You're Never Weird on the Internet Book Club Discussion

[kayladawn91]

I loved this book! I don't normally read memoirs but Felicia Day is so funny and her story was intriguing! I didn't know who she was before I read the book, but I kind of want to check out some of her work now!

I'm not home right now to look at the places I marked in the book, but I'll make another post when I'm home.

[kayladawn91]

@jenntkat yes, I loved how honest her book was. She really opened up about her life and her feelings.

[rablissful]

kayladawn91 definitely check out The Guild. It is on Netflix. She is also ah-maze-ing in supernatural.



So I have a huge crush on Felicia Day so I loved this book. Read it in two days. It was so interesting to hear her odd upbringing. I love that her parents just let her be her, and while it sucks that she didn't get much social tone with other kids, I really don't think she would be the same person if she had gone to public school. She makes the point that kids stomp out nerd-ness, especially in girls. I think that is definitely true back when she (and most of us) were growing up. It wasn't cool to read books or play video games as a girl.

I love how she found her people online at the very beginning of the internet. I have done the same type of thing. First in chat rooms on aol/yahoo/msn/aim, then in second life (Which I'm kind of surprised she didn't get into) as well as in world of warcraft (I had that huge addiction too!) And now here.

As a teacher now, it does seem more accepted to be into that sort of stuff as a girl, which is awesome. I definitely think Felicia Day has helped that acceptance come about. She's the best an I lurve her.

[rablissful]

[ceejay]

I read this on vacation and it was the perfect book for that... so fun to read!

I was somewhat familiar with Felicia Day before the book because H is into gaming and has watched The Guild. (and I think I watched a few episodes with him a while ago...)  I enjoyed reading about how the show was made and never would have thought it was such a do-it-yourself type of project at the beginning. Reading this made me want to watch more of the Guild...

Overall, I really enjoyed Felicia's writing style. I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading, which was funny because then my mom (who I was travelling with) wanted to know why I was laughing, and it was sometimes challenging to explain some of the humor to her. haha   I enjoyed the bonus chapter (did everyone have this in their copy of the book?) and thought it was cool that her first kiss guy showed up on her book tour to see her.

[rablissful]

ceejay I had the extra chapter! I bought the kindle edition. I thought that bit wss hiatus and mortifying at the same time. I would have died.

I also was crying when she was recounting all the fans she has met, especially the breast cancer fan. All. The. Tears.

[kayladawn91]

I don't think I had the extra chapter! But I'll have to check!

[kayladawn91]

I also have to say that I found her to be so brave. To make a switch from being a violin extraordinaire to a gamer would not be an easy switch to make. She knew nothing about gaming or the Internet and everything about violin but she took that risk to learn how to do something new that intrigued her. Her bravery to me was astounding throughout the whole book.

[rablissful]

May 22, 2016 14:29:08 GMT -5 kayladawn91 said:

I also have to say that I found her to be so brave. To make a switch from being a violin extraordinaire to a gamer would not be an easy switch to make. She knew nothing about gaming or the Internet and everything about violin but she took that risk to learn how to do something new that intrigued her. Her bravery to me was astounding throughout the whole book.

She was gaming when she was an early teen. Same time as violin.

ETA I think you're referencing her learning WoW. She gamed a lot as a young girl but WoW was an entirely new beast in the gaming world. There are few games quite like it when it comes to its complexity and it definitely takes some getting used to.

[icedtea]

I enjoyed this book! At first I was a little over the whole "everything I tried, I was great at! prodigy all around! I was so wacky!" but then I started seeing the social anxiety through it all, and could relate a lot to it. I liked her writing style, and appreciated what it must have taken to put herself out there like this.

One thing that really got to me was her whole piece about the online bullying. I'm somewhat in that world and have very tangentially been involved (through my previous job). It is really terrifying, and I liked reading about her struggle about whether or not to stand up and make herself even more of a target. I felt all "fuck yeah!" at the end, ha.

[butlerfan]

I actually read the book on time and remembered!!!!!

I liked this book. I knew who she was from Dr. Horrible's sing along blog (which is super funny) and random other things but didn't know much else about her.
I loved her humor and loved learning her history and how she is "just like us"
It was a easy read which I enjoyed

[butlerfan]

Bonus chapter?!

[icedtea]

I didn't know she was in Dr Horrible until partway through the book and had an "OOOH!" moment. And instantly loved her more.

[kayladawn91]

May 22, 2016 18:16:22 GMT -5 ugaqueencity said:

I had absolutely no clue who Felicia Day was before this book was nominated and to be honest I wasn't super excited when it won but I was pleasantly surprised. I've never really been into the gamer world so I was very happy that there was a more human element to the book that was still very relatable. Moral of the story, way to go book club for making me branch out!

+1

[kawaiikitsune]

In all honesty, I still have not even started it. This month has been a very challenging and stressful one, I just couldn't get the motivation to start reading it. The fact that everyone is talking about how good it is makes me excited to read it when I finally get the chance.

[rablissful]

May 22, 2016 17:47:04 GMT -5 butlerfan said:

Bonus chapter?!

It was in the second version of the book and in the kindle edition. She wrote it after she did her book tour.

[butlerfan]

May 22, 2016 19:06:38 GMT -5 rablissful said:

May 22, 2016 17:47:04 GMT -5 butlerfan said:

Bonus chapter?!

It was in the second version of the book and in the kindle edition. She wrote it after she did her book tour.

Damn I have the 1st version.

[rablissful]

May 22, 2016 19:11:35 GMT -5 butlerfan said:

May 22, 2016 19:06:38 GMT -5 rablissful said:

It was in the second version of the book and in the kindle edition. She wrote it after she did her book tour.

Damn I have the 1st version.

booo

[rablissful]

Can we just talk about how adorable she is too?

[rablissful]

May 22, 2016 17:33:29 GMT -5 icedtea said:

I enjoyed this book! At first I was a little over the whole "everything I tried, I was great at! prodigy all around! I was so wacky!" but then I started seeing the social anxiety through it all, and could relate a lot to it. I liked her writing style, and appreciated what it must have taken to put herself out there like this.

One thing that really got to me was her whole piece about the online bullying. I'm somewhat in that world and have very tangentially been involved (through my previous job). It is really terrifying, and I liked reading about her struggle about whether or not to stand up and make herself even more of a target. I felt all "fuck yeah!" at the end, ha.

The online bullying chapter was great. Scary. But great.

I love how Wil Wheaton was the one that called her. Like, that whole scene when he called was so surreal. Wil is caLling her. Love him! She's on her way to film Supernatural. Ummm we all know how much I love that. And it's so scary what is happening at the same time.

Oh and the only thing that disappointed me about the book is that she didn't talk more about being on supernatural. I thought she could have a really great chapter on how she was such a great character. For once, on cable tv, they portrayed a geeky gay female and didn't sexualize her and did the geek side justice. She was such a badass. /sigh

[kayladawn91]

I have a first edition too. Boo!

[wannabmama]

I really enjoyed this book despite having no idea who Felicia Day was before I started reading. I really liked the childhood stuff, I love quirky upbringings. Having never seen the guild, it was a little hard for me to fully understand what she was working on creating, but I loved the stories of the struggle to bring it to life.
I also always want to try my hand at writing so I loved her telling of how she couldn't get things going at first, meeting with that women's group, etc. It totally motivated me to try to get my own writing started back up.
Definitely a fun read for something different!

[rablissful]

May 24, 2016 18:57:35 GMT -5 jennykat said:

Can someone please give me more details on the bonus chapter? Was the guy annoyed at her? Did he hit on her? Demand fame and money? Was he hot?

LOL he just wanted to see her. He remembered everything exactly as she had written it.

Kind of anticlimactic.

[ceejay]

May 24, 2016 19:34:14 GMT -5 rablissful said:

May 24, 2016 18:57:35 GMT -5 jennykat said:

Can someone please give me more details on the bonus chapter? Was the guy annoyed at her? Did he hit on her? Demand fame and money? Was he hot?

LOL he just wanted to see her. He remembered everything exactly as she had written it.

Kind of anticlimactic.

I think she was really nervous that he would be upset with her or disagree with what she had written. But she was pleasantly surprised that he just wanted to see her and agreed with what she had written.