Okay, I know what you are thinking, “Finally, a book I actually want to read,” or you may be thinking, “I hate that little Sarah Palin Biznatch impersonator. Why the heck would Brooke ever want to read a book about her?” I’m kind of hoping you are thinking the first one. I actually love Tina Fey. I decided on my run this morning that she was my hero, right after my mom and dad, some political figures I won’t name (this is a book blog, not a political commentary on why or why corporate companies should never lame file any of their real estate taxes with money raised from shareholders’ pockets: side note, I totally made that up). Anyway, Tina Fey is probably in my top ten when it comes to my heroes. I wish I had as much wit and humor in my pinky finger as Ms. Fey has in her whole body. Okay, wait I totally got that wrong. See what I mean.
She gives some really great advice. Let me give you a little excerpt for your own reading pleasure, “Perhaps you are a parent and you bought this book to learn how to raise an achievement-oriented, drug free, adult virgin. You’ll find that too. The essential ingredients, I can tell you up front, are a strong father figure, bad skin, and child-sized colonial-lady outfit.” Yes, I did go out and buy colonial-sized lady outfits for both of my daughters that will fit them exactly when they turn 13.
Bossypants has something that I have always wanted in a book: cleverness, fun, and stories about buying that white denim suit you have always wanted for your senior awards night. I love that Tina Fey can make fun of herself for being a rather unfortunate looking (to use the words of Kelly Oliva) child and teenager. The book is also peppered with hilarious pictures of her upbringing. My favorite one happens to be on page 108. We all have this same picture hidden somewhere in a drawer at home. I know that now you probably want to go and find it or at least ask your mother to dig it out for you. I found mine, and I might even put it up here.
She talks about the extremely awesome parts of being a celebrity, like going to photo shoots where she is put in a sample size dress with her underwear hanging out of the back, and she talks about being a woman in a man’s world (I inserted a cliché her because I felt like it).
I think what I liked most of all about her book was her voice. It seemed very real, and by real I mean that I felt like I could really hear Tina Fey standing in my living room telling me about taping 30 Rock with Oprah, while playing Sarah Palin on SNL, while planning her daughter’s Peter Pan birthday party. However, it wasn’t all laughs. She wrote this hysterical chapter called, “The Mother’s Prayer for Its Daughter.” I was laughing really quietly throughout the whole thing, because for one it was really funny and two because Emma was sleeping on me and I didn’t want to wake her up. Then I got to the very end of it and just started bawling. It was something about how when her daughter gets older and has a baby and it was really touching and funny and I’m blaming Emma, that damn five month old that I have fallen head over heels for, for making me cry. You know what those annoying little loveable babies do, they make you cry at movies like Knocked Up and The Hangover (because the stripper’s baby was so darn cute, and they fell in love with him, but then had to give him back). And so Bossypants not only made me laugh quietly while my baby slept on me, but also made me cry. Note: if it doesn’t make you cry, remember I am blaming Emma.
I borrowed this book from the library, but now I think I’m going to have to save my nickels and dimes and go buy this book. I’m pretty sure I might not be able to live without it.
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