100 Books That Defined the Decade
For good, for bad, for ugly.
Tina Fey, Bossypants (2011)
If you retain nothing else, always remember the most important rule of beauty, which is: who cares?
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Essential stats: After a reported $6 million advance, Bossypants sold 3.75 million copies in 5 years. No slouch, Tina.
Why was it defining? It kind of opened the floodgates—or as US News put it, “confirmed a market” for sharp, funny, nonfiction by female comedians, like Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (2011) and Amy Poehler’s Yes Please (2014). At the very least, it’s one of the best, if not the very best, of that rapidly-expanding genre. “Bossypants isn’t a memoir,” Janet Maslin wrote. “It’s a spiky blend of humor, introspection, critical thinking and Nora Ephron-isms for a new generation.” And for at least some of the new generation, it’s worked.
Here’s an excerpt from the audiobook, which also sold like crazy on Audible:
Emily Temple
Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.
