Yes Please in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Nov 29, 2016 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The first time I ever saw Amy Poehler was on the TV series Upright Citizens Brigade. She was the only one who stood out to me. After a while, I'd see her on other TV shows and movies, as well as Saturday Night Live. And, of course, she was the voice of Joy in Inside Out. I can't even think of a better fit, as Amy's voice is perpetually positive and upbeat. She radiates joy.

My experience with Yes Please was via audio. From the very beginning and all the way to the end, Amy had me captivated and ...more

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Oct 21, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: audio, essays, humor

i don't know why I keep expecting these celebrity essay books to offer some sort of insight that I have not already discovered on my own. They don't. Even if there is no fresh insight, I hope they'll be funny or interesting in some way. They aren't. I expect they are interesting if you are a fan of the particular celebrity, but I am not so much. I LIKED these people, but I'm not a fan. I don't watch TV so I'm only moderately familiar with the shows they've been on. So, note to self: unless it's i don't know why I keep expecting these celebrity essay books to offer some sort of insight that I have not already discovered on my own. They don't. Even if there is no fresh insight, I hope they'll be funny or interesting in some way. They aren't. I expect they are interesting if you are a fan of the particular celebrity, but I am not so much. I LIKED these people, but I'm not a fan. I don't watch TV so I'm only moderately familiar with the shows they've been on. So, note to self: unless it's Joss Whedon or David Boreanaz writing these books, I should probably skip it.

In sum, there's four things I could expect from a book like this:
* It could be funny
* It could be educational
* It could be engaging
* It could be insightful

But this wasn't any of those things. I expected some parts to be funny, and there were a few moments that made me smile, but that's as far as that went. Mostly, I was expecting this to be really insightful, because that was the general buzz I'd gotten about this book. But ... no. There was no insight, and I had little interest in most of it. In fact (and to my surprise) whole passages were actually boring.

If this book has a theme, that would be: "I hate writing this book" - because that is the thing that Ms Poehler goes on and on and ON about. Geez. The prologue is all about how hard it is to write a book, and okay I'm sure it IS hard and I appreciate her candor. But she keeps bringing it up, throughout this book. If Ms Poehler dreaded the writing process so much, why did she write it at all?? Much of the book was filler. Chapters written by her friends, chapters written by her parents, chapters that were just lists or categories ... Clearly, Ms Poehler struggled to come up with enough material to qualify for "book" status. She's pretty open about hating the process. So, why did she write it? I don't know. I know a lot about allllllll the different drugs she took, and the stars she (literally) rubbed shoulders with, but I don't know why she decided to write this book.

The audiobook was well done, it was fun to have surprise guest stars (Carol Burnett! Patrick Stewart! Amy's parents! and more!!!), and Ms Poehler definitely has a great delivery. So, if you're interested in this book, and you have the ability to listen to audio books, you should absolutely go audio with this one.

This book fulfilled the "Written by a Comedian" prompt for the 2016 Ultimate Reading Challenge. ...more

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Feb 27, 2015 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-nonfiction

I am going through a phase in which I have realized that female comedians are some of the most badass people on earth. Amy Poehler is one of my feministing heroes, and I kept procrastinating grading compositions to continue reading this. It's a very human book - much like Amy Poehler is a very human being - and I appreciated that simultaneous fearlessness and vulnerability about this book. It is also, of course, laugh-out-loud funny. ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 Heather Wescott rated it really liked it

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it very much. I'm pretty sure that Amy and I would be great friends. I'm hoping she'll call to arrange a dinner party (and bring Seth and Tina). ...more

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Dec 07, 2014 Leanne rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, 2016

Okay.

There were certain pieces of this book that I needed to hear over the couple days I listened. I'm about to turn 30 and some of her sage, womanly advice was perfect.

The audiobook is well-done though, as many readers have noted, the text is kinda all over the place and she jumps back and forth a lot.

Would have been better had it been a book of essays, but I can see why the stories she tells don't necessarily make for good essays.

I enjoyed listening to this, wouldn't recommend it as a phys ...more

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Jan 10, 2015 martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, audiobook, year-2015, funny-haha

"To get ready for our first Golden Globes together, Tina and I spent a lot of time procrastinating and sending texts about how terrible it was going to be. Deep down, I wasn’t worried, because Tina is the finest joke soldier you could ever go to war with."

Also MIKE SCHUR. And Seth. And Amy's laugh when reading the audiobook, a "warm intoxicating cackle" (TM Tina Fey). ...more

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