What didn't I like? The conversational tone could sometimes be too conversational, and so it sometimes felt too casual and more like a blog post or super long tweet rather than a book. Other than a few insightful moments, I didn't feel enough powerful moments. And that's okay, I don't think this book was trying to achieve that, but I like themes and messages and I didn't feel like any strong stances were really taken about anything. Bottom line is, for a book written by a comedian, this wasn’t full of hardy hars. There was a little too much talking about how she’s always been the funniest person in the room (while not being particularly funny in her anecdotes) and continual name-dropping of various meet/cutes with the President (I could elaborate, but I’ve already met my quota on offending dozens of GR members this month) for me to fully get on board. However, if you (or a young female in your life) are looking for some good advice regarding owning who you are, Mindy surprisingly had some quality stuff to offer: In its best moments, this book is a response to all the people who ever looked at Mindy Kaling and sneered, "Why should you be on TV?" Kaling's response: "Because I work really hard and also, why not?" I’m the kind of person who would rather get my hopes up really high and watch them get dashed to pieces rather than wisely keep my expectations at bay and hope they are exceeded. This quality has made me a needy and theatrical friend, but has given me a spectacularly dramatic emotional life.” This essay... oh man, it was 1am when I started it, and I thought (and still think) that Kaling might actually be psychic... Because this is practically the script for Ghostbusters that came out in 2016:

In Never Have I Ever, I get to experience what my white friends have had for their entire lives. A character who has many similar experiences to me – I too got a nose ring as an act of teen rebellion only to be celebrated by my parents as an act of Indian femininity – but who isn’t trying to be every brown girl. Because she’s not the only brown girl in the show: there are multiple culturally diverse lead characters, each with their own complex storyline. I think Mindy Kaling is so likeable because while she's achieved an amazing amount of professional success she's not afraid to also be vulnerable on certain topics, particularly being a single mom in these essays. She's also not afraid to talk about what it's really like to be a celebrity and is refreshingly honest about the people who work for her, from assistants to her baby nurse Rose. Just no. But once again she had a redemption arc by admitting that everyone in Hollywood lies about the fact that doing a sex scene is “uncomfortable” and “just another part of the job.” Nope, Mindy freely owns that “sex scenes are the tits.” Hehehehehe.

Publication Order of Nothing Like I Imagined Books

While Kaling doesn’t shy away from bringing culture into the story – Devi’s cousin Kamala is in the throes of navigating an arranged marriage set-up; Devi has her textbooks blessed at the mandir, which she also attends for Ganesh puja – it isn’t the defining and only driving force behind the show. Growing up with a single mom and watching her do single mom things, I was totally able to resonate with Mindy in these essays. Mindy talks about our expectations of romantic relationships and marriages vs. reality. I really enjoyed hearing about her personal story of being a single mom, and how it might be nice to have a husband, but it's not necessarily the best option for everyone. It's refreshing for someone like Mindy to talk so openly about how the traditional way isn't the only way and anyone can be a parent with or without a partner. Help Is On the Way - 4 Stars - Admitting you need help is one of the hardest things to do as an adult. We make decisions and we feel like we should be able to handle the repercussions of these decisions. We follow the example our parents gave us and think we should be able to do it too. That is why Mindy struggles so hard with the decision of hiring a baby nurse. It’s nothing her mother would have done. It is nothing she was culturally raised to do but it turned out to be one of the best experiences of her life.

Mindy tells us the instance where one big celebrity didn’t even mind the grand gesture given by her. She was visiting the restaurant along with her parents, and the celebrity was hosting a large number of people for an expensive dinner. This created a lot of confusion. Mindy tells us the interesting events that happened after that. Once Upon a Time in Silver Lake - 3 Stars - A short, weird tale of a night out with her best friend BJ. I’m not sure what we are supposed to derive from the story. It a good party antidote though. Last, but obviously not least, is this short but hilariously relatable piece on Kaling's writing process and being productive. The workday at The Office writers’ room started at 10:00. I would arrive around 10:15, sometimes later, at which point the showrunner would give me a dark look that told me he was very aware of my lateness and that we would be talking about it later.” Searching for Coach Taylor - 4 Stars - In this essay we explore single parent pity and what it means to have a husband or partner. Mindy handles it with her trademark wit and grace but makes some other really great points about the things you give up or have to negotiate about too.After reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, I fell fast and hard for Mindy Kaling. However, by Season 3 of The Mindy Project I was more like this . . . After reading Glenn's terrific, positive endorsement of Why Not Me?, I had to give it a try. Gotta say though, that my rekindled enthusiasm for this follow-up set of essays was tempered by a lukewarm. binge-watch of The Mindy Project. It kept my interest enough to slide through (as of this writing) all 70+ episodes, and further solidified my admiration of her work ethic, but only sporadically did I find myself laughing as hard as I did with The Office material. Update 9/21/15: Liiiiiiiked it a looooooot. Full review tomorrow when my brain isn't trying to fall out of my ears from tiredness. I spent a great portion of my adolescence trying to look, sound and act less Indian. I straightened my hair, tried to keep my skin light by avoiding the sun and even trying skin bleaching products, and avoided anything that suggested ‘tradition’ or ‘culture’ like the plague. I felt like if I wanted to have the exciting lives sold to me by the white heroines on TV, I needed to look and act like them too.