books

Book review: Choose Your Own Autobiography, by Neil Patrick Harris

Neil Patrick Harris "Choose Your Own Autobiography"(Thank you to Blogging for Books for the review copy!)

I’m beginning to think that maybe autobiographies are just not my cup of tea. I’ve read a few in the past year and haven’t enjoyed any of them that much. I think it’s partly that I’m just not a huge “fan” of very many celebrities and I don’t care that much about their life stories, so it makes it a little hard to get into their autobiographies. For Neil Patrick Harris in particular, I know very little about him or his career–I actually know him better from Harold and Kumar than from How I Met Your Mother or Doogie Howser–so while many of the career anecdotes are amusing, they just don’t mean much to me.

And to be honest, if you don’t know a lot about a celebrity, reading about their personal life is kind of a snooze. It’s like sitting next to a stranger on a bus while they show you pictures of their kids. You try not to be rude and yawn, but the whole time you’re thinking, I don’t know you or any of these people. I don’t really want to hear another anecdote about your family vacation!

I think if you were a fan of Neil and his work then you’d like this book much better. The Choose Your Own  Adventure-style format is fun and some of the stories are funny. The book overall was just not really my taste, I ended up skimming parts of it because I wasn’t that interested.

Choose Your Own Autobiography, by Neil Patrick Harris (paperback, 304 pages). Genre: nonfiction, memoir, humor. Two out of five stars.

2 Comments

  • KATE SARSFIELD

    These days you only have to be on the telly to be classed a star or celebrity – I hate this ‘dumbing-down’ of what was once a hard-earned and meaningful term. Someone who has honed their craft, like Streep or Pacino, is a star, not someone whose only claim to fame is that they’ve been on one of those godawful reality shows (and DON’T mention the ‘K’-word!). That’s it, rant over! By the way, I’VE been on tv, but then I’ve always been a bit of a diva!

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