What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir

Here is a book written with both the skill and insight of a high school freshman. While attempting to impress the reader with how cool she can be, the author succeeds in demonstrating that she should stick to writing for television. You might find the book useful if you have a table with one short leg that needs support.

I liked the memoir. It was not funny like Other memoirs from comedians or comedy writers I've read in the past. She has had some amazing experiences abroad and I wished I had balls like she does. I will say that she does a lot of sleeping around and I'm not into slut shaming but it seems like maybe a lot of the guys weren't good looking because how could it be so easy to constantly be hooking up with hotties all over the world, it's not easy and I'm betting she was just hooking up with whomever would pay her attention.... Am I just being a hater? You decide.

This is not so much a travel memoir than a single girl's struggle with commitment, family and intimacy. Andrew Mccarthy" The Longest Way Home" does a much better job combining a travel narrative and the internal struggle regarding family and commitment.

Newman is funny at times and the brutal honesty is appreciated on occasion.However the narrative lacks depth and the neurotic Bridget Jones type of female narrator is a bit trite at this point.

The book is structured like a season of a 30 min sitcom. The set up is always the same, something funny-embrassing-sexy happens in an exotic location (though none of the places she traveled to is all that exotic in the big picture), she returns home, learned nothing and does it all over again in the next chapter / episode in a new location. The ending (though real), is packed too neatly, much like a show that got cancelled and the writers are forced to tie up all the loose ends before they clear the sound stage. Newman has potential but all the years as a sitcom writer hindered her in many ways.

Sadly this is not a book that will stay with you. This is a network sitcom and not an HBO/Netflex series.

This book did not hold my interest. Newman is funny, but her writing style can only be sustained if it is accompanied by depth and sincere self-reflection. Her narrative on travel focused primarily on: herself, sex, and how physically attractive people are. It wore thin quickly. Her character was uninspiring and so her sexual encounters were off-putting rather than scandalous fun.

I wish women would finally move on from trying to prove that they are sexually liberated. We learned that lesson ages ago. Plus, in this book, it felt contrived.

Most disappointing of all was that this book was used to libel her step-mother (the mother of her half-siblings) who is now deceased and cannot defend herself. Please refer to these quotes whilst describing her step-mother’s battle and death from breast cancer: “That was what we were doing when my evil stepmother’s boob exploded”; “I was not grieving”; “I hated her even more.”

I was waiting for her to forgive her step-mother and grow from it– something worthy of a memoir. Instead, the book was used for more character assassination. It was difficult to continue reading. I could not stop thinking about the dead woman’s children and how they have to live with this horrible stuff in print and with people saying how funny this book is!

This book is not inspiring. She could have done so much with it but missed the boat. It felt more like an agenda than a memoir.

This is a book that's made for that "young, wide-eyed, independent, liberal, feminist" female.

Perhaps I misinterpreted the description but I was expecting this to be more about a book about a woman who travels to get _away_ from the drudgery of relationships and meaningless sex and instead travels, but this book is exactly about how she travels simply to get involved in "relationships" and goes on sexual escapades. 50%, if that, is about the places she visits. It felt like an afterthought. Most of it seems to be laced with banal and specific details about "how men's asses are in Argentina" and how "every man in x country does this and that"

I haven't read 50 Shades of Gray, but I imagine that this is the faux-intelligent memoir version of it. I can handle it in small doses, but it just got to be so repetitive and boring that I stopped caring about this loose woman and her sexual adventures. But.. if that's what you are looking for in a book then this will be right up your alley. For me, I struggled to even finish it. There were some funny and intriguing moments, but generally I was completely unimpressed. But it's an easy read.

I read this book on a plane so I was forced to read the whole thing. The author clearly doesn't like herself or knows what she wants and thus can't find happiness. The description mentions all these countries she goes to, but the location is really irrelevant to the story. Every chapter is the same, she flies into a country, meets a man to sleep with there for the duration of her stay. I'm not a prude, I'm all for fun adventures, but Kristin's book was a dud.

A piece of tripe if ever I read one. In fact I never finished it...banished it to the archives...maybe I'll finish it later when I can stomach Miss Newman's holier-than-thou attitude and bragging about how many men she's laid while we other folk live a more sedate and normal life raising families.

Ugh. I got this book because it was listed on another site as being one of the best travel books to read if you're going it alone. I thought this was going to be a tale of a woman trotting the globe, telling me about lessons learned and foibles made. I thought she would tell me about the amazing cafe she stumbled upon while backpacking through Chile, or the kind stranger who helped her when she blew a bike tire in Thailand.

Nope.

Instead, it's one story after another about who she had sex/did drugs/got drunk with, and the places where it all happened. Ms. Newman remembers countries not for the amazing culture she experienced, but by whatever hot guy was her 'When in Rome' person at the time. 'What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding' feels like she is trying to prove how much better she is than her friends. It's as if she's saying 'While YOU were having sex in your white-picket-fence house and procreating, I was having sex in ARGENTINA! Haha! I win - you lose!!!'

This is NOT a travel book - it's a list of sexual encounters that just so happen to take place abroad. Don't waste your time on this.

I was looking for a readalike for Mindy Kaling's books: smart, funny, full of drive, vulnerable, a little dishy, and insightful. I love listening to experts talk about what they're good at and was hoping for her thoughts on being a working writer and her adventures traveling.

She does talk about these things but only vaguely when it comes to writing (really only what shows she has worked on) and only in very cliched ways when it comes to travel: Russians are grim, the mocha skin of her Argentinian boyfriend, etc. I was honestly floored at how little effort went into fleshing out the amazing places she has been to. Patagonia was "hiking in the mountains", the most descriptive part of New Zealand was "waterfalls on all sides of her". She went whale watching once and didn't even say what type of whale it was or how it made her feel...

I DNF'd the book at 57% because every 15% there is some lazy swipe at a group of people, usually Asians but also Jews, which is rude and unnecessary. It's written in that "it's a joke, don't worry about it!" tone so YMMV on that. I might have gritted my teeth through such jokes that I find unfunny if there were more insights on the above topics but there weren't so I stopped.

I wanted to love this book so much. I think this book could have been amazing. I read part of the chapter where she was in Australia in store and loved that enough along with the premise of the book to buy it. I cringed every time she described a person of colour as though they were an object for her amusement (i.e. nicknaming her lover Dulce because he looked like a white man covered in caramel. Ick.). Her stance on sex positivity is questionable at best (I'm not a slut I promise! except when I'm away. Don't slut shame me. Men can do this.) I wanted her to have all the best sex all over the world but she somehow managed to slut shame other women in her apparent insecurity about her own choices. So much body shaming directed to anyone she encountered who wasn't skinny or pretty. So much unchecked white privilege and entitlement. I made it through and did manage to find redeeming qualities that I enjoyed. I kept thinking of which friend I could share this with, because I didn't want to keep it when I finished but I kept finding a part that made me cringe so hard I couldn't conceivably ask a friend to get past it either. I appreciated the honesty and intention but the author has some major blind spots. The one thing I found helpful was highlighting what not to do should I share my own story of travel and relationships.

I'm sorry I did not enjoy this book. All this woman did while her other friends were getting on with life was travel and sleep around! I did not find her writing funny or entertaining. For goodness sakes, I have traveled to 30 different countries, completed a master's degree, gotten married and have 2 children. I don't see why you can't travel AND have a family at the same time. This woman has issues that run deep, good luck to her finding happiness. You can't tell me she has found happiness in traveling and sleeping around! Quite honestly I stopped reading after about a third of the way through because it brought nothing of value to me.

I’m fairly certain I fell in love with this author and her story just from the title and from her dedications. After all, who wouldn’t want to know more about the life that would “give dad diarrhea” and who reasoned that NOT sleeping with the Russian bartender would cause the terrorists to win?

“What I Was Doing When You Were Breeding” is a memoir written by the hilarious Kristin Newman. After suffering her first major heartbreak, she decides to give in to her wonderlust and seek the road less traveled. She takes solo and girls trips to places far and wide, including Jerusalem, Argentina, Russia, and Iceland. She does an excellent job of giving the reader just enough detail about the places to set the scene, but sprinkles in information about some of the people she met along the way to keep the story moving.

I have to say, I’ve highlighted more parts of this book than any others I’ve read in a long time. There are lessons to be learned (grown-ups don’t hold hands), but by and large this is a laugh out loud account of the past 10 or so years of her life. Some parts are downright raunchy, but I really applaud her for sharing this information because, as she pointed out, if it were a memoir written by a man, he wouldn’t think twice about how he’d be judged by the masses.

This is a must read for any woman… and I think men would get a kick out of it too. I really hope to get the chance to travel like this myself at some point in my life. But if not, this was a great way to live vicariously.

Kristin Newman is a writer for sitcoms such as That 70’s Show, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother. In this book she chronicles her life from college graduation until her late 30’s. She is single. She is also a hoot. Oh, and she is not a slut in America!

This book is a lot of things. It is a travel memoir. She writes about the places she visits, the things she sees, what she eats, and also what to do off the beaten path. She travels with friends, big groups, and sometimes alone. She is very adept at meeting the locals, whether she finds them herself or through the friend of a friend of a friend. The book is also a reflection about being single at a time in life when everyone else seems to be coupling and making babies. This is also a book about what it is like to be a woman working in a predominately male field. She is told to be herself, just not too much herself. The author also shares her personal journey to understand herself, her family, and why she cannot find love despite working very very hard to find it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing was witty and honest. It reads as if you are sitting down with the author for a chat and an adult beverage. Or three. If you are the type of person who does not like to read about women having a lot of safe sex with multiple partners, then this is not the book for you. In my opinion, the sex is not graphic but it is plentiful. It is often sweet and funny. One chapter contains Ms. Newman’s advice for being a good and considerate travel companion. Condensed, her advice is basically to try new things, have fun, be present, and be open to all possibilities. I think this is pretty good advice for life.

I enjoyed this book for a short while. As a single woman in my 30's I could relate to some of her questioning of what it means to be an adult woman and being expected (read: pressured) to do what others think you should be doing because of your age. I agree with a previous reviewer who said something along the lines of "Should I feel sorry for you while you tell stories of all the exotic travelling you do and and the success you have in your career and the beautiful men you have met and subsequently slept with?" I have no judgments of her lifestyle (get it, girl!), I just do not believe she is the voice for single, happy (though not without struggles), successful women older than 30 that face criticism for the life they live because they have not married and procreated or may never want to. She complains about non-important things too much and seems to use travel as escapism from men in Cali only to get to far away locals and get involved with the men there. She leads a very extravagant lifestyle that most can't afford. I mean, 3 months in some exotic local once or twice a year is not common. She sounds as though she's doing more complaining about her life and failed love attempts than being confident, secure, and encouraging to other women on the same difficult road of living outside the box. I have not settle down and procreated, but does not being able to have such experiences as she's had mean I am not truly living?
I understand this is her journey, but I do not find it relatable as I was hoping for something a bit more grounded. My distaste for the book is worsened by the readers voice becoming so annoying (especially when doing ditsy quoting) that I couldn't even finish the book and makes me wish I'd read it instead of getting the audio book.
It gets 3 stars because I think the author really was trying to help give a voice to single women >30, but the unrelatable factor is far too high for me to be able to sympathize with her 'plight'. I hope to finish it one day and for it to have a nice happy ending for her, but it wouldn't change my review of the 10 chapters I've made it through so far.

A piece of tripe if ever I read one. In fact I never finished it...banished it to the archives...maybe I'll finish it later when I can stomach Miss Newman's holier-than-thou attitude and bragging about how many men she's laid while we other folk live a more sedate and normal life raising families.

Ugh. I got this book because it was listed on another site as being one of the best travel books to read if you're going it alone. I thought this was going to be a tale of a woman trotting the globe, telling me about lessons learned and foibles made. I thought she would tell me about the amazing cafe she stumbled upon while backpacking through Chile, or the kind stranger who helped her when she blew a bike tire in Thailand.

Nope.

Instead, it's one story after another about who she had sex/did drugs/got drunk with, and the places where it all happened. Ms. Newman remembers countries not for the amazing culture she experienced, but by whatever hot guy was her 'When in Rome' person at the time. 'What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding' feels like she is trying to prove how much better she is than her friends. It's as if she's saying 'While YOU were having sex in your white-picket-fence house and procreating, I was having sex in ARGENTINA! Haha! I win - you lose!!!'

This is NOT a travel book - it's a list of sexual encounters that just so happen to take place abroad. Don't waste your time on this.

I was looking for a readalike for Mindy Kaling's books: smart, funny, full of drive, vulnerable, a little dishy, and insightful. I love listening to experts talk about what they're good at and was hoping for her thoughts on being a working writer and her adventures traveling.

She does talk about these things but only vaguely when it comes to writing (really only what shows she has worked on) and only in very cliched ways when it comes to travel: Russians are grim, the mocha skin of her Argentinian boyfriend, etc. I was honestly floored at how little effort went into fleshing out the amazing places she has been to. Patagonia was "hiking in the mountains", the most descriptive part of New Zealand was "waterfalls on all sides of her". She went whale watching once and didn't even say what type of whale it was or how it made her feel...

I DNF'd the book at 57% because every 15% there is some lazy swipe at a group of people, usually Asians but also Jews, which is rude and unnecessary. It's written in that "it's a joke, don't worry about it!" tone so YMMV on that. I might have gritted my teeth through such jokes that I find unfunny if there were more insights on the above topics but there weren't so I stopped.

I wanted to love this book so much. I think this book could have been amazing. I read part of the chapter where she was in Australia in store and loved that enough along with the premise of the book to buy it. I cringed every time she described a person of colour as though they were an object for her amusement (i.e. nicknaming her lover Dulce because he looked like a white man covered in caramel. Ick.). Her stance on sex positivity is questionable at best (I'm not a slut I promise! except when I'm away. Don't slut shame me. Men can do this.) I wanted her to have all the best sex all over the world but she somehow managed to slut shame other women in her apparent insecurity about her own choices. So much body shaming directed to anyone she encountered who wasn't skinny or pretty. So much unchecked white privilege and entitlement. I made it through and did manage to find redeeming qualities that I enjoyed. I kept thinking of which friend I could share this with, because I didn't want to keep it when I finished but I kept finding a part that made me cringe so hard I couldn't conceivably ask a friend to get past it either. I appreciated the honesty and intention but the author has some major blind spots. The one thing I found helpful was highlighting what not to do should I share my own story of travel and relationships.

I'm sorry I did not enjoy this book. All this woman did while her other friends were getting on with life was travel and sleep around! I did not find her writing funny or entertaining. For goodness sakes, I have traveled to 30 different countries, completed a master's degree, gotten married and have 2 children. I don't see why you can't travel AND have a family at the same time. This woman has issues that run deep, good luck to her finding happiness. You can't tell me she has found happiness in traveling and sleeping around! Quite honestly I stopped reading after about a third of the way through because it brought nothing of value to me.

I’m fairly certain I fell in love with this author and her story just from the title and from her dedications. After all, who wouldn’t want to know more about the life that would “give dad diarrhea” and who reasoned that NOT sleeping with the Russian bartender would cause the terrorists to win?

“What I Was Doing When You Were Breeding” is a memoir written by the hilarious Kristin Newman. After suffering her first major heartbreak, she decides to give in to her wonderlust and seek the road less traveled. She takes solo and girls trips to places far and wide, including Jerusalem, Argentina, Russia, and Iceland. She does an excellent job of giving the reader just enough detail about the places to set the scene, but sprinkles in information about some of the people she met along the way to keep the story moving.

I have to say, I’ve highlighted more parts of this book than any others I’ve read in a long time. There are lessons to be learned (grown-ups don’t hold hands), but by and large this is a laugh out loud account of the past 10 or so years of her life. Some parts are downright raunchy, but I really applaud her for sharing this information because, as she pointed out, if it were a memoir written by a man, he wouldn’t think twice about how he’d be judged by the masses.

This is a must read for any woman… and I think men would get a kick out of it too. I really hope to get the chance to travel like this myself at some point in my life. But if not, this was a great way to live vicariously.

Kristin Newman is a writer for sitcoms such as That 70’s Show, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother. In this book she chronicles her life from college graduation until her late 30’s. She is single. She is also a hoot. Oh, and she is not a slut in America!

This book is a lot of things. It is a travel memoir. She writes about the places she visits, the things she sees, what she eats, and also what to do off the beaten path. She travels with friends, big groups, and sometimes alone. She is very adept at meeting the locals, whether she finds them herself or through the friend of a friend of a friend. The book is also a reflection about being single at a time in life when everyone else seems to be coupling and making babies. This is also a book about what it is like to be a woman working in a predominately male field. She is told to be herself, just not too much herself. The author also shares her personal journey to understand herself, her family, and why she cannot find love despite working very very hard to find it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing was witty and honest. It reads as if you are sitting down with the author for a chat and an adult beverage. Or three. If you are the type of person who does not like to read about women having a lot of safe sex with multiple partners, then this is not the book for you. In my opinion, the sex is not graphic but it is plentiful. It is often sweet and funny. One chapter contains Ms. Newman’s advice for being a good and considerate travel companion. Condensed, her advice is basically to try new things, have fun, be present, and be open to all possibilities. I think this is pretty good advice for life.

I enjoyed this book for a short while. As a single woman in my 30's I could relate to some of her questioning of what it means to be an adult woman and being expected (read: pressured) to do what others think you should be doing because of your age. I agree with a previous reviewer who said something along the lines of "Should I feel sorry for you while you tell stories of all the exotic travelling you do and and the success you have in your career and the beautiful men you have met and subsequently slept with?" I have no judgments of her lifestyle (get it, girl!), I just do not believe she is the voice for single, happy (though not without struggles), successful women older than 30 that face criticism for the life they live because they have not married and procreated or may never want to. She complains about non-important things too much and seems to use travel as escapism from men in Cali only to get to far away locals and get involved with the men there. She leads a very extravagant lifestyle that most can't afford. I mean, 3 months in some exotic local once or twice a year is not common. She sounds as though she's doing more complaining about her life and failed love attempts than being confident, secure, and encouraging to other women on the same difficult road of living outside the box. I have not settle down and procreated, but does not being able to have such experiences as she's had mean I am not truly living?
I understand this is her journey, but I do not find it relatable as I was hoping for something a bit more grounded. My distaste for the book is worsened by the readers voice becoming so annoying (especially when doing ditsy quoting) that I couldn't even finish the book and makes me wish I'd read it instead of getting the audio book.
It gets 3 stars because I think the author really was trying to help give a voice to single women >30, but the unrelatable factor is far too high for me to be able to sympathize with her 'plight'. I hope to finish it one day and for it to have a nice happy ending for her, but it wouldn't change my review of the 10 chapters I've made it through so far.

Seeking vacation romances and one-night stands, Los Angeles-based television writer Kristin Newman is brutally honest about what she is seeking and doing on her international vacations. After rebounding from a long-term relationship with a forester boy-friend that ends abruptly, Newman decides to recast herself as traveler Kristen, whom she regards as almost a separate person different from herself, American-based Kristen.

Whether alone or with one or more of her changing cast of gal-pals, wherever she goes, traveler Kristen aggressively seeks handsome hunks for short-term relationships with whom she can have sex. No serious commitments or really getting to know the non-American boyfriends she finds along the way. There is considerable of drinking and drugging, fortunately, no one overdoses or develops an addictive habit.

There is, however, one noteworthy exception to this general pattern, Father Juan of Argentina. With Father Juan, Kristen sustains an off-and-on again six-year relationship with a level of friendship and mutuality not exhibited in her other short-term flings. She clings to a deeper hope for a long-term commitment and possible marriage to the wealthy and established Father Juan, himself a scion of sorts from a "first-family of Argentina." Father Juan completed seminary with the idea of becoming a priest but changed his mind just short of ordination.

"What I was Doing while You were Breeding" is a mostly fun romp but in many ways, it is also quite sad. Newman was clearly scarred by the divorce of her parents during her teen years, made worse by the re-marriage of her father to her step-mother, whom she could not stand . Even as the step-mother is dying, Newman cannot seem to forgive and forget. Newman has needed psychiatric counseling along the way to cope with her anger and resentments. For years, she feels displaced by her father's re-marriage and new family, a set of half-siblings substantially younger than herself.

The reader will be rooting for Kristen as the memoir reaches its end. Whether Kristin has found true love or not as suggested in the final chapters might be the subject of her next memoir.

I find it annoying (and unfortunate) that I had no idea who Kristin Newman was before reading her memoir - 'cause she is one funny broad. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding is pretty much exactly what you think it is - a travelogue detailing exactly what (and whom) Newman was doing while all her twenty-something (and then thirty-something) friends and colleagues were settling down and having children. It's honest and graphic and refreshing and fun - and I really, really liked it.

The set up is simple: in between the end of one television season and the beginning of another (or during the winter hiatus - essentially the summer and winter breaks of writers working in Hollywood), Newman embarks on extended vacations around the globe. Her memoir is broken down by trip, with a rotating cast of characters and hilarious recollections of how a single twenty-something parties it up in a foreign country "doing the thing you're supposed to do in the place you're supposed to do it" (which, side note, is a freaking great philosophy to have about life). I think what makes me really enjoy this book is that Newman says yes to new experiences. For her, traveling alone to a foreign country is not terrifying but exhilarating: she gets on a plane with barely a sketch of an itinerary and says, "Hell yeah let's do this." And, in the process, you root for her, cringe with her, and get those warm fuzzies when things go the way you both want them to.

It's not that Newman doesn't want kids, either, it's that she doesn't want them when society says she should want them. And that might seem radical, but to Newman, it's life. And since I can't really think of anything more intelligent to say other than, "UGH. JUST GO READ IT ALREADY," here's a quote:

"My friends who met their spouses young have often told me they live vicariously through my adventures. That they sometimes think about the oats they never got a chance to sow. There is a trade-off for both their choice and mine. I used to beat my head over Vito, when he was struggling for years over how he wanted to be with me, but also wanted a life that wasn't compatible with my life. He couldn't believe that he couldn't have everything, and so just wouldn't choose. And I would tell him, so full of twentysomething wisdom, that life is almost never about choosing between one thing you really want and another thing you don't want at all. If you're lucky... life is an endless series of choosing between two things you want almost equally. And you have to evaluate and determine which awesome thing you want infinitesimally more, and then give up that other awesome thing you want almost exactly as much. You have to trade awesome for awesome."

Now go be awesome and do the thing you're suppose to do in the place you're suppose to do it.

I really enjoyed this book. Like, REALLY enjoyed it. I found myself laughing out loud and reading snippets to my fiance in a hushed whisper so that his parents wouldn't overhear (I read this while visiting the future in-laws). In it, Newman writes a fun memoir involving her travels to exotic lands as a single woman, her mindset of single-ness while her friends are getting married and having children around her, and her misadventures with men. It's a fun read that I had trouble putting down, and I've since recommended it to other young friends of mine.

That said, this book definitely has a narrow demographic I think would enjoy it. Particularly women with the means and desire to travel, and women who can relate to not being in a rush for marriage or kids. In one part of the book, Newman reflects about how her problems are really not problems by most people's standards, and she indeed does come off as a little "woe is me" in situations that so many people will only dream of being in. I can absolutely see how that could be off-putting. But for me, it didn't detract from an otherwise relatable and funny story. Just bear in mind that it's more "memoir" and less "travelogue" before you pick it up. And if you would be upset about such subjects as drugs or promiscuity, this is also one to pass on.

"What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir" by Kristin Newman was a how lot of fun to read. I've read some memoirs by women who go into topics about sex and get way, way too raunchy way, way too much that I wonder if they mistook writing a memoir for writing for "Hustler" and completely turned me off from even remotely liking the book. I'm not a prude, but, come on, there's a way to handle these topics and trying to out dirty talk a raging hormonal 16 year old boy isn't the way to do it. Newman does it! She has a knack for making dirty and sexy amusing, lol amusing, and a lot of fun to read! The author handles it like a grownup who has some spunk, a backbone, and a healthy dose of rip roaring blue humor.

Amid the humor are some very frank heartfelt, personal thoughts, reality checks, and insights. Newman shares topics discussed and experienced with others and what impact or revelation it had on her. I found the book to have the perfect balance of humor vs the serious. She writes like a woman who doesn't feel the need to compete with male authors or try to outdo them by emulating the male perspective. We women can be funny, witty, and smart in our own female way.

Kristin Newman brings us a book that I found hard to put down and a fast read. Some of the TV shows she's written for were favorites of mine and love that she was a major force behind the scenes. Even the best comedy actor cannot be funny if the script isn't. I can't wait to read more of her writing!

I don't really understand how this vapid, shallow memoir has so many recommendations, unless my theory that many popular memoirists today are in on some kind of big promotional circlejerk where they talk up each other's books, no matter how bad they are.

It is the tale of a silly, self-absorbed but young and attractive female TV writer who agonizes over her various boyfriends, and takes trips abroad with tons of spare cash she makes at her lucrative job so she can have sex with exotic foreign men. So, almost the same premise as Eat, Pray, Love, which is an equally horrid memoir and one that women writers keep copying, for some reason, probably to piggyback on its financial success.

She brags about all the cool, rich people she hangs out with, and all the sex she has in various places, when she is not feeling sorry for herself for not being able to find the perfect relationship and settle down. The actual places get short shrift - only a few lines of description here and there. The book really isn't about discovering new places or understanding them or the people who live there, which is what most good travel memoirs promise. It's about Kristin Newman and her suitors, most of whom are stereotypically "exotic" but none of them particularly interesting. Her style reads like a Cosmo magazine article, with its cloying, cutesy, over-familiar tone and lack of meaningful content. The snark of the title promised at least an edgy sense of humor, but the book doesn't deliver even that.

Skip.

"I wanted love, but I also wanted freedom and adventure, and those two desires fought like angry obese sumo wrestlers in the dojo of my soul." That's the premise of Kristin Newman's memoir. Who's Kristin Newman, you ask? She's a television writer. And someone who likes to escape reality by going on crazy-long vacations around the world because she could apparently afford it, while the rest of us have jobs.

Kristin was one the writers of such shows as "How I Met Your Mother," "Chuck," and "The Neighbors." Yeah, I know. Okay shows, but nothing that would make you laugh out loud. I mean literally laugh out loud. And that's kind of how the memoir goes. It was entertaining for the most part, but never had any laugh out loud moments.

I wanted to give Kristin Newman's book five stars based on the title alone, which is what drew me to to it. Not being very parental myself, I watched many friends settle down and/or have kids in their 20s. It never looked very fun. It seemed almost inhibiting. Why give up having fun for staying home every night and listening to kids yelling? Kristin felt the same way, and so she went off on adventures around the world and had romances in each place.

Unfortunately, her kiss-and-tell stories aren't as crazy as one would think, based on the "reviewer" quotes (all celebrity friends) and book summary on the jacket. She's like Chelsea Handler Lite. I never really felt like she led as wild and crazy life as she thought she did. Many times, she kept returning to the same country to see the same man. I groaned every time the next chapter started with another trip to Argentina. She maybe racked up close to double digits in lovers. Is that a lot? Maybe to the Duggars. But in exciting Memoir World, it's really not.

I will give her kudos for writing style. Kristin is an excellent writer. She's very conversational in her dialogue. I would just love to see something that's more literally LOL.

I ordered this book because it sounded like a “helluva” a ride, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was curious to see how a young woman could take such an unusual path in life. Actually, I was seething with envy just reading the synopsis of the book.

Kristin Newman is “quite a gal” to say the least. She’s also an excellent writer who has enjoyed great success as a comedy writer for shows such as “How I Met Your Mother,” ‘That 70’s Show,” and more.

Throughout this very witty memoir, she kept me entertained and there were moments when I almost “lost my teeth.” That’s how funny her adventures have been.

In the beginning, she asserts that she is not a slut, doesn’t kiss married men or guys she works with, doesn’t text pictures of her genitalia, and never shows her boobs for beads. I felt an immediate kinship! This is just a little snippet of her style of humor.

An only child who grew up in the midst of a disintegrating marriage, there is a certain angst that runs throughout Newman’s story. So it’s not that surprising that she may be reluctant to commit to a life of marriage and raising children.

I was one of those young women who took the traditional path; marrying young and “breeding.” Yet even before all that, I had always had a yearning to become an airline stewardess and see the world.

So it was tremendous fun to see the world through this adventurous gal’s eyes. I got to meet Israeli bartenders, Argentinean priests, Finnish poker players, a Viking masseur, and many more fascinating characters.

Imagine meeting two well-built Vikings,( real names, Thor and Dante) in swimsuits at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s biggest tourist attraction. Now imagine being given a “floating massage” where you’ll be embraced and rubbed gently as you loll around in womb-temperature water for well over an hour, only to be released to drift away into a quiet alcove. Sounds like Nirvana…

This gives you an idea of the many amazing experiences the author relates with much enthusiasm and zeal. It was refreshing to also learn of her sexual interludes while traveling. I appreciated her openness and honesty in that regard.

There is a lot of depth here, as well as the richness of her travels that she shares with her reader. This is a book about life, love, friendship, commitment, losses, struggle, gaining maturity, and much more.

Newman notes “My friends who met their spouses young have often told me they live vicariously through my adventures.” I assert that I felt that way while reading this book, but I came away with a lot more insight than that. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be an unusual and worthwhile read. Very highly recommended!

This was suppose to be a travel book!?! I am very disappointed! It ended up being a sex book about a clearly very insecure, dare I say pathetic, woman! As one reviewer said, I wouldn't want this woman as a friend! But besides that, it's misleading. She barely talks about the places she traveled to and focuses on the men she had sex with. Too bad. I hated this book!

"What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding" is a great addition to the travel genre. My first impression, after reading the prologue and chapter 1, was that this was going to go fast. You can tell that Kristin Newman is a writer - a sitcom writer, at that - by trade, not just a person who traveled and decided to write a book about it. Her writing is concise but witty - she makes her words count, and man, do I love that.

Because each chapter deals with a different travel adventure (and man...or two!), it's a great book to read if you think you "don't have enough time to read." You can stop at the end of a chapter and not feel like you're losing the narrative flow. I finished the second half of this book poolside with my new cousins-in-law at Seabrook Island, and it was easy to take a break to grab a new drink, take a dip in the pool, or have lunch with our golf-playing men, and still pick up where I left off.

I liked hearing about all the different places she went and it was especially intriguing because the typical "20/30-something traveling to find herself" winds up in Italy or France. This is a little hypocritical since I'M a 30-year-old who is OBSESSED with Italy and France, and who wrote my first novel about a girl going to Italy, but whatever. You're drawn to what you're drawn to. And while I lap up memoirs about folks heading to those two countries, it was interesting and engaging to read about some different ones, even if I never make it there in my lifetime.

As for "downsides," there weren't many, but I did have a little tiny bit of difficulty relating to her many, MANY sexual conquests and her aversion to settling down and getting married. I just don't identify with that at ALL. But this book was honest, captivating, and very funny, so I really can't fault her for that.

The verdict: I give this one 4 out of 5 stars. It's a funny, easy summer read, perfect for the pool, beach, or an airplane to a foreign country to have your own foreign fling.

If you're someone who reads this title and think this is some anti-mom, anti-marriage screed, rest assured the author Kristin Newman is a well-adjusted human who has written a terrific memoir that somehow manages to be natural and sexy without being sleazy as well as a envious thrill ride. Newman was able to stretch her single life out to the age of 40 but not for want of trying to find a mate. She is relationship driven and not afraid to give us all the details of the ups and downs but it's her travel experiences that make her simply the best.

The writing is so good (Newman is a comedy/dramedy writer for such shows as "That '70s Show" and "Chuck") that it was only until I went to her Tumblr account and Web site to see if there were any pics of her trips (there are none in the ebook) that I spotted a group pic with Will Forte in it. Only then did my light bulb go off and I realized that the guy who ran over Newman's foot by accident on the Dominican Republic New Year's Eve trip hat was (and is!) the guy from "Saturday Night Live." These annual jetsetting get-togethers for New Year's Eve made me so envious. What sheer fun they seem.

Anyway, I'm sure any of you who've traveled solo can totally relate to most of the situations and friends, lovers and acquaintances Newman comes across. After all, who hasn't just ogled the bartender and gone for it in some foreign land let alone slept on a bathroom floor in Australia?