Why Not Me?

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I didn't relate to her life, the camp story (tedious, went nowhere),her high school 'crew', who identified themselves by a word made up of of each person's initials (boring- they did nothing interesting or funny!) and her bitchiness about her friends once they stopped hanging out came across as very callous. Because one friend liked horses she comments- I hope she found a nice horse to run off with (better than hanging with you, it seems) and making fun of people's looks and dress ("I may not have been that pretty, but at least I wasn't five inches taller than the guys') You have to have a certain voice to pull off that kind of talk and not come across as nasty. Mindy K. does not have that skill. The list of things guys should do. It would not be ok for a man to write this about women, and it's not ok for women to write it about men. Even if it is 'funny'. I expect the white characters in TV shows to have complexity and depth, motivations that are well defined and a personality that is individual and unique. But I’m so used to there being a dearth of diverse characters that I forgive their two dimensionality, and tell myself to not be greedy, to just be grateful there’s diversity at all.

Mindy Kaling is an American comedian, actress, and New York Times bestselling author from Cambridge Massachusetts that is best known for her eccentric humor. Before she became the first woman of color to win an Emmy for writing, she had been a fan favorite character named Kelly Kapoor on “The Office.” She was a pop culture obsessed customer service representative and also served as director, producer, and writer on the show. Before writing, directing, producing, and starring in “The Mindy Project” and “Champions” her newest sitcom, she lent her voice to Pixar’s Oscar award-winning picture “Inside Out,” where she was the character Disgust. She also made the TIME’s 100 Most Influential People List of 2013 and a year later was a winner of the GlamourWomen of the Year Award. Mindy Kaling had previously authored a popular comic strip titled “Badly Drawn Girl” that satirized campus life and was published in The Dartmouth magazine. She made her name as an author with the publishing of “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me,” a New York Times bestselling title that came out in 2011. this is shorter and more rushed / less personal than her other two (amazing, generation-changing, genre-defining) memoirs, but it's still nice to have New Mindy Content.We both believe that the only way to truly get something in life is to earn it. (Thank Jeebus for the story about her mother and her thoughts on “participation trophies” – GO MINDY’S MOM!) Mindy Kaling had the habit of paying for other people’s dinner. The strangers and most of the celebrities showed gratitude and told thank you to her for her generous gesture. Update 9/21/15: Liiiiiiiked it a looooooot. Full review tomorrow when my brain isn't trying to fall out of my ears from tiredness. I was curious to see what direction she'll be taking with this book that hasn't been done in her previous one. I mean it's somewhat a biography.. what is more to tell than what has been told and what we already know about Mindy? apparently a lot. Her book is more anecdotes about past experiences or fictional stories she made up. You seriously feel like she is directly speaking to you. Her choice of photos and captions are stellar.

I would like to thank Blogging for Books for a print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.* maybe that’s just me again but if you do something to apparently be nice there shouldn’t be expectations attached to that and you certainly shouldn’t talk about it with a completely different group of people and gossip about it just to make sure that others know what you did! After reading Glenn's terrific, positive endorsement of Why Not Me?, I had to give it a try. Gotta say though, that my rekindled enthusiasm for this follow-up set of essays was tempered by a lukewarm. binge-watch of The Mindy Project. It kept my interest enough to slide through (as of this writing) all 70+ episodes, and further solidified my admiration of her work ethic, but only sporadically did I find myself laughing as hard as I did with The Office material. Are you kidding me? The thrill of living was high school? Come on, Mr. Cougar Mellancamp. Get a life."

What do we fight about? I wish I could say they were big, smart, philosophical issues about writing or comedy, but sometimes they’re as small as “If we do that cold open where Kevin dumps a tureen of chili on himself, I will quit this show.” We did that cold open, by the way, and it was a hit, and I’m still working at the show. I can get a little theatrical.” Still, I did find myself wishing for just a little bit more heft here. It's definitely still lightweight reading overall, despite the moments where she gets real. But it accomplishes its purpose. It makes you laugh, and you come away knowing Mindy Kaling (hopefully the real one) just a little bit better. I liked the book good enough, she is really funny. I could give a million funny excerpts but I won't do that, but there is one where she is giving her daily routing driving to work and this one thought was particular funny and scary to me. lol she hears someone paid for her friends dinner secretly to surprise them? she’s jealous that that it never happens to her, especially if it’s not at all an unintentional but seems to be more of a power play of “oh look at me, i am here now so let’s get started now!”