Laurie Notaro’s 8th book of essays, “The Potty Mouth at the Table,” is ostensibly about manners, but really it ranges from her weird obsession of buying fabric online to her friend coping with terminal cancer. As with any book of essays, there are some hits and some misses but overall it is a decent bit of fluff from a pretty great writer. Unfortunately it’s not her best work and I hope she gets her mojo back with her next book. I had to pull […]
A Not So Wild and Crazy Guy
I have a long relationship with Stand Up comedians beginning the early 80s. My dad worked the swing shift when I was a kid. As I was a parent’s worse nightmare, a small child with frequent bouts of insomnia, my dad and I got to spend a lot of time with each other while the rest of the house was sleeping. We would watch the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and my favorite comedian was always Steve Martin. I didn’t get the subversiveness of his […]
Deeply dysfunctional people with the coolest job ever!
St. Mary’s is a project funded by a fictional university that sends historians back in time to observe significant events in contemporary time. The work is incredibly dangerous and all-consuming, but for history nerds it is an amazing opportunity. The lead character, Max, is an orphan (convenient!) incredibly tough (useful in the Cretaceous Period) and so emotionally dysfunctional that she’s probably a sociopath. Not that she’s portrayed that way. Instead she is the capable, but accident prone, slightly nerdy, slightly overweight romantic lead. There […]
Grouchy Miscreant Forgiven for Being Australian
This is the fourth book by the author and like all humorists/memoir writers, he has a tendency to revisit certain themes as building blocks for his stories. American activities are weird to Australians and ripe for mocking. Australians are weird and ripe for mocking. Horrible tales of child neglect can be hilarious if told the right way. I like to keep light, amusing books like these on-hand for when slogging through a novel that has heavier themes. Sometimes I just want the literary equivalent of […]
A Nice and Accurate Review of the Apocalypse
Quick what is your favorite book? Did one pop into your mind immediately or did you need to add a few qualifying adjectives to narrow it down to just one title? Good Omens is usually my go-to answer when someone asks me what my favorite book is. No book is my favorite, as in preferred above all else, but Good Omens is closest. It holds a special place in my heart for being the tome that was my entry into a better class of fantasy/science […]
“Lafayette, we are here.”
The American Revolution seems to be experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Between Hamilton on Broadway and Turn on AMC, pop culture is re-examining the eight years between the battles of Lexington and Concord and the Treaty of Paris. As an Alaskan, I can tell you that America was invaded and occupied by Japan during World War 2. However, since Attu is a tiny island at the edge of the Aleutian chain, most Americans don’t know that. If you don’t grow up where history happened, it is […]
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