I enjoyed this and it carried through Kemper’s humour from her other work. I would have preferred a memoir rather than a collection of essays though.

I love Ellie as an actress and it was really nice to get a more personal insight on her. She is genuinely funny anc it came across a lot in how she spoke.

I love Ellie Kemper so this did not disappoint. Full of humour and easy to read (in her voice as well!) it was definitely a great insight into her life. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys memoirs about comedians and actors.

My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper is a memoir about her early life and her subsequent acting and comedy career.

In this collection of essays, star of The Office (US) and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper charts her life from her childhood in St. Louis through her ‘sports monster’ days in college and into the heady world of New York improv comedy.

I really like Ellie Kemper as an actress and, from what I can tell, since we have never met, as a person. I even like her as a writer; this book is as charmingly quirky and full of positivity as you’d expect from her. I didn’t, however, like this book all that much. Whilst each of the essays was enjoyable, and I always like to hear about what Tina Fey is like in real life for when we become best friends, it felt like more of a collection of anecdotes than a book. There was no greater narrative purpose or deeper meaning behind the essays; I was waiting for it but it never came. Having read and loved some of Ellie’s colleagues books in a similar style, like Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Amy Poehler’s Yes, Please, My Squirrel Days just felt a bit flat in comparison.

I think this is probably because she’s lived a fairly charmed life; not to downplay her talent or achievements, but she’s from a lovely-sounding, wealthy family who were emotionally and, more importantly, financially supportive, and she had some early lucky breaks in her career. It’s wonderful for her, and I’m pleased that she ended up on our TV screens in shows that I love, but it’s not the most exciting journey to read - there’s not a whole lot of struggle or conflict, just some light-hearted, amusing tales. There were some definite laugh out loud moments, but it felt a bit like a book written for a book’s sake - which is a bit of a waste of Kemper’s wit and charm.

This was such a fun read in which I could hear her voice throughout. It's something I will read again, which can't be said for all biographies.

Actress and comedian Ellie Kemper has written a collection of essays.
In them she tells of her encounters with celebrities, her childhood and her career.

I'm a fan of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so when I saw that Ellie Kemper had a book coming out I was excited to read it.
I enjoyed finding out about Ellie's past and how she got into acting.
The writing style wasn't one of my favourites but it was engaging, if a little over the top at times.
It wasn't exactly what I expected - I guess I thought it would be more chronological.

Overall this was an enjoyable read.

Fun, frothy, light and breezy collection of essays from Kemper. I think expected the book to be funnier than it was but all in all an enjoyable way to pass the time.

I've seen a couple of episodes of the Office and Kimmy Schimdt so i aware of Ellie Kemper as an actress and celebrity. This was such a fun and interesting collection of essays by Kemper focusing on different topics, from motherhood, being a kid, working in tv to her improv and her as a person. There were a couple of moments that made me laugh but it wasn't a bad book, not just laugh out loud. It was humerous, sweet and good and i left it feeling like i understood so much more about Kemper, both as an actress and as a person.

My Squirrel Days is an effervescent memoir of Ellie Kemper, an actor best known from The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It works well as a memoir whether you know her work or not, and is a testimony to a winning personality.

Interesting read. Prior to this I had not heard of Ellie Kemper. It is made up of short essays so it’s a book I could dip in and out of.
Thanks for my ARC to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

Ellie is a brilliant actress and very funny so I was interested to read this.

However, while there are funny moments and I really enjoyed some of the essays, ultimately Ellie’s life is pretty average and very privileged. There was nothing unique or shocking that stood out I think the main problem is it’s between an autobiography and a collection of comedies, so doesn’t really work as either. If she had made a collection of essays on the shows she had worked on this would have worked far better, as those were the ones which were the funniest and most interesting for her fans.

A decent first book, but hopefully if she writes another she will focus on the comedy side.

I think this was an interesting collection of essays. It's not quite a memoir and it's not quite a comedy book with no substance to it. If anything, it sits quaintly in the middle. Much like Tina Fey's 'Bossypants', Kemper's book reads like a more cynical Kimmy Schmidt sat down and tried to reflect on her life as an actress, human and early worrier. Cycling quickly though her work in projects like 'The Office', 'Bridesmaids' and 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt', Kemper wields wit and genuine silliness to address her life and upbringing, and how that's ultimately affected the way she sees the world. The central issue, as many reviewers have pointed out, is that this book really doesn't offer anything new. A lot of this information you could get from watching interviews or reading a Wikipedia page. There's not much in the way of substance, as something like Amy Poehler's 'Yes Please' offers. I suspect that the lesser number of pages are to blame here. This book has good intentions but really doesn't provide much pay-off in getting to know more about Kemper. In some cases, the collection feels disjointed and unsure of its purpose. Perhaps if Kemper writes more books, there's a greater chance for her to expand on some interesting thoughts. But as a first effort, it's not bad.

*I requested a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Ellie Kemper is better know for her character in ‘The Office’, but I wanted to read her book because of ‘Kimmy Schmidt’. Like similar celebrity memoirs, she talks about her family life, how she got to comedy, and to acting, throwing in bits and pieces about things that we readers would want to have a glimpse about (her life in The Office, her stint in Bridesmaids, etc).

The memoir was approachable. There were interesting bits, and she kept the comedic tone throughout. Her writing was positive and upbeat, similar to the kind of characters that she portrays onscreen.

However, I hoped that the book had more substance, or that she focused her content on certain aspects instead of doing a general stance in life. Partly why I think memoirs are read because the reader wants to feel a connection with the author, and I didn’t get that here.