Book Review: 'My Point ... and I Do Have One'

But DeGeneres, whose subtle, delivery-driven, independent-minded style of humor is most distinct when she's got the mike to herself, comes across as crimped and unfocused when pinned down in print. She dances as nimbly as she can to appear personal without revealing anything (in a rare moment of true emotion, she writes, ''I think that part of my dilemma is that even though I want to have a baby, I don't want to have the baby''). Yet she provides the reader neither with enough valuable information about herself nor with enough funny stories. (Symptoms: She's got a seven-page chapter on airplane travel and a four-and-a-half-page chapter on her kitchen skills.)

Look, Ellen DeGeneres is just not a funny-stories-in-a-book person. Not all comedians are. Neither is she a confessions-in-a-book person. Most comedians aren't. Here's the solution: Just say no! The cruelty of the book biz is in throwing big book contracts at people who don't want to write them. No one should have to work that hard. D+