You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) in Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge

May 26, 2017 Magoo rated it it was amazing

Everyone needs to read this book. For so many reasons. I will return to write a proper review but I need to preface my rating with I am not a tech nerd, don't play games online, barely register online, I don't even have Facebook and yet this kept me totally engrossed and I couldn't put it down. Felicia's story is inspiring. Felicia herself is so human yet so super human I wish I could meet her. The writing is masterful. Seriously funny, like people are looking at me on the bus cos I just laughed ...more

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May 14, 2018 Poonam Badhe rated it liked it

Felicia Day comes from a family where ‘intelligence’ runs in their blood. Day with her satirical writing narrates her homeschooled life, being a geek and her college life, violin prodigy and raving about her perfect SAT score at age of 16.

I haven’t read many memoirs but this book crosses the “usual” style of writing a memoir. She makes you laugh and inspires you with her life experiences. Her nerdiness, making her stamp in online gaming community and reaching to Hollywood wasn’t easy.

The end fee Felicia Day comes from a family where ‘intelligence’ runs in their blood. Day with her satirical writing narrates her homeschooled life, being a geek and her college life, violin prodigy and raving about her perfect SAT score at age of 16.

I haven’t read many memoirs but this book crosses the “usual” style of writing a memoir. She makes you laugh and inspires you with her life experiences. Her nerdiness, making her stamp in online gaming community and reaching to Hollywood wasn’t easy.

The end feeling after reading her memoir will be, “I am not alone.” Felicia did not shy away her mental health problems. She brought her anxiety and the long depressive years of writing script for “The Guild” into light.

Felicia candidly explains how she was striving to outdo her own expectation which was set high after the success of the web series (The Guild). To read about the struggle to make first few episodes of the series is heartrending (filmed in garage, actors working for free).

Felicia tasted the success in the era of birth of YouTube and social media. She worked hard, way too hard for it and writes about how living a life online is difficult especially for a woman. She has dedicated an entire chapter ‘Gamer Gate’, an online harassment campaign against women in gaming world. She has included the hate notes, tweets from trolls in this chapter.

I dragged myself to continue reading the initial chapters but from the point she began writing about The Guild, the hard work to make it successful, drowning in self-doubt, friends alongside her throughout the dark phase of her life, made this book worth a read.

Felicia day embraces her being weird unapologetically by saying: My weirdness turned into my greatest strength in life. It’s why I’m who I am today...

Internet is a weird place: We want followers, likes, we fear FOMO, the feel-good feeling after many likes and comments but one negative spark can ruin life even though internet is not a place that we ‘live in’.

Take away from this book:

“No matter what you feel is holding you back in life, you can attempt anything. ...more

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Sep 16, 2017 Magdalena rated it liked it

I didn't know anything about her beyond her role on Supernatural, and I bought the book as part of a daily deal. Much to admire here, particularly with her candid talk about anxiety and depression. I've always thought that the "I'm so nerdy/geeky" disclosure comes with relatively little risk now that geek culture has mainstreamed, but reading Day's take on #Gamergate changed my mind. In geek culture as in everywhere else, women are at risk. Go, Felicia! Can't wait to see what you'll do next. ...more

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Jun 03, 2017 Virginia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, audio, auto-biography, yearsgrcaread, y2017-reading-challenge, books-for-listening

I know Felicia best from her work on Eureka (loved it!) I'm not a gamer, but I still found this interesting. She is pretty hilarious, and deals with issues so many of us (or those close to us) struggle with. I would recommend it. ...more

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