book is meant to be interactive. So listening to this was a challenge and I gave up after an hour. I didn’t like his fun take on it (at least not while listening to it on a busy commute to work); everything is in second person, aka “You were born to blah blah blah” and I didn’t like it. I did check out the physical copy of the book and will read it (vs listen) and see how I like that instead.

The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson. 7/10 I loved the Office, and was looking forward to this book. However, not only did he barely talk about the Office (just 30 pages maybe), I felt like he rambled too much about his Baha’i faith. Okay, I get it, he’s an avid follower and this is his memoir so it follows his life, how he was introduced to the religion (his parents), his fall out with religion, and his re-introduction and recommitted faith to the religion. But it was just a bit much for me. Maybe because I’m not religious myself but while I was definitely interested and open to hearing about his faith, I soon grew restless with every mention of his faith. He also talks about his “bohemian” lifestyle a lot (aka hippie lifestyle) but overall, again, this book was still pleasant to go through. I was also a little bit surprised/ sad that he “struggled” so much in the acting industry and had other acting ventures but they were not too successful (TV sitcom following The Office that was cancelled, The Rocker movie, and a few more). It seems like The Office is his main popular success, and I mean, he has had other smaller roles and he does a lot of charity work too and by all means is quite successful, but there was a part of me that wished he had more success.

Currently, I’m listening to Bossypants by Tina Fey. I have skimmed the physical copy of the book last year but I’m glad I still decided to check out the audiobook. Not only is it read by Tina Fey, but it’s easier to sit through listening to it versus reading it. I can already tell it’s in the same vein as Mindy Kaling’s and Ellen DeGeneres’ book AKA I’m liking it.