When 8 dollars made me richer

Seriously ... I'm Kidding - Ellen Degeneres

8.5/10

I couldn't have found a better timing to do a book review on this.

We all know Ellen was awarded the "Medal of Freedom" recently, by Obama. She is one of my personal favourites as I'm sure it goes the same for you, she never fails to make me smile or laugh watching her talkshow. She has always been very inspiring and spreads a sense of hope just by listening to her. I don't think I have met any man or woman, girl or boy who doesn't like her.

I wanted to purchase this book while I was having a holiday in Krabi, Thailand. I was going to board the plane back home and stopped at the bookstore. I could only purchase one book as I was running out of space in my handbag and also just enough Thai currency to buy one book. I have to give it to her, she was hilarious even before flipping a page.

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Anyway, I decided not to get it at that point of time, as I was more focused on reading another novel which I thought would spark my fuel for the book I'm working on.

My Krabi trip was about 4 months ago or so, and I was at a book store earlier today. Something pushed me to ask the lady at the store whether she had Ellen's book at to my surprise it was selling for 8 bucks. I can't argue with that as technically I'm 5 years late, this book was published somewhere late in 2011.

Anyhow, reading her biography made me feeling closer to her. Her approach in her book seems like the same chirpy and amazing woman we see on screen, she speaks to her readers as if she is speaking to them on a one by one basis, or sharing her random thoughts to you and only you.

Some parts of her book also made me feel comforted about my journey in trying to publish my own book, that it is not easy. A few days ago before I read this book I had already accepted that I am in a stage where I am 100% ready to accept that writing and publishing my own book will be one big roller coaster and I need to stop expecting everything to be all rainbows and butterflies cause nothing comes easy, much less this.

Besides that, I still took away her message, which I am sure was her main intention of publishing the book. Not everyone may get it, she is never for a second serious in this book. (You should have gathered from the title itself). It is her way of making us feel better. Behind all the jokes, she does send a positive and kind message.

Here are some of my favourite phrases/parts of the book:

" The truth is, I still believe that above all things physical, it is more important to be beautiful on the inside- to have a big heart and an open mind and a spectacular spleen. (Actually, most people's insides are disgusting. Even pretty people have very unattractive insides. Have you ever seen those surgery shows on Discovery? Not pretty.)"

"We take a lot for granted, and I think that's why some people say it's better to live each day as our last. That way we might start appreciating more things around us. Either that or we would immediately quit our jobs to go live in a yurt."

"If we lived each day as our last, I bet we'd all be a lot more honest with people, because we wouldn't have to care what people think anymore. We would meet a friend for lunch and blurt out ' Hey, that's an ugly hat!' or tell a police officer, 'If you thought that was speeding, sir, you should've seen what I was doing earlier! I think it was the fastest I have ever driven'. Or if you break up with someone you would finally tell them, ' I just want you to know, it's not me. it's you."

"What's important is that you enjoy and appreciate every day, and that's something you can accomplish by just living in the moment. Don't look behind you. Unless someone yells, "Look out behind you!" Then you should definitely look behind you because there's a good chance a Frisbee is being thrown at your head or, if you're in a movie, an attractive teenage vampire is about to attack you. Otherwise, don't look back and don't spend too much time worrying about the future. Stay in the present. There are a few ways to do that. Stop and smell the roses. Wake up and smell the coffee. Enjoy the sweet smell of success. I guess just keep taking big whiffs of stuff because it seems like the more we smell, the happier we are going to be. You know what I mean."

" Dear Journal, I'm on a sugar cleanse. I haven't had any sugar in over three weeks. I think I'm experiencing withdrawal. Today I screamed at a plant. I don't know why I decided to do this. It's crazy. There's sugar in everything. Did you know that? Everything. Even cupcakes. All right, I have to go, Journal. You're being a jerk."

"Dear Journal, I made my Broadway debut tonight in the Big Apple! I starred in a show called Promises, Promises alongside my supporting case, Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes. It was so much fun, but guess what Journal? I think I caught the theater bug. Literally. There was a roach in my dressing room the size of my fist. New York City is filthy."

"I watched The Biggest Loser tonight. That show is so good. I can't stop crying. I don't know how they do it. I'm crying so much I have mascara running down my face. And I'm not even wearing mascara. This show is powerful."

"Now this is a very difficult chapter for me to write. This chapter, chapter ten, is my favourite chapter in one of my favourite books so I feel an enormous amount of pressure to make it spectacular. There are other books I've read where chapter ten was not that great at all. But I prefer not to tell you to which book I'm referring. Maybe the author of that book failed to read the chapter in the book I aforementioned."

"I don't know if aforementioned is a word of if it's correctly used here. But whenever I feel stress or pressure of any kind I try to use big, important words. It makes me feel better and more powerful."

"Some authors try to be all show-offy with fancy sentences. And I could do that if I really wanted to. It's not like I don't know all those rarely used big, fancy, ostentaneous words, too. Of course I do."

"As it turns out, writing a book is hard. It is not as hard as mining coal or teaching teenagers to drive, I know that. But it is hard. I didn't think it would be so hard because I go on television every day and talk for an hour and I usually have plenty to say."

"When I first sat down to write, I stared at the blank page and tried to think of some strategies for getting started."

"It's exciting to find out what our roots are. Knowing where we come from explains so much about who we are. Plus, it gives us so many more people to borrow money from."

"You scarf down your meal and head home wondering if everyone's family is that crazy. The answer is a resounding yes. But we should be grateful for them because without our family- the ancestors we descend from, the cousins we see once a year, the loves of our lives we see every day- life is pretty boring."

"All these polls do is make everyone so judgmental. And I don't believe in judgment. Unless it's judgment of judgment. I don't think someone has to "wear something better" or have a better hairstyle. That's why the word "different" exists in out language."

"I personally like being unique. I like being my own person with y own style and my own opinions and my own toothbrush".

"I don't like judging people and I don't like hurting people's feelings. That was the hardest part of being on that show for me. It was always easy for me to sit at home in my pajamas and critique performances, but when I was sitting at that judges' table ten feet away from kids who have put their heart and soul into the competition and they're staring at me hoping I'll say something nice and Simon's sitting next to me caressing my leg under the table, it was just difficult. I felt awful saying things like, 'that was great' when really I wanted to say, 'Uh-oh."

"When I ask my guests questions, I don't know how they're going to answer so I really have to pay attention. In real life, when I ask someone a question I can nod and pretend like i'm listening, when really all I'm thinking about is how cute it would be if my cat could play the ukelele."

"By the way, I've noticed that there is a show to find the next everything- the next model, the next chef, the next designer, singer, dancer, entrepreneur. Pretty soon there will be a reality show to pick the next president. We won't have even have to leave the house to vote. "Sorry, sir, during this debate you did not stuff enough marshmallows into your mouth. You will not be moving on to the primaries. Please bring me your torch."

"I've always liked writing. I like the feeling of having a nice pen in my hand. It feels like I'm creating something when I put pen to paper."

"When you physically write something down you're forced to take time to actually think about what you're writing. We don't really do that anymore. Now we just press buttons. We can delete things and change things at our own leisure. We're so spoiled. Think about what caveman had to go through when they wanted to write something down. They had to chisel it into stone. It probably took hours just to write 'Dear Krog. Going out for bread. Be back in twenty, Glok. If they made a mistake they'd had to go out and find another flat stone and start all over."

"But while I was writing this book, a lot of my ideas came to me at all sorts of crazy times- out at dinner, in the middle of the night, even while hanging upside down on a Pilates machine. I never knew when a brilliant idea was going to hit me because my brain is working 26/7."

The rest you got to get your hands on the book and find out for yourself.

I gave it an 8.5 because I felt that the constant advertisements got a little annoying after a while. But besides that, it was awesome and I found it hard to put the book down. Maybe because I am a huge fan, I don't know. I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did. It's honestly the most expensive 8 dollars I have spent so far. Bought me many things and made me laugh and smile, and think of her and how much she has accomplished over the years.

I will always have a huge respect for her because her message has always been constant and never wavered. She has always stood strong in whatever she believed in and has never shoved her ideas forcefully on anyone. Most importantly, despite her age, she is able to communicate with kids, youngsters, teenagers, 20s, 30s, people in their 50s, 60s, whatever, basically everyone.

Ciao guys.

Listening to : The XX - Hold on

Love,

Naia

#ellendegeneres #seriouslyimkidding #nemo #worldsfav