Audiobook Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 2011

It's about:  Tina Fey is an actress, comedian, writer, and producer.  She's most famous for her work on Saturday Night Live (writer, Weekend Update anchor and Sarah Palin imitator), 30 Rock (writer/star) and several films (Mean Girls, Baby Mama). 
Bossypants is less a memoir and more a collection of humorous autobiographical essays.  She tells a funny, light version of how she became who she is.

I thought:  I love Tina Fey!  So I pretty much knew I would love this book.  I just think she's hilarious and so relateable- as one friend mentioned in her goodreads review, a big part of why Ms. Fey is so popular is because many women (me included) believe that if we knew each other in real life we would be BFFs. 

The audiobook really helped me maintain that delusion, since it's read by Tina herself.  Did you catch that?  A brilliant comedian reading her own book!  She does voices and accents and stuff!  All of the inflection is perfect, because it's exactly as it sounded in her head when she was writing it!   So, while listening, I got to pretend that my friend Tina was just telling me all about her life.  It was awesome.  And hilarious. 

It's hard to make recommendations in the humor department, but if you like the author's showbiz work, there's a good chance you'll dig Bossypants.  But don't come into it looking for a tell-all in which Ms. Fey spills her deepest, darkest secrets.  Almost all of the book stays well within the realm of comedy writing, which I thought was appropriate.

And if you're torn between audio and print, GO WITH THE AUDIO!  You might have a few embarrassing moments if it makes you uncomfortable to laugh aloud around strangers on the subway or whatever.  But it will be worth it. 

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf! 

Listening Recommendations:  Like I said, be prepared for passersby looking askance at you as you smile/laugh at funny things they can't hear.

Warnings:  Swears. 

Favorite excerpts: Way too many!  Here are a few, and you can read more here.
“Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? “I’m not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I’m just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I’d like to cut your chest open.” The crowd cheers.”

“Now let me be clear; millions of women around the world nurse their children beautifully for years without giving anybody else a hard time about it. Teat Nazis are a solely western upper-middle-class phenomenon occurring when highly ambitious women experience deprivation from outside modes of achievement.”

And "The Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter"

What I'm listening to next:  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern