JUDY GREER
I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star
[Doubleday]
CAROL LEIFER
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying [Quirk]
AISHA TYLER
Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic
Humiliation [Harper Collins/It]
Let's start off with the good stuff: Tyler’s lifetime-spanning collection of personal and
professional failures—a testament to bad judgement, fearlessness and, of
course, stupidity—is sprinkled with blurb praise almost as funny and irreverent
as its author’s often cringe-inducing stories. Meanwhile, Leifer’s brief
tome is recommended by the likes of Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld and Paul
Reiser, as the basic Mom Lit it happens to be. Tyler is witty and
self-deprecating while Leifer’s showbiz self-help book is plain, soporific and
redundant. (Unless you weren’t aware that showering and being on time for a job
interview is a good thing, that is.) Boring, uninformative and not very funny, How
to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying is not much more than name
dropping schlock. Good grief what dreck!
When Greer isn’t whining on and on about how people
recognize her but can’t pinpoint exactly from what movie or TV show, or getting
defensive about being an only child—a subject not very appropriate for someone
pushing 40—I Don't Know What You Know Me From briefly touches on her family;
growing up in suburban Detroit; the service industry jobs of her youth; her (sorta)
long distance marriage with its attendant stepmom duties; and how little, if at
all, she had to struggle in Los Angeles on her way to becoming a steadily
employed working actress. This one is probably for hardcore fans—you know, the
ones who actually know she is—all others should pass.
