The first part of the book, with its riffs on menstruation and growing up with gay friends, staggers around, funny but unanchored—a stand up routine when I expected a memoir. The pace picks up when she gets to the Second City and Saturday Night Live sections. Ms. Fey pulls clever and insightful life strategies from her encounters with everyone from YMCA personnel to NBC executives. Background information on life at SNL and the real story of the Sarah Palin/Hilary Clinton skits with Amy Poehler run alongside stories of breastfeeding and Peter Pan themed birthday parties.

It’s a quick read with some lines that cracked me up, but Bossypants is more than just entertainment, more than just her take on management: This is Ms. Fey’s call for equality. Her examples are funny, of course, but she’s serious when she takes on the boy’s club attitudes of improv troupes or ramblings of misguided high school teachers.

If you’re a Tina Fey fan who wants to know more about the star, an aspiring actor who wants tips on getting ahead in the biz, or a manager who wants to learn to laugh about the crazies you supervise, this book is for you. If you’re someone with an extra hour or two and want a good laugh, this book is for you too. I read the book, but understand that the audio book read by Ms. Fey is a special treat.