Category: Humor (Books)

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Books & Novels General Non-Fiction History & Biographies (Books) Humor (Books) Movies & Television (Books)

YES PLEASE

Written by Amy Poehler

SUMMARY:

First published as a 2014 hardcover, HarperCollins/Dey St. subsequently released Yes Please in paperback in 2015.  The book was then updated in 2018 for this 360-page mass market reprint.  Dedicated to her two young sons, actress/comedian/Saturday Night Live (SNL) alum Amy Poehler tries her hand as a humorist intermingling her self-analysis memoir with an assortment of anecdotes and self-help tips for grown-ups. 

Unleashing her distinctive brand of humor, Poehler begins with “Part One: Say Whatever You Want.”  With tales of her life starting out with childhood in suburban Boston, Poehler alternates with womanly advice segments, including her takes on giving birth, motherhood (as compared to Poehler’s more traditional mother), being a working mom, and touching upon her divorce from actor Will Arnett.  A supplemental chapter by her long-time SNL cohort and Late Night host, Seth Meyers, is also included.

Subsequent sections consist of “Part Two: Do What You Like;” and “Part Three: Be Whoever You Are.”  Including more tales of her pre-stardom improv background in Chicago and later New York City, Poehler provides advice regarding marriage, sex, and sleeping.  In the last section, she mostly concentrates on her professional life and life lessons she has learned over time as a celebrity.  Poehler also discusses her six-year stint as the lead actress on NBC-TV’s Parks and Recreation.  Her last entry describes her somewhat befuddled assessments of computerized technology, i.e. inadvertently sending a critical text to the wrong person.      

Note: This title is also available digitally and as an audiobook.

REVIEW:

Amy Poehler’s adult-friendly humor and off-the-wall spontaneity is imbued with an endearing charm, but a little tends to go a long way. Though hardly pretentious, her snarky, stream-of-consciousness writing style can make a reader’s eyes pop trying to follow along with an occasionally confusing narrative.  For the most part, Poehler at least presents a far more engaging and down-to-earth read than trying to absorb Jack Kerouac.  That is, if one doesn’t find her large quantities of musing hodgepodge filler to be increasingly tiresome.      

Per the industry standard, her publisher briefly collects critical quotes applauding Yes Please, but the general tone of these snippets are actually illuminating.  None of them claim that Poehler’s book is a modern humor masterpiece, but that she provides a welcome gift to her fans.  That’s really the most accurate assessment one can make of Yes Please. 

By no means merely a zippy self-philosophy lesson, Yes Please balances Poehler’s wit and mostly positive attitude with some relatable life lessons one can best learn from his/her own experiences.  Suffice to say, Amy Poehler’s vibrant personality drives Yes Please into a much better read than the actual content might have for somebody else.       

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

A table of contents is provided.  Including her 1977 kindergarten report card, a preface presents Poehler’s insights regarding the obstacles she faced as a novice author.  She then includes ‘instructions’ on how to interpret Yes Please’s context.  An assortment of black-and-white photos and an eight-page color insert are provided.  The book concludes with Poehler’s acknowledgements.     

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    6½ Stars

Categories
Books & Novels Humor (Books) Mystery & Suspense

JAINE AUSTEN: THE PMS MURDER

Written by Laura Levine

SUMMARY:

First released in 2006 by Kensington Books, 2007’s 270-page paperback edition presents Laura Levine’s fifth Jaine Austen cozy mystery.  Living carefree outside Hollywood, CA, under-employed freelance writer Jaine Austen has mixed feelings about her best friend Kandi’s impending nuptials. There is celebrating finally lucky-in-love Kandi’s happiness, of course, but the flip side is her pushy fiancé, Steve, … and those eyesore bridesmaids’ dresses in a nauseating shade of baby pink. 

The day hasn’t gone much better between an unsuccessful bathing suit shopping excursion and feuding with her stubborn housecat, Prozac. She can also add another round of fending off unwanted flirting by one of her writing students at a local retirement facility. Not to mention, Jaine’s happily retired parents in Florida are keeping her posted on Dad’s latest misadventure: targeting a new neighbor he suspects is a fugitive serial killer he saw on America’s Most Wanted.

The good news is that Jaine makes a new friend: actress/waitress Pam Kenton.  Invited by Pam to join an informal ladies’ support group, the PMS Club is really a weekly excuse to unwind over homemade guacamole and margaritas.  Mingling with mostly other divorcées, like herself, Jaine lets the good times roll at hostess Rochelle Meyers’ upscale home.

Soon after fellow PMS-er Marybeth stupidly reveals an ongoing extramarital affair with Rochelle’s dentist husband, she expires from a fatal dose of poisoned guacamole.  Suspicious eyes instantly squint towards both Rochelle and her adulterous spouse, but the police deem everyone present a suspect – including Jaine. Being publicly implicated in a homicide case certainly doesn’t bode well, if she intends to land a gig as a high-profile bank’s newsletter editor … let alone any romantic chance with the hunky executive she hopes will be supervising her.

If only to save her own skin, not to mention a well-paying job, it’s up to this amateur sleuth to probe her new acquaintances and all their collective gripes against the victim to help snare a killer.  That is, if this elusive killer doesn’t snare Jaine first.    

Note: Unlike the cover, the interior pages pluralize the title as The PMS Murders. 

REVIEW:

As far as acerbic snark goes, novelist/TV sitcom screenwriter Laura Levine concocts a LOL cozy whodunnit.  Still, there is one looming issue of preference; it’s the literary equivalent of whether readers prefer light mayo on their sub sandwiches or just smothering the mayo.  Though consistently entertaining, Levine’s cynical humor unmistakably projects the latter. 

Short of a TV laugh track, one will likely wonder if Jaine’s crime-solving is more an excuse for Levine’s wacky chick lit jokes and spoofing of Southern California culture clichés rather than a suspenseful whodunnit.  What compensates for Levine’s bevy of genre caricatures is the insertion of sporadic bits of plausibility at welcome moments, such as a homicide cop’s no-nonsense skepticism of Jayne’s past amateur sleuthing. 

As narrated by its bumbling, down-to-earth protagonist (projecting contemporary shades of Penny Marshall’s Laverne DeFazio), the sitcom spunk of The PMS Murder is mostly a welcome delight. If anything, this comedy-mystery delivers a fun bedtime read. Still, it’s a good bet that even genre fans might deem Levine’s excessive sitcom humor the reason why this novel will simply be one-and-done. The decision really is: aside from the unremarkable plot, will Levine’s jokes still be hilarious reading them a second time or more?

In that sense, finding The PMS Murder either at the library first or perhaps a second-hand bookstore may be the most practical option.

Note: This title is also available in hardcover, audiobook, and digital formats.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

Levine provides an acknowledgement and thank-you’s.  A thirteen-page sample previews Jaine Austen’s next caper: Death By Pantyhose.  Now employed as a comedian’s joke writer, Jaine is unwittingly caught up in another homicide investigation.  This time, the victim is her client’s professional rival, who has been fatally strangled with a pair of nylons.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                          6½ Stars

Categories
Animals & Nature Books & Novels Humor (Books) Sports (Books)

A FINE AND PLEASANT MISERY

Written by Patrick F. McManus. Cover Illustration by Bob Jones.

SUMMARY:

Released by Owl Books (an imprint of Holt, Rinehart & Winston) in 1981, this 209-page paperback is a reprint of the publisher’s original 1978 hardcover edition.  Taken from Field & Stream Magazine, the gamut of these Patrick “Pat” McManus” short stories first appeared from 1968 through 1978. 

Bouncing back and forth between his post-World War II youth growing up in Northern Idaho and his present-day experiences, McManus shares his Pacific Northwest anecdotes about:

  • Camping, fishing, and hunting, now and way back then;
  • Proper methods for panicking in the great outdoors;
  • How to get yourself lost on a hunting trip with your buddies;
  • His less-than-prototypical family dog, Stranger, growing up; 
  • Dubious life lessons taken from his crochety pre-teen mentor and local mountain man, Rancid Crabtree;
  • A wild rafting trip with his old crony, Retch;
  • His youthful ‘Big Safari’ capers (aka camping overnight in the backyard), and later his teenage ‘Big Trip,’ where a week’s cross-country hiking trip with a friend becomes a full-blown survival course; 
  • Ever in search of cheap and practical camping gear, the ‘treasures’ McManus finds at his local army surplus store;
  • A makeshift bicycle (“death on two wheels”) from the author’s childhood;
  • Taking one’s family to explore a national park;
  • Perpetually feuding with cows for his favorite fishing hole;
  • and several other related tales.  

McManus views outdoor misadventure as not only a hobby, but as a lifelong passion – no matter how much reality gets in the way.

REVIEW:

For outdoor die-hards and fans of TV parodies like The Red Green Show, the guy humor McManus exudes is timeless.  The kicker is this book’s surprising appeal to non-outdoor enthusiasts.  Given some patience, skeptics will likely find themselves chuckling as McManus repetitively treads topics like youthful fantasies gone awry, repercussions of childhood poverty, ornery relatives and neighbors, wacky friends, or the local scam artist posing as a reputable retail businessman.  Embellishments are a given, but McManus knows exactly how to land an anecdote’s punchline.

If anything, this collection of McManus musings offers some welcome fresh air for anyone justifiably exasperated with the tech-savvy 21st Century.  This kid-friendly title may also be an ideal alternative for today’s generation to tune out television and the internet long enough to give his book a fair chance.  Getting back to some hilarious aspects of down-to-earth nature makes A Fine and Pleasant Misery well worth discovery, if not re-discovery.  

Note: No matter his emphasis on the supposed glories (let alone the necessities) of fishing and hunting, McManus doesn’t depict grisly details. On second thought … one tale does mention his wife’s horror upon unexpectedly finding one of his ‘catches’ stuffed in his hunting jacket. 

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

McManus briefly offers his acknowledgements.  Jack Samson, then-Editor of Field & Stream, presents a six-page introduction offering insight re: why this assortment of McManus stories was compiled as a book.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:           7½ Stars

Categories
Books & Novels General Fiction Humor (Books) Mystery & Suspense

BIG TROUBLE

Written by Dave Barry

SUMMARY:

First published in 1999, G.P. Putnam’s Sons 292-page paperback reprint was released in 2017. 

Set in Coconut Grove (a posh Miami, Florida neighborhood), this wacky heist caper’s ensemble cast includes: a down-on-his-luck ex-journalist (Eliot) and his teenage son (Matt); two moronic, small-time hustlers (Snake & Eddie); a dim-witted yet good-natured loser (Puggy); a gentle Latina maid (Nina); two nonchalant Russian arms dealers; a pair of error-prone hitmen out of New Jersey (Henry & Leonard); one sleazy arms courier (Arthur); Arthur’s neglected wife, Anna, and her teenage daughter (Jenny); three bewildered Miami cops, two hard-nosed FBI agents, and one famished dog (Roger) feuding with a venomous toad. 

Just throw in a secret nuclear weapon concealed in a suitcase, as everyone converges in a late-night dash to the airport … and the book’s title makes sense.   

REVIEW:

For starters, Big Trouble lifts plenty from Elmore Leonard’s playbook re: R-rated guy humor.  Case in point: the novel’s zany tone parodies South Florida’s pro-gun culture, shady conglomerates scoring hefty government contracts, international terrorism, bargain-basement crooks, and even airport security (or lack thereof).  It’s no surprise that, as a potential audience, women might find Big Trouble’s oozing of tongue-in-cheek machismo a instant turn-off. 

In his acknowledgement, Dave Barry readily admits that his foray into outrageous, fast-paced South Florida crime fiction was inspired by writers like Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. Make no mistake: Big Trouble delivers plenty of foul-mouthed, hilariously unpredictable antics in crowd-pleasing fashion. However, the sole caveat is a home invasion sequence where a misogynistic plot anomaly turns unnecessarily vile — let’s just say the icky scene seems more reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino than Dave Barry. Aside from this detour into exploitative trash, the story’s blend of world-weary cynicism and seedy humor is well-played. 

Big Trouble’s best element counteracting its chauvinism is how the likable female characters (Monica, Anna, & Jenny) are more competent than the guys, as they bravely step up to action, when necessary. For instance, cop Monica Ramirez’s take-charge heroism merits the story’s MVP honors; in that regard, Barry ought to reward her with a spin-off novel.

While not all of Big Trouble’s males are inebriated, trigger-happy buffoons, there’s enough testosterone-laden guys to cover a gamut of genre caricatures. Even so, there’s some intriguing bait-and-switching at work — some characters implied as pivotal early on are then superseded by others, who make a far bigger impact down the home stretch. Without divulging spoilers, at least one seemingly minor character takes stunning risks in the climax trying to help save the day. Plausible or not, such twists are worth the wait once the plot’s main scheme kicks into motion.

The bottom line is that Barry’s zippy comedic wit makes Big Trouble a guilty pleasure worth indulging. Even some unlikely late twists don’t hamper a suspenseful, straight-up finale worthy of Hollywood blockbusters. An extra helping of irony and even some sentimentality tinge the epilogue, as Barry opts for a classy, low-key finish. Big Trouble won’t ever be mistaken as a masterpiece, but it’s still a welcome diversion from channel surfing and the bleakness of daily news.

Note: There’s a same-named, 2002 big-screen film adaptation starring Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Dennis Farina, & Stanley Tucci that bombed — both critically and at the box office. That really isn’t a surprise so much; Big Trouble’s snarky humor is a hit-or-miss proposition (no pun intended) where a reader’s imagination best visualizes this loose parody of crime noir.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

Barry offers an acknowledgment/warning, as he concedes that the characters didn’t abide by his request to refrain from naughty dialogue.  To his credit, he clearly states that Big Trouble isn’t meant for kids.  The author’s other fiction and non-fiction titles are listed.  The back inside cover is Barry’s brief synopsis.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                   7 Stars

     

Categories
Books & Novels Humor (Books)

WORLD OF GUILTY DOGS

Written by (No Credit Provided)

SUMMARY:

Published in 2015 by New Seasons, this glossy 77-page hardcover incorporates a collection of humorous canine calamities.  Just visualize a mix of amateur photography and Shutterstock poses with short witty captions.

REVIEW:

This adorable ode to the timeless bond that dogs share with their pet humans illustrates how dogs, too, sometimes experience a guilty conscience.  This notion seems especially true when these canines are caught red-pawed in a suspected act of trouble-making.  Supported by some excellent photography, the kid-friendly captions make this undemanding book a fun gag gift for all dog lovers.   

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

None.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                                 5 Stars

Categories
Books & Novels Humor (Books) Self-Help & Relationships THREE STOOGES-Related

THE THREE STOOGES CAREER GUIDE: ADVICE FOR CLIMBING THE LADDER

Written by Sam Stall

SUMMARY:

Released by Running Press Book Publishers in 2011, this 144-page hardcover compiles a series of encouraging expressions and catchphrases (yet not quite clichés) meant to inspire workplace rookies.  One might even say these tips could help keep savvy (or jaded) professionals humble.  Vintage images starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, and Shemp Howard help the Stooges demonstrate timeless tidbits – i.e. the necessity of leading by example;  avoiding the hindrance of overthinking problems; the importance of a strong team spirit; and so many more.

REVIEW:

Spoofing the business management/self-help genre, author Sam Stall does an ingenious job of pairing common sense advice with classic Stooge antics.  Hence, this book’s good-natured appeal extends beyond hard-core Stooge fanatics, whether it’s   a gag gift to recent college graduates, or those perhaps considering alternate careers.  Courtesy of Stall’s lightweight humor, The Three Stooges Career Guide is a low-key gem for anyone who needs a stress relief break from the workplace.  Then again, there are some kernels of wisdom to be found along the way.  Rest assured, the Stooges will remind readers that a smile and a good laugh are still invaluable business tools.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

None.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                               7 Stars

Categories
Books & Novels Humor (Books) Self-Help & Relationships

RED GREEN’S BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WOMEN (FOR MEN WHO DON’T READ INSTRUCTIONS)

Written by Steve “Red Green” Smith

SUMMARY:

For fans of the long-running Canadian TV sitcom/handyman spoof, “The Red Green Show,” this hardcover is a witty 2013 literary follow-up.  Casually offering 248 pages of dating, marriage, and parenting advice for clueless guys, crotchety “Red” shares his everyman wit and timeless insights on fundamental (and often irreconcilable) differences between the genders.  Starting with teenagers, “Red” goes on to explain how guys invariably find their soulmates.  This component is vital, particularly when determining how one should cope with enduring male/female relationships, especially as months can turn into years and then decades of marriage.  It’s also made evident that perpetually befuddled husbands must smartly play catch-up, if they want to stay married.   

Note: Only unseen Possum Lodge members from the TV series (i.e. “Stinky” Peterson; “Buster” Hatfield, “Moose” Thompson, etc.) are referenced.  One can only assume that the omission of his regularly-seen TV cronies is for legal purposes.

REVIEW:

Well-played!  Articulately written, author Steve Smith’s blue-collar alter ego does a classy job of mining a huge source of everyday humor readily identifiable to young guys and grumpy old dudes anywhere.  Without cheaply resorting to profanities or excessively naughty humor, this book consistently delivers the goods.  Better yet, “Red” even takes a surprisingly insightful and mature approach to various topics, i.e. how men and women differ in how they perceive eating out; or prioritizing the most important traits in one’s spouse.   

This book shouldn’t be dismissed as merely regurgitating scripted material from the TV series.  Instead, “Red” often refers to his hapless Possum Lodge buddies, but he does so without turning these supposed pals into total buffoons.  Characters like “Stinky” or “Moose” (and their long-suffering wives) possess enough honest smidgens of reality to make readers think that he (or she) might actually know somebody like them.  In that sense, this book is the equivalent of Red’s vintage “North of 40” TV segments where he mused on random tidbits of middle-aged guy wisdom.  Hence, this mildly raunchy gem is a terrific gag gift for graduations, birthdays, and bachelor parties. 

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

There are some ‘helpful’ black & white photos and diagrams, as well as other occasional visual aids.  As a fun sight gag, the book’s front and back inside bindings are ‘reinforced’ by fake duct tape.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     8 Stars