Carol Burnett (Narrator), Seth Meyers (Narrator), & 6 more,* including the author, actress, and comedienne Amy Poehler, made this probably the best memoir I’ve heard (read?). Yeah, I doubt it was nearly as fun in book form. These guests made the game of writing one’s autobiography nearly impossible to win.
I’m not much of a fan of Saturday Night Live, etc. But I do love experiencing stepping into other people’s lives. It brings about a bit of understanding for the world to see how similar we all are and enjoy individual differences.
I did have to be careful as this was my bedtime book. I about popped my eyeballs as I suppressed laughs. I didn’t want to wake the household. It was fun.
Maybe my favorite part was that Amy didn’t dwell on a tortured childhood. Sure, she had her share of problems, but she seemed to own her mistakes and forgive others’ errors as much as she could, making the book more about living life and things that have worked for her.
This was a Libby audiobook. I’m so grateful for how the libraries help us.
Oh my! This was so different than any other memoir. It came at me like my own crazy memories. In and out. Mine are mostly English. But if I were raised with another language spoken around me, it might have sounded like this.
Cousins and relatives played a big part in this book. Exactly like my memories, just different.
If you have a lot of Spanish in your vocabulary, it might be even better. My meager amount barely got me by. At least the author, as she narrated, helped me hear her implications.
I picked up this Audible version after hearing about it on a talk show. I had the spare credit, so grabbed it. I’m thinking I will try to find the paperback so I could I can work on the Spanish more.
Please read some of the more eloquent reviews. Even if you have no Spanish, there is enough to absorb this beautiful story. I’m glad I own it so I can go back and enjoy it and Quiara’s voice and spirit again.
One of the best autobiographies I’ve read or actually heard. Whoopi doesn’t seem to be reading this but rather tells us her stories about her life with her mother and brother.
I must admit laughing out loud and possibly waking my husband to nearly ugly crying as I felt Whoopi’s losses. She feels like she is in the room with you, just relating with you live. I have more books by her that I now feel I need to find and listen to.
I highly recommend this read. More so, I think the audiobook is the best.
Sometimes, you run into a book that seems more like a book about employment than a retired person needs. This is one of those books. I like Jen Psaki. I love how she uses this memoir to show her growth in the workplace. I kind of wish I would have found this book when I was working. She has a grasp of how one should be more vocal, even in subtle ways, to give the employment the meat you want from a job. She shows how to be assertive without being aggressive.
It was an interesting book, even if I didn’t relate to it well. Ms. Psaki is the narrator, so you get every nuance. I was lucky to find it on Libby. But for the employed, it might be worth buying.
This series is so sweet. It isn’t a mushy romance, but romance is there. It satisfies my travel bug, and I get to play with a little of my mini French-speaking. This series is the only one I am taking my time to actually read and not listen to. I have it on my old phone in the Kindle. It is a slower read than the Audiobooks, but I can stay with it as I love the characters and the story. Laura Bradbury writes her story well.
In this story, after a year in Quebec, Canada, Laura and her boyfriend return to France to visit his family for Christmas. It is a shorter book than others, but it made me love the family more.
By the way, if you know absolutely no French, you will not be lost in these books, as the little bits are used in context with the English. This series takes you from when Laura does an exchange year in France for high school through her adult life in France. I have already started the next book, in which the couple gets to go back to France for a college exchange program.
Autobiographies are hard to rate. It feels like I’m rating the person or their life experiences. So, instead, I will say this was interesting. Ms. Smith did her own narration, which is always more authentic.
What is different about this book is that Jada takes the time to address the reader and guides us through our own issues that might be like what she went through. A little journal prompts the reader to write out their own feelings.
This was a Libby audiobook. I think you all might like it.
I love this series! I get to exercise my little bit of Duolingo French and travel with Laura, first to France and then to Montreal, Quebec, the destination of this book. The only bit of Canada I’ve been to was Victoria, BC. And then only a few hours on vacation when I was a child.
The relationship between Laura and Franc develops through cold and scary times.
Ms. Bradbury’s writing pulls the reader in. She knows how to tell her story.
I read this on Kindle. I read it a little at a time on one of my old phones. It was great for those moments when waiting, during commercials, etc. It took a bit, but the story stayed with me, so I never felt I needed to review the last bit I read.
I have already ordered the next book in her series.
Oh, my goodness! This book was fun from the very beginning. My eyes have difficulties tracking to read; even since cataract surgery fixed a lot of my issues, tracking remains nearly impossible. I have been an avid reader since I was little. Reading was slow going, but I got through the ten books allotted by the library every three weeks. The heft of the books was unwieldy, but I didn’t ask for help.
So, I began reading this book on my old phone using the Kindle app. It took me quite a while to get through even half the book. Finally, I caught up with the Libby audiobooks I had checked out, and Piglet became my bedtime book. Now, I could use text-to-speech and speed up the reading quite a bit. And give my eyes a rest.
Another reason I got into this book is my own dog, Kali, passed last spring after being nearly blind and having doggy dementia and bad hearing. It was so hard at the end of her life, but we had such a hard time from the beginning trying to learn from each other that the bond for her was strong in the end. I miss her so much and feel the need to help another dog as soon as I can. Meanwhile, Piglet helped me. Now I feel even stronger about getting another dog. I know there is one out there that needs me as much as I need him or her.
I think this book has a couple of other inspirational stories within. Melissa Shapiro is a veterinarian who tells her story of how she and her husband got together. Then, she shares her children’s aspirations with music. She tells of their college experiences.
By the way, one of her daughters and her husband have honest and raving reviews on the Piglet GoodReads page. I was delighted to read these as I felt I knew them from the book.
This book is full of the good feels a person needs these days. I look forward to looking all over the internet to find videos and follow the dogs, Melissa, and her family, and all the good they are doing for disabled people and animals.
When I feel I am floundering, I need to remember the floundering Ms. Shapiro and her husband went through with that one-pound blind, deaf puppy screaming his needs to them. Floundering is how one finds one’s balance. That is what February gives me. Meanwhile, today my turtles got a little more colorful.
I was lucky to read this on Libby Audio. I must admit that hearing Sir Patrick’s voice made it so–much better than (see what I did there?)
This book takes you on Sir Stewart’s life journey from the beginning through even the pandemic, bringing the reader (listener) as close to the present as possible.
For me, there were a lot of surprises. But I am not much of a follower of movie stars. I have always enjoyed Star Trek and enjoyed our knight’s appearances in a few cartoons. The sad part of my life is that I never got to take classes or learn about Shakespeare; so much of his work is lost on me. Still, I guess the best part of a book is that it piques one’s curiosity. I need to check out the Bard and learn more than a little bit that I have been introduced to. I can sing the songs of Oliver. Does that count?
Anyway, gathering a congregation of Trekkies to learn what Sir Patrick can teach us of William, not Shatner. That’s what this book inspires. I plan to become more aware.
I picked this Kindle version ARC up on NetGalley. Thank you.
When I was sent the book, I must have known it was an autobiography. But it was a while before I started the read. I couldn’t believe the amount of financial information that showed up around 10% of the book. Remember, by now, I was thinking it was fiction. I couldn’t imagine why a person would include all that information that seemed to go on and on. I almost gave up on it. The story was triggering because of my time working in a corporation. Even the friendliest becomes a monster, a vampire to its employees. So again, I nearly gave up.
But about halfway through, I was hooked. I wanted to know what Carrie would do to find her own life again.
The ending was wonderful. Let me just say she does finally find a way.
Now I want a more positive life written so I can enjoy her new life!
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Books, games, music, and life — filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Darswords 
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