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Good Minds Suggest: Mindy Kaling's Favorite Funny Memoirs

Posted by Goodreads on September 1, 2015

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There are few people who can get away with writing two memoirs in their thirties. Mindy Kaling is one of them. The Hollywood triple threat—She acts! She directs! She writes!—first broke out playing motormouth customer service rep Kelly Kapoor on The Office while also serving as writer, director, and producer behind the scenes (a gig she got at 24). Since then, she created and starred in a comedy of her own, The Mindy Project. And in her "spare time" she writes books. Her first memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns), traced her journey from quirky kid to Ben Affleck-impersonating Off-Broadway performer to small-screen comedy queen. Now she's back, picking up where she left off with Why Not Me? More an essay collection than a traditional memoir, the book is a road map of Kaling's last few years navigating life, love, friendships, and work. She bares her funny, endearing soul to bring her second coming-of-age to life, and by the end you'll wish she was your friend—and not only because she's met Bradley Cooper. Kaling shares her favorite memoirs about hilariously, if not always gracefully, growing up and growing older.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

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"This is one of the funniest books I've ever read. Worth buying for her childhood pictures alone. 'That's Don Fey' is my favorite essay, about her relationship with her dad."

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron

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"Nora Ephron seems so perfect to me: a perfect career, a perfect hostess, perfect New Yorker. So it's such a thrill to read her write about the things in her life that drive her crazy and make her feel insecure."

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin

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"How could a genius ever be lonely? I loved this tender and funny memoir by Steve Martin. He didn't just spring from the ocean, like Venus in a shell. He grew up like a regular kid! I love this memoir."

Naked by David Sedaris

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"I wish I had been raised a Sedaris. I've read all of his books of essays, but this one is my favorite because of how much of it is about his childhood. Greek, Southern, a little dysfunctional, theatrical, the Sedarises are nonfiction's First Family."

Vote for your own favorites on Listopia: Best Memoirs and Autobiographies

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