Review: Bossypants

I read Bossypants by Tina Fey in less than a day mostly because I'm only home for the weekend and it's due back at the library before I get back from my trip to Portland next week. But also because it's a funny, light read.

If you think Tina Fey is funny, you'll think this book is funny. But if you don't, you won't. And if you don't like Tina Fey, why would you pick up this book anyway? There were a lot of little funny moments throughout, and I even laughed out loud a couple of times, which I don't do often.

She comes across as very down-to-earth and a little self-deprecating--but in a humorous way, not a pity-me way. I liked that she's honest rather than stating opinions because they're popular. I also appreciated that she gave equal weight to celebrating her daughter's third birthday as she did to having Oprah appear on 30 Rock or impersonating Sarah Palin on SNL.

One point of interest for me in this book was her take on motherhood. She often struggles with the fact that she can't spend more time with her daughter, but knows that stay-at-home moms sometimes have break downs because they're home with young children all the time. Which I can attest to.

A small nugget from her advice on motherhood:

"'Sleep when the baby sleeps.' Everyone knows this classic tip, but I say why stop there? Scream when your baby screams. Take Benadryl when your baby takes Benadryl. And walk around pantsless when your baby walks around pantsless."

Anne Lamott

When my daughter was first born, a friend recommended that I read Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott. I was finally able to find it from the library. I wish I had found it earlier--my baby is almost one years old, and I wish I had been able to have Lamott's book as my warning beforehand and my companion throughout this first year. A glowing review will follow when I finish it, but last night I was particularly struck by a passage. Lamott wonders if she is crazy to have ever believed in Jesus and then she recounts this experience:

Then something truly amazing happened. A man from church showed up at our front door, smiling and waving to me and Sam ... after exchanging pleasantries he said, "Margaret and I wanted to do something for you and the baby. So what I want to ask is, What if a fairy appeared on your doorstep and said that he or she would do any favor for you at all, anything you wanted around the house that you felt too exhausted to do by yourself and too ashamed to ask anyone else to help you with?"

"I can't even say," I said. "It's too horrible."

But he finally convinced me to tell him, and I said it would be to clean the bathroom, and he ended up spending an hour scrubbing the bathtub and toilet and sink with Ajax and lots of hot water. I sat on the couch while he worked, watching TV, feeling vaguely guilty and nursing Sam to sleep. But it made me feel sure of Christ again, of that kind of love. This, a man scrubbing a new mother's bathtub, is what Jesus means to me.

Review: Thinking About Memoir

"Writing is the way I ground myself, and it's what keeps me sane. Writing is the way I try and make sense of my life, try to find meaning in accident, reasons why what happens happens--even though I know that why is a distraction, and meaning you just have to cobble together yourself." --Abigail Thomas

While I read it, I had the feeling that I'd already read Thinking About Memoir by Abigail Thomas. But I certainly didn't mind reading it again.

It's a slim book about writing memoir. Almost a memoir in itself, it includes dozens of original writing prompts to get any stuck writer started again. Though the writing prompts could stand alone, they are much richer when you read the surrounding stories. I recommend it for any writer.