Book Review and Giveaway: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Live from New York its.... Tina Fey!
This is a fast and entertaining collection of life experiences and views; not quite a memoir but that genre fits.

Bossypants 
by Tina Fey

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books; 1st edition (April 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316056863
• ISBN-13: 978-0316056861

    Genre: Memoirs
    My Rating: 4.0

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2011

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!)

Review:
I don’t watch a lot of TV and it has actually been years since I watched Saturday Night Live (SNL) so I didn’t recognize Tina Fey as an actress.   I actually thought this book was comedy fiction.   Instead it is real life shared with great wit. The author sets the tone immediately by jumping into very up-beat humor. The attitude is very positive and tolerant on many subjects, especially liberal and moral issues.

Ms. Fey is an actress who became the head writer and a performer on SNL during the late 1990s to 2006.  She then became the producer, as well as a writer and performer, in 30 Rock (a show I have never seen.) Anyone who has watched and enjoyed crazy SNL skits can certainly appreciate the wacky and satirical level of humor and entertainment that are reflected in Bossypants. I could picture Ms. Fey in the SNL sketches where she portrayed Sarah Palin with Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton.

The book covers the author’s childhood with her protective and penny-pinching father, her early employment trying to break into some of the “male” jobs, including the early years at SNL when women were not given prime roles. She also shares fun views on Photoshop (note the arms on the book cover), being thin, being fat, mothering issues like breast-feeding and differences with the nanny, and more fun snippets of her life.

I was turned off at times by swearing and some graphically blunt descriptions. And sorry, but I really don’t want to know about men peeing in cups or fecalists at photo shoots... although I guess these are interesting and little-publicized tidbits. For me some of this falls close to what I consider “toilet” humor which I don’t enjoy. (Okay - I admit, I’m sort of a prude.)

The book moves very fast both in print and on Audible.  Ms. Fey does the narration and the same upbeat pace carries in her fast narration. [What did disturb me on the audio was the almost vitriolic use of a phrase taking God’s name in vain. That is personally offensive to me and I switched back to the print to avoid any more negative from that.]  If the language won’t bother you and you like audio, you might very well enjoy her energy in the audio version - although you might want to get the Audio book which includes a pdf. Otherwise I would say go with the book which includes pictures that add interest.

Thank you to Little Brown and Company for this book to read and review.

MBS Where Are You Reading? Map link.

This also falls into my New Authors and ARC challenges for 2012.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY for the Review Print Copy:
1. Tell me if you recognized Tina Fey by name or visit the author's website and tell me something of interest you found there.  This is required for entry.

2.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3.  For two entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Four total entries possible.)

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.

* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on January 20, 2012.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
The WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on January 21. 
Winners will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.