Book Review: Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

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BOOK review

Started on: 24.May.2014
Finished on: 26.May.2014

Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

Title : Seriously... I'm Kidding

Author : Ellen DeGeneres

Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
Pages : 218 Pages
Year of Publication : 2013

Price : $ 7.92 (www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 3.5/5
Baca & Posting Bareng BBI 2014:
May: Humor/Comedy
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"I decided to include a little something for everyone in this book. You're going to find some short stories for adults, coloring pages for kids, and many things for all ages in between. You'll also find self-help tips, some medical advice (from someone who has no medical background nor the authority to dole out medical advice), nutrition facts, and you might even learn how to be happier in your everyday lives. I hope you do."

Seriously... I'm Kidding is a non-fiction book written by a stand-up comedian who now hosts a talk show, Ellen DeGeneres. In this book she talks about a lot of things, a few are pretty serious subjects actually, but of course she always ends up joking about it. It's a fun book full of Ellen's thoughts on random stuffs. And to make it easier for me to write a review for this book, I will share some of my favorites from this book :)

There are so many chapters in this book, and one of my favorite is titled CoverGirl. It talks about beauty; and that a person's beauty is not always judged solely on appearance. No one is perfect, and the flaws that we have are what makes us human - and if we are able to accept the fact that they're part of who we are, then it wouldn't be a problem at all. It also talks about age. When we're kids, we wanted to be older, but when we're older we tend to lie about our age.

"To me, beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It's about knowing and accepting who you are. I'm happy being who I am. I am confident, I live honestly and truthfully, and I think that's why I was chosen as the first fifty-year-old, openly gay CoverGirl. It's just a bonus that I have devastatingly blue eyes."

"When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important. It's hard to understand failure when you're going through it, but in the grand scheme of things it's good to fall down - not because you're drunk and not near the stairs."

I also enjoy The Secret of Life - Part Two (because in part one, Ellen said that the secret of life is: kale), which basically discuss about happiness, how to live your life, about taking risks. and not to worry about the future. Another one that I like talks about laziness, and the chapter is titled I am Not Lazy. The whole chapter basically talks about how Ellen wasted a lot of time watching TV - with all the different shows that are popular these days. And at the end of the chapter, she encourages the reader to get up and move a little more.

"There's a dent in my couch in the shape of my entire body and it got there after I watched a single episode of The Bachelor. I also like to watch American Idol, Survivor, The Celebrity Apprentice. That's like ninety-seven hour of TV to watch every week. That barely leaves any time to focus on what's truly important in life - Facebook and Twitter."

The last favorite that I will talk about is Social Skills - which discussed about how everything is electronic and instantaneous these days. We communicate through e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, instant messaging, and how those technology can destroy our social skills. And this chapter definitely made me think about how I am also influenced by technology and its' convenience. Here's my favorite quote, which I think is absolutely true xD

"Way, way back in the day, like in the 1990s, if you wanted to tell everyone you ate waffles for breakfast, you couldn't just go on the Internet and tweet it out. There was only one way to do it. You had to go outside and scream at the top of your lungs, "I ate waffles for breakfast!" That's why so many people ended up in institutions. They seemed crazy, but when you think about it, they were just ahead of their time."

There are many many more chapters in this book - including a coloring page as well - but I don't want to spoil everything by discussing each one of it. So if you're curious about what you can find out more from this book, go ahead and read this light and humorous book :))

 

This is my first time reading a humor book in English, and I think this book is seriously hard to review because it's literally full of random stuffs - I don't know how to sum it all up. I think I would probably enjoy it better if I were listening to the audiobook version; because the book is written as if Ellen is talking to me. Everything is so casual, and Ellen was distracted a lot of times while discussing a topic - which was completely normal when you're talking to someone. However because I'm reading the book version, I started to get confused and not able to grasp the point of what's being discussed in the first place. But I can definitely imagine Ellen's tone of voice as I'm reading throughout the book, and I laughed several times as I read it from beginning to end.

I absolutely love Ellen as a person; I think she's great, funny, and has an admirable personality as well. At first I was quite hesitant about starting to read this book, because I'm afraid I couldn't relate to the jokes written inside (whether it's because of cultural factors, or just because of my average English). But thankfully that didn't happen, because as I've said, I had a few good laugh while reading this book. I absolutely love the way Ellen writes about all the things in this book. I love how she's so blunt and honest and straightforward - but never felt offensive in any way. Throughout the book, there are some chapters that I really like, but there are also chapters that seems pointless to me. That's why I only gave this book a 3.5/5 rating. But here are some quotes that I absolutely love from this book, that I didn't get to mention earlier:

"She has every kind of lotion there is - and there's a lot. There's lotion for your face, lotion for your hands, lotion for your feet, lotion for your body. Why? What would happen if you put a hand lotion on your feet? Would your feet get confused and start clapping?"

"And who's to say what's better or worse anyway? Who's to even say what's normal or average? We're all different people and we're allowed to be different from one another. If someone ever says you're weird, say thank you. And then curtsy. No, don't curtsy. That might be too weird. Bow. And tip your imaginary hat. That'll show them."

"Everyone has good days and bad days. We're humans. We have emotions. In fact, I don't trust anyone who doesn't have emotions. Have you ever met someone who says they've never had a bad day in their whole entire life? Don't you want to poke them in the face?... My point is, life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows."

Overall, I had so much fun reading this short and light book. And I'm happy because the topic for BBI read-along this month is humor - because I am feeling pretty gloomy this month due to thesis works, so I think it's a perfect time for me to pick this book up. I might decide to read more English humor books in the future, because I think I have one or two more on my bookshelves. It's definitely a refreshing change from all the fiction books I read :)

  by.stefaniesugia♥ .