Humor Reviews

Press Boners

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A short, small book Press Boners contains various typos, miss-sayings, poorly written sentences, and out right sarcastic headlines and article quotes from newspapers all across the country. It was a book foisted off on me by my father-in-law when he was going through his books and decided to get rid of several in a move.

The positives of the book is that it was at times laugh out loud funny, the sly jabs at men, women, and various situations were amusing to read as well as the intentional and unintentional humor found in them. It was also amusing to find the Lancaster New Era quoted a handful of times, my old hometown newspaper.

M*A*S*H

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I loved watching M*A*S*H reruns growing up, so when I found this book at a brown bag book sale I just had to pick it up. M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker is the book that the TV series was based off of. When my husband read the book he thought it was hilarious and highly recommended it. I dove in with high expectations that unfortunately ended up being too high.

The characters come across as far more serious in the novel. Their attempts at banter and fun and games came across as what they really were, mere attempts at sanity in the insanely harsh conditions they faced serving in Korea. As a whole, the novel seemed to have a much different tenor then the light hearted TV series does.

The other thing that was different (or perhaps my memories of the TV show were rose tinted) is there seemed to be a great deal more and much harsher misogyny. I remember the fighting with “Hot Lips” Houlihan, I did not recall anything concerning whore houses, brothels or the taking advantage thereof by married enlisted men and officers.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

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Another hilarious collection of essays by David Sedaris. This was another book that I read aloud to my husband. Again, a lot of this book had to be read in private though, and not around relatives. It’s definitely adult reading and adult language!

The portraits he paints of every day people doing things that are absolutely crazy in a way that makes them seem mundane is his calling card and he does this to excellent effect in this new novel. Whether it’s the woman that lives alone in an apartment building that acts like she runs the place (and really does), the crazy people he hitchhikes with in the early 70’s, his parent’s take on art, or the people he meets in his attempt to quit smoking in japan, it’s all written with a humorous edge and a sarcastic wit that makes even the most outcast and odd palatable.

Love and Marriage

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I had never read a book written by a comedian before, though I have read comedic writing (in the form of David Sedaris). That said I found this book to be very entertaining and laugh out loud funny. Love and Marriage is a humorous accounting of Bill Cosby’s success and failures in love in the first half of the book, and in marriage in the second half.

A lot of people were disappointed in Love and Marriage because, unlike his book Fatherhood there was humor but no wit, no advice on what to do to survive the uncertain waters of love or marriage. Because Bill Cosby, like the rest of us, is just as clueless about what makes love and marriage work. He has a general idea, as do we all, but a lot of it remains a mystery as he himself admits. I didn’t read Fatherhood but I also didn’t feel like I could hold him not being in a position to dole out advice against him.

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About

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Another gem by Mil Millington, this was also another book that I read aloud to my husband. It often had both of us in tears from laughing so much. Partly for the well written humor and commentary on relationships, and partly because we related to a lot of the arguments had by Pel and Ursula.

In the story Pel has to deal with missing colleagues, paying off illegal deals, and stepping into increasingly larger shoes as more and more work is foisted off on him. Ursula and his kids make things at home similarly wacky and stressful as they deal with moving to a new home, renting out their old one and visits to school counselors.