Alright, so I want to get two things out before I begin this review in earnest. If you are going to consume this book I highly, highly recommend going with the audiobook. It was recorded in a way that makes it seem more like a radio variety show than an audiobook. Amy makes asides that are not in the text and she also has several “guest stars” she banters with including, but not limited to, Kathleen Turner, Carol Burnett, and Seth Meyers. I’m sure the […]
My apology to women authors (with an assist from Amy Poehler)
I have to start this review with a confessional sidenote. As I went to choose my next read after Nick Harkaway’s Tigerman, I ended up with a pool of five potential books, eventually settling on the second in the series of memoirs by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. I’d read the first last year and wanted to get to this next one before I let too much time pass. But as I started to read, something was nagging at me, so I went down my list of […]
“Saying “yes” doesn’t mean I don’t know how to say no, and saying “please” doesn’t mean I am waiting for permission.”
I read and reviewed Yes, Please when it first came out in 2014; in my review I specifically cite the pictures Poehler shares as a highlight (celebrity voyerism is one of my passions) but after the joys of Eddie Izzard’s audio-book I thought I’d revisit memoirs I enjoyed in audio-book form to see if they had similar payoffs. I wish I could go back and change my cbr6 review from 5 Stars to 4 so I could give the audio book a higher mark. (I also wish […]
Yes? No? Maybe?
Your mileage may vary, but I personally enjoyed Poehler’s frenetic energy and stream of consciousness-ish style. Inevitably, I have to compare this book to Bossypants by Tina Fey and honestly, I think I come down on the side on Poehler. Her writing is more rambunctious and louder, which is normally not a tone I enjoy, but I think it works in her favor. Her bold and brassy style, combined with several self-deprecating comments, really made her feel more vulnerable and relatable to me. Because that’s […]
Don’t tell him I got it half price
Joel McHale is on the freebies list along with Bret McKenzie and Donald Glover; when he came to a local comedy festival I was 112% in, and was in no way disappointed. I liked him before, but after he made several consecutive pyramid scheme jokes with the local royalty behind Amway IN ATTENDANCE, I can say it blossomed into love. It was a thing of beauty; like the rake gag from The Simpsons it started funny, got tedious, then cycled back to hilarity again. I […]
Apologies, Kindness, and the Best Nap.
“A word about apologizing: It’s hard to do it without digging yourself in deeper. It’s also scary and that’s why we avoid the pain. We want so badly to plead our case and tell our story. The bad news is that everybody has a story. Everyone has a version of how things went down and how they participated.” I listened to Amy Poehler and guests read Yes Please. I highly recommend it. One of my missions in life is to encourage women to be kinder to […]