Bossypants

          

I received a copy of Tina Fey's new book in the mail from a fellow Bookcrosser (check out www.bookcrossing.com).

First of all let me say, I am a Tina Fey fan. She's smart, she's funny, and she is able to skewer Sarah Palin. What's not to like?

I had high hopes for BOSSYPANTS. Of course I wanted to find out more about Tina, but mostly I wanted to read whatever she wrote from her clever and funny point of view.

She talks about her childhood, her stint as a writer then performer on SNL and then her development and unexpected (to her) success of 30 Rock. She also talks about having a baby, and maybe having another one (this written before her pregnancy with her second child).

She also intersperses these chapters with things she's learned...(beauty tips! rules of improv!).

I loved the rules of improv.

When improvising a scene with someone, the first rule of improv is Yes. Agree with whatever someone brings to the scene. For instance (she says), if someone enters the scene with their fingers like a gun and says "I'm going to shoot you now!", it's a scene killer if you say, "No, that's just your fingers shaped like a gun." Not good in improv. You have to have somewhere to go with the scene and that involves cooperating and agreeing to go with what your partner brings.

The next rule of improv is Yes, AND. So not only is it important to agree with what your partner says or does, it's important to add something of your own. If your partner with the finger gun says "I'm going to shoot you now!" and you say, "yeah." It makes the partner do all the work and you end up being a warm body on stage not participating much.

She goes one to talk about a few more rules for improv as well as how they can also be rules for living.

These rules for improv didn't take up much space in the book, but they really stuck with me.

In addition to all of the above, there were also parts of scripts from 30 Rock and SNL...It kind of seemed as though this book didn't know what it wanted to be...an autobiography? Funny insights from a funny lady? A little bit of everything? I wanted to like it more than I did. That said, I'm glad I read it.

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Before the Trip

I'm trying to read hardcovers before the trip, as I don't want to carry them in the suitcase on vacation. Too heavy!

I just finished UNFAMILIAR FISHES by Sarah Vowell, her latest book about the United States' annexation of Hawaii. As with THE WORDY SHIPMATES, this one is chock full of information and Vowell's acerbic take on history.

       

I'm in the middle of SWAMPLANDIA! by Karen Russell. Narrated by Ava Bigtree, second daughter of the Bigtree clan, who owns Swamplandia!, an alligator theme park. Hilola Bigtree, mother and "Swamp Centaur", star of the show, dies. A new theme park, The World of Darkness, opens in a nearby town. Business at Swamplandia! falls off and Ava, the second daughter, struggles as she and her father and siblings deal with the loss of their mother and their livelihood. Quirky, dark, clever.

       

After that I may have to try Tina Fey's new book, BOSSYPANTS. Another one caught my eye, HEADS YOU LOSE co-written by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward, Lutz's former boyfriend, which evidently makes for a volatile and explosive writing collaboration. Could be interesting!

          

Lots to read!

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