Felicia DayAnmeldelser

If you can, listen to the audiobook for this one. Felicia Day's reading elevates this beyond mere autobiography. And hearing Joss Whedon's Forward is worth it! Note: The audio book has an "extra" chapter written November 22, 2015.

If you're a Felicia Day fan and know her from "The Guild" or "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," you'll love this book too. If you're, like, "Felicia who?", but identify as a nerd or gamer (are there nerds who don't know Felicia? hmmm), I think you'll still love the book. Not a nerd or gamer? Never heard of Joss Whedon? Move along, move along.

I needed this book in my life. As a female gamer and geek I've been subjected to a fair amount of garbage, although not as much as Felicia has had to deal with, and it's just really great to read other people's stories of how they make things work for themselves. I can really empathise with her depression and anxiety, and I'm so proud of her (is that weird?) for going on and living her life and being amazing while dealing with those things, because I know it's really hard. Really inspirational and re-readable.

This has to be one of the silliest and most fun urban fantasy tales I’ve ever read/heard.

The voice actors are all marvelous but having Neil Gaiman be a wisecracking narrator telling odd jokes is the icing on the cake.

Recommended: Absolutely
For lovers of games and content about games, for followers of Felicia Day or projects she's been in, for those who ever feel a little outside the group for their passions

Thoughts:
Ah, Felicia, I knew you wouldn't let me down. What you get in here is partly a memoir, partly an acknowledgment of mental health issues, and partly behind-the-scenes on some of Felicia's best-known projects. All of it is engaging and important with her signature style of self-deprecating wit.

The memoir portion is funny and honest. The clarity with which she can look back on her life is impressive, and is no doubt in part due to the difficulties she's faced in her adult years. It's almost like an accidental experiment on who people become when they're never judged for their passions or interests. Social commentary affects that so much, but if you never learn to be ashamed of your untameable love of [thing that's deemed lesser by general population], then you end up free to love it openly without fear! Ignorance is bliss, I suppose?

The personal demons she faces down - and I choose this phrasing because I feel she would prefer this image - are shades of ones that everyone has, to some degree. Felicia openly acknowledges how far she fell, repeatedly, and how she hurt herself and people around her in those times. The acceptance of herself for these moments is so impressive because it's so difficult to achieve. A perfect representative of self-forgiveness that's needed to overcome the darkest moments in life.

And on a lighter subject, the makings-of The Guild and her other works are everything I've wanted! I've watched The Guild with the director and writer commentary so many times. I probably know the scripts word for word, action for action, and note for note. It's hilarious and delightful to see what went into making this thing I love so much. It's one of my favorite connections when I discover a friend who feels the same. And, honestly, it fills me with a bit of a "no one can keep us down" gamer love.

Humorous light read.

I've been a Felicia Day fangirl since Dr. Horrible came out, so naturally I read this as soon as it came out. I'm not really sure what I expected but it hit pretty close to home. I love that she was willing to put her insecurities and anxieties out there for the world to see, and hopefully learn from.

I was looking for something short that I could finish before the end of the year and this was on my Libby wish list so decided to give it a try. I like weird. I've always been weird and proud of it. But I didn't really know much about Felicia Day other than geeks loved her, and I'm a geek so figured I would too.

I didn't realize this was about Creativity and kind of a guide to "unleashing creativity" even though it's in the title, because I didn't read the entire title. :) Seeing that I don't have any fears about creativity other than never finally publishing something, and also seeing that Ms. Day narrated this book sounding like a 17-year-old whose had one too many Red Bulls, I immediately thought about switching to another book. BUT she was kind of funny, and I decided not to be a grumpy old man and step out of my comfort zone.

It was good. It really does seem to be aimed at young creators and anyone trying to motivate young creators is okay in my book. She had some great ideas and a lot of silliness. I did find it motivating and it's a good time too, because with the new year come new focuses and hopefully I'll take some of her advice.

In this memoir, Day recounts tales of her childhood, early years discovering gaming, the beginning of her acting career, a struggle with World of Warcraft addiction, and the creation of her first web series and further business and creative ventures.

There's plenty of humor to be found here, as well as insight into the geeky side of culture and mature self-reflection. I'm late to this particular party, but I was looking for an audiobook and decided to give this one a listen. I'm glad I did, as I found many of the things she has to say relatable, and now I'm interested in looking into more of the stuff she has created.

I like memoirs.

A nice little memoir. I really enjoyed the chapters on The Guild. Also kind of wish I'd listened to this on audio so I could've heard Felicia tell her story in her own words.½

I listened to the audio book. It was an alright book. I enjoyed it and finished it in a few days. Learned some cool stuff about Felicia Day I didn't know. Book was given to me or I would have probably never read it.

Cute, but very informative.

What a gloriously delightful book! Ms. Day's ruminations on her childhood and on launching her career are very interesting. I laughed. I cried. I also used it to temporarily level a table. Versatile!

I like listening to folks reading their own autobiography or memoir. This was no exception. Felicia has a rather unique voice (both written and speaking) and it was interesting to hear about how her home-schooled upbringing had a major effect on her (lack of) social skills and how that impacted her throughout her life, perhaps contributing to her video game addiction and career struggles. Spoiler alert: she overcame those difficulties and grew into an entertainment icon for geek cultured, especially for women.

Geeks and introverts of many kinds will find her story encouraging.

This book is smart and funny. I, however, was most impressed with the author's ability to narrate her struggle with depression and anxiety. I find it hard to express just what it feels like to be me on particularly bad days, but she nails it. I find it annoying that I can't give this book 3.5 stars, because that is what I would actually give it. Also, I think I would have given it a higher rating if I had ever played World of Warcraft or any other similar video games. I've never understood them, and have almost zero desire to even attempt them (much to my husband's chagrin). As such, I was unable to identify with the camaraderie that Felicia Day found on the internet so early on. Overall an interesting read.

What to say. I like Felicia Day so I enjoyed hearing her tell stories from her rather unusual life.

This was enjoyable. Awkward. Nerdy. surface layer enjoyable. Everything in here you could totally learn without reading this book. But then it wouldn't be in her voice. Felicia Day is probably my favorite Nerd Woman Extraordinaire. I am very sure that she will continue doing awesomeness. I confess to requiring a rewatch of Eureka stat!

I will try to write better word things about this later. I just, yeah. Lots of feels.

I'd go 3.5 if that was an option.

I've always liked Felicia Day. Well, since I first saw her on Dr. Horrible and then crushed on her after watching The Guild. My crush waned, and wasn't rekindled by this book. I enjoyed hearing the author read to me - I think all memoirs should be read by the author, if possible - because I don't think anyone else could have done it justice.

I learned a lot about Ms. Day and had quite a few, "wow, I never would have guessed that," moments. Glad I read it. I wish her loads of success and happiness in the future.

Any fan of The Guild would love to have this. I read a digital ARC (yes, it took me a very long time to get around to finishing it) and enjoyed it loads. The hardcover would be a great addition to any nerd's collection.

Thanks to Edelweiss for the review copy!

Audiobooks 2015:

This was hands down the funniest audiobook I've listened to thus far in 2015 and, unless something miracle surprise appears, this will probably stay in that spot for the whole of this year. There were times I was laughing so hard I was tearing up while driving and would have to pause it for the driving aspect of it.

Felicia Day reading her own autobiography is hilarious, touching, worrying, and wonderful. I love all the blush it takes off the rose, without giving up the ownership of ones life, whether in the highest or the lowest of points. Anyone who loves her -- loves The Guild, has a background in gaming, discovered themselves & that there were people like them through the internet -- will madly adore this boo.

I should probably give this a three, but it makes me geeky heart happy.

I really don't like the art for real life, but I do like how it shifts between the art (I don't like) for Real Life and this completely different, idyllic art style for the gaming world. That it's so far apart, even the style needs to convey it. I like that the main character remains the same, and that we're seeing how this all came together for her, before the parts of the show we all got to love and giggle at.

If you're a fan of Felicia Day, you will love this memoir. Her writing style is conversational and funny, and I think even a stranger to her work would enjoy it (and probably have a Guild marathon on Netflix after reading it).
I liked how the focus stayed on her childhood, gaming and The Guild, and didn't get dishy about her TV or Dr. Horrible costars. The people she talked about the most were her family, boyfriend and her first business partners. It was unexpected, with so many famous people in her life, but it felt right.
As charming and lighthearted as a lot of the book is, Day has had her share of troubles too; she's very open about the low periods and self-doubt she's experienced in her life. In the chapter about #GamerGate, I felt so bad for her I wanted to track down anyone who was ever awful to her online and punch them in their mean faces. I know people do and say some pretty rotten things on the internet, but I was still shocked at what I read in that chapter.
I'm worried I'm making the book sound like a downer, and it's not. Most of the book is Felicia Day telling her story in her unique, self-deprecating, hilarious way. But I think the parts about depression and fear will speak to people too, and inspire them.
She was already one of my favorite people (on my list of favorite people I don't actually know) and I love her even more after reading this.

Felicia Day (1) is awesome, (2) relatable, sometimes painfully so, and (3) makes me want to love myself for who I am while still striving to be a better person. And that last one, that's pretty damn important.

It's hard enough being a girl without also being a geeky girl in today's world, where you feel you have to hide your geeky interests from other people, but at the same time feel like you're not always welcome in the boy's clubhouse. Felicia Day understands. She's been there. She's done that. And honestly, it's great to remind myself to embrace who I am, and that most of fandom is just happy you're there and having fun.

I love her frank discussion about her social anxiety and depression, because I've also been there, and it sucks monkey balls. It's also inspiring to see her get through it and become stronger, more self-aware, and sure of herself. She shows that it's okay to screw up, to be less than perfect because those are the moments you learn the most and which temper who you are.

And lastly, her book just spoke to me, in a way that only someone with a shared experience can. I'm a little younger than her but still, we were the first Internet generation, forging social connections over the new-fangled World Wide Web, finding life-long friendships over common (geeky) interests that persist to this day and are stronger than many IRL friendships that faded or ended abruptly because you realized the other person was a self-absorbed back-stabbing user who saw you as an afterthought to their supposedly awesome and perfect life. AHEM. Anyway. (Sadly, this has happened more than once in various iterations. I'm more protective of my own personal emotional boundaries now.)

When I was reading, I thought it was odd that Felicia skipped or glossed over many of her acting roles, which is how I first met her and continued to meet her: from Buffy, to Dr. Horrible and Dollhouse, to Eureka and Supernatural. But it clicked that this wasn't a Hollywood memoir in the usual sense. Instead it was about her personal journey to get comfortable in her own skin and make a career and life out of her geekiness.

EMBRACE YOUR WEIRD.

Thanks, Felicia. I'll do my best.