So my first book pick of the year was Mindy Kaling’s adorable, funny bio,
“Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).”
I was actually able to read it in a day, during lovely Winter vacation. (How I miss vacation.)
I’m hesitant to establish a rating system for my Reluctant Reader project; I doubt many people have the same grading criteria as me, and I don’t want to be misleading.
What I will say is that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and that I’m 100 percent sure that if you like her new show you’ll love her book too.
I’ll also now give you my immediate reaction to her debut
paperback, which I wrote (hastily) after the daylong reading fest. (At the very bottom of this post you can find a sample funny quote and some other highlights.)
My initial, unabashed thoughts post reading Kaling’s bestselling memoir:
1.) I really need to pee.
2.) She and I should be friends.
3.) I’m so glad someone else noticed how super perfect the kitchen in It’s Complicated was.
When I finish reading anything, or talking to anyone – a blog, a book, a Pandora ad – I have to be really careful or I end up talking/sounding exactly like them.
(This is especially, annoyingly true when I talk to someone with a really deep Southern – i.e. hick – accent. I just can’t help myself. It invites the drawl and I end up sounding like Hank Hill. But I digress.)
In this particular case (since I do have to pee) I’m not working as hard as I normally would to curb my instincts to copy her style.
Lucky you, her style is really fun and playful. And very
random.Very random.
(And hopefully, this will read as such, and not the nonsensical ramblings of a woman that should have better bladder control by now.)
Seriously, though, if you are a girl in your late teens to early thirties, or if you love someone who falls into that category, this is a really fun, fast read (one I knocked out in an unbusy day, with the help of a little coffee and one mean Skip-Bo break, just for kicks).
I felt a little better understood knowing there are similar souls in the world, and by similar I mean other girls who were scared to jump off the big ladder at camp, who can’t resist a good cupcake, and have revenge fantasies about rude sales ladies.
As added bonuses to being entertaining, I also found the book made me hate my body a little less, appreciate NBC a little more, want to try Kiehl’s lotion finally, and also caused me to follow @MindyKaling on Twitter – which her show, The Mindy Project, really should have been motivation enough to accomplish. (It has great set design as well; she should be proud.)
Kaling also made me extra grateful for my own nerdy (but
more boring) upbringing, inspired me to chase my dreams a little more
relentlessly, and to feel slightly less shallow for caring about what
celebrities wear, if my eye makeup has smudged, and for thinking every man
should own one nice cologne and a pair of gently-loved Chuck Taylors.
And for those things I’d like to say,
“Thank you and good work Mindy. You are no longer Kelly, from The Office, in my mind. You’re now the girl whose book I read on one freezing day in Delaware, and someone I envy for having spent so much time with the gentlemanly Steve Carrell.
Also, I hope your movie script for Crest Whitestrips gets picked up soon, because that sounds utterly dynamite. Happy writing to you.”
For the friends following my reading progress, thanks for not faulting me too hard for starting with such a quick, and pretty gender-specific read (and one I borrowed from my sister, sorry Mindy).
I’ll try to brave tougher territory at some point.
But I’ve found it’s best not to dive too hard. That’s how you end up with scars, and apparently, with New York Times Bestseller material.
Fave Chapter: Best Friend Rights & Responsibilities
Fave Obscure Reference: The kitchen from It's Complicated.
Best Word Learned: Zeitgeist(y), a defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
Even More Favorite Chapter: Married People Need to Step It Up
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