Sonderbooks

Sonderbooks Book Review of

Bossypants

by Tina Fey


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Bossypants

by Tina Fey
read by the author

Review posted August 9, 2012.
Hachette Audio, 2011. 5.5 hours on 5 CDs.

I'd heard good things about this book, and then a co-worker told me she was listening to it. When she said that Tina Fey herself read it, I knew this was one book I'd want to enjoy in the audio form.

This was a perfect audiobook to get me laughing on my commute. The humor doesn't get political very often, so I suspect some of my conservative friends may also enjoy it. Tina Fey tells about her life in performance, and what it's like to be in charge.

I think my favorite part was when she explained what she learned from sketch comedy and how it's like life. I wish I could quote sections to you, but that's the disadvantage with the audio form -- not easy to go back to get quotes. In sketch comedy, it's absolutely vital to cooperate with your partner, and she gave hilarious examples.

The audiobook also included a recording of her sketch on Saturday Night Live where Tina Fey, as Sarah Palin, gave a public service announcement with "Hilary Clinton." The pictures in the text were included in a PDF file on the final CD, and so was a complete recording of that show. Having the pictures was nice -- I didn't have to check out the print book to see them, though I admit I looked at them after the fact, not in the middle of the text, like they would have been in the original book. Tina Fey talks about her strange six weeks performing as Sarah Palin. Like so many people, I hadn't realized that she wasn't even working for Saturday Night Live at the time -- until public demand suggested that she be the one to play Sarah Palin.

So, Tina Fey talks about performing, about parenting, about being a boss, and so much more. And she does it all with a lot of humor. This is a wonderful commuting book, because what's better than a good laugh on the way to work?