Born Standing Up

I found Steve Martin's autobiography to be a quick and pleasant read. The smashing success of his career, makes it difficult to imagine that he experienced decades of very minor successes and episodic failures, but that was certainly the case.

The tone of the story was surprisingly serious. I don't recommend reading the final pages in a public place...I was using it as a distraction from an unendurably long and silly girls' basketball game while waiting for Grant's game to begin; however, a particularly moving moment elicited an unexpected emotional response, during which I had to hide! For me, that moment made the entire story worth reading.

Martin's writing style was somewhat MTVish. At times, he jumped quickly and wildly from one unrelated topic to another; maybe that's the result of thinking like a stand-up comedian. I have heard that at least one of his novels is worth reading, so I'll add it to the bottom of my very long list and see if my opinion of his style changes! Knowing Martin's story makes me want to rent some of his early movies and comedy routines...I think they'll come across differently after knowing what it took for him to get there.