Category: Humor Page 6 of 7

The Particulars of Peter:
Dance Lessons, DNA Tests,
and Other Excuses to
Hang Out with My Perfect Dog

Hardcover, 232 pg.
Grand Central Publishing, 2020

Read: March 30-April 1, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I think once a person has a dog the idea of not having one quickly becomes absurd. I know there are other ways a person can fill their time—golf, et cetera. I know you can Hula-Hoop. You can pan for gold, or “do some work at a café.” I know a person can exist without the ability to make a creature they love thrash with uncontrollable joy, wild-eyed and ecstatic, at the mere mention of din—; hush, that’s enough, they’re already excited. I know you can watch TV without a dog resting his paws and head on your leg, breathing quietly, warming you and allowing you to feel like you’re having a real human experience rather than idly ingesting The Sopranos, I know you can go to sleep without a dog in your bed and wake up without a little face staring down at you, whiskers in your eyes, and a nose dripping onto your skin, waiting for you to take him outside so that he might urinate. But… why? Why even wake up at all?

What’s The Particulars of Peter About?

It is, quite simply, about Peter. Well, it’s more about Conaboy’s obsession with Peter and the things she’ll do to foster the relationship between them as well as all the things she’s willing to do with/for him for the sake of her writing.

She begins by talking about how Peter came into her life, going to Woofstock with him, trying to get into agility training, dance classes, and so on. She gets a DNA test, goes ghost hunting, consults a pet psychic, and more.

Each chapter is filled with jokes, amusing anecdotes, and useful information on a particular subject/experience, told with a lot of humor (some-self deprecating).

Some Highlights

It’s probably easier to think of this as a collection of essays rather than a cohesive book, and as such, there are going to be some chapters that stand-out above the others. I think the first two chapters—about adopting Peter and getting a DNA test were the best—with the chapter on where the dog should sleep as a close third.

The chapter on Dog Dancing was, on the whole, not that interesting for me until she dropped the jokes and got to a hard story about Peter and a medical problem. It probably became the strongest chapter in the book at that point.

On the other end of the spectrum

There were a couple of chapters that did nothing for me—training Peter for Ghost Hunting and then trying to communicate with him using pet psychic just bored me. I couldn’t get into them, but I could see where someone would find it interesting.

The rest of the chapters were a good mix of things I thought were great and then a page later made me wonder why I tried the book.

So, what did I think about The Particulars of Peter?

There was something in the preface, that made me wonder if I’d made a mistake and I was going to end up annoyed with this book, but I wasn’t quite sure. Then I got to the paragraph I quoted above—the third in the book, and realized that yeah, this book was for me.

I’m not going to tell you that this is the best book about living with a dog that you’re ever going to read. I’m not saying that every chapter was worth the time. But there’s just so much heart displayed in every chapter, that you can’t help but cut her a lot of slack for whatever shortcomings may appear.

And it’s a funny book. I chuckled and laughed a few times, I enjoyed an eye-rolling smile a few times, a more than a few times I grinned and made not of a fun line. I fell in love with her habit of writing a parenthetical remark to get a punchline into something, and then immediately following it with another parenthetical joke—naturally, I didn’t write down any examples of that, because why should I make it easy for me to explain the quirk.

Basically, this was a fun book about one of my favorite topics—of course, I’m going to recommend it.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey (Audiobook) by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar: You’ll Laugh While You All Lose Hope in Humanity. Fun Times!

By HCNewton

On March 24, 2021

In Audiobook, Humor, Non-Fiction

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism

by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar

Unabridged Audiobook, 5 hrs., 21 min.
Grand Central Publishing, 2021

Read: March 11-12, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I’m going to lean on quotations from the book pretty heavily for this one, I feel awkward about trying to summarize this—and am afraid I’d come across as too flippant. Which, yeah, is an odd thing to fear for a book that can be rightly shelved under “Humor”

The Authors/Narrators

Amber Ruffin is the host of The Amber Ruffin Show, a writer for and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and is consistently funny and thoughtful. Even when, especially when?, I disagree with her (which happens a lot). She’s the primary author (even when retelling something that happened to her sister) and narrator of the book.

Lacey Lamar is her older sister, who lives in Nebraska and works in the healthcare and human service field. She’s apparently a pretty big geek, too. While her contributions to the book/audiobook are briefer than Ruffin’s, when she pitches in, it’s well worth it.

What’s You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey About?

Early on, we’re told

My sister Lacey is a lightning rod for hilarious racist stories, She’s the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, tiny, and Black that makes people think: I can say whatever I want to this woman. And I guess you can. Hey, knock yourself out—but that doesn’t mean you won’t end up in a book.

She’s such a lightning rod that

Twice a week, I get a text from my sister that says, “Can you talk?” It’s my favorite because I know I’m about to be transported to a place that exists in real life and fantasy: the place where coworkers will put their whole hand in your hair, talking ’bout “It’s fluffy like a dog.” I realize this sounds terrible, but it’s like watching Dateline. You can’t believe it was the GIRLFRIEND who killed the HUSBAND! It’s the edge of reality. Technically, it happens, but it is barely plausible. Excited, I steal away to the elevator banks at work and listen to Lacey tell me a new horror story. It’s fantastic. As I stand there, mouth agape, listening to some new fresh hell, I am always struck by the fact that these stories will only exist in this phone call. Some will go on to become stories once the topic turns to “racist people at work” one night when Lacey is hanging out with her friends, but she’ll forget most of them because of the sheer volume. The. Sheer. Volume.

That’s what this book is, a distillation of that volume. A compilation of the best/worst of those stories. They are tragic. They are sobering. They are frequently pretty funny. But only in the way they’re told. Lamar and Ruffin share these stories with an air of “you have to laugh or you’ll cry.” The kind of resigned laughter when you realize that your situation isn’t going to get better any time soon, so you might as well find the pleasure in it. A lot of this is hard to listen to/read—but it’s usually worth it. There’s also a decent level of “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” running throughout this.

Some of these stories are old, but a lot of them are post-Obama stories. A lot of folks think things like this don’t happen anymore. But in this climate where people are becoming more brave with their racism, I think things may get worse before they get better. Just kidding, I don’t think things are gonna get better. Just kidding about just kidding. I’m Team Hopeful! My point is: Has anyone ever decided to take a look at one person’s buttload of racist stories? What happens when you do? I don’t know, but here you go.

Audiobook vs. Text Version

So my wife read the hardcover and I read the audiobook (but was able to use the hardcover to grab some quotations). The hardcover features pictures and illustrations, and different typefaces for each author (a feature more books should use). Judging by her responses and just flipping through it, that seems like a great way to go through the book.

The audiobook is primarily read by Ruffin, with some assists by Lamar. Ruffin’s a great performer and the text comes alive with her reading. I think some of the comedy comes through stronger in the way they tell the stories—because a lot of these things are dark and my response leaned to horrified until I heard one/both of them chuckle about it. Also, listening to Ruffin describe the pictures you can’t see is likely as fun as seeing them. I’m not saying that the audiobook is better/worse than the text, but I can say you won’t regret it.

So, what did I think about You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey?

Black readers will read these stories and feel that really good, yet terrible feeling of going through something bad and realizing you’re not alone, and not only that, but that someone else has it worse! And, hopefully, the white reader is gonna read this, feel sad, think a little about it, feel like an ally, come to a greater understanding of the DEPTH of this type of shit, and maybe walk away with a different point of view of what it’s like to be a Black American in the twenty-first century. Hence this book.

For me, I think they succeeded. I’m not a fool, I didn’t think we’d fixed racism or anything—but the casual and blatant racism Lamar encounters at work (or outside of work) is astounding. I can’t count how many times I stopped the recording to say something to my wife to marvel at how blatant the people in this book were. She’d ask where I was, nod, and ask “have you got to X yet?” “Um, no?” “Well, it gets worse…” And it did.

At the same time, I laughed a lot. Those two sensations shouldn’t fit so well together, but they do.

This is a comic-tragedy. A tragic-comedy. Either or both. you won’t soon forget this book. Entertaining and educational. Eye-opening. Frustrating. I strongly recommend this.

4 1/2 Stars

My Favorite Non-Fiction Books of 2020

By HCNewton

On January 4, 2021

In (Auto)Biography, Humor, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Politics/Current Affairs

My 2020 Wrap up continues and now we’re on to the Non-Fiction list. I had little trouble getting this down to 9 books (couldn’t be satisfied with any of the candidates for 10, although Duhigg almost scored it with the other book by him I listened to this year). But when started filling in the details, I was surprised that I’d given so many of these 3 or 3 1/2 stars. But these are the ones that stuck with me through the year; the ones I cited in conversation; that I thought about when reading something else or watching something on TV. Really, that’s what’s important, right?

As always, I only put books that I’ve read for the first time on this list. I don’t return to NF books (outside of looking up things for one or three points), but occasionally I do—for example, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs would get a permanent spot on this list, were it not for this rule.

(in alphabetical order by author)

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

by Angela Duckworth

My original post
A fascinating mix of psychological research, case studies, and personal anecdotes. Duckworth structured this in such a way that not only it was informative and educational, it was enjoyable and motivational. The subject was interesting, the approach challenging, and didn’t always give the answers you expected. Duckworth made it clear that with the right mindset and time, it was possible to increase your own grit and find a measure of success. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, nor is it a promise of instant success. Just a reassurance that smart work can pay off.

4 1/2 Stars

Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business

by Charles Duhigg, Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)
My original post
It’s not a how-to book, it’s not self-improvement, it’s largely about the science/study/understanding of productivity. I found it just as fascinating as previous book and can see where it’d be a useful guidebook for people in some sort of position of authority in an organization. Yet, it’s an improvement over Duhigg’s previous book because there are indications of how one could apply this to themselves/their organizations.

Also, Duhigg shows us his process while illustrating his own application of the book’s lessons—which I really enjoyed. I find his approach to putting together a book very interesting, what and how he includes something is almost as interesting as what he does with it.

3.5 Stars

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality

by Michael J. Fox

My original post
I’ve been a fan of Fox’s for as long as I can remember, and have watched most of the projects he discussed here (and many others). Like many, I’ve been impressed with the way he and his family have dealt with his Parkinson’s Disease and how they’ve worked to help everyone with it.

So this book, where he’s frank about the troubles he’s had recently and the way they’ve challenged his natural optimism really struck a chord with me. The book is a balance of struggle and victory, setback and progress—all told with a sharp wit that’s sure to charm.

4 Stars

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

by Atul Gawande, John Bedford Lloyd (Narrator)

My original post
It’s a simple premise—a well-developed checklist can make even the most complex task doable and save even experts from horrible oversights/mistakes when implemented correctly (although there are things that just can’t be made into a checklist). As hard as it might be to fathom, seeing how checklists have been used by pilots, surgeons, investment bankers and the like is utterly fascinating. There’s just no way that I can make it sound like it.

3.5 Stars

Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind

by Alan Jacobs

My original post
Jacobs hits another one out of the park. He asks how can we read and appreciate books from the past plagued by things that would not be tolerated today? Racism; slavery; different expectations for family, male and female roles; and so on. (many of these can apply to books and people who aren’t from previous centuries, but are in the cubicle next to us or around the Thanksgiving table—but Jacobs doesn’t spend time on that, but if you can’t make the application, I don’t think you’re paying attention).

Thoughtful, thought-provoking, erudite, with quiet humor, Jacobs will make you think, aspire to be a better reader, and more widely-read, too. I’m going to have to read this one a couple of more times to mine it for detail, and I’m looking forward to it.

4 1/2 Stars

Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic

by Michael McCreary

My original post
McCreary shows a side of ASD that many people probably don’t realize exists. And even if they do, hearing about it from someone with it, helps you understand it better. McCreary gives us his perspective on things in a way that’s easy to digest. His humor (mostly pointed at himself and autism) provides some lightness to something that’s usually not treated that way.

3.5 Stars

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

by Judy Melinek, MD, & TJ Mitchell, Tanya Eby (Narrator)

My original post
This is Melinek’s account of her training to be a forensic pathologist in NYC—a great place to train, because what won’t you see there? She talks about the deaths that are the result of crimes, the kind of thing we see on every crime show in the world. But that’s not primarily the job and that’s not the focus of the book—mostly it’s the result of an accident, long-term disease, and so on. Which is actually frequently more interesting than the criminal stuff.

What makes this already compelling book all the better (as a book, not as an actual life) is that September 11, 2001, was a few weeks after her residency began. Her description of dealing with the aftermath (both in terms of the dead and the events that followed) is just sobering, and a reminder of the unspeakable reality of that day.

3.5 Stars

Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why

by Alexandra Petri

My original post
If this was a straight-forward collection of essays about politics and cultural issues, I’d probably not recommend it. I don’t know if I’d have finished it (although, with Jacob’s help (see above), maybe I could’ve). But the fact that it’s a collection of humorous essays/columns? Oh yeah, sign me up.

Even when I think she’s wrong about a topic, she made me grin and/or laugh. Usually made me think. I was always impressed with her creativity.

3 Stars

The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life

by Alex Trebek, Narrated by: Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek

My original post
Even if we hadn’t lost Trebek this year, this would’ve landed on this list. But given how much we’ve all been talking about him lately, it has to show up.

He tells his story in short chapters, full of self-depreciation and more swearing than you’d expect (he explains why). If you can hear/read him talk about his wife, his children, his cancer—and the effect that the cancer’s having on his wife and children as he prepares for death without being moved? There’s something wrong with ya. At that point, any thought I had about pretending to be objective and analytical went out the window.

My sole complaint is that the audiobook is only four-and-a-half hours long. It’s just not long enough. I get that he wasn’t trying to be exhaustive—and I don’t necessarily want that—but when you start to hear these quick stories about his growing up, his getting established in the business (either in Canada or the States), his friendships…and of course, Jeopardy!—you just want it to keep going for hours and hours.

4 1/2 Stars

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Opening Lines

By HCNewton

On May 19, 2020

In A-B, Authors, Books, Douglas Adams, Fiction, Humor, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I love a good opening line. A solid opening paragraph or page is great, but an opening line that sells you on the next 200-500 pages? Magic. When I saw this list topic listed, these 5 jumped to mind—they may not be the best I’ve ever read, but they’re the most memorable.

(I tried, tried, tried to limit myself to the opening line, but I failed on a couple of them, couldn’t help myself.)

	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce I remember in our English class in High School when we were assigned this book, pretty much no one was interested. When Mr. Russo passed out the paperbacks, a few of us flipped it opened and read these first words—and suddenly we were open to the idea (didn’t last long for all of us, but that’s beside the point, we’re focused on the opening lines here). It’s stuck with me for almost 30 years, that’s gotta say something. Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….
	Neuromancer by William Gibson This sentence was love at first glance for me. Still love it. Naturally, no one knows what color this is referring to anymore. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
	The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Oft-parodied. Oft-imitated. Often-celebrated. Does it get better than this? It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.
	Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling Why bother saying anything here? Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.
	The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I’ll go on and on about this book next week, so I’ll just keep my trap shut here. But man…there was something about these lines that got into my blood. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

Back to Reality: A Novel (Audiobook) by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton: A Parallel Universe/Body Swap Story Story Full of Laughs and Heart

By HCNewton

On March 27, 2020

In Audiobook, Book Tour, Humor

—

Back to Reality

by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton (Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., 6 Min.
The Bestseller Experiment, 2019

Read: March 19-25, 2020

Oh, boy… how do I talk about this? I thought about calling this a bundle of joy, but that means something else. A bundle of audio joy, maybe? This was just so much fun that I want to start with that. If you’re looking to have a good time, this is a book for you.

If you read the Book Spotlight I just posted, you’ve got a good idea about the plot (and if you haven’t read the Spotlight, why not?). But for the sake of completeness here’s the gist: connected by something across the multiple parallel universes, two versions (one 18 and one almost 2 decades older) of one woman swap bodies for a few days. The older version works in PR, is the mother of a teen who can’t stand her, with marriage problems. The younger version is a pop star on the verge of breaking through in the ’90s. If they don’t swap back, there’s every sign that they won’t survive in this new world. But how can they do that?

That sounds sort of intriguing, I hope. But the book never really feels like that kind of Fringe-inspired take on a Back to the Future/Freaky Friday mashup, because of the voice, the style and approach of Stay and Oliver—which is characterized by humor and heart. It’s like early-Rainbow Rowell/Jennifer Weiner/Emily Giffin/Sophie Kinsella. These are strong women in very strange circumstances, surrounded by interesting characters responding to unbelievable situations.

We meet Jo on a night out with people from the office, which turns into an alcohol-fueled karaoke sensation (Jo has a fantastic voice, but a lot of stage fright). I enjoyed this chapter so much that I probably could’ve written 3-4 paragraphs about it alone and would’ve read an entire book about this woman’s life (especially because what happens to her in the next couple of chapters deserved a complete novel to see her respond to). It took me a little longer to get invested in “Yolo” (the 90’s version), but I came around and started rooting for her, too.

I am not the target audience for this (note the authors I mentioned above—some of which I only know through my wife’s description). And there were a few times I asked myself why I was listening to this—each time, I decided I was enjoying myself enough that I didn’t care if this was my typical read or not. There’s just a hint of SF, a dollop of Time Travel (more like jumping between parallel universes), and a healthy amount of “women’s commercial fiction.” This is a recipe for a wonderful literary dessert.

I’ll frequently (maybe too frequently?) talk about an audiobook narrator bringing the text to life. And Kim Bretton does that. But she does more than that—she fills it with life. Dynamic, energetic, vibrant…are just some of the adjectives that spring to mind. I was very happy when I just looked over her other audiobook credits and saw a couple of titles I was already thinking about—if she’s doing them, I’m giving them a try. (although, if I never hear her do another American male accent, I’d be more than okay).

Funny, sweet, amusing, heartfelt, laugh-inducing, touching, comic, imaginative—and did I mention humorous? This is 606 minutes of pure entertainment. I really encourage you to put this in your ear-holes. It’d probably work almost as well in print—Bretton’s great, but she has to have something to work with—but in audio? It’s close to a must-listen.

4 Stars

My thanks to Overview Media for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Back to Reality: A Novel (Audiobook) by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton

By HCNewton

On March 27, 2020

In Audiobook, Book Tour, Fiction, Humor

Today I’m pleased to welcome the Book Tour for the delightful audiobook of Back to Reality by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton (Narrator). Following this spotlight post, I’ll be giving my take on the novel here in a bit. But let’s start by learning a little about this here book, okay?

Book Details:

Book Title: Back to Reality by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton (Narrator)
Release date: September 25, 2019
Format: Audiobook
Publisher: The Bestseller Experiment
Length: 10 hours and 6 minutes

Book Blurb:

The bestselling ’90s nostalgia time travel comedy

Jo’s world is about to change forever, and it’s about time

Her marriage is on auto-pilot, daughter hates her, job sucks and it’s not even Tuesday.

As Jo’s life implodes, a freak event hurls her back to ‘90s Los Angeles where, in a parallel universe, she’s about to hit the big time as a rock star.

Jo has to choose between her dreams and her family in an adventure that propels her from London to Hollywood then Glastonbury, the world’s greatest music festival.

Jo encounters a disgraced guru, a movie star with a fetish for double-decker buses, and the biggest pop star in the world… who just happens to want to kill her.

Back to Reality is a funny, heartwarming story about second chances, with a heroine to rival Bridget Jones and the rock n roll nostalgia of Keith A Pearson.

The novel from the Bestseller Experiment podcast presenters Mark Stay and Mark Desvaux. The Two Marks went to more gigs in the ’90s than in any other decade and are currently working on a time machine to see Prince in concert.

Praise for Back to Reality

“Like if Nick Hornby wrote a time travel, body swap adventure!”—New York Times bestselling author Mimi Strong

“Everything the world loves about British comedy. For those who wished Simon Pegg wrote novels, you now have the Two Marks.”—USA Today bestselling author Shannon Mayer

“Written with an authentic touch and plenty of good humour. A tough book to put down.”—Mark Dawson, USA Today bestselling author of the million-selling John Milton series

“A compelling story where the comedy compliments the drama and keeps you turning the page… A delight.”—Bestselling author of The Dublin Trilogy, Caimh McDonnell

“I LOVE IT! It’s Back to the Future meets Freaky Friday.”—#1 Kindle bestselling author of Hot Mess, Lucy Vine

“Crackles with all the addictive energy of a pop hit, and the heart of a soul classic.”—Samantha King, bestselling author of The Choice

“Like a book version of Hot Tub Time Machine with fabulous female characters and great music.”—Kate Harrison, author of the bestselling 5:2 series

“If you love time travel and rock and roll, you’ll love this book!”—Julie Cohen, author of Together

“Sliding Doors meets Back to the Future in a story to make you sing with joy.”—Karen Ball, Speckled Pen

“A magnificent book! Loved every page. Beautifully written.”—Callan McAuliffe, actor The Walking Dead

What Amazon readers are saying:

★★★★★ ‘A real page-turner overflowing with humour.’
★★★★★ ‘All kinds of funny, from laugh out loud to quiet snorts of recognition.’
★★★★★ ‘I miss the characters so much I think I’ll start reading it again!’
★★★★★ ‘Pure pleasure to read. You won’t put it down until you reach the last page.’
★★★★★ ‘An absolutely cracking read. It’s funny, it’s clever, it’s heartwarming, and completely impossible to put down.’
★★★★★ ‘It’s —Spinal Tap meets —Back to the Future meets —Freaky Friday.’
★★★★★ ‘Funny, fast and massively entertaining. Hugely recommend.’
★★★★★ ‘—Back To Reality has it all; It’s funny, it’s thrilling, its thought-provoking and inspiring, but be warned, once you start reading this book you won’t want to put it down.’
★★★★★ ‘Think —Peggy Sue Got Married meets MTV. Funny and warmhearted. Highly Recommended.’
★★★★★ ‘This book reads like the best comedy movies. Great pace, humour and loads of action. Recommended for fans of Douglas Adams and Helen Fielding.’
★★★★★ ‘Belts along at a cracking pace, at times reminding me of Douglas Adams.’

About the Authors:

Mark Stay

Mark Stay co-wrote the screenplay for Robot Overlords which became a movie with Sir Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson, and premiered at the 58th London Film Festival. Author of the fantasy novel The End of Magic, he is also co-presenter of the Bestseller Experiment podcast and worked in bookselling and publishing for over twenty-five years. He lives in Kent, England, with his family and a trio of retired chickens. He blogs and humblebrags over at markstaywrites.com

Mark Oliver

Mark Desvaux writes fiction as Mark Oliver. He also authors inspirational non-fiction and online courses, and is a professional speaker in the fields of self-development and spiritual growth. He is chairman and co-founder of the charity Foodshare. As a bestselling recording artist (Urban Myth Club), Mark’s two critically-acclaimed albums have led to appearances at festivals such as Glastonbury (which he tries to mention on every podcast). He lives on Vancouver Island with his family, surrounded by the beautiful mountains and seas, with chickens, bees and very tall trees.

Purchase Links

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US

My thanks to Overview Media for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided.

The White Man’s Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon by Dana Schwartz, Jason Adam Katzenstein (Illustrator): A Guide to White Male Writers for White Male Writers (or those who want to be one)

By HCNewton

On February 3, 2020

In Humor, Non-Fiction

The White Man’s Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon

by Dana Schwartz, Jason Adam Katzenstein (Illustrator)

Paperback, 241 pg.
Harper Perennial, 2019

Read: January 7-30, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore (I did)!

If you want to be a writer, you should attend an Ivy League university, where you roommate happens to be the nephew of a senior editor at Knopf, and you should go on to get a summer internship in New York City. This internship will not be paid, and unfortunately you will have to suffer the indignity of living in an apartment that your parents pay for. But soon, your struggles will pay off, and you will be accepted at one of the nation’s most prestigious MFA programs.

If you can’t do all of that, I hate to say it, but it sounds like you won’t have the commitment and discipline necessary to make it as a writer.

Nice guy, the narrator of this book, right? I didn’t know this when I picked it up, but this is a book inspired by a parody Twitter account Schwartz runs @GuyInYourMFA, I wish I knew that going in—it might have helped me appreciate the book more. Probably not, really, the book speaks for itself, but it the humor in it screams Twitter. Anyway, that account is the voice behind this book.

This is a guide to:

teach you everything you need to know to become the chain-smokin, coffee-drinking, Proust-quoting, award-winning writer you’ve always known you should be…

Not a white man? Not to worry. The White Male Writer isn’t a hard-and-fast demographic; it’s a state of mind…

There’s a brief discussion of topics like how to dress like a writer, what the Western Canon is, how to identify “Chick Lit” (the last identifier is “By Jennifer Weiner”, which is a pretty good clue, you have to admit), and ends with a nice reading list of White Male Writers.

The heart of the book consists of thirty-two 6(+/-) page profiles of the greatest White Male Writers that make up the Western Canon. These consist of a brief biography, a discussion of some major works (“Works You Need to Know”), and some lessons from the work or life of the Writer that should be applied by the reader in their effort to become a Writer (drink recipes, how to respond to a rejection letter, how to write a love letter like James Joyce, etc.).

The writers are male, white, and largely published in the Twentieth Century (Shakespeare, Milton, Samuel Johnson, Goethe, Lord Byron, Dickens, Thoreau, and Tolstoy would be the exceptions). I can virtually guarantee that you’ve heard to them all—not that you’ve read them all, however. And in between the snark and intentionally sexist lessons, there’s some decent information to be gleaned. That isn’t the point of the book, the point is the snark, sexism, and general parodying the idea of the young, pretentious, white male would-be literary genius.

Every chapter includes at least 3 lines that should bring some level of amusement to the reader (some will have many more)—which is a pretty decent and consistent number. Sadly, all the jokes are around a theme, and so can get repetitive. If you don’t read cover to cover, if you only read a 2-3 chapters at a time, and bear in mind that all the jokes will be similar, you can have a lot of fun with this book. If you neglect any of that, it can get tiresome. Once I figured that out (it didn’t take long, thankfully, before I recognized the symptoms), I had a lot of fun with this book.

The illustrations are wonderful—each chapter (except the Pynchon chapter) features a great caricature of the artist, and a handful of other illustrations that do a wonderful job of augmenting the text.

This is not the subtlest of books I’ll read this year (it doesn’t try), but it is insightful, amusing and (accidentally?) informative. All of which makes it a fun, book-nerdy, read. Give it a shot, you’ll probably be glad you did.

3 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Catch-Up Quick Takes: Best. State. Ever.; Live Right and Find Happiness; You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty (Audiobooks) by Dave Barry, Dick Hill

By HCNewton

On December 3, 2019

In Audiobook, Dave Barry, Humor, Non-Fiction

I’ve mentioned before here that I think that Dave Barry is just about the funniest writer around—I used to gobble up his stuff in the newspaper and bookstore as quickly as it came out. I’m not sure what changed, but there are a handful of books by him that I haven’t gotten to yet. Thankfully, my Library had a few of them available to listen to last month. Here are a few thoughts about each of them. Quick reminder: the point of these quick takes post to catch up on my “To Write About” stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.

Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland

by Dave Barry, Dick Hill (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 4 hrs., and 47 mins.
Recorded Books, 2016
Read: November 21-22, 2019

(the official blurb)
The best parts of this one for me were the introduction (explaining some of the phenomena behind the widespread mockery of Florida) and the chapter giving a history of the state. I chuckled a lot at both of those.

When he moved onto looking at various tourist attractions and or locations in the state, it lost a little bit for me. There was something in each chapter to make me grin—maybe even laugh. But not as much as I’m used to from Barry. The Key West chapter came close, but even that stumbled. I do think if I’d ever been in the state to get a feel for some of these places it might have been better.

The biggest revelation for me from this is just how funny Dick Hill can be. No offense intended, but the voice of Jack Reacher and other thrillers is just not what you think of when it comes to silliness. But man, he was really, really good at this.
3 Stars

Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer is Much Faster): Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry

by Dave Barry
Unabridged Audiobook, 3 hrs., and 39 mins.
Recorded Books, 2015
Read: November 26, 2019

(the official blurb)
This is more like it: pieces of wisdom (and other things) Barry’s passing on to his daughter and grandson. The driving tips for his daughter were fantastic (not just because my daughter is in the process of getting her license right now). The letter to his infant grandson was funny and touching.

Barry also looks at his parents’ generation (the Mad Men generation) and their ability to party, Google Glass, and a trip to Brazil for the World Cup (not being a sports guy, I didn’t think that last one would do much for me, but it was really funny). Oh, yeah, then he talks in-depth about a trip that he and Ridley Pearson took to Russia to talk about writing.

As much as I liked Dick Hill, Barry’s a better narrator of his own stuff.
3.5 Stars

You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About

by Dave Barry
Unabridged Audiobook, 3 hrs., and 22 mins.
Penguin Audio, 2014
Read: November 8, 2019

(the official blurb)
This one ticked all the right boxes for me—the stuff about his daughter dating was the kind of thing that fathers everywhere can relate to and second; taking his daughter to a Bieber concert was even better. It was probably not a good idea for me to listen to his chapter about Fifty Shades of Grey at work, thankfully no one asked me why I was laughing (I did not want to have to explain that). Oh, and his funeral instructions were priceless.

Something I wasn’t prepared for was a long piece about a trip his family took to Israel. Listening to Barry juggle travel humor (searching for A/C and Wi-Fi in the midst of historic/cultural wonders), sensitive political discussions, and even getting close to the spiritual was fantastic. It’s not the kind of writing that you often see from Barry, and it’s easy to forget he can be really effective doing things that aren’t just verbal slapstick.

This is probably one of my favorite collections from someone I’ve been reading for decades. This is just great.
4 Stars

Gilmore Girls: A Cultural History by Lara C. Stache and Rachel Davidson: Oy with the Poodles Already

By HCNewton

On August 28, 2019

In Humor

Of course that headline doesn’t say anything about the book, I’ve just never had an excuse to use that line, and this is as close as I’m going to get.
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Gilmore Girls: A Cultural History

by Lara C. Stache and Rachel D. Davidson

Series: The Cultural History of Television

eARC, 248 pg.
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019
Read: August 16 – 23, 2019

I’m a huge fan of the show Gilmore Girls, and am a bigger fan of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. So when I saw this title, I had to jump on it. A cultural history of the show? 200+ pages about the show in more than just a raving-fan mode? Sign me up! The authors are big fans of the show, it must be said, but they can be critical of it, which makes all the difference. This book is an examination of both the show’s reflection of the culture around it as well as what impact it had on the culture—the medium of TV, the casual viewers, and the fans. For a show that depends so heavily on pop culture, the former is easy to demonstrate (it’s more of a question of how to focus the examination and when to stop), but the latter is just as important.

In Part I of the book, the authors look at the various relationships depicted in the show—mothers and daughters; fathers/father-figures and children; romance (with mother/daughter relationships, this is obligatory for the show); and friendship. I thought they were spot-on when it came to mothers and fathers. The romantic relationships they concentrated, and the points they raised about them, were what anyone picking up the book expected (although there was a stronger anti-Logan/pro-Jess bias than one might expect)—I did like the way that Dean and Luke were paralleled, and didn’t appreciate the way that Christopher and Logan were (mostly because I think they were right, and I had to lower my regard for Logan if he’s Rory’s Christopher-equivalent). I thought the looks at Lorelai/Sookie and Rory/Lane and what they said about female friendships was just fantastic.

In Part II the authors switch to themes addressed in the show—feminism, class, pop culture and small-town life. I’ll talk more about the chapter on feminism in a moment, but I thought it was exceptional. The Pop Culture chapter was fun and insightful. I appreciated the Class/Wealth examination, but thought they could’ve done more with it. This is part of the book that you probably can’t find much of in discussions about the show—you can’t swing a LOLcat^* online without finding someone talking about Luke and Lorelai or Dean and Rory, but thoughtful takes on the greater cultural themes are rarer (not impossible to find, but harder.) The book doesn’t shine as brightly as it could in this Part, but it handles the subjects deftly.

^* I feel like I should apologize to Babette for using this expression.

The chapter examining the show’s depiction of feminism features an extended look at Episode 1.14, “That Damn Donna Reed.” This is at the same time the best and worst part of the book. Let me explain: the authors examine this episode and the main storylines in detail and while reflecting about what those stories say about the feminism of Gilmore Girls and the contemporary American culture (and our contemporary culture). I was entertained and satisfied with the book, but when they hit this high point^*—and didn’t accomplish anything like it in following chapters—I was disappointed. If we’d gotten that kind of examination of popular culture and class as shown in particular episodes, I’d have probably rated this book higher. I may have rated it higher if that chapter didn’t have the 1.14 section, too—it just made everything else seem a little more shallow.

^* I’m not saying I agreed with all of the analysis, but I appreciated what they did.

Chapter 8, “Small-Town Livin’,” is—like most of this book—a look at the depiction of something and a celebration of it. In this case, it’s Stars Hollow as an ideal small town. We’re shown many examples of the peculiarities of Stars Hollow (taken in every sense of the word)—notably some of the characters, the way the community acts as a large family, how it supports (and doesn’t support) each member, and so on. Then the authors talk about how it represents something in our contemporary culture that many, many feel is missing from our communities and how we yearn for it. I don’t know what it was about this chapter precisely that struck me the way it did—but I didn’t expect it, and the sentiments expressed really resonated with me. Perhaps it’s because the rest of the book focuses (as it should) on Lorelai, Rory, Richard, Emily, Luke, etc., and it’s only here that we focus on everyone else that made this show delightful.

My main complaint is that the authors depend on the same handful of examples too often. Luke did X, or Emily said Y are each trotted out to support 5 or 6 (or a dozen) points rather than finding 5 or 6 (or a dozen) other examples to show the same kind of thing. Luke didn’t just act in a certain manner one time in one episode to cite repeatedly, he does repeated things along certain lines that could be used in a variety of contexts. I don’t want to get bogged down in the details on this, so I’m keeping it vague, but it often felt like I could sing along with Stache and Davidson when they started to illustrate a point with one of the frequently used points. I can understand that it’s easier to keep going back to the same well so that they don’t have to explain the citations as much each time, but it got a bit tired.

There’s an appendix (of sorts) wrapping up this book that is worth the purchase price—”The Episodes: An Opinionated Compendium.” The compendium lists every episode, with a one-paragraph synopses (some are short, some aren’t) and a Best Line (except for in Season 7, which almost doesn’t count for the authors as a real season—like the mythical second and third Matrix movies, the fourth Indiana Jones, or third X-Men). I don’t recommend reading that straight through, you’ll burn out—but it’s a great way to revisit the episodes and refresh your memory. I don’t know the page count on this section, but it’s not inconsequential—it’s 27% of my eARC. Any fan will appreciate this part, even if they’re unimpressed with the main text (and I doubt many fans will be unimpressed with anything in these pages).

This is a fun read, a thought-provoking read, and a comfort-read. It’s like spending a couple of hours talking with some pretty intelligent friends about a TV show you all really like. It’s impossible to watch the show without thinking about it in the terms the authors choose to focus on—relationships, feminism, wealth, community, family—but most fans probably haven’t focused on it to the extent this volume does. I wanted more, but not much more. Not only is this a good book and a good way to examine a beloved show, it’s a great introduction to this series of books. I know I’ll be picking up more of them.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Rowman & Littlefield via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this opportunity, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

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3.5 Stars

Pub Day Repost: Dear Mr Pop Star by Derek & Dave Philpott: Hilarious, Unique, Addictive are some Adjectives I use to describe this Incredibly Entertaining Book

By HCNewton

On September 20, 2018

In Humor, Non-Fiction

Dear Mr Pop Star

by Derek & Dave Philpott
eARC, 412 pg.
Unbound, 2018
Read: July 24 – August 7, 2018<br/

In my intro post for this Tour Stop, I said that this book was “almost indescribable” and I really mean that — the blurb for the book says, “deliberately deranged letters to pop stars from the 1960s to the 90s to take issue with the lyrics of some of their best-known songs.” And that’s right, but it doesn’t seem to get to the heart of it. The answer to the first question in the Q&A is a pretty good description, though. But if you don’t want to read that (which I get, you’re wrong — but I get it), I should probably try to convey what you’ll find here.

Let’s take a look at the letter they wrote to Starship. I don’t feel too bad about talking about this letter in detail because their take on their song “We Built this City” is common (I used to own, for example, a t-shirt that made the same joke, just in briefer form). Now, their letter goes into a great amount of detail about the nature of foundations, different types of them, etc. and how this makes their “design project” the “most ludicrous” in the history of architecture. This kind of thing is funny, and a collection of these sort of letters — as well-written as these are — would be worth the time to read and would make you laugh — I’d give it a pretty high rating, encourage you to get it, etc.

But what separates this book from similar tomes, what makes it special is that on the very next page, you get to read a response from Martin Page, who co-wrote the song. Page mounts an impassioned defense of the song — full of references to Rock classics as proof. I’ll spare the details so you can appreciate Page’s inspired choise in response. Each letter printed in this collection is answered by a songwriter, musician, or other representative of a musical act. Some of these responses debate the premise of the Philpott’s letter, some answer in the same vein, others take the premise and run with it in their own way — some appear to be in on the joke, others appears to be flummoxed that anyone would take their lyrics in this insane manner.

In particular, Tears for Fears, The Knack, and NuShooz/J. Smith had great responses — Kimberly Rew (of Katrina and the Waves) is my current favorite. EMF must have either absolutely loved or utterly hated writing their response, I cackled at it. The Human League and Wang Chung composed very long responses — some are as short as a paragraph or three. I really could keep listing some other distinctives about the responses, and great ones to look for — but this is already getting pretty long.

They also include some lIttle notes or postcards like the one to ELO, talking about the impossibility of their name; to “Mr. John” about the unacceptability of violence on any night; or to John Parr (involving canonization of a particular Muppet, and the danger of exposing him to flame) — I just reread that one and cracked up, again. These probably couldn’t support being stretched into a letter of any length, and there are no responses printed — but are very likely the most funny parts of the book.

There’s an elevated vocabulary used by the Philpotts — this isn’t an uneducated reaction to lyrics. The letters are frequently erudite and earnest. The letters don’t come across as something written for comedic effect — yes, they’re funny. But that’s not the intention. Somehow, that happens without turning the joke back on them for misunderstanding the lyrics, either. They’re a strange kind of tribute, but this kind of close reading of a lyric is a form of flattery.

Many of the acts haven’t made much of an impact in the States, and I clearly don’t know enough about British Pop Music to understand each of these — but thanks to youtube and lyrics websites, I was able to get the gist of what I was supposed to be reading about (and I was able to enjoy those I was feeling too lazy to look up). But by and large these are acts and songs that are well-known enough that this book is accessible to readers from around the English-speaking world (and maybe larger, I’m not an expert on music listening habits). The acts run the gamut from Herman’s Hermits to Judas Priest and many, many points in between.

I cannot stress enough how much fun I had with this book — I read whole letters or notes aloud to family members, and/or forced them to read one for themselves. These are the perfect literary equivalent of potato chips, you can eat a handful at a time and then leave the bag for later (along those lines, it’s possible to read too many at once). The letters are short enough that you can just dip in and out of the book. And, I can assure you, these are the kind of thing you can return to later and still enjoy — not unlike a good pop song (huh, wonder where I got that imagery?) A combination of satire, analysis, tribute and comedy — without any meanness or cruelty — Dear Mr Pop Star will appeal to music lovers from all sorts of eras. Do yourself a favor and grab this today.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the authors in exchange for my participation in this tour stop.

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