A Laugh-Studded Defense of his Homeland
586676
Another very funny book by Dave Barry which focuses on his "discoveries in almost a dozen different unusual places in Florida.  I enjoy his wit and informal conversational style of writing.  While many of his funny lines hit the mark, there are several misses.  But these misses do not take away from the sheer fun of his quixotic travelogue.
4568338
I picked up the paperback version of this book in a bookshop in Kinsale, Ireland last week during a short vacation.  By chance, the tour by rental car that we'd planned pretty much followed Pete's travels.  The book is laugh-out-loud funny but also very insightful about Ireland today.  The people were every bit as friendly and welcoming as described in the book.  And he's not kidding about the call-in shows on Radio Kerry.  On our last day, an old man called in to express his great worries about county workers' plans to straighten a stone fence on his property.  The host said to him, "What I'm trying to glean from you sir, is, what exactly are the ramifications of straightening this fence?"  The man replied, "Well, I don't really know."  And that was the end of that call.  Absolutely hysterical -- and true.
1757314
Love him or hate him--and many have strong opinions--with Steve Almond's "(Not that you asked) Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions" you know what you're getting yourself into from the title.

Almond, the bestselling author of Candyfreak, leaves no stone unturned in his bizarre life. In this book of vignettes, Almond spills out his obsessions, which include spending days poring over his hero, Kurt Vonnegut's material; his lifelong love of the Oakland A's and their (his) quest for glory; and his extreme phobia of lobsters--especially those "larger than many newborn infants."

If a rant strikes your fancy, there are plenty to choose from. Almond maps out his colorful vendetta against literary blogger Mark Sarvas, over which he wanted a "supercharged literary smackdown." Don't get him started about Republican "hateocracy." But on a softer side, he examines his Jewish heritage--or the lack thereof--with perhaps a sense of wistfulness.

On a more humorous note, his exploits run the gamut from a condom-eating dog to his first encounter with fake breasts. Almond also recounts his brief brush with cellulose fame over a never-aired appearance on a VH1 special.

And then he becomes a father to the aptly named embryo "Peanut Almond." From conception to post-birth, Steve meticulously details all his imagined mishaps as a first-time father.

Almond's tidbits of experience--many a useful manual of "what not do"--are laugh-out-loud funny; at other times you'll find yourself blushing.

And, his glib, self-confessed quirks sometimes make Woody Allen seem normal. Almond's tongue-in-cheek wit, take it or leave it, is written with such familiarity, you find yourself intimately acquainted with the author, despite his capriciousness. Almond's book of essays is written in a confident voice that comes from riding the wave of success from his previous titles.

Admittedly, even when you want to kick him in the mouth after some of his chapters, his style, tone and details are precise and consistently good.

After reading this book, you'll either be laughing or want to punch Steve Almond. Either way he expects it; after all, he warned you in the title.

Armchair Interviews says: Forewarned, maybe you'll love to take your chances to be entertained by Steve Almond.
4759213
I loved the MST3K series, and greatly mourn its passing.  However, this book shows that Mike Nelson is more than  just a prisoner on the Satellite of Love.  His observations on everyday life are spot on and laugh out loud funny.
As in any book of this type, there are a few  essays that are less than funny, but they're greatly outnumbered by the ones that have you snorting milk out your nose while reading.  (Assuming you're drinking milk, of course)
The essay format makes this a perfect book to read during off moments, as long as you don't mind odd looks from passersby as you snicker and chortle.  Well worth reading and adding to your comedy library.
543193
Some very funny moments in his life path that led him to analyze airports. He is truly gifted, and does a nice job of inviting us to view the airport beyond its grey, shabby horror. The insights based on literary productions are particularly nice, but I sometimes grew frustrated with the little remarks at the bottom of each page. Some are so random that they are filler, not food for thought. Also, the over-analysis of the New Yorker cartoon ignores a very simple fact: New Yorker cartoons work because they are absurd, not because of their precise rendition of  plane or a chair. Still, the narrative flows nicely and offers a nice balance to his first book, a far more academic study of the same phenomenon.
1434982
Twain's two-volume travel journal is rich with Twain's wry, intelligent humor, and strong in evaluation of cultures put up against his own American sense of truth, which is, of course, not every American's truth.  Set upon a lecture tour around the world, Twain gives wonderful instances of sailing, enriched by his own early history on the Mississippi.  He studies, particularly, the cultures he finds in Australasia in the first volume, and in India and South Africa in the second.  He is very clear on the plight of the Aborigines and blacks of other countries visited, and also about the place and difficulties of women in these places.  He provides astute and wise pieces about the hubris of the Westerner in bringing "civilization" to other countries through missionary work and via the spread of the British Empire.  He spends a good bit of ink on the Sepoy Uprising of 1856-57 in India and the massacre at Lucknow.  He loves "difference" between cultures, and bright colors and brown skins.  It is clear he feels affinity with the brown races.  Most enlightening is to read his struggle with Victorian sentiments and the mistreatment of others.  One of my favorite parts are the bits from Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar at the head of each chapter.  Equating these with the contents of their respective chapters is also enjoyable work for the reader.
3885642
"All of the words in this book are true. The sentences they
comprise are not."  So states the preface to Lost Lies of History,
Volume 17, written by Ron Cooney, who calls himself "America's
Most Obscure Humorist."

What is true about the book is that it is funny -- very funny.
(If you buy it and don't think so, check your pulse.)

The author may not be well-known yet, but he won't stay
that way for long if this book is any indication.  "Lost Lies"
delivers a lot of smiles, chuckles, and guffaws in a small package.

Through a series of illustrated articles on lost,  forgotten but
mostly just made-up people, places and events, Cooney gives
full and free rein to a twisted (in a good way) imagination.
Frequently, the humor arrives with a sly and sophisticated wit
(a page from the non-novel "The Drapes of Roth" is but one example).
Sometimes, the approach is less subtle (a never-built monument
to President Bill Clinton.)

Even if you're a reader who doesn't share the author's wide-ranging (if
odd) interests and background (baby boomer), you'll enjoy "Lost Lies
of History, Volume 17" for the simple reason that it will make you
laugh, often and loudly (even the cover's "Warning Label" is funny.)

And how often does real history do that?
4748261
Bryson's collection is sharp and funny, and not always a jab at America, as some of the previous reviews indicate.  He seems to have a bemused love/hate relationship with America.  What is so amazing is how hilarious his rants can be, yet on a turn you realize just how right he is.  Many of the essays here made me pondrous and wistful.  The work is easily digestible in small chunks (3-4 pp. for each essay)--it is a perfect choice for a car ride or a doctor's office waiting room.
905330
A really funny book.  Even though I am a Brit who has lived in the US for nearly 20 years, I still find myself using many of the statements, which makes it even funnier!
1642580
I am reviewing this book from an "Uncorrected Proof - Not for Sale" edition, but the book has been available in hard cover since October 2009.

I much enjoyed this book.  The author, Jesse Katz, is a journalist, and it shows in his writing.  It is crisp, descriptive, clean and unambiguous.  Unlike the situatation he finds himself in when he volunteers to not just be his son's Little League team's coach, but to be commissioner of the local Little League.

As you'd expect in a memoir, there's a lot of humor, but as he's writing about real people, I don't expect everyone in the book would find the book hilarious where they come in. Particularly the just-prior commissioners, whom Katz wonders about when he inherited little money in the pot, but yet has no trouble affording this or that, while previous commissioners said there were no funds. Some humor may have been a bit gratuitous, but I won't quote it because for all I know, it was changed in the final edition that went to press. A lot of the humor, though, is simply fun writing.  Like when people start talking to him about this huge task he's taken on:  "I heard of lot of 'You're a better man than I.'  Which, of course, is not what people mean when they say it."

I really like his writing style, especially for a memoir. His word pictures can be marvelous.  Here, he's talking about Raynelda's (his Nicaraguan wife) step-brother Nestor (different dad):  "His dad was a Managua civil servant, a kind, subdued white-collar drudge who had tutored Nestor endlessly as a little boy, and that gave Nestor a direction that eluded the rest of his family. Despite being uprooted and smuggled and plunged into a baffling new culture at the eve of adolescence, Nestor was astonishingly sober and studious, as if he lived in a protective coccoon that only he could perceive. I would see him at the kitchen table while music blared and glasses clinked, performing algorithms nobody possibly could have deciphered, and I would marvel at his resolve, at his utter sureness that every sacrifice would be redeemed. When years later he graduated from UCLA, a doctor of biochemistry, it was at once miraculous and, by then, almost routine."

The book isn't just about baseball; there's his parents, his wife's family, trying to figure out what makes himself tick.  The very last part of the book bogs down a little, as it deals more with his an affair that starts with a baseball mom.  The books seemed honest to me, without sugar coating.  I don't think he's figured out what makes himself tick yet, though.

Happy Reader
4847984
Michael Harling has created something really special with Postcards from Across the Pond, a book packed full of wonderfully-written short essays on what it's like to be a clueless Yank in Old Blighty. As a former member of that club, I found myself laughing as often at myself as at Mr Harling, and feeling quite homesick for a place that's not home. He has a knack of zeroing in on the very things that make expatriate life confusing and wonderful at the same time.

So whether you travel the world in airliners or armchairs, you'll find a lot to love in this book. But don't take my word for it--buy it and find out for yourself.
4307484
The author, who has a valid repertoire of computer language and actual knowledge of this once computer mecca, has taken this information and turned it into a comedy of several different ethnic people who work in this atmosphere and by most unusual means manage to live there.  Each character in this story has his or her own manner of viewing life and surviving, which is so far fetched that the FBI, CIA and all other watch dogs of our country, are kept in a furor attempting to catch anything that might hurt our country.  The action is fast and the outlandish inventiveness  of these different people will keep the reader entertained and laughing.  For anyone who reads for pure fun, this is the book for you.
2250872
I bought this book expecting to be thoroughly amused, and I certainly was. Charles Pierce's fine writing style and ability to turn a witty phrase make Idiot America a delightful reading experience.  But while I was laughing my way through the descriptions of dinosaurs wearing saddles and the ups and downs of Ignatius Donnelly's career, I was also aware that Pierce had anticipated some of my own previously unarticulated concerns.  Much of Pierce's account, like the story of Teri Schiavo's long travail, abetted by power hungry politicians, or the rise of undereducated and overly verbose talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, leaves the concerned reader apprehensive for the future. This is particularly worrying when one takes into account the most recent accounts of American idiocy like "tea partys" filled with people who don't know Medicare is a government program, or other people convinced that health care reform will lead to "death panels", or the puzzling rise of politicians like Sarah Palin who glory in their own ignorance.

Pierce does a fine job of dissecting some of the personalities  and agendas behind the rise of American Idiocy.  His "Three Premises" are an excellent guide to understanding how propaganda works.  I most appreciated his intersperced discussions of James Madison's writings and philosophies, which are even more impressive when contrasted with the piffle being produced by some of today's aspiring leaders.

We've been through some dark times in our country, and the last decade has certainly been among the darkest.  Idiot America is a good warning that we may yet be in for even worse days ahead.
2875076
Those who have become familiar with Bill Bryson from his massively popular "A Walk in the Woods," might be a bit taken aback by "The Lost Continent."  While "Woods" is a typical Bryson book, well-researched, opinionated and, of course, first rate travel writing, Bryson smoothed the edges of his biting humor ever so slightly.  That is most decidedly NOT the case with "The Lost Continent," in which Bryson heaps out much his trademark satire and humor which is at times decidely not good-natured.
The book takes Bryon on an automobile journey across America and back, mostly through small towns and historical sights.  He brings an intersting perspective in that he had spent the previous decade living in Great Britain, and this journey helped reacquaint him with America.  In this, he is a perfect commentator, combining his native Midwestern sensibilities with an adult perspective in which much of what he sees he does not expect because of his long absence from his native soil.
Throughout the book, Bryson make references to his father and the family trips taken across the U.S. when he was a child.  In this, "The Lost Continent" is a very personal work for him.  He dedicated the book to his late father and even though dad is a constance source of (very funny) satire, it also manages to be quite touching.
Overall, this is an excellent work from a first rate travel writer and humorist.  But if you don't like an edge to your humor, you should probably pass.
4080328
In Dane Cook: Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden, Dane Cook proudly displays his brand of stand up comedy for a crowd of fans that are absolutely fanatical. His performance was the next step in his comedy career, one that he debated and sought approval for from his family. And it was a wise decision indeed, because his routine was largely a success, and the ecstatic fans will keep him in the spotlight for years to come.

Dane Cook's routine is continually on the verge of real-life situations fused with comedy elements, exaggerated for flair, and just from panning around the audience and catching their reactions, some of his material can be interpreted as either wildly raunchy or disgustingly crass. But for the most part, his fans love and accept the direction he heads in, and with his Madison Square Garden performance he has sculpted a great deal of hilarity out of situations that are really quite no-nonsense. Finding the humor behind the most serious of events is perhaps his area of expertise.

His skit contains familiar allusions to previous and recognizable jokes, including his sketch on someone "defiling the coat rack", and references to his "chief/buddy/Gaylord" joke. New bits include swearing on his unborn child over ice cream, the needy children commercials with the old man who ought to demand your money instead of politely asking for a donation, and Oprah giving away bigger and better items on her show, such as schools and humpback whales. Jabs at herpes, the condom fairy, pedophiles, and mannequins are equally hilarious and controversial subject matter, and the audience is convulsive with laughter.

Dane Cook offers full-length commentary for the entire event, which gives some insights on why he chose to run with certain jokes, and why he chose to cut out others that he originally planned on. Many more laughs are to be found on the commentary track, and Cook spills the beans on specific real-life situations that prompted the gags.

"Lighting Up the Garden" is a short documentary that chronicles many of the activities leading up to his live performance, and Cook shares stories of his goals. He actually questioned which direction to take his career, and had to think carefully about continuing stand up and whether Madison Square Garden was a step in the right direction. He had recently accomplished all of his objectives, but with the coaxing of his family, he decided the new venue was a worthy enough opportunity. He tested his routine in Providence, Rhode Island the night before and had much success - he was ensuring he wouldn't pull a "Britney Spears" on the big night. Much to his pleasure, his longtime idol, director Ron Howard showed up to the big event and apparently loved the show. All in all a great experience and a successful affair, Rough Around the Edges: Live at Madison Square Garden is a great chance to see Dane Cook perform his raunchy yet hilarious brand of real-life inspired comedy.

- Mike Massie
3263181
I love the way Woz takes us through his childhood pranks, breaking minor telecommunications laws and worrying about whether the police were going to arrest him for his techy long distance phone cheating tool. He gives a no holds barred look at himself and its so hilarious that I laughed until my stomach hurt and tears leaked from my eyes. Since I was driving, I'm lucky this audiobook didn't cause an accident.
At one point, he details how he scrambled the TV broadcast during the old days of TV antennas on top of the set and only let it display correctly when someone's hand was placed in the middle of the screen. He let his fellow collegiates watch the end of the big sports game while one of them was holding his hand in the middle of the TV. If they've known, they'd have thrashed him. Woz was a bonefide bad kid, but he was as brilliant as he was bad. This story is a blast. I don't know that I learned much about technology, but I learned to really love Steve.
161632
Michael Levy's book opens with the author getting out of eating an millipede dinner hosted by his Chinese friends by alluding to his Jewishness - bugs are not "kosher"! This hilarious opening scene gives a reader a literal taste of what is to come in "Kosher Chinese". Levy gives a vivid, at times, stomach-churning account of his adventures as a Peace Corps volunteer in a rapidly industrializing city located in the heart of China. His descriptions of a heavily polluted metropolis ring true, as do his interactions with his students and everyday Chinese. At times his writing reminded me of David Sedaris in its humor and wit. My favorite parts include: Levy being advised to smoke in order to keep his lungs from breathing too much foul air; explaining to a Chinese girl self-named Pussy why it might be a good idea to change her name; dealing with worshipful stereotypes of Jews ("their history is successful but pitiful"); his deadpan reaction to funny instances of "socialism with Chinese characteristics." I suspect this book will get negative reviews from the Chinese, however, who may dislike his emphasis on the less than ideal aspects of Chinese life, such as the willingness of locals to eat almost anything and the lack of delicacy (often brusqueness) in words and actions ("there are no queues in China; it's survival of the angriest"). These less than flattering portrayals are rarely discussed in context - for example, as understandable human reactions to Communism and years of famine. Lastly, there was a factual error - Levy claims Pearl Buck, author of "The Good Earth," was Chinese-American, when in fact she was a white writer from the era of colonialism who took a rather dated, patronizing view of Asians. Despite these quibbles, I felt this was a highly entertaining read, well worth your time.