Southern, simple minded-insanity - I laughed too hard!!!
340665
Being from the South I thoroughly enjoyed this book!  I'm not sure if it takes another Southerner to appreciate the hilarity in this book, but I doubt it.  I laughed so hard I almost hated it when my metro stop arrived!  I know the other riders thought I was insane.  The tale of a boy growing up in 1970 South Carolina with a father who just really isn't all there.  Tales of his father burying items in the back yard to antics of simple-minded, backward-town folk kept me rolling. This book is a quick read not only because of the length of book but because you just can't put it down - waiting for the next laugh, which just a paragraph away.
72316
This movie was painful to watch!  My cheeks, back and sides hurt from laughing so hard!!!!!!  Now, this is stupid-funny, so if that's what you are looking for on an easy weekend, then rent this!!!!!!!!!!  I had to pause this a few times because I literally could not stop laughing!!!!
4389947
I loved this book! I am a proud Southerner and this author just cracks me up. There are many truths to this book- though some are exagerrated. If you are wanting a light and funny read and especially if you're Southern- you'll enjoy this!
407553
I am not an easy laugh, but this book tickled my funny bone and I laughed so hard at these essays and accompanying artwork that I had to put the book down to catch my breath!  I was laughing so loud that I was disturbing my husband who was trying to concentrate on his own book.  This author is brilliant, disturbed, and an oh-so-very ordinary human, even though she doesn't seem to think so.  I devoured this book and have given it as a gift several times.  Bravo Allie, you're amazing and I want to read more from you!  Would love, love, love to meet this author!
4416183
I've been following the fictitious Jean Teasdale in The Onion for a long time, and am a very big fan of the column.  I didn't think I could find the depressing humor so funny in a book form, but at $1.74, I figured what the heck?  I was pleasantly surprised.  Every time the book started getting boring, it would lead to a passage that would make me laugh out loud.  Why is Jean's awful life so funny?  I have no idea.  Her family is like so many dysfunctional families I've known, with an unsupportive mother, a father who has been divorced three times, a husband that is at the very best borderline alcoholic.  She drifts from minimum wage job to minimum wage job and never gets anywhere.  Her "Hubby Rick" works at a tire center, and spends his time at Tacky's Tavern.  They live in an apartment that's decorated with all sorts of kitschy junk that Jean likes (plastic flowers, stuffed animals...).  Does this sound like a formula for comedy?  It doesn't to me, but it is so hilarious.

Maybe it is that Jean is so clueless about how she goes through life.  She has a downright creepy obsession with getting pregnant and having a baby.  She gets fired from every job she gets because she fails to understand when you work for someone you are supposed to actually accomplish something.  I busted out laughing when she was describing some of the stuff she purchased - like a "Ballerina hippo top with glitter" that she saves for special occasions, like "a job interview for example."  Something about the inappropriateness of that made me laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe. Did I mention that her husband showed up for their wedding wearing a tuxedo T-shirt?  He uses it as a rag in his truck now.  Sad, yet hilarious.  Funnier still because I know of guys who have done similar stuff.

Jean's taste in food is ordinary to an extreme degree yet creepy.  She has "interesting foreign snack food" (ramen noodles), and some of the most god-awful recipes.  Would you want to eat "Cocoa Brown Sugar Caramel Brownies with Hazelnut-Mint Glaze"?  The recipe is as bad as it sounds.  I thought at one point it might be fun to try some of the recipes in the book, but as a diabetic eating any of that stuff will kill me.  The above recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups brown sugar, 20 caramels and a 1/2 cup of half-and-half among other things.  I felt the effect of my blood sugar rising just reading the recipe.

I think to really enjoy this book, there are two things that you need.  One, is to be a regular reader of the column in The Onion.  Two, you have to have known people like Jean.  Oh, and it may help if you've been kicked around periodically by life also.  If you fill all three, you will probably really enjoy this book.  If not, you probably won't "get it".
46065
Lewis Grizzard is truly my Southern humorist hero - so much that when he died I felt like I had lost a dear friend!

This one will have tears rolling down your cheeks with a smile on your face!!  The man definitely had a way with words!
867778
I just loved reading this book ! Warning ! Do NOT read it without expecting to get a case of the giggles !!  I couldn't help but explain why I was laughing at times to my husband but there are a few spots where you can't help but burst out laughing out loud ! .. Truly a wonderful funny entertaining book ! Loved it start to finish .. and What a SHOCKER at the end !!
173663
This book will have anyone,with a sense of humor(or any other kind of"sense"),doubling over in laughter!! I'd already owned this book for years,before a swindling relative"relieved"me of it...So I was delighted that Amazon,had this book for sale!! Mayor Coleman Young,was an intelligent as well as entertaining politician,who defeated the odds,and became the first black mayor,of a major U.S. city!!His unique perspectives on life are perfectly reflected,in this collection of his outrageously honest quotes...In order to really appreciate,this controversal and candid man(And what he's been through,and WHY,he thinks how he thinks,and says the things he says)you've got to first read his autobiography,aptly titled:"Hardstuff:The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young"which is available(for a bargain price)right here on Amazon..My two favorite quotes from"Quotations"are when being accused of talking about racism too much,Coleman astutely replied:"When I see racism,I talk about it." "I've done that ALL,my life."I HOPE to STOP,talking about it." "Do you know,WHEN,that will happen?!?" "When I don't SEE any more racism."and when asked about his putting blacks in key positions in City Hall,he responds:"That means more at the TOP for blacks."(because)"There aint no shortage of blacks out there behind them garbage trucks!" Buy the book to hear his HILLARIOUS(yet true)response to an elderly Japanese Interpreter(on a visit to Japan)who informed him that there were many Japanese words,that have differing meanings,depending upon the tone in which they are spoken. His(crazy)response,when asked to follow a Japanese host,who had donned a kimono,and performed a 400 year-old warrior dance,with a spear and fan,will have you in TEARS!!!His logical(and TOTALLY true)response to being accused of being paranoid,is NOT to be missed!! You also MUST,read his PROFOUND view,against accusations that Afirmative Action is simply"reverse discrimination." His totally logical and intelligent response,when asked if Detroits'crime problem,was directly related to its' large black population,caused me to(audibly)say"AMEN" His(fact-backed)quote about blacks(violently)confronting whites,in order to achieve equal rights,should be REQUIRED reading for all ultra-militant blacks!! Sound Advice:ORDER THIS BOOK TODAY!! YOU'LL THANK YOURSELF!! Because,you have NO IDEA,how HARD it was for me,to just pick TWO"favorite"quotes,out of the ENDLESS,remarkable "sound-bites"in this WONDERFUL book!!!
4694619
This is one of the funniest books I have read! I seriously laughed out loud during the whole thing. At one point my husband made me read him an excerpt because he didn't believe a book could be that funny. Please write more!!!!
3002557
I was crying from laughing while reading this!! What would happen if Jesus had a nagging wife, who is so self-involved she hasn't noticed he's on a crucifix?  If I believed in Hell, I would be going there. If I believed in God, I would like to think he had a sense of humor and would wet his pants, as I nearly did, while reading this gem.
3879141
I do not think I have ever laughed out loud so often during the reading of a book. I absolutely loved the characters. Poor Hank didn't know what he was getting himself into, going with his soon to be bride's teenaged son and best friend on a survival camping trip, all the while taking care of a class doll from a life skills course. This is bawdy humor at the most primitive level and I loved every minute of it! Teenage boy pranks and manipulative behavior, all with the end goal of getting future step dad Hank, to change his mind about becoming a first time parent. Got a reluctant reader on your hands? Hand him a copy of Dan vs. Nature, this could be the game changer!
2027558
An ABSOLUTE HOOT! ! I laughed so hard that I actually spat!
WARNING: Watching this whilst on the treadmill may lead to misfooting or injury during spasms of uncontrollable laughter!
702607
You know..I blew through Book 1 and Book 2 in a day and a half-they are that PUNKIN hysterical! From Book 1 all the way through Book 2..it was non-stop laughter. On book 2 its all about Gavin, the proposal and its adventures all by itself, the pot-filled brownies and the inlaws and so much more. Poor Carter, twice he tried to pull off a carefully planned proposal and each time, Claire says something that sends Carter into a heart attack trying to cancel each of the planned proposals. I believe one of the proposals, Claire laughs at another couple in one of these planned proposals (She doesnt know Carter planned one too) and calls the guy of the other couple a TOOL! for proposing at a ballfield. I LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
I don't think I stopped laughing throughout both books. I don't think I have ever read as fast as I had between these 2 books. I really felt like I was living the very comical vaggy and approriately inappropriate lives of Claire, Carter, Gavin and Company. You should NOT pass these books up. I might just have to reread both books..so many funny moments that I am just willing to stop laughing at just yet. I am pretty sure I peed a little.
4706998
I haven't laughed so hard at Dell's country family. They surly the book way more than what I was expecting!!
4207895
I agree with a previous reviewer. I think I got through this book alot easier by deciding the story has turned into a sort of comedy...though un-intentional. Seriously...I laughed alot.  I woke my husband when I bust out laughing about the condom apparently falling off the swan king.  Are you kidding?  But then I forgot how much she enjoys watching all her men *work* if you know what I mean. Of course that would be the only place she would be looking after the guy turns into a swan!  I thought I was crazy when I connected the red shirts to Star Trek...haha..glad I'm not the only one. The ENDLESS dialog about Anita thinking everyone is picking on her, and snoozer sex scenes (oh add some additional whinney dialog there too)....wait....wasn't some/most of that passed off as the Harlequin *messing* with them?
 Regardless, there are only so many times I can tolerate Anita or any of her men saying what "flat does it for them".  I get it...just about anything flat does it for her. When I read that term "mommie dearest" for the Mother of All Darkness, I always want to cry out "no wire hangers EVER!!" I'll probably read the next one.  It's like driving and watching a major car crash in slow motion.  You know you really need to move on and you can't help but stick around to see how bad it can get.
I guess I can say at least she spent a couple hours at the office this time, Dolph, Zabrowski, and Edward make shadow appearances. I know I won't need to wait for long on the library list to check it out. Stay tuned!!
2192578
Reading Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction is like eating one of Granny's brownie with the chocolate icing.  The strongly written mystery and introduction of Tess is the fudge-like brownie while the Southern-isms are the chocolate icing.

I laughed so hard my sides are sore.  I would love to know where she came up with all these bits and pieces of the south!  I've heard most of them but a few were new..."get yer straw out of my Kool-aid" was new to me.

I liked the back and forth adding bits of what happened in 1934 then moving forward to today.

If you like fun with your mysteries, I strongly suggest you read this.
729613
I judge books of humor by a simple rule of thumb.  Did they make me laugh?  I got a few chuckles out of this book, but most of the short pieces were fairly serious, some were almost depressing.  Maybe I just don't get the southern sense of humor.  Or maybe the editor doesn't get that humor is supposed to be funny.