Wow, do I have a treat for you today! The book that I finished last night was a very special memoir titled, Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography. I have read many memoirs over the years and was very excited when I saw this one on the shelf (yes, I still buy books – not just e-books).
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Choose Your Own Adventure books, the way they work is that you read a chapter and at the end you are given a choice. Each choice has a different page number to turn to. So, you end up reading the book all out of order (which is why you need to buy this book in hard copy!), flipping from one page to another and all over the place. It truly is an adventure. This specific memoir uses the tagline, “You are the star of N.P.H.’s life story!” I hope you are all as excited as I am!
I will admit that I felt a little (very little) guilty when I got to page 47 and read, “You are Doogie Howser, M.D., and you will remain officially so for four years, and unofficially so, to some extent, for the rest of your natural life.” Yes, I know, Neil Patrick Harris is a wonderful actor but when I was young, he was Doogie, and although you might know him better as Barney, he will always be Doogie to me.
This book was so much fun. I found myself laughing out loud so many times. I even recommended it to friends before I was even half way through with it. Sadly, I will admit that I did cheat a couple of times on the adventure choosing. It was done to ensure that I read every page of the book, not to be sneaky or anything. I figured two things: 1. I can’t count the book for my list if I didn’t read every page of it and 2. Every page was so entertaining; I didn’t want to live without knowing what they all said. I did jump around all over the book, but sometimes I went back to a previous chapter and read the second choice follow up in addition to the first.
Because you (the reader) become the star of N.P.H’s life, the book is written about “you.” If you look up a couple of paragraphs to that quote I wrote from the book, you’ll notice it says, “YOU are Doogie Howser…” it doesn’t say, “I am Doogie Howser…” The whole book is written that way. It really just makes it a lot of fun. I can now say that I have been all over the world and stared in a bunch of plays, movies, TV shows, hosted awards shows, and learned magic.
While I have always been a fan of Neil Patrick Harris, reading this book made me admire and respect him on a higher level. To me he had always been a funny, likeable guy. After reading the book I see that he’s a goofball, just like me. Haha. But really, I appreciate that he has worked extremely hard to get where he is. He is an actor who is so passionate about entertaining that he fully commits to the characters he plays. Also, he is a loving father to some super adorable kiddos, and a devoted husband. Plus, he loves magic. Who knew?
I also thought it was pretty cool reading about the processes behind Broadway musicals. I am a big fan of musicals and only wish I had the talent!
Overall, this book was awesome. I would totally read it again just to have a new adventure. If you all have some time, you should totally pick this one up – but again, the hard copy, not the e-book.
5 Stars!
Also: Kungaloosh!