Bossypants by Tina Fey

I'm a man and I read this book.

We'll just get this out of the way right off.

Taking a page from Fey's own book (that was not meant to be a book pun, but here we are) I thought it would be more fun to respond to some Amazon reviewers than to write an entire review myself. Besides, this book is famous as shit, so it's not like it needs my help.

And then there is the nit picky things that bother me. The larger kind of font, combined with wide margins, and funky spacing, added I would say 50 pages to the book. It's not 273 pages, it's more like 210ish. I hate when books are padded in this way. But that's me. -Lulu "literature Lovin'" Girl

Wow, Lulu. For someone so picky about the typset, you have a ridiculously long Amazon reviewer name. Could I suggest Lit Lovin Lulu instead? It's got the Triple-L, and it's shorter. So the book was a fast read. So what? Are you asking for someone to crank out extra shit so you could feel like you got your money's worth? The book was quick, but I would expect no less from a comedy writer. Plus, by your standard, Encyclopedia Britannica is the best piece of literature ever written. Although I should have known, based on your name, that length counts.

Ehhh...I read this book in 45 min. while my kid played at the Thomas the Tank Engine table at Barnes & Nobles. Not really my thing; the jokes got old quickly. I liked 30 Rock at first, but the show seems to be on a downward trend. I wish the cast would spend more time on the show and less time on things like this and "I am the New Black." If you're looking for a funny book, read A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole...it's great. -A. Conway

Hmm. Well, I suppose that you make a decent suggestion of a funny book. However, I might say that a person looking to get a chuckle out of a modern memoir by a comedy writer isn't in the market to get laughs from a cinder block of a book about an overweight gentleman in old-timey New Orleans who, like one of 3 Stooges, runs a hot dog cart for a day before he (uh-oh!) eats all the hot dogs.

I actually like both books, but I hate when people do this shit. "Read some real literature, like [insert stupid book that people are forced to read in high school] as opposed to something you might enjoy for a moment. Here, I'll give you an example that is almost completely unrelated to the book in question." Imbecile!

Unfortunately if it has the "F BOMB" within the first 8 pages and it is her saying it as a 5 year old I guess I won't read this book. Sad too, because I really wanted to. Bad language never wins me over. -michele mclure

You know what? That's fine. You're probably such a hit at parties that you have a full dance card for the next several weeks. Better the world gets to share in you, as a person, than you spend time locked away reading a book that has the word fuck in it.

While I appreciated the memior I was surprised when I didn't feel it was candid enough. Maybe that was a conscious effort. There was a trauma as a child that she explains but doesn't elaborate one. Fine! I don't think she needs to give us the details, they are hers but I felt that she was approached to write a book and agreed but didn't really want to.

This is something that crops up in a lot of reviews. Yeah, the bit about her scarred face wasn't really detailed beyond her being a kid, a man walking into her yard and cutting her face with a knife. Is that really what you wanted to read about? How traumatic it was and shit? What did you want to read, a tearful courtroom scene where she fingers the suspect who continued to send her letters from prison? Maybe you wanted an impassioned plea that we stop this rash of attacks where a strange man cuts a kid's face? I suggest you reread The Giving Tree. Not because they are similar in any way, but because it will put you in a different section of the bookstore and I won't have to associate with you.

But where the book really shines is in Fey's dissection of the rampant sexism found in the male-dominated field of comedy, both past and present. She tackles the topic with a humor and eloquence I haven't seen or heard anywhere else, and it's these bits scattered throughout the book that really make it worth reading. -A. Henley

Well, A. I have to disagree a little bit there.

Maybe it's just me, but the point that Fey made in the "dissection" of the "rampant sexism" in the "male-dominated" (quotation-mark finger is getting worn out here) was that male comedy writers urinate in cups and don't know about feminine hygiene products from 30 years ago. I felt like the section was another joke, a misdirection where Fey gets you ready to hear about the very serious topic of sexism in comedy and then reveals that a number of SNL writers pee in cups rather than getting up from their desks.

I've had an assfull of this male-domination in comedy talk. I'm not going to pretend it never existed, but let's look at the top shows on tv from last week:

1. American Idol -Wed.

2. American Idol -Thurs.

3. Dancing With the Stars

4. Glee

5. Modern Family

6. The Office

7. House

8. Bones

9. Survivor

10. Desperate Housewives

Boy, that lineup is really dripping with testosterone.

You tell me how many of those are thanks to a strong male influence. Jane Lynch is by far the funniest part of Glee. And how many great Office episodes were written by Mindy Kaling? If Desperate Housewives if popular, I don't think it's because a bunch of dudes are waiting every week to find out what happens to whoever the hell is on that show. Check your facts, fool!

It's reviews like yours that make the book seem like a screed against sexist comedy. Overall, I thought it was pretty fair to both sexes. There was a section that spoke to the fact that Amy Poehler is funnier than Chris Kattan in a dress, which is undoubtedly true. And there are a lot of sections that I would say felt very empowering, but those had a lot more to do with issues women face as opposed to those pressed down on women by men. You missed the point I think.

However, I should say that your review is clearly inferior as it was written by a woman, and I want to allow you to make mistakes. How else will you cuties learn?

Maybe she is trying to be self loathing in order to be humourous, but the self hating is taken way too far. It is like she hates herself with a passion. Every other paragraph she makes fun of her butt or skinny lips or the scar on her chin that I never noticed until I squinted. She has done alot for the comedy genre in the past 10 or so years and she should pat herself on the back and be proud. She has earned the right to be a little full of herself. Geez. -simple sellers

Ah, the body issue portion.

You know, I can't claim to understand body issues beyond saying, "Although I don't fully understand these issues, I can understand that they are causing distress, and I can best help by being sensitive to them and working with the feelings they cause as opposed to trying to force myself to go to the same place, an effort which probably won't pan out." To put it more simply, "I don't make fun of uggos, but I still like hot babes."

I thought the body issues were handled well. Maybe this would be a good book to read if you had some minor body issues because you can look at Tina Fey and say, "Alright, she's smart and successful and pretty, but she still feels that way." Maybe your feelings about your appearance are not necessarily tied to a rational place, as tends to be the case with feelings, which is why they aren't called "Knowings." Somebody call Dr. Phil with that line, please, now.

As someone who doesn't have thin lips and has a totally awesome butt, I couldn't identify with Fey, but she made me laugh, and I felt like she was laughing too. So maybe you should read it again. Or maybe you're ugly, in which case I don't care what you do. Ever.

I found Chelsea Handler's books to be hilarious, and she's a flippin dummy that never went to college (sorry Chelsea, maybe you went to junior college for a semester or something-I don't care because I find you hilarious anyway). Someone capable of writing two hit shows could have done much better with a short book.

Ugh, the inevitable comparison.

Here's why this is a good book: As a dude who has no understanding of what it's like to consider stopping work on a hit sitcom to have a baby despite being middle-aged, I could still laugh at it. The closest frame of reference in my life would be deciding whether or not it's appropriate to eat a popsicle on the toilet. I could care less about the debate on breast-feeding, but it was still entertaining. That's good comedy writing.

I don't want to get into a Handler-bash here, but the first chapter of Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang is about learning to masturbate. Wow, fascinating. Learning to do something that everyone does. As jokes go, mostly it's the tossing in of reference to Fantasy Island, Three's Company, Ms. Pac Man and Mary Lou Rhetton in the first 7 pages. Less a story, more a group of references and "heard it before" comedy about masturbation as a sport and so on.

What I'm saying is, Tina Fey's book was enjoyable to me as a complete outsider, having not really watched her much or grown up in her era. Handler's book is probably a real laugh if you're into her, but otherwise it's kind of boring. If you read Tina Fey's book, it will make you want to watch 30 Rock. I can't imagine a situation, however, where you would even get through Handler's book without being a fan already.