Seriously…I’m Kidding
Posted in Books on 12/16/2011 12:48 pm by JennDegeneres, Ellen. Seriously…I’m Kidding. Grand Central Publishing. October 4, 2011.
I’ve experienced a lot the last few years and I have a lot to share. So I hope that you’ll take a moment to sit back, relax and enjoy the words I’ve put together for you in this book. I think you’ll find I’ve left no stone unturned, no door unopened, no window unbroken, no rug unvacuumed, no ivories untickled. What I’m saying is, let us begin, shall we?
I have not read Ellen’s two previous books, but I am going to have to pick them up. I wouldn’t really classify this as a biography, even though the library does, it’s more like a stream of consciousness. It seems like the ramblings of a person with a very active imagination, but perhaps she laboured over each word to give the illusion of a word association experiment (although I strongly suspect it’s the former). The chapters don’t really relate to each other, and she has everything from colouring pages to “short, short stories”. A part of me thinks she was obligated to write another book and her publisher was pressuring her to get it done because it doesn’t seem to be about anything in particular, despite her claims that a lot has happened since her last book was published.
The other part of me doesn’t really care what her motivations were, this book was hilarious! I have not laughed out loud this much since Chelsea Handler’s Chelsea, Chelsea, Bang, Bang. I was reading it in the waiting room at the doctor’s office and laughed out loud. People scooted their chairs away. I actually read part of it aloud to MPW (who found it funny, but I don’t think really got the full effect of it because I was laughing so hard he probably understood one every three words). Since Ellen is such a prominent public figure, her voice is easy to emulate in my head, so reading this book, I was reading it with her voice and timing, which is easy to do as she writes like she speaks. With short sentences. And lots of after thoughts. Hilarious.
The audio book is actually her reading it, so you won’t even have to picture her voice in your head…you can hear it for real. In this book she included things that you could only really see in the book, and things you’ll have to hear on CD to appreciate. As I said, it’s totally random.
I knew it would be great the moment I turned the book over and it is all compliments from her to the reader and it didn’t disappoint. If you like Ellen, you will definitely love this book and it’s a great idea for a Christmas present.
That Just Happened!









