Humor Books - Page 12

Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The first collection of the beloved humorist's sly, dry, hilarious essays in more than a decade focuses on a perennially popular topic: the South vs. the North.

“"When [Northerners] ask me to explain grits, I look at them like an Irishman who's been asked to explain potatoes."

"When I was a boy in Georgia, college sports was Bobby Dodd versus Bear Bryant immemorial. Compared to that the Harvard-Yale game is a panel discussion."

"Anybody who claims…not to have 'a racist bone' in his or her body is at best preracist and has a longer way to go than the rest of us."

Hard-working humorist Roy Blount Jr. lives in the North but he's from the South, a delicious tension that has always informed and shaped his work. In this new collection, he directs his acerbic wit and finely-tuned insight toward the persistent and colorful differences between the two.

His essays treat every conceivable topic on which North and South misunderstand each other, from music to sports, eating, education, politics, child-rearing, religion, race, and language ("remember when there was lots of discussion of 'ebonics'?"). In this eminently quotable collection, Blount does justice to the charming, funny, infuriating facets of Southern tradition and their equally odd Northern counterpoints.

Leave it to Psmith

Wodehouse, P.G.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Last Of Psmith Is The Best 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

"Leave It to Psmith" was originally published in the U.K. on November 30, 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the U.S on March 14, 1924 by George H. Doran. The edition I am reviewing is from "The Everyman Wodehouse" series published by Everyman's Library in the U.K., and for those in the U.S., you may be able to find the equivalent quality in "The Collector's Wodehouse" series which is being published by Overlook Press.

I did not have high expectations for this book, because I didn't think "Psmith in The City" was very good, but Wodehouse's writing clearly improved greatly over those 13 years, and the merging of the Psmith character with the cast at Blandings Castle was great chemistry. The character of Ronald Eustace Psmith (formerly known as Rupert Psmith and in both cases the P is silent), was much more interesting in this book than I found him before. He fits right in with the other Blandings characters such as Lord Emsworth, Freddie Threepwood, and a great foil for Rupert Baxter.

In this story, we have a diverse set of characters, all converging on Blandings Castle, and more than a few with the idea of stealing Lady Constance's necklace. Their motives are rather diverse, but whether they want it for money, freedom, or love, there is no shortage of people out to get it. As one would expect in any Wodehouse story, there is a fair amount of assumed identities and amazing coincidences which drive the story forward. Psmith, himself takes on the identity of Mr. Ralston McTodd, a poet from Canada in his pursuit of the beautiful Eve Halliday. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the flower pot scenes, which is some of the funniest writing I have read in a long time.

As the second of the Blandings Castle novels, and the last of the Psmith novels, this was a great improvement on both of those series. The Blandings series would continue to grow from this point, and there are many more great stories in that series. I do not believe the character of Psmith appears again in any of Wodehouse's stories, but the fully developed Psmith that appears in this work does foreshadow such characters as Jeeves and Uncle Fred. If you didn't care for Psmith in the previous works, you may still want to give this one a try. This is Wodehouse at his best.

Editorial Review:

The Hon. Freddie Threepwood is in financial difficulties of his own devising, along with his henpecked uncle. Dim brained Freddie wants to marry the elusive Eve Halliday, while his Uncle Joe wants to raise money to help out his runaway stepdaughter.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Work (The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook Series)

Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Right in the middle of ...... 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I bought the "original" "The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook". I loved its humor and so I gave this one a try. I cant say it's bad. However, it's somehow much more serious than the original one, thus less humorous and fun. The problem is: it's not indepth nor detailed enough to cover, in my opinion as a white collar for over 15 years, 1/5 of the common difficulties in an office.

In short, if you really wanna improve your survival opportunities in your job, there are many better alternatives in a bookstore. If you just wanna have fun, this is definitely not a good choice. Therefore, not recommended. If you really wanna buy it, I sincerely suggest you to read the "See sample pages" here on Amazon for a quick look of what those "tips" refer to.

Boring , Obvious and predictable 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I was very disappointed with this listenandlive title. All the advice and tips are so obvious and just statements of common sense. In fact many things seem contrived and the advice given does not seem practical at all. A lot of it is obsolete like the chapter about emails.

Editorial Review:

Work is bad enough, but what if things go really wrong? The Worst-Case Scenario authors come to the rescue with expert advice for surviving dozens of nightmare on-the-job scenarios, whether in the office or on the loading dock.

Book of Guys: Stories

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Grain of Salt 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Other reviewers are more than informative about the book's contents, so I'll be brief.

This book is for middle-aged men. As a guy leaving my own youth behind and headed into the middle years, the book is more relevant and funnier than it would have been even three years ago.

If you are a fan of Prairie Home Companion, be warned! This is NOT his usual sappy fare. A couple of pieces have that Garrison Keillor sheen we know and love, but for the most part, these pieces expose another side of Mr. Keillor's talent. Though his style has not changed, his subject matter does.

The book is at turns, funny, sappy, sad, disturbing. The honesty of his phrases, whether in a comedic or tragic moment, is very refreshing. His words get right to the truth of the matter and don't dress it up much. Not a bit of it is bad writing; it's all good, but you must be prepared for a wider definition of "good" than you might expect from works like Lake Wobegon Days and such.

And, finally, delivery is key. I found I "got it" when I imagined Mr. Keillor reading it to me, which is perhaps a weakness of his writing -- it must be delivered in his voice. So consider buying the audiotape of it -- you won't miss anything and you'll have the added benefit of experiencing these tales exactly as Mr. Keillor intended.

Editorial Review:

In this collection of stories you'll meet a bunch of memorable guys including Lonesome Shorty, a cowpoke torn between the proud life in the saddle and the comforts of warm apartments and women; Buddy the teen-age leper in Sioux Falls; Earl Grey the great tea inventor and former Republican child; Casey at the bat in Mudville again; Dionysus the god of wine; and Roy Bradley, boy broadcaster. Brilliantly funny, touching, and acute, The Book of Guys reveals the perilous situation of guys today.

Includes: Mid-life Crisis of Dionysus, Herb Johnson, the God of Canton, Casey at the Bat (Road game version), Lonesome Shorty, Don Gionvanni, Marooned, Buddy the Leper, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse.

Swim against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go with the Flow

Jim Hightower, Susan DeMarco

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Don’t look around, but the corporate and political powers that be want you to put this book down, right now. It definitely is NOT on their approved list.

Swim against the Current is one of those books that the power elites don’t like seeing in stores, much less in your hands - not merely because it challenges their established order, but especially because our book reveals paths that folks like you can use to escape their rigid, hierarchical structures and discover a bit more satisfaction in life.

They prefer that you pick up one of those escapist novels over there across the store, rather than finding out that the greatest escape of all can be from stultifying conventional wisdom. We Americans are constantly harassed into thinking that we can’t break the mold that those in charge have made for us. But as a friend of ours puts it: “Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

It’s the uplifting stories of mavericks that we tell here. They’ve broken free of the corporate tentacles, free of business-as-usual politics, free of top-down elites. They’re figuring out new ways to do commerce, ways to create political channels that empower grassroots Americans, and ways to live their lives.

As these folks show, resistance is not futile . . it’s fertile. Join the fun! Happy listening!

Don't Eat This Book

Morgan Spurlock

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Wow! This is a great book! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Morgan Spurlock is either a very good, honest, wholeheartedly courageous man, or he's just another fraud. I'd like to believe he is not the latter, because I'm so used to frauds nowadays. If anything, his book is nothing short of a masterpiece. That may seem rather dramatic a thing to say, but I truly think this book is one of THE most important books ever to be written in the history of modern mankind. Anyone who can argue with its points has to be evil in some ways; you just cannot justify all of these big companies who are influencing our nation (and children) to eat junky food without being evil. You also cannot justify the cruel "farming" or meat industries without having a touch of badness to you. As for the writing itself, Spurlock has a gift for words and sometimes occasional humour that is refreshing. I HIGHLY recommend this book!

Editorial Review:

A tongue-in-cheek and burger in hand look at the legal, financial and physical costs of our hunger for fast food, by the funniest and most incisive new voice since Michael Moore. Can a man live on fast food alone? Morgan Spurlock tried. For thirty days he ate nothing but three square' meals a day from McDonald's as part of an investigation into the effects of fast food on our health. Don't Eat This Book gives the full background story to the experiment that so captivated audiences around the world in the documentary Super Size Me, and explores in further depth the connections between the rise of fast food and obesity. In this groundbreaking and hilarious book of epic portions, Morgan Spurlock lays bare the devastating facts for all to see

The Pythons

Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Bob McCabe

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For the first time all surviving Pythons have agreed to create the definitive, official, "completely-different-than-anything-done-before" audiobook on the Monty Python's Flying Circus and the 'genius' who created it.

Over thirty years ago a group of five Englishmen and one wayward American rewrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python's Flying Circus, an unheralded half-hour of sketches, hilarities, inanities, and animations first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact on the world has been felt ever since. This audio edition is a complilation of unique never-before-heard interviews with the Python team conducted by Bob McCabe while he researched the Python book, plus clips from the famous Monty Python sketches, including "The Parrot Sketch", "Nudge, Nudge, Wink Wink", "Spam" and the "Ministry of Silly Walks." Narration will be by Bob McCabe with Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin, and featuring, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Jones.

Here is a unique glimpse at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age. Do you want Spam with that?

How to Talk Minnesotan

Howard Mohr

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

You bet, it's real good reading 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Hot dishes, walleyes, how to wave, pancake feeds, and appropriate Minnesotan grammar, it's all there even though my relatives in Minnesota would beg to differ. "So, what gave you the idea that we talk like that then." How to Talk Minnesotan is one of those type deals you can pick up, open to any page and have a good laugh while feeling as though you're right there in Bemidji. Yeah, good deal. You could do worse.

Editorial Review:

Now you can cultivate authentic Minnesota pronunciation, vocabulary, and colloquialisms from the man who wrote the book on it. Speak with confidence when using Minnesota words and phrases to make indirect commands and statements. Feel at ease constructing whole conversations based on "the weather" and "car talk." Learn the subtle differences of "lunch," "dinner," and "a little lunch." Plus, added at no extra cost, useful messages from Raw Bits Cereal, Pentagon Overstocks, and Polka Pants Industries. Not to mention classic Howard Mohr prose pieces on the "art of waving" and "where I live and what I burn for fuel."

The Red Hat Society's Laugh Lines: Stories of Inspiration and Hattitude

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Editorial Review:

The follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestseller The Red Hat Society® is a collection of the RHS members’ most memorably funny and touching stories. It’s chicken soup for the Red Hat soul
Life begins at 50! And the women of the Red Hat Society are proud of it. In THE RED HAT SOCIETY®’S LAUGH LINES, Sue Ellen Cooper and the women of the RHS celebrate the life experiences that have made them who they are today. Over the years, they’ve accumulated well-earned laugh lines and cry lines from wonderfully funny, incredibly moving stories that will warm listeners’ hearts and touch their souls. There is so much more to each of these women than a purple outfit and a red hat. This audio program is a collection of the most amusing and poignant stories that they want to share with their sisters. With contributions from members across the country, this collection is bound to thrill all Red Hatters—and those who soon will be.

The Darwin Awards III: Survival of the Fittest (The Darwin Awards)

Wendy Northcutt, Christopher Graybill, Julie Schaller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Not worth reading... 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

When I bought this book at a significant discount, I expected that I would find it moderately charming with lots of funny stories and witty insight about the demise of fools. Quite frankly, the stories were not funny and the insight was not witty.

I agree with other reviewers that the rules and regulations in the book was ridiculously cumbersome. This book just takes itself way too seriously. I don't care how the stories were selected, so much as I'd like to read stories that were interesting.

I haven't read any previous editions of "The Darwin Awards," so I cannot attest to the suggestion that the well is running dry. I will simply state that I found many of the anecdotes to be far from fascinating, many of them downright boring. And at the end of the day, I just have a hard time laughing at the death of humans, regardless of the stupid choices that they may have made to bring about their demise.

Ultimately, I chose not to give it one star because the book did provide what it promised. I probably should have known that this type of supposed humor just wouldn't resonate with me. Nonetheless, I found the book to be cold and stale, and I now have no interest in investigating anything further from this perspective.

Editorial Review:

Honoring those who improve our gene pool by inadvertently removing themselves from it, The Darwin Awards III includes more than one hundred brand new, hilariously macabre mishaps and misadventures.

From a sheriff who inadvertently shot himself twice, to the insurance defrauder who amputated his leg with a chainsaw; from a farmer who avoided bee stings by sealing his head in a plastic bag to the man crushed by the branch he just trimmed, The Darwin Awards III proves again that when it comes to stupidity, no species does it like we do.

Featuring scientific and safety discussions and filled with illustrations depicting inspiring examples of evolution in action, The Darwin Awards III shows once more how uncommon common sense still is.