Bertice: The World According to Me

Spirited, sassy and heartfelt, the comedian and former talk-show host (The Bertice Berry Show) offers enjoyable autobiographical musing that describe an inspiring life. She can segue from a comical exegesis of her name (she's been called ""everything from Burmese to Vertidal"") to tell of her background as the ""poor Black girl from the projects"" who became a Ph.D. in sociology. ""[F]rom the need to laugh at the things that got me down, I learned to be funny,"" she declares, and her incisive humor animates her stories. Berry tells of the male role models she found as the child of a single mother (her father, she learned, was the singer Otis Redding), offers rueful wisdom on relationships and her short-lived marriage and recounts her lifetime love of reading and her teachers' early emphasis on black history. College students who liked her humor encouraged her to try comedy, which led to a stand-up career and her talk show. While Berry's stories about her show are thankfully brief, her dedication to her faith and to raising her crack-addicted sister's three kids demonstrate an admirable soul. (Feb.)