Tina Fey, grade 4, room 207

We've all heard about Tina Fey's Bossypants (unless you've been living in a cave). We've all probably even read it already (unless you waited too late to put it on hold at the library and are still 176 out of 342 on the list). So I am not going to tell you about this book, because you probably already know all about it. Instead, I'm going to post some of he things that made me LOL on the subway.

• "A heart-shaped ass. Unfortunately, it's a right-side-up heart; the point is at the bottom." - re: Tina's stunning physical assets
• "Don Fey is a grown-ass man! Black people find him stylish!" - re: Don Effing Fey, bad-ass father of Tina, who else?
• "Always on the cutting edge of beauty, I believe this haircut was executed by folding my face in half and cutting out a heart." - re: the best haircut Tina ever got
• "On at least three occasions, I vomited on Christmas Eve from mixing chocolate, peel-and-eat shrimp, summer sausage, and cheese. No alcohol was involved." - re: remembrances from Tina's fat phase
• "By 19, I had found my look. Oversize T-shirts, bike shorts, and wrestling shoes. To prevent the silhouette from being too baggy, I would cinch it at the waist with my fanny pack. I was pretty sure I would wear this look forever. The shirts allowed me express myself with cool sayings like ‘There’s No Crying in Baseball’ and ‘Universität Heidelberg,’ the bike shorts showed off my muscular legs, and the fanny pack held all my trolley tokens. I was nailing it on a daily basis. Find something like this for yourself as soon as possible." - sound style advice from Tina
• "And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it." - excerpts from The Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter

Tina had me burst out laughing with the one-liners. Or the frequent juxtaposition of a serious statement and a ridiculous picture, like this. (see left)

Her ability to look/sound ridiculous by making fun of herself is unlike that of anyone else I can think of. I have a couple friends who were disappointed with this book because they had the expectation it was going to be some empowering yet humorous memoir on succeeding and paving new ground for women in comedy and entertainment, and they were let down. Maybe if you read between the lines, you can find the "go go girl power" in there, but mostly, it's just Tina being funny. So go in expecting that. Funny.

With Snooki, Beyonce, and Glee references abundant, I don't think this book is really going to stay relevant too long (I hope to God that Snooki is not still relevant in 10 years). But you're probably going to laugh now, which is what matters. Tina Fey is awkwardly candid, which is hilariously awesome.


More fun Tina Fey linkage!
• Every Liz Lemon Flashback Scene From '30 Rock'
• Meet the Hand Model Behind Tina Fey's 'Bossypants' Cover [you know you're curious]