Yes Please (Amy Poehler)

Next to Tina Fey, Amy Poehler is quite possibly my favorite female comedian (it's probably no coincidence that they're great friends). Seeing them both on screen puts me in an instant good mood. I found Fey's Bossypants laugh-at-loud funny, but alas, my feelings for Poehler's Yes Please were definitely not quite as strong.

The first thing you have to get used to is that there is no rhyme or reason to this book. Each chapter is about what Amy wants it to be, and it's almost like a constant stream of consciousness, with no order to her essays. I found that a little jarring, and I actually skipped some pages that made no sense to me (a cardinal sin in my book). Readers going into it thinking it's a straight-up memoir will be sorely disappointed.

That being said, Yes Please is a great cure for a bad day. Poehler of course talks about her time at SNL, Parks and Recreation, and as part of the Chicago improv scene, but I love how she writes things that we're all thinking but would never say. Don't worry -- she'll do that for you. I'm not sure what genre I would classify Yes Please, but I'm sure Amy Poehler wouldn't want to be pigeonholed anyway.

MY RATING - 3

Bossypants (Tina Fey)

I am ridiculously stringent on how I read a book. For example, I must read the inside of the book jacket, the back of the jacket, and the introduction...in that order!! Sometimes I even read the acknowledgments, having no clue who the people are! I'm so glad I followed my routine for this book, however, because the blurbs on the back let you know exactly what you're getting into. There are no blurbs of praise from Picoult, Grisham, or Patterson in Bossypants. Instead, Don Fey, father of TF, writes "I hope that's not the cover. That's really going to hurt sales." Tina Fey...she of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock fame...has written one of the most hilarious books I've read in a heck of a long time.

There really is no rhyme and reason to this book. Each chapter features Fey's thoughts and harps on some aspect of her life...growing up, her family, marriage, motherhood, and her TV jobs. I love how she includes photos of herself from awkward phases of her life (come on...we all have pictures with bowl cuts and '80s bangs). Some chapters are quite long, and one is three sentences. It really doesn't matter. Fey is laugh-out-loud funny in all of them.

I realized that what I like best about Tina Fey is the fact that she doesn't take herself too seriously. She clearly admits to many faults, such as her fear of confrontation (of which I totally relate as I cannot even watch Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity when people yell at each other). I found her hilarious as Palin and was thrilled to find out in Bossypants that she wrote my all-time favorite SNL commercial ("Mom" jeans)! This is a great read to take some stress out of your life (believe me...Fey has enough stress for everyone) and just laugh. Because in the end, what's life without laughter?

MY RATING - 4