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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Choose Your Own NPH
Read the review on my blog: http://bybreenah.blogspot.com/2015/01/choose-your-own-nph.html
Read the review on my blog: http://bybreenah.blogspot.com/2015/01/choose-your-own-nph.html
As awesome and as filled with musical numbers and magic as you would expect an NPH autobiography to be. I love love love the format. So fun.
I am sad to come away from reading this liking NPH less. I found the book to be narcissistic with long streams of name- and situation-dropping. Not funny.
Listened to this on my way to Utah to collect my husband from his dead mother's house. Funny enough to cut through some of the gloom. Full marks.
A great idea for a great book. After I got to the end (the happy ending) more than once I went back and read all the missing chapters! It was a fun read, it was an interesting book and it was a intriguing format! :)
At one point I was ready to give this a three-star rating, but in the end the sheer enthusiasm of Neil Patrick Harris over the things he loves won me over...to three-and-a-half stars, which I can't actually assign on Goodreads. But pretend I can.
The section that nearly lost me was one of the fictionalized segments where Harris assumes a super-macho sex stud persona and involves Harold and Kumar. It was kind of gross and while I ain't no prude, I didn't find it at all funny, just...gross.
And that's the worst thing about this autobiography. It deliberately subverts the entire genre by presenting it as a "choose your own adventure," so the whole book, save for specific sections, is written in the second person, with each chapter giving you options on how to proceed. It took a bit to get used to, but I didn't really mind it in the end. And if you ignore the choices and just flip the page, you can read the whole book (or at least it didn't feel like I missed anything).
There are also recipes, magic tricks and testimonials of sorts from others, ranging from Penn Jilette to Sarah Silverman. Some of these are obviously done for comedic effect, others are more sincere. Illustrations and script fragments, self-interviews and more complete the package and while I can't say it all holds together as well as it should, Harris's fondness for performing and the adulation he has for those he admires and loves shines through brilliantly. It's this core, along with witty observations of show business that really make the book worth reading.
And yes, there is a little dirt along the way, as Harris is not shy about pointing out other actors who may not be...quite up to standard. Or drunk. Or both.
The photos at the end, especially from when he was trying to be a super cool "straight" twenty-something, are hilarious and well worth checking out on a tablet or computer where you can see them in glorious full color. Conversely, the photos of him with his husband and kids are cute enough to be used as stock photos of wholesome gay parents.
If you're looking for an eclectic, sarcastic biography of someone who loves show tunes, this will fill your very specific needs. If you're hankering for a more conventional biography, you may find this particular take a bit lacking.
The section that nearly lost me was one of the fictionalized segments where Harris assumes a super-macho sex stud persona and involves Harold and Kumar. It was kind of gross and while I ain't no prude, I didn't find it at all funny, just...gross.
And that's the worst thing about this autobiography. It deliberately subverts the entire genre by presenting it as a "choose your own adventure," so the whole book, save for specific sections, is written in the second person, with each chapter giving you options on how to proceed. It took a bit to get used to, but I didn't really mind it in the end. And if you ignore the choices and just flip the page, you can read the whole book (or at least it didn't feel like I missed anything).
There are also recipes, magic tricks and testimonials of sorts from others, ranging from Penn Jilette to Sarah Silverman. Some of these are obviously done for comedic effect, others are more sincere. Illustrations and script fragments, self-interviews and more complete the package and while I can't say it all holds together as well as it should, Harris's fondness for performing and the adulation he has for those he admires and loves shines through brilliantly. It's this core, along with witty observations of show business that really make the book worth reading.
And yes, there is a little dirt along the way, as Harris is not shy about pointing out other actors who may not be...quite up to standard. Or drunk. Or both.
The photos at the end, especially from when he was trying to be a super cool "straight" twenty-something, are hilarious and well worth checking out on a tablet or computer where you can see them in glorious full color. Conversely, the photos of him with his husband and kids are cute enough to be used as stock photos of wholesome gay parents.
If you're looking for an eclectic, sarcastic biography of someone who loves show tunes, this will fill your very specific needs. If you're hankering for a more conventional biography, you may find this particular take a bit lacking.
One of the most fun autobiographies I've read of what seems like a genuinely nice and interesting guy.
PopSugar Challenge - A "Choose Your Own Adventure" book
So yeah, that about sums it up. Not sure if I read it all but certainly read enough.
So yeah, that about sums it up. Not sure if I read it all but certainly read enough.
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
