Bossypants Review / No Commitment Blogger Book Club #1

February 4, 2013 7 Comments

Today is the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time to review the first book of the No-Commitment Blogger Book Club!

January we read Bossypants together. Did you like the book? I actually listened to it while I ran my marathon last month, and for the most part it kept me very entertained for those hours of running, especially since Tina Fey narrated it.

Bossypants CoverWhat was the book about?
It’s a hilarious memoir written by Tina Fey about her life growing up, how she first started impromptu classes, her experience with 30 Rock and SNL, and the struggles she faces as a working mom.

Did you feel that the book fulfilled your expectations? Were you disappointed?
Let me start out by saying I have a slight girl crush on Tina: she’s smart, funny, and isn’t your typical Hollywood princess. So, I had high expectations. Were they met? Yes and no. I thought the book was a great blend of hilarious anecdotes and lessons from her experiences, in TV, impromptu classes, and growing up the not-so-popular girl. But not all of the stories I was interested in, or I wanted to hear different stories. I wanted to hear a little more about her personal life, her husband, what she does with her daughter while she is working those crazy 70-hour weeks she referenced.

Did you enjoy the book? Why? Why not?
Aside from being a little crass at times, yes I enjoyed it. The more I listened, the more I realized she was exactly like her character Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. My favorite chapters were when she was talking about her honeymoon (I too am not a fan of cruises), her tips on beauty, celebrating holidays with rural relatives, and lessons to her daughter.

Would you recommend this book?
I would. I don’t know if men would find it as humorous as women, though, since there are a lot of references or stories only females would intimately relate with, but she’s funny enough to keep anyone entertained. Also, if you don’t care for profanity, you may not enjoy the book.

What’s your favorite quote from the book?
Here are a few:

“Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” was constantly on my FM Walkman radio around that time. I think that made me cry because I associated it with absolutely no one.”

“What Turning Forty Means to Me: I need to take my pants off as soon as I get home. I didn’t used to have to do that. But now I do.”

“In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.”

“If you retain nothing else, always remember the most important rule of beauty, which is: who cares?”

Have you read this book and want to participate? Write a review in your blog and post it back here, or comment below and tell me what you thought. The link-up will be open until March, so you have all month to participate. :)

February’s Book: What Alice Forgot – I will be reviewing this March 4th!

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Filed Under: books, reviews

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  • Jerry

    I am a guy with a slight crush on her. She’s hilarious and those quotes may lead me to download it onto my kindle! I know that my insurance for some down days is to read a little Tina Fey. Love her.

  • Kristine Poterbin

    I loved the book and I was not a huge Tina Fey fan. Was being the operative word here. Her writing is funny and quick and smart and did I mention funny? I loved when Tina Fey wrote about her work at SNL, her growing up years ( I thought the “modess” box was hilarious) and 30 Rock. Her beauty tips are priceless. I would definitely recommend this book, it’s so easy to read and hard to put down. I actually laughed out loud reading it, more than once. Great choice for a book club.

  • http://twitter.com/eemusings eemusings

    Coulda sworn I wrote about Bossypants on my blog but can’t find any posts on it now! Anyway, LOVED the book – I want to be her! Agree that it’s more entertaining than insightful/personal, which I also found to be the case with Mindy Kaling’s memoir.

  • http://www.facebook.com/crystal.fuller.92 Crystal Fuller

    I listened to the audio book and loved that Tina Fey read it herself. There were many times I was laughing out loud- which made my long commute to work much more bearable. My favorite quote is probably the longest but so funny:

    “But I think the first real change in women’s body image came when JLo
    turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale
    situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty. Girls
    wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed
    them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom—Beyoncé brought the
    leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired.
    And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized
    that all shapes and sizes are beautiful. Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally
    messing with you. All Beyonce and JLo have done is add to the laundry
    list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful. Now every
    girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a
    classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a
    Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs
    of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of
    Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving
    this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian
    scientists to sabotage our athletes.”
    Overall great book and great first choice for the book club!

  • Heather Burris

    Ditto to everything you said! Liked it a lot, but there were a lot of chapters I could have done without.

  • eeyore_smiling

    I thought the book was good, definitely an enjoyable read, but I do agree with you that certain chapters weren’t my fav. I found also that she had a very feminist take at times, which wasn’t bad at first, but got to be a bit much by the end.

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