Happily Ali after And other fairly true tales

Comedian Wentworth follows her best-selling Ali in Wonderland with this new collection of laugh-out-loud essays. This time though, instead of creating a satire of class and privilege, she turns her critical eye inward, on personal growth. Perhaps provoked by her favorite inspirational-quote Twitter feed, which she describes in the introduction, this reflective turn can also be explained by her looming 50th birthday. These essays allude to her youthful years in Hollywood (Wentworth is known for her roles on In Living Color and Seinfeld, among others), but focus on her present life as a middle-aged, working wife and mother. While cataloging the differences-how, for instance, her hope for a starring role on a television series has been trumped by her desire for paid work, even if that means posing as a postmenopausal woman-she is sharply observant and incisively funny. But what is most irresistible about -Wentworth is her hopefulness and her relentlessly open mind, which sometimes gets her into trouble (as when she consults a psychic) but mostly accounts for why she has lived such a fun and varied life. -VERDICT Readers who like Nora Ephron and Laurie Notaro won't want to miss Wentworth. Reading this book is like sitting with a best girlfriend-how fitting it is that Wentworth dedicated it to all of hers. [See Prepub Alert, 12/15/14.]-Meagan Lacy, Guttman Community Coll., CUNY © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Facing her 50th birthday, Wentworth (Ali in Wonderland, 2012, etc.) embarks on an inspirational quest to self-betterment as she reflects on teachable moments from her life. Positive reinforcement can be a hard thing to come by, especially, as the actress and comedian realized, when on the verge of middle age. At 49, Wentworth was feeling blue and overcome by lassitude. Needing a change, she turned to an unexpected source of wisdom: Twitter. By following the aphoristic teachings of 140-word inspirational tweets, the author began a project to cast off her discontent and remake a "dynamic, sleeker, and turbocharged" self. However, Wentworth's plan to use Twitter as a guide to spiritual enlightenment disappears as quickly as it is introduced. Nowhere in her anti-self-help musings about marriage, wellness, and parenting does she return to this premise. The only connection to her Twitter concept is her insertion of oddly hashtagged phrases and Twitter handles in lieu of certain surnames. She haphazardly includes inspirational wisdom gleaned from her anecdotes about a former nemesis-turned-friend, the comedy of errors that was her invitation to give a commencement speech, and a cameraman that sullied her powder room. Thankfully, Wentworth is funny. She gracefully and elegantly bares embarrassing stories from her past and hilariously conveys the challenges of her marriage to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos and of raising their two childrene.g., when her daughter desperately wanted a guinea pig for her birthday, which, accordingly to Wentworth, is nothing more than a glorified rodent. With wit, the author may inspire others to simply enjoy the moment and not let themselves get in the way. Though the oddly unfulfilled premise remains a bungle, Wentworth charms her way to safety with her endearing reflections. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.