Book Review: Bossy Pants, Redshirts, & Insurgent

How's this for a long overdue book post, eh? Let's see if I can actually remember these titles well enough to tell you how well I liked 'em. :)

Bossypants, by Tina Fey
 (I will never get used to that cover. NEVER.)

Tina Fey is an inspiration to any woman who tries to be funny, and her book is just the right mix of biography, behind-the-scenes juiciness, and literal LOLs. My favorite chapters were the ones about attending your own photoshoot, which had me hooting with laughter, and the one with her thoughts on Photoshop, which I found quite thought-provoking - if somewhat controversial. (In a nutshell, she thinks it's a far better alternative to cosmetic surgery, and that future generations will be savvy enough to know it doesn't represent reality.)(Don't yell at ME, now - I'm just recapping what SHE said. Heh.)

Bossypants is a quick read that left me both entertained and better educated on the obstacles Fey has faced in the male-dominated field of comedy. She talks about the continuing (albeit improving) sexism in the industry without being preachy or overly bitter, and she even manages to convey a sense of optimism by pointing to the triumphs of other strong funny women like Maya Rudolf and Amy Poehler. A good, funny, and often inspirational read.

Redshirts, by John Scalzi

I've followed Scalzi on Twitter for ages, and yet had somehow never read any of his books. When I asked a friend and Scalzi fan which I should start with, she immediately pointed to Redshirts.

I went into the story knowing absolutely nothing about it (I like to skip the back cover sometimes), and wondering if the title was just a passing Star Trek homage or something far more central to the story. 

To my delight, it's the latter.

Redshirts is gleefully, unapologetically absurd. It's a Trek parody that not so much breaks down the fourth wall as dematerializes it with a Douglas Adams-style disrupter ray. The character names are different, but any Original Series fan will be picturing Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew in the story, and nodding and laughing along as Scalzi good-naturedly exploits some of the show's more ridiculous foibles - the most central being, of course, that only red-shirted security members die on away missions.

The story follows a new security ensign who discovers an entire ship gone insane, physics thrown out the window, a captain who lapses into overly dramatic speeches at critical times, and key bridge officers who are routinely pummeled to near death but are back at their stations, healthy and whole, within days. I won't say more for fear of spoiling anything, but trust me when I saw it's crazy good fun.

The only thing I didn't like about Redshirts were the three "codas" at the end of the book. The story ends at 230 pages, making it quite short, but then there are an extra 85 pages of first, second, and third person filler - broken into three chapters - that felt a bit tacked-on and unnecessary. I'd only recommend reading the third and final coda, which is a sweet epilogue that follows up on a love story mentioned in the main storyline. The other two add nothing of value to the story, and are a bit tedious to boot, so I'd advise skipping 'em.

[Note: You Kindle users can grab the first four chapters of Redshirts for free here.]

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

When I reviewed Divergent some months back many of you urged me to go on and read its sequel, saying it would take care of some of the problems I cited in the first book. And you guys were right! 

I think I enjoyed Insurgent even more than Divergent - a rarity with sequels - precisely because it does tackle that main sticking point for me: that of everyone being forced to choose one faction to identify with for life.  As the title suggests, Insurgent is about a revolution, and there's plenty of action and drama to keep the pages zipping by. I'd even go so far as to say this revolution succeeds where the one in Mockingjay fails. It's large enough to feel world-shaking without losing the personal narrative and feeling of investment you have with the characters. It also keeps the main character Tris central to the storyline, instead of shoving her to the sidelines while the adults call the shots ala Mockingjay.

That said, I did get pretty ticked off at Tris this go-round. The whole self-sacrifice-to-the-point-of-stupidity thing tends to get my blood boiling; I want my heroines to be intelligent fighters, not angst-riddled "they'll be better off without me" Bellas. (To be clear: I'm not saying self-sacrifice is stupid. I'm saying pointless self-sacrifice is stupid.) 

Other than that, though, I highly recommend Insurgent. Just know you'll be yelling at a fictional character for a few chapters. ;)

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Good news, book lovers! I've compiled all of my reviews into one handy-dandy page! Hopefully this will help us all keep track of what I have and haven't read yet.

Also, a lot of you have been e-mailing me book recommendations - which I love - but it's hard for me to keep track of them all that way. So could you guys do me a favor, and only leave book recs in the comments on one of my book review posts, or on my book review page? This helps me keep them all consolidated, and I promise I *DO* read each and every one. Plus, leaving them in the comments makes your recs available to your fellow readers - a win-win!

And because it's an FAQ: I do know & use GoodReads, but only as a personal account. Since I've used it since long before CW, and back before anyone knew who I was, I prefer to keep it private. (Let's just say I really shredded some books back in the day. Ha!) If I ever create a new, public account, though, I'll let you guys know!