Testing my hypothesis – or why I think Anna Kendrick rocks now

So 3 days ago I finished listening to Amy Pohler’s Yes Please, which I found to be okay, and I postulated that the reason I was so underwhelmed by it was because I had overdosed in memoirs and should steer clear of them for a while. So I decided to test that theory, by re-reading Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 when I first read it last year, and was expecting it to be a little less engaging the second time around, as I already knew the stories, and I thought it’s lose the novelty factor.

Here’s what I originally wrote for my review in Goodreads:

I just found this book highly entertaining.

I didn’t particularly know much about Anna Kendrick before this, but I was reading a review on Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between (which I still haven’t read, btw), and the reviewer made a comment on memoirs, about how they thought this book was much better. I had an audible credit, and since I am struggling to reach my 2017 goal (I had 18 days to get through 4 more books – 3 books, 16 days now), listening to someone tell fun stories while I did calculations at work sounded like a good idea to speed this up.

Such a great idea. I am patting myself on the back now.

Maybe because it was read by the author, but it felt like I was talking on the phone with a friend, who kept telling me the most entertaining stories to help pass the time. I found Anna to be incredibly down-to-earth, funny and relatable. The book lasted for 6 hours, but I barely noticed the time going by.

She’s not talking about anything in particular – I believe the print book is organized in essays (?) -, she’s just going back and forth telling us funny little anecdotes about her life, being in Broadway as kid, foregoing college and moving to LA, dating in her early 20’s and how unglamourous her life even post-oscar nomination really is. (I, by the way, had no idea she had been nominated for an oscar – maybe I need to try and keep up with Hollywood a bit more.)

But the book itself is great, I think I’ll miss it now that it’s over. I gave it 4 stars, mainly because I don’t think I’ve ever given anything 5 stars. It’s light, it’s funny, and it’s guaranteed to make you smile.

P.S.: Although I think this must be a really easy read as well, I think I’d recommend getting it as audio regardless. It flowed flawlessly this way.

So the veredict? I’m upgrading my rating for this to 5 stars – it is now officially a favorite. Believe it or not, I think it actually got better the second time around.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s because Anna is my age and her reality and struggles are exactly the same as my generation, and that is why I relate to her memoirs so much more than others. Maybe it’s because it was the first author narrated memoir I ever listened to, and it now holds a special place in my heart. Maybe I just relate to it because, as with Anna, in me too the crazy wants out. I don’t know. I had just as much fun this time as the last time, if not more. I get it. I’ll keep re-listening to this whenever I need a pick-me-up.

And so I’m not giving up on memoirs just yet – plenty more to read, I just need to accept I won’t love them all the same. Nor should I. Different people find different things funny, and maybe Amy Pohler’s sense of humor just doesn’t does it for me.