Slight humor, slight plot
593138
I downloaded this book because it was free and everyone said it was so funny.  I was disappointed in the humor as it was only mildly amusing (certainly not laughing out loud), nor was it really used in dialouge to enhance character development. There are a lot of crude comments being substituted for funniness.  Much of the character development was hurried over, for both good guys and bad guys, and every character pretty much fell into one category or another.  The biggest bit of info given is on character appearances, rather than actions and personality. Also, there is a lot of political preaching that is thinnly veiled.
Plot was reasonable, but unpredictable. I knew who the "bad guy" was at the very beginning; there were no surprises.
The book has some redeeming qualities.  It was interesting enough for me to finish, and although it was not nearly as funny as most reviewers commented, there were humorous places, especially near the end.  It was a quick read, and free.
2484524
I'd call this mildly amusing. Chock full of the kind of stuff that would be much better told in-person where the nuances and attempts at humor would be easier to understand. As a written piece it comes off more smug and snarky than tongue-in-cheek. A good editor might have helped too. The forward by Greg LeMond is the best  part and things go downhill (but not in a fast, fun, twisty way) from there. Perhaps the best place for this book is in your "reading room" where snippets can be read while taking care of other business? Otherwise, borrow it from your friend.
461381
Meh. Well-written, but just sort of predictable. This one tries to be funny and misses the mark in a few places. I finished it, but won't be checking out the rest of the series.
2588923
These are getting old, but I wasn't looking for a plot, just some action to the night, and on that front it delivers. Even the humor level is worse in this one though.
4553062
If the author had tried a little less hard to be hilarious, she would probably have written a better book.  It was an amusing diversion, not terrible, but not memorable.
1626275
The cover of this short tome shows Einstein in front of a chalkboard with his famous equation over his head in small letters, while he points at LOL=Laugh out loud. Which is not an equation, but a translation. The author calls himself The Professor, which he certainly could be, but its not like hes THE only one.
 In the introduction it states that the average six-year-old laughs 300 times a day, while the average adult is between 15 and 100. So the basic premise here is everyone should laugh more.
 The idea is wonderful; the execution, not so much. The problem: I hardly ever laughed. The only time I ever actualled LOLd was the story about the guy who wanted his pants cut. I more often groaned, and not in a good way, at the cheesiness of the jokes.
 2.5/5
367439
Despite the terrible reviews, this book is worth flipping through... it's just not worth spending more than 5 minutes on. There are funnier books and funnier parodies.

"Where the mild things are" lives up to its bland promise of being a meek parody. Its humor is very subtle, with a mock-Caldecott-gold-seal on the front cover proclaiming "winner of the cheap gold sticker" and a newspaper headline proclaiming "Dullsville voted 'most boring town' an astonishing 36 years in a row." So it starts out cute, but then flips over into an odd political territory where the "boring" residents are Martha Stewart, Jay Leno, Bill Gates, and Al Gore... it's unclear who exactly the book would amuse (non-crafty republicans who dislike large businesses??). The plot also is very mild--the boringness of interacting with these 4 people drives Max ("Mog" in this parody) back home to his parents, where he's content to behave like a proper monster, having been "scared" by his visit to Dullsville.

So the book does have some amusing details, but no sense of cohesion, and even the plot is "meek" at best.
2001529
Not bad if you like sophomoric humor, but not much really happens throughout the book to push the plot forward. It felt like there were too many words for the little that was happening. And if you don't have a firm grasp of the various social sites out there, you will be completely lost at times. Inside Baseball, Internet-style.
132337
Mr. Rubens has, most likely, enjoyed the galactic romps of Douglas Adams, or possibly the quirky fables of Italo Calvino or the bleak hilarity of George Saunders. He's also probably a fan of Pythonesque nonsense, and maybe David Sedaris or even Aqua Teen Hunger Force. But Unfortunately, "Yrnameer" is a pale, while well-intentioned, imitation of these works and authors, with little of their wit or magic. Despite apparently racing around the universe, it feels oddly static, like it's all taking place in the same dull landscape. Some plot elements seem to reach logical conclusions far before the book needs them to, and so they're put on "hold" for a while. Parodic sketches are entry-level (corporate conventioneers are zombies!) or oddly tired (even the title, a reference to sponsorship gone mad, is both less funny and less impactful than David Foster Wallace's Year of the Depend Undergarment). That said, there are some amusing bits, for what they're worth, like the little robot who maintains self-awareness because doesn't have any problem with humans. Cute. But the rest of this very short book is more cutesy, I'm sorry to say. With these influences, Rubens may produce something that stands amongst them in the future, but Yrnameer is not it.
2526590
Imagine that the heavenly host is a dysfunctional bureaucracy.  Angels and demons are not the stately esoteric beings many envision.  Instead, they are fundamentally caricatures of dense thugs, power-hungry connivers, or even an immature puer-aeternus (the eternal youth or god-child).  They lack any communication with or understanding of "God" as such.  They have their own mythology about what or who lies beyond the veil of the universe.  Some are eager to usher in Armageddon, Lucifer being merely one of the usual suspects.  The apocalypse was narrowly averted in "Mercury Falls" but another cast of angels and humans (some old, some new) have assembled to give it another try.  Mix in anti-bombs and particle colliders and the result is guaranteed to be explosive... er... implosive.

Robert Kroese is a funny guy (the cover blurb extolling this novel as "the most highly anticipated sequel to `Mercury Falls' ever published" is a fine example of his wry and often self-deprecating humor).  His rants and ramblings about everyday life and society in the blogosphere can be fantastically humorous (to be honest, they can also be overly snarky, superior, or smug and, frankly, bland at times).  His first novel, "Mercury Falls," was bursting with attempted one-liners and witticisms.  Despite a few comedic highlights, however, it felt vastly overdone and many if not most of the jokes elicited groans rather than chuckles.  The blatant attempt at forced humor is still apparent but much less ubiquitous.  That's a step in the right direction.  Unfortunately, the frenetic plotting, meager characterization, stilted dialogue, and excessive exposition carried over into this book.

The humor ranges from acronyms (Anaheim Command Headquarters, On-site Operations - ACHOO) to the aforementioned bureaucracy (Independent Seraphic Senate Commission on Apocalyptic Irregularities in the Execution of the Apocalypse Accord), from silly incongruous one-liners (like the possibility Sammy Hagar would ever front Van Halen) to erectile dysfunction (there is a collider in the story after all).  Most of the attempted comic relief is supplied by the strangely infantile titular angel, Mercury, whose sense of humor is predictably childish.

The characters are just set-pieces required to get the plot where it needs to go.  There's no depth or life in them, whether humans or angels.  A few-page introduction or similar-length exposition on motivation just can't substitute for experiential knowledge (sharing meaningful events with the characters) and the frenzied plotting just doesn't allow for that.

Kroese is a funny guy (and creditably accomplished at self-promotion).  Unfortunately the "Mercury" series demonstrates that compelling fiction requires a broader skill set than just being able to write humorously.
4210675
The title/cover art is cute but totally misleading in that it implies a frivolous, lighthearted story containing cocktails and parties, which in fact have nothing whatever to do with the plot.

It isn't too serious, certainly, but this one has more depth of tone than previous books, focusing more on real feelings and even a little character growth.  Michael features more than of late which is good (and with hardly any chuckling,thank goodness) and Jack Ransom makes a welcome (although disappointingly mundane) guest appearance but Timmy the toddler is the real star here.

However, there are no crazy relations around this time. Meg's father and long-lost grandfather are there - but they're not really amusing at all, just popping up occasionally in the background to park various reptiles and birds around Meg's vast house as usual - and their 'mystery' sub-plots are simply perfunctory, barely mentioned in passing (and although Rob's highlight scene is a classic, it's just abandoned without any further explanation as soon as it's over).

The actual mystery is quite good, although the villain was obvious as soon as the red herrings swam into view (although not to Meg, to whom it was a complete surprise despite all her sleuthing). Still, overall it's a good read, but I do hanker after a return to the classic madcap style of 'Buzzards' and 'Parrots'.

Maybe next time...?
3747262
I only liked the last chapter; there was a little humor, and I actually laughed out loud once. Overall, the illumination played in the background, and I'm convinced, was only added into the book after it was written in order to give it more intrigue. It's a fast read, so I didn't waste too much time, but NPR should really reevaluate it's recommendations.
4022999
The general premise is great, and it starts out with a lot of laughs. I just stopped giggling, eventually stopped smiling, after awhile, feeling that the book simply lost its tongue-in-cheek perspective that it started with. Became a bit tedious, actually. Haven't yet finished it.
2745072
This was a pleasant enough story if a little on the shallow side.  It reminded me a made-for-TV movie, which it may be someday.  The writing was very amateurish and simple, and kept making me laugh, even at what were supposed to be very emotional parts of the book.
585368
Funny, but not hilarious. Reminded me of wedding crashers a little bit. But it was a  Cute little movie. :)
3509975
Mr. Moody's book is a little to formulaic for my taste. Guy gets all the breaks and ends up with the girl. The few humourous sections are there, but you can see the punch line a mile away.
3269701
I received "Where's My Wand?" (uncorrected proof for limited distribution) as part of Goodreads Firstreads giveaway. I'm not usually a reader of humorists, so I was intrigued by the other reviews and comments, but didn't really have any specific expectations for the book. While there were several funny laugh-out-loud retorts--mostly commentary from Poole's OCD, commandeering, yet frustrated, mother and a few from Poole himself, the chapters of his life growing up in a small Midwestern town were spotty and the entire narrative of his coming-of-age (if you can call it that) were sewn up entirely too quickly. There were a couple of incidents that were uncomfortable to read (his ill-advised "exorcism" of a Sunday School friend was certainly non-consensual) that I wonder if the author actually reflected/examined his motivations before he decided to set them to paper. Overall, I found myself feeling sympathetic towards some of the characters, who likely were more complex than Poole is able to do them justice, and their foibles. And some of the lines were priceless, such as: "They may not live in a trailer now, but those people are one step away from a steering wheel in the living room." Classic. So, thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons for my copy.