Ellen DeGeneres

It isn't often that a book can reduce me to tears...of laughter. This one did just that. Ellen's philosophy is similar to my own, so I just loved reading her perspective on life. I borrowed this from the library, but I am definitely putting it on my wish list. It is a book that demands having sections read out loud. If you can keep a straight face. I couldn't, especially when she talks about getting a colonoscopy and a mammogram.

Road trip! 2,500-mile round trip taking my daughter to college and driving back alone calls for a whole lot of audiobooks. (3 of 7)

Comic comfort food. I could almost feel this book evaporate from my brain shortly after it passed through my ears, but it sure felt good in the moment.

A place to use monologues that didn't make it on her talk show?
A blatant pitch to promote her talk show?
Proof that bad writing can get published if you are famous?
Examples of how to stretch three lines of good ideas into an entire book?
The result of being forced to write an entire book when you have nothing to say?

These are a few of the purposes that this book fulfills. In the introduction, Ellen jokes that this book came out when her agent misheard her due to a poor cellphone connection. At show more least, when I started the book I thought it was a joke. By the end I began to suspect there might be some truth to it. There is so little substance to this book and so much "stretching" to fill space that perhaps she really was forced into writing another book. I've read better BS from high school students who handed in an essay they hadn't started writing until the night before.

"Be happy and Watch my show."
There. That's all this book actually says. Now go spend your time reading something more worthwhile, like a Twilight book. show less

This review was first posted on BookLikes: http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/802080/seriously-i-m-kidding

I picked up Seriously...I'm Kidding as an audiobook the other week and thought it was safe to listen to it in the car - silly me!

There were several moments last weekend when I was quite glad that, where I was driving, only few people tried to use the same road. Otherwise, it is quite likely that either of the following would have happened: a) accident caused by erratic driving due to show more bouts of uncontrollable giggles; or b) people thinking I'm crazy - also due to bouts of uncontrollable giggles.

I'm not saying it's the best or funniest book ever, and it certainly has a few elements that are predictable - like, after a few chapters you get the hang of how her humor is structured and there are quite a few self-promoting references to her talk show - but it honestly had me in stitches at times and then balanced it out with some more inspirational points of view.

One aspect that was new to me - and maybe it is because I haven't read many books like this - was that the audiobook was actually addressed to the listener, almost as part of a conversation, which made the listening experience very engaging.

Had it been the print version, I wonder if the references had been adapted to achieve a similar effect with the reader? I have a hunch it might have... show less