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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
If you need something good to listen to on the commute to work, a fun listen while tanning poolside, or are just interested in the life of NPH then give this audio version a go. Or the actual physical or ebook. It's your choice. Believe me, you will laugh out loud and be entertained.
Read my full review on this and other books at www.booklovinalicia.blogspot.com
Read my full review on this and other books at www.booklovinalicia.blogspot.com
You can read more of my reviews here: http://yeshallbejudged.wordpress.com/
As a kid, the “choose your own adventure” books were my absolute favorite, especially the Goosebumps ones. So when I heard about NPH’s take, I knew I would have to try it out, even if I’m not the ultimate Neil Patrick Harris superfan. And boy, oh boy, it did not disappoint. The first surprise I encountered was how well NPH writes as a whole. He absolutely has a style of prose that is both articulate and pleasant to read, something that is quite honestly unusual coming from actors.
The structure of the book itself is indeed just like a choose your own adventure. It’s all written in second person point of view, meaning you ARE Neil and get to decide where to go next. Here is an example of a typical chapter’s end:
-Woohoo! To be the subject of a profile in Totally Straight Guy magazine ‘cuz you’re so totally straight, turn to page 94.
-To go out on a date with the kind of hot chick a raging heterosexual man like you can get anytime he wants, turn to page 264.
-If all this adrenaline has you ready for a climactic car chase, turn to page 207. (It’s a gay car chase, though.)
Hilarious, right? Did I mention how funny this book is? Just like a normal choose your own adventure, you can end up happy with your family at Disneyland, making sandwiches for a living at a Schlotsky’s Deli, or even dead. He fictionalizes certain events and writes a scene from the perspective of the “Harold and Kumar” version of himself (the universe wherein he is only pretending to be gay to get more chicks). But there are plenty of truths in here too. He recounts first meeting his husband David with margin notes from David himself–and they are pretty much the cutest ever. His interest in magic is prevalent, but the great thing about choosing where you go in the book is that if you get tired of a certain subject, he gives you the option to skip on to a completely different topic. And you really do get to experience his whole career with temporary breaks for letters written by some of his celebrity friends including Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, and Nathan Fillion. There are funny cartoons and photos. It’s pretty much all you could ever ask for in a celebrity memoir, which begs the question: Is there anything Neil Patrick Harris can’t do?
I’m still in the process of going back through the book to make sure I didn’t miss any fun sections because I honestly don’t want to miss a moment of this refreshing gem of a book. Fully recommend!
As a kid, the “choose your own adventure” books were my absolute favorite, especially the Goosebumps ones. So when I heard about NPH’s take, I knew I would have to try it out, even if I’m not the ultimate Neil Patrick Harris superfan. And boy, oh boy, it did not disappoint. The first surprise I encountered was how well NPH writes as a whole. He absolutely has a style of prose that is both articulate and pleasant to read, something that is quite honestly unusual coming from actors.
The structure of the book itself is indeed just like a choose your own adventure. It’s all written in second person point of view, meaning you ARE Neil and get to decide where to go next. Here is an example of a typical chapter’s end:
-Woohoo! To be the subject of a profile in Totally Straight Guy magazine ‘cuz you’re so totally straight, turn to page 94.
-To go out on a date with the kind of hot chick a raging heterosexual man like you can get anytime he wants, turn to page 264.
-If all this adrenaline has you ready for a climactic car chase, turn to page 207. (It’s a gay car chase, though.)
Hilarious, right? Did I mention how funny this book is? Just like a normal choose your own adventure, you can end up happy with your family at Disneyland, making sandwiches for a living at a Schlotsky’s Deli, or even dead. He fictionalizes certain events and writes a scene from the perspective of the “Harold and Kumar” version of himself (the universe wherein he is only pretending to be gay to get more chicks). But there are plenty of truths in here too. He recounts first meeting his husband David with margin notes from David himself–and they are pretty much the cutest ever. His interest in magic is prevalent, but the great thing about choosing where you go in the book is that if you get tired of a certain subject, he gives you the option to skip on to a completely different topic. And you really do get to experience his whole career with temporary breaks for letters written by some of his celebrity friends including Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, and Nathan Fillion. There are funny cartoons and photos. It’s pretty much all you could ever ask for in a celebrity memoir, which begs the question: Is there anything Neil Patrick Harris can’t do?
I’m still in the process of going back through the book to make sure I didn’t miss any fun sections because I honestly don’t want to miss a moment of this refreshing gem of a book. Fully recommend!
Another terrible Hollywood book! You guys have a poor record and only have [a:Bryan Cranston|7348637|Bryan Cranston|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1476507886p2/7348637.jpg] carrying you, come on now. Let me preface this by saying I haven't watched a full episode of HIMYM (stupid acronym) nor the Dougie Houser show or whatever one made him a young star. Nor did I know that he was . Perhaps I would have liked this book more had I watched those two shows. But I can never tell when he's telling the truth or just lying through his teeth. That got annoying. The only thing I did know was that my brother looks like him. I applaud his feeble, but fun, attempt of writing a unique style of autobiography. But it could have been written in a different direction.
I liked that he inserted the real audio recording of his speech when he was a young teen. He had a very high voice. The interview he had with the totally straight guy magazine was dang funny.
There was a really dirty scene in the middle of the book and I don't know what it had to do with the story except to show how nasty he is. He tried to be serious and express his love at the end but with all his lying and being nasty/silly in the rest of the book it didn't work at all.
Cobie Smulders was going to be Wonder Woman but she'd rather remain a B list actor. She's hot.
Spoiler
gay. Did he really come out during that awards ceremony?I liked that he inserted the real audio recording of his speech when he was a young teen. He had a very high voice. The interview he had with the totally straight guy magazine was dang funny.
There was a really dirty scene in the middle of the book and I don't know what it had to do with the story except to show how nasty he is. He tried to be serious and express his love at the end but with all his lying and being nasty/silly in the rest of the book it didn't work at all.
Cobie Smulders was going to be Wonder Woman but she'd rather remain a B list actor. She's hot.
I've always been a fan of NPH (who isn't?) so this one was an easy sell for me. Neil's sense of humour makes this an at times laugh-out-loud read, and the quirkiness of the format meant that I had to go back and live 'my' life several times to experience it over again. I also ended up reading the entire thing from start to finish just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
Funny man, well-written biography, insider stories of life on Broadway, in Hollywood, and the perils of being a child star. What's not to like?
(Warning: if you're anything like me, you'll end up lost down the YouTube black hole watching NPH videos of Tony and Emmy performances for hours after reading this book.)
Funny man, well-written biography, insider stories of life on Broadway, in Hollywood, and the perils of being a child star. What's not to like?
(Warning: if you're anything like me, you'll end up lost down the YouTube black hole watching NPH videos of Tony and Emmy performances for hours after reading this book.)
A great read, full of humor and insight. Initially I approached it with the same anxiety that Choose Your Own Adventure books always gave me in childhood: worrying I’d choose unwisely and miss an important part. After following one thread to the end, I started again and read the pages in order, which worked out so well it felt like perhaps that was the intent all along. Sometimes the book is a bit dazzled with itself, but if there's a life that's more deserving of a dazzled retelling, I don't know of it.
I expected to enjoy this, because NPH is a charming guy, and I like funny celebrities on audio, but this was really good! His chapter about his kids totally choked me up. I'd highly recommend listening to this one.
I was anticipating this being a fun and frothy read, and it was that, but it also delved into the intimacy of NPH’s family life and more thorny questions like ‘how should a gay actor come out publicly?’ and ‘what does an awakening of sexual identity look like?’ The answers are not always as cut and dried as we expect them to be. The choose your own adventure format was a gimmick which alternately amused and annoyed me - it did lead me to wander through NPH’s life in a non-chronological fashion that was refreshing, and potentially more engaging than a straight through rendition would have been. Still, I found I missed large chunks randomly and had to go back again and again to fill them in. There are plenty of random tidbits, interviews, recipes, and magic tricks sprinkled throughout as well, and also some obvious nonsense as ballast. In short, I wouldn’t want to read a lot of books like this, but it worked as a one-off.
Such a fun read. I love NPH even more after reading this!
I loved this book. I was expecting a fun, funny and enjoyable and it was that and so much more. It had all the things I ahve grown to love about NPH mostly in his hosting space. It felt real and heartfelt at times, confused at others and was a wonderful ride. The choose your own adventure format made it even more fun, I loved those books in the 90s.