Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I'm a huge fan of celebrity memoirs, so I knew I was pretty much going to love Mindy's memoir, and I was right. From playing Ben Affleck in a self-written play to being told she had to audition for a role as herself (and not getting the part!), to landing a writing gig on The Office, Mindy is a hilarious writer. “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” speaks to that girl in all of us that felt awkward as a kid, grew up to be an awkward adult, and wants to accomplish great things while being fabulous.

This book was written by a nice person with a good ear for humor. Unfortunately, it is basically about nothing. It is an erratic collection of things that Mindy Kaling decided were good conversation topics, which is an excellent format for a conversation between friends, but which unfortunately is not well-suited to a book.

Whenever I read something autobiographical I always ask myself if I'd like to have lunch with that person. I think this explains why I tend to like books by funny or gossipy women. This was a real winner for me. Humor is subjective, but I found myself either laughing or smiling a lot – and definitely wanting to do lunch! Mindy Kaling's tone was light, and funny, and clever, and I'd even say infectiously girly. I was utterly charmed and I related to a lot of her anecdotes about friendship.

One of my favorite passages:

“I've found my productive-writing-to-screwing-around ratio to be one to seven. So, for every eight-hour day of writing, there is only one good productive hour of work being done. The other seven hours are preparing for writing: pacing around the house, collapsing cardboard boxes for recycling, reading the DVD extras pamphlet from the BBC Pride and Prejudice, getting snacks lined up for writing, and YouTubing toddlers who learded the ‘Single Ladies' dance.”