As far as I can tell, I’m the fifth Cannonballer so far to read and review Amy Poehler’s new book Yes, Please. I’m a huge fan of Parks and Recreation and the episode where Ann and Chris leave nearly destroyed me, because Ann and Leslie’s friendship in many ways reminds me so much of that between me and my best friend Lydia (who unfortunately lives across the Atlantic in New York City). I’ve liked Amy Poehler in Mean Girls and on SNL, and I love her various hosting gigs with her friend Tina Fey, whose celebrity autobiography I read way back in 2011. I think Bossypants is funnier in terms of laugh out loud moments and hysterical anecdotes, but Yes, Please affected me more and seemed more honest somehow.
In a book that’s part autobiography, part advice book, and in terms of the audio book that I got, part humorous banter with celebrity guests (supposedly recorded in the audio booth Amy built herself, the book has audio cameos from Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart, Carol Burnett and Amy’s parents, plus one whole chapter is read by Seth Meyers), Amy Poehler covers a lot of different things. The book is divided into three parts: Say whatever you want, Do whatever you like and Be whoever you are, which I think illustrates quite nicely what Amy Poehler wants for the lives of pretty much everyone, certainly herself. She’s not afraid to be honest about the less admirable qualities about her personality here, and claims that despite what her public persona has led people to believe, she’s really not all that nice, and she thinks that it’s important that people, and especially women, are allowed to not always be quiet, polite and pleasant. The final chapter of the audio book is recorded live at a theatre, complete with the audience reacting enthusiastically to her reading.
While not all of the chapters were as funny, I still appreciated hearing all her various opinions, and as I said, of the various funny celebrity autobiographies I’ve read, this is probably the one that felt like it was the most relevant to me. I may not have laughed out loud as much while listening to this book, but I still think about parts of it now and come back to it, even weeks after I finished it. Amy Poehler is a brilliant woman, she has strong opinions and she’s a staunch feminist without any of this becoming the focus of the book. She seems to be a devoted and hard-working mother, a loyal friend and a really fun woman to hang out with. I respect her greatly and wish she could be my friend.
Now, while there is no way I have the time and energy to complete a full triple of 156 this year, it feels good that this book is my 130th, which marks my two and a half Cannonball. Having reached this milestone also means that I will be posting less frequently. I need to recharge a bit for next year. So with the exception of books so excellent that I particularly feel the world needs to know about them, or the books I need to review to complete my various reading challenges, I will probably not be posting. This means that there may be another ten or so reviews, but unlikely more than that.Thanks for reading my reviews, commenting and cheering me on in 2014. Bring on CBR7.
Crossposted on my blog.
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