A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Pages: 303 Original date of publication: 2003 My edition: 2003 (Norton) Why I decided to read: saw the author speak at a conference How I acquired my copy: Denver airport, October 2012 I saw Mary Roach speak at the annual meeting of the American Medical Writers Association in Sacramento at the beginning of October, where she was presented with an award at a luncheon I attended. Her talk was so humorous and interesting that on my way home I was able to find copies of her books in a (gasp!) real bookstore in the Denver airport (I saw Flaubert lurking behind the counter along with Jane Eyre ). For Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers , Roach harangued everyone from morticians to doctors to body farm personnel others whose work brings them in proximity to cadavers. In this book we see how cadavers are used for everything from medical student anatomy lessons to crash test dummies (the impact that cars have on cadavers is more realistic than if they were to use cra...

Pages: 331 Original date of publication: My edition: 2010 (Bloomsbury Group) Why I decided to read: It was offered through LTER; and while I didn't win a copy, it inspired me to track down a copy to read. How I acquired my copy: Amazon.com Mrs. Tim of the Regiment is a novel about the adventures of Hester Christie, army wife and mother. The book covers a period of six months, starting with the family’s move to Scotland (and all the headaches that that entails) and culminating with a fortnight in the Highlands, during which time Hester plays fairy godmother to a number of couples. Mrs. Tim was based on the diary that DE Stevenson kept; she was herself an army wife, and when she showed her diary to a friend, the friend suggested that she spruce things up and publish it. Therefore, Hester’s “voice” is very much like what DE Stevenson was like—her wit sparkles, and her characters jump off the page (even the family car has a name and personality!). As Hester says, ...

Pages: 271 Original date of publication: 2010 My copy: 2010 (Riverhead Books) Why I decided to read: two years ago I greatly enjoyed her other collection of essays How I acquired my copy: review copy from the publisher, May 2010 How Did You Get This Number (apparently, no question mark in that title) is a collection of nine essays, ranging in topic. In the opening essay, Crosley takes an impromptu, off-season jaunt to Portugal for no apparent reason, and meets a troupe of clown college students; later, she discusses the relative merits and demerits of Alaska, when she attends a friend’s wedding in “Light Pollution;” and later still she discusses getting thrown out of Paris (“I do not think you should come to this place again”), and having a dealer of furniture who will get you things “Off the Back of a Truck.” These essays are always witty and sometimes funny. There’s no real connection between any of them, but Crosley has a way with words that is often poignant and...

Pages: 371 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 2010 (NAL) Why I decided to read: Jen Lancaster is one of my favorite authors How I acquired my copy: review copy from the publisher I’ve been reading Jen Lancaster’s books for a while now—since after her second book, Bright Lights, Big Ass was published, actually—and she never fails to entertain her readers. I’ve been following her through her now-famous experience at losing her job and taking up temp work; bad neighbors; and her efforts at weight loss, and she’s truly not afraid to put herself out there. Her last book before this one wasn’t her best however, so I was pleased to discover that with My Fair Lazy , Jen Lancaster has returned to true form. My Fair Laz y i s a collection of essays about Lancaster’s addiction to reality TV and how she made a conscientious effort to change her habits by becoming more cultured-visiting the theatre, for example; or eating cuisine beyond her old standard of hamburger...

Pages: 304 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 2010 (Villard) Why I decided to read: I’ve enjoyed Laurie Notaro’s books of essays before How I acquired my copy: Review copy from Amazon Vine I’ve noticed a thing about Laurie Notaro’s books. Her collections of essays tend to be better than her fiction is. Spooky Little Girl is a novel about a woman named Lucy, who goes on vacation and returns to find out that her fiancée has mysteriously dumped her and thrown her stuff out on the lawn, and that she’s lost her job. Lucy drives up to Flagstaff to visit her sister, and gets hit by a bus. She later finds herself as a ghost, in “ghost school,” and later haunting the last place she ever wanted to be in. Why has her fiancée dumped her? And why did nobody attend her funeral? The idea isn’t so original—it borrows a bit from the movie Ghost (in fact the ghosts even watch the movie while in school). Notaro even borrows from herself—I’m pretty sure that Ruby Spicer...

Miss Buncle is a pretty average, middle age woman living in an English country village. One day, she decides to write a novel about Silverstream, the village she lives in. The books is published, and instantly becomes a bestseller—with adverse effects in Silverstream, for its inhabitants are furious that someone has dared to write about—caricature—their lives. This is an extremely funny book, poking fun at the provincialism of the average English country village in the 1930s. The characters are a howl: Mrs. Featherstone Hogg, who of all the inhabitants of the village is the most enraged; Mr. Hathaway the vicar; Mrs. Greensleeves, the widow who only chases after the vicar because she thinks he has money; Miss King and Miss Pretty; Colonel Weatherhead, the town’s confirmed bachelor; and others, including Doctor Walker and his wife, and Sally Carter, who seem to be the only people not offended by Disturber of the Peace (sounds like the title of a mystery, but no matter). Miss Buncle’s de...

I was introduced to Laurie Notaro’s books back in 2007, when I inadvertently stumbled across a copy of The Idiot Girls’ Action Adventure Club . Since then, I’ve read each of her collections of essays (except the one about Christmas), and I’ve enjoyed them immensely. That’s why I was thrilled to pick up a copy of her latest. Notaro’s essay collections are laugh-out-loud funny, and Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death joins her sisters' ranks. By far my favorite essay was the one after which this book was named—only the day before, I’d had my very own sort-of Laurie moment behind the wheel of my car (except I didn’t react nearly the same way as she did). I also greatly enjoyed Laurie’s story about taking a cruise. I was a little bit put off by the potty humor in this book, but I guess that’s what she’s known for. Other than that, though, this book had me rolling in my seat with laughter.

In Bitter is the New Black , Jen Lancaster gave us the brief details of her bio before she was famously fired from her high-powered job. In Pretty in Plaid , Lancaster illustrates some of those moments, from growing up in Cow Town, Indiana, to her life as a sorority girl during her eleven years of college, to her first job post-college. Like her previous books, Pretty in Plaid is written as a series of essays, all of which are connected by the theme of clothing. From her Girl Scout uniform—covered in (il)legally earned patches—to her first job interview suit, Jen illustrates how clothes shaped the way she views the world. I was extremely entertained by this book. It’s a fast read—I read it in less than two days—and it’s just as funny, if not funnier, than some of her other books. Jen Lancaster definitely has a unique voice that’s very witty, and her thoughts, as usual, are uncensored—good for the reader, since it meant that I was belly laughing all the way through. In fact, in places, ...

The sum of my experience with Southerners is four years on college campus in Virginia, but I could definitely relate to the humorous essays in Celia Rivenbark’s latest collection. Covering everything from home repair to pop culture, Rivenbark is strongest when she’s talking about the habits of Southerners (she’s from North Carolina), but each of the short essays is equally filled with insight. I absolutely couldn’t stop laughing with this book, and I finished it within a few hours yesterday afternoon. In a lot of ways, Rivenbark reminds me a lot of Laurie Notaro or Jen Lancaster, but less self-absorbed. My only problem with this book is the editing—the punctuation is off, and there are even whole words missing that made me have to go back and re-read various sentences. But don’t let this one minor flaw deter you from reading this perfectly enjoyable brain fluff.

This book is more than just a bunch of punctuation rules strung together, or a manual on English grammar: its a book made for the people who are sticklers to the (proper) rules of punctuation. Many of the things Lynne Truss said in this book ring true for me, though it made me pay attention to marks of punctuation that normally I would just let go. I realized that I am NOT the only crazy, punctuation-obsessed person on the planet. She might not be the best writer I've ever read, but she makes her subject interesting in the way that very few people can, by being sarcastic and humorous. Some quotes: "They regard us as freaks. When we point out illiterate mistakes we are often aggressively instructed to 'get a life' but people who, interestingly, display no evidence of having lives themselves" (p.4) "Punctuation has been defined in many ways. Some grammarians use the analogy of stitching: punctuation as the basting that holds the fabric of language in shape...

Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling , is, as the title suggests, the humorous, condensed story of the development of English spelling. The study of English spelling, or orthography, is complicated; our language has influences from many different languages and dialects (apparently 80-90% of our words come from other languages which, as you read, will turn out to be not so surprising). David Wolman, a less-than-stellar speller himself, takes his reader back 1500 years, to Wessex, to the time when Alfred the Great ruled. Jump forward five hundred years, to the invasion of England by the Normans and the infusion of Norman French into upper-class speech... and forward again, to the invention of the printing press... again, to the creation of Webster's dictionary and the invention of modern American spelling... and eventually to the modern inventions of spell-check, Google, e-mail, and text message. Oh, what a long way English spe...

Cassandra French is your typical twenty-something lawyer working in Los Angeles. She spends time with her friends, has a crazy mother (hers is on house arrest), a budding romance with a club owner, and hasn't been to the gym in weeks. Except, she has one dirty little secret. Tired of dating the same Neanderthals over and over again, Cassandra decides to do something about it. One afternoon, in a flash of inspiration, she kidnaps a 260-pound electrician who comes on to her at a baseball game, hoping to shape him into a man who will function properly in society. Thus, her Finishing School is born. Thngs come to a climax when she kidnaps Academy Award-winning actor Jason Kelley. Once you get past the fact that this book is supposed to be satire, its actually pretty funny and enjoyable. Although Cassie's friend Lexi is completely annoying, and Cassie's behavior bizarre, to say the least, our narrator has a lot of funny lines.

I didn't know what to think about I Think I Might Be Going to Hell. On one hand, Laurie Notaro's sense of humor is as sharp as ever; on the other, she lays the similes on pretty thick, and the first hundred pages or so read as though they're a fictional account of her life now that she's moved away from Arizona. However, Maye is more likely to hold her tongue--though, of course, she shares her thoughts with the reader. Maye Roberts is an overweight thirty-something woman whose life changes suddenly when her college professor husband is offered a position at a university in Spaulding, Washington. Maye starts out with no friends, and no hope of making any--except through the annual Swer Pipe Queen contest, into which pretty much anyone can join. Desperate to find a sponsor, Maye goes in search of a town legend, Ruby Spicer, and learns a few things about herself--and the town--in the process. Notaro's first work of fiction is just as funny as her previous collections ...

Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big: Or, Why Pie Is Not the Answer is Jen Lancaster’s third memoir, after Bitter is the New Black and Bright Lights, Big Ass . In it, Lancaster takes on weight loss—through eating right and exercising. At first, it seems like your typical weight loss memoir, except for the fact that its Jen Lancaster writing it, with her trademark good humor and see-the-forest-through-the-trees approach to her subject matter. Jen’s not an expert, but she certainly knows how to entertain, which is why I keep coming back to her work time and time again. What I love about Lancaster’s work is that she knows when to laugh at herself, and at others’ foolishness, without going over the top. For example, there’s brilliant scene in Such a Pretty Fat where she goes to Jenny Craig and then Weight Watchers, where the meeting participants discuss of the evils of food in the work place. Birthday cake is always, always mention...

Another one of my favorite authors is Laurie Notaro. Like Jen Lancaster, she’s a memoirist, writing about her life in short, sweet chunks of funny. Notaro’s had six books published, beginning with The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club . She has a new book coming out on June 24th, called The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death : Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia and Laser Hair Removal . Although I’ve been unable to find out anything about the book, I believe it’s going to be another collection of essays. Laurie Notaro’s books are pure brain candy, perfect for hot summer days.

Two years ago, Jen Lancaster made her non-fiction debut with Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office . The book is a howlingly funny account of how the author all of a sudden found herself unemployed—and how she coped with it. Her follow up, Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl’s Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? is all about Life in the Big City. What I love about her books—really, two collections of essays—is that she never hesitates to make fun of herself—and everyone around her. She’s so funny you can forgive her for her meanness. In May, Jen Lancaster returns with a third dose of humor and bitingly sharp wit: the title of her new book is Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist’s Quest to Discover if Her Ass Looks Big, Or Why Pie Is Not the Answer (gotta love those ...

Remember Me? is a quirky, fun novel by one of my favorite authors. A quick read (it took me only a few hours to complete), Remember Me? features Lexi Smart, who wakes up one day to find herself twenty-eight years old, working as a director in her company, married to a (seemingly) perfect man, and the possessor of the most fabulous closet she has ever seen. The problem is, Lexi can’t remember the last three years of her life, those three years having been wiped away in a car accident. Lexi frantically tries to regain her memory and figure out who she is; along the way, she learns that she’s turned into a completely different person than she expected to be. The writing is funny and quirky, and I love how Sophie Kinsella manages time and time again to suck the reader into the plot. My only problem with the plot was that the characters seemed to have changed too much in a three-year time span, especially Lexi, who turned out to be a completely different person at twenty-eight than twenty...

The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club was recommended to me by Amazon.com, and I have to say that I absolutely loved it (the book, though the website has its advantages)! The book is actually a collection of short essays, written by Laurie Notaro, the heavy drinker and smoker who tells of her exploits with candor and a sense of humor. And along the way, she's able to laugh at, and with, herself. The essays can be read alone, but they work best when they're read in the order in which they're presented. I loved the essay about her attending her high school reunion (I think we all have a story in which we do something mortifyingly embarassing in front of old high school/ college classmates. I sure do), and the one where she explains oral sex to her 82-year-old grandmother. Although not very well written (sometimes Notaro sounds as though she's in middle school), The Idiots Girls' Action Adventure Club was a quick read (I read it in one day) and had me laughing s...

It's called Dorothy On the Rocks , and the author is Barbara Suter. From the book description (the book is set for release at the end of June, in paperback): "In Maggie Barlow's world, reality is overrated. So what if her singing career has hit a sour note or she's no longer the ingénue that she used to be? So what if she drinks and smokes a bit too much or likes to chat with a fairy godperson who appears to her from time to time? She's the queen of denial and an actress to boot—she can just take on the role of someone she likes better than her sorry self. Regrettably, that role is currently Dorothy in the Little Britches Theater Company's production of The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy on the Rocks is the story of a funny, lovable, totally self-destructive woman who, after a night of one-drink-too-many, wakes up with a strange man in her bed: confident, handsome, sexy, twenty-eight-year-old Jack. What happens next is what makes Barbara Suter's coming-of-middle-a...

This is the story of Martin and Jasper Dean, a father and son who are as different as they are alike. The story begins with Martin, whose brother, Terry, was a famous criminal in Australia. Martin Dean has spent pretty much his whole life philosophizing about everything, and his mind tends to go to unexpected places. It’s essentially a novel about soul-searching. The characters, especially the two main ones, are extraordinarily eclectic, much as John Irving’s are; however, the story of A Fraction of the Whole tends to wander all over the place, which is something I didn’t really like about the book. Both men in their turns provide narration, and although there’s not much to say who’s speaking when, it’s pretty clear by the style of talking who is narrating the story. That’s one thing that I thought was done very well; Steve Toltz has a gift for narration and for creating distinct “voices” for his characters. Nothing ever occurs as expected. Te book is rife with satire and a unique sen...