BOOKS FOR THE 1%: MEMOIR/COMEDY
IS EVERYONE HANGING OUT WITHOUT ME? | MINDY KALING | CROWN | $25 | Mindy Kaling, best known from her role on The Office, is like the girl next door but way more bonkers. Though she was raised in Newton by two doctors, Kaling faced painful hardships growing up: she was chubby and ethnic. (Can you even imagine?) Unlike so many other ethnic chubsters, she surmounted these obstacles to attend Dartmouth and become a successful actress and writer. Perhaps the funniest and most triumphant essay in the collection concerns a West African immigrant who made fun of Kaling for being fat, then had to drop out of school like a total loser. Ha!