Sara's Audiobook Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

A note from Sara:  Well, truth be told, Emily has been encouraging me to read more for enjoyment for several years and I have always been "too busy" until recently. As a full-time (plus) working Mom of two young kids, the bulk of my reading has typically centered around requirements for my continued education or work-related articles. While I wanted to read more for fun, it was usually hard to fit it into my jam packed day. It finally took Emily introducing me to audiobooks to make it possible for me to enjoy "reading" while on my two hour daily commute, when running errands, or doing routine tasks around the house. I'm happy to say that I have enjoyed more books in the last few months than I have in the last twenty years and I am thankful Emily was persistent in opening a whole new world to me through sharing her love of books. 

About Sara: I most often enjoy non-fiction, memoirs, career development, self-help, inspirational types of books but I am open to reading anything. I married my husband, Kirk, in October 2005. We live in Fond du Lac with our 2 children, Carter & Carissa. In my spare time, I love spending time with my family/friends and I volunteer with several different organizations.

About the audiobook: 

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!)

An unabridged recording on 5 CDs (5.5 Hours).

Sara's Review:  If you are going to read Bossypants, by Tina Fey, I would encourage you to download the audiobook and accompanying PDF files to get the full effect of Tina's story. The audio version is narrated by Tina herself and I have to believe that makes it even funnier than the written format. Listening to Tina tell her story, as only she can, with celebrity voice impersonations, under her breath sidebars, and  spot-on accents makes a good book really great.  This isn't so much a dirt-dishing memoir, revealing her deepest secrets, as a light-hearted and honest look at what she has experienced over the years through her career and personal life. We get a backstage view of SNL and 30 Rock, plus we learn all of Tina's best "tips" for beauty, career, family, marriage, and motherhood which are really just sarcastic commentary on what the world around us wants us to believe. Tina goes through various times in her life, offering tidbits of hilarious and relatable insight that you just have to laugh at.  Her take away message: "Do your thing and don't care if they like it." She jumps from topic to topic, keeping the reader guessing about what images she will conjure up next through her dry wit and admirable ability to laugh at herself. Bossypants really is laugh out loud funny - so much so, that I had to stop listening to it in public because of the awkward stares I was getting from strangers when I burst into spontaneous laugher. A little bit about empowering women, a lot about lessons learned, all told through hysterical true stories in the way that only Tina can tell them. Heads up about the strong language and occasional vulgarity but, in this book, it works.