Mini Reviews: Midnight in Austenland and Girl Walks into a Bar...

Midnight in Austenland 

by Shannon Hale

★★★

This book was fun and light. Charlotte is a successful business woman whose husband leaves her and their two teenage children for another woman. She discovers Austen’s work and takes a vacation to Austenland. This one tends more towards Northanger Abbey than Pride and Prejudice, but don’t expect too much from the mystery in the book. You should definitely not be reading this series for depth. It works as a standalone novel, but I’d recommend reading Austenland first. It’s the better of the two books and introduces the place and quite a few of the returning characters. 

BOTTOM LINE: Pure fluff, but enjoyable fluff. I read it during the Dewey Readathon and it was a great choice for later in the day.

**Side Note: Have you guys seen the Austenland movie? It's hilarious and I loved it!

Girl Walks into a Bar... 

by Rachel Dratch 

★★ 

Rachel Dratch tells her story in the latest in a line of hilarious memoirs from SNL alums. Where Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were more entertaining and gave more life advice, Dratch seems to dwell on coming to terms with being type-cast. She also talked a lot about getting offered bad roles and how her career changed after her time on SNL. 

She also had an interesting turn of events that drives the book. She unexpectedly got pregnant when she was 44. Because of this she talks more about dating issues in her 30s and then struggles when she became a mom. The audiobook is fun because the author reads it. It even includes some Debbie Downer SNL clippings. 

BOTTOM LINE: Easy quick read, but I would recommend Fey or Poehler’s book instead.

Lean In

Lean In
Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
by Sheryl Sandberg
★★★★☆

I tend to avoid books like this like the plague. They often strike me as self-help nonsense that only tells people what they want to hear or what they already know. For me, this was not that at all. Sandberg’s goal with the book is to help women in the workforce to step up to the plate and get involved in their offices. So much of what she talked about (women not noting their own accomplishments, women being viewed in a negative light if they took on authority roles) were things I had seen for myself in my own career. Oh and did I mention she’s the COO of Facebook?
 
“A 2011 McKinsey report noted that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.” 

Though we have come a long way in gender equality in the workplace, we still have stigmas connected with certain decisions that affect the way we see ourselves. There are “working” moms and “stay-at-home” moms, yet we never quantify our male counterparts in the same way. Sandberg addresses these issues without ever condescending or saying that one choice it right for everyone. The important thing is to understand that you have a choice as a woman.

“For many men, the fundamental assumption is that they can have both a successful professional life and a fulfilling personal life. For many women, the assumption is that trying to do both is difficult at best and impossible at worst.”

One thing that particularly stuck in my mind was the Howard/Heidi study. People were asked to evaluate a potential employee based on a detailed resume with past experience, education, expertise and more. The only difference was that the name was female for some and male for others. Again, all the details of past jobs and experience were identical, yet people saw the female job candidate as someone who was aggressive or overly ambitious. They thought she might be qualified, but no one wanted to work with her. This was the response from both men and women! When a man is in a position of power he tends to be respected. When a woman is in the same position her actions are often seen as harsh. I kept thinking of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s SNL Weekend Update bit about “Bitches get stuff done!” It’s the same idea. Women are seen as bitches if they make hard decisions, while men are seen as strong leaders.

After reading The Feminine Mystique just last month, I found this one infinitely more applicable to my current life. She talks about the problems but she also provides actual advice and logical steps to take to overcome those hurdles. It was interesting to read them both and see how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go. She doesn’t simplify matters and make it seem like there’s an easy answer, but she addresses the problems without flinching and often the problem is the women themselves. She talks about this without blame or guilt. We’ve been trained that it’s more important to be liked than to be successful. Her approach is not to disregard out self-doubt completely, but to be confident in our abilities moving forward.

BOTTOM LINE: I really loved it and want to get my own copy for future reference and lending (I read a library copy.) Having just started a new job I hope that I can incorporate some of these tips into my daily interaction.

“The cost of stability is often diminished opportunities for growth.”

“In today’s world, we no longer have to hunt in the wild for our food, our desire for leadership is largely a culturally created and reinforced trait. How individuals view what they can and should accomplish is in large part formed by our societal expectations.”

“Searching for mentor has become the professional equivalent of waiting for Prince Charming.”

Bossypants

Bossypants
by Tina Fey
★★★★☆

Oh Tina Fey, how I love your sense of humor. I wanted Bossypants to be funny and clever. I wanted it to make me laugh and let me get to know the author a bit better and I feel like it did all of these things. If you already think you’d like this one, you probably will.

I’m not a big fan of celebrity memoirs… a fan at all really, but this isn’t one of those. It feels more like a David Sedaris book. It makes you laugh out loud or squirm uncomfortably as you recognize and identify with the awkward teen or new employee you’re reading about. I loved seeing the photos of Fey in hilarious outfits as a kid and the comparison airbrushed shots of her on a magazine cover. She acknowledges the huge differences, but embraces them with humor.

If you already love 30 Rock, which I do, the chapter detailing the birth and growth of the show is really fun. If you’ve never watched it, it might not be as interesting. I think my favorite section was a mother’s prayer for her young daughter. She asks for simple things for her child, like no tramp stamps and a job where she can where comfortable shoes.

Bossypants is by no means a perfect book. There are a few small sections that drag, there is some name dropping and funny celebrity anecdotes, but Fey makes all of these things work. In the end, you can sign me up as a fan of Fey. I will absolute be buying whatever else she has to offer.

*Photo on right is Tina Fey's American Express ad