Merry Christmas season, my friends!

Are you as excited as we are for Christmas? We are so excited for the holidays around here. Everyone is healthy and happy and we are so grateful!

Today I am sharing a review. I continue to be atrociously behind on my reviews. Life with three kids is a busy, tiring adventure. At the end of the day, I have been opting for reading or watching The Great British Baking Show. But we are getting on a bit of a napping schedule (CELEBRATION!) so I am committing to reviewing more books!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling is simply a delight. This was a fun book to read while nursing as Mindy offers a collection of hilarious, authentic essays about her life.

Initial Thoughts:

• A good friend of mine recommended this book to me and I was so glad I read it! It’s outside of my usual genres as an essay collection/memoir so that was neat to widen my scope a bit.
• Anyone else want to binge watch The Office after reading this? I loved the behind the scenes anecdotes from the show.

According to Goodreads, “Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”
 
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!
 
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.“

I love Mindy’s voice narrating this book. She is confident, genuine and hilariously blunt. You can’t help but laugh at her misadventures and how she can poke fun at herself while also being comfortable with herself. She’s someone that I want to be friends with in real life. I felt myself nodding at how right she is about so many things. I enjoyed her stories from her childhood, college years, first years in New York especially her Matt Damon and Ben Affleck inspired play and it’s cult following. And of course, I really enjoyed her stories about The Office. In fact, I would have liked more about The Office. That’s what made me pick up the book and I would have liked even more behind the scenes from the show.

Again, this was a new genre for me or at least one I don’t visit often. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this was an essay collection once I started reading. I expected a more traditional memoir. But this was a fun, engaging way to get to know Mindy in a style that was definitely her own. I enjoyed the small chapters and the pictures from Mindy’s life. I also enjoyed the various topics and focuses of the different essays. Favorites were focused on her time writing/acting for The Office.

Overall, a fun book! It was really nice to read a light, funny book that is just enjoyable. There is some swearing so be aware of that. But I loved her voice and storytelling. Plus it was really easy to read on my Libby app. I’d read more from Mindy!

What are some of your favorite memoirs?
Do you like essay collections or traditional biographies better?