Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Crown Archetype; 1 edition (November 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0307886263
ISBN-13: 978-0307886262
240 pages
Ages 16+
Buy Here for $16.50
My Rating: 5/5
Summary from 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.The Verdict: I have a girl crush on a few different ladies in Hollywood. Among them in no particular order are:

Tina Fey

Kristen Wig

Amy Poehler

Melissa McCartney

and Mindy Kaling

Are you noticing a common thread here? My favorite among these has varied over the years and depending on their current work, but I do have a special place in my heart for Mindy.

Why?

She's funny, normal sized, unabashedly herself even when that self is highly flawed, and brown (which is something that is all too rare in Hollywood without be portrayed as sultry and sexy).

When I found out she had a book coming out, I was hooked. I just had to read it! That alone had me.

Of the few celebrity memoirs I've read, I have really enjoyed them. And this one was the best yet! Mindy is absolutely hilarious as evident by her career credentials and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? had me literally laughing out on several occasions.
Here are a few of my favorite parts:

I Am Not an Athlete - her disdain for Frisbee and experiences with friends trying to teach her to love it remind me of my life long battle against volleyball. It rung so true to life and she described every facet in the perfect laugh-inducing way.

Day Jobs - "'Mommy wanted to know who are all the turtle-shaped bagel pizzas, and I knew it was you, but I lied and said it was me.' She burst into tears. I hugged her and told her, 'You can never tell her the truth.' And let her stay up an extra hour watching Lizzie McGuire. Bribes and boy bands. That's all you need to be a babysitter." This paragraph brought tears to my eyes from laughing so hard :)

Best Friends Rights and Responsibilities - such an endearing code of conduct for friends to abide by. Definitely worth copying down and giving to all your girlfriends! It reminded me of the roommate rules my roommate and I came up with during our time together. 

Types of Women in Romantic Comedies Who Are Not Real - as I read through this list, Mindy touched on every single frustration I have found in female characters of RomCom movies. So much of what she writes reaffirms that I am not alone in my thinking.

Can you tell how much I enjoyed this book? It's absolutely on the top of my fave list for this year :)