Terry Pratchett
Yes, the new Pratchett is very different. For one thing, it is a great deal more serious* than many of his past books. It also takes place (kind of) in our world, rather than the disc world. Still, it is a very good story and told well. With …
Christian Lander
Oh. My. God. I am so white. I mean, this shouldn’t be a surprise, seeing as you can see my veins in face during winter, but damn. We had the great pleasure of seeing Lander talk at the WI Book Festival a few weeks ago. He seemed …
Laurie Notaro
Yeah! Another Laurie Notaro book! If you haven’t read Notaro’s collections of short essays or her novel There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell get a copy in preparation of the long dark winter. No matter how embarrassing or awful the situation, Notaro makes the …
Sloane Crosley
Let me first say this, if you are a die-hard midwesterner with no experience or interest in the East coast, I’m fairly certain Crosley’s up-state (Westchester), private-school, Jewish essays will make you crazy. I myself found them immensely amusing. Crosley’s book meanders from stories of being the only …
A.J. Jacobs
From the author of The Know-it-All comes another awesome title. At loose ends after his year reading the encyclopedia, Jacobs decides to embark on another experiment. As a agnostic Jew he always had some interest in religion and the perplexed fascination with belief that many non-believers have.
Jacobs …
Russell Ash and Brian Lake
Ash and Lake have collected a mass of truly awful, useless and poorly titled books. Many owe their amusement factor to terms that have changed through time: Girls of the Pansy Patrol and The Gay Boys of Old Yale. Others are bizarre simply for …
Ed. Matthew Diffee
Billed as “More cartoons you’ve never seen, and never will see, in The New Yorker ” this delightfully vulgar and amusingly awful collection is sure to get laughs out of the crankiest curmudgeon. Interspersed with the various familiar New Yorker -style cartoons are short bio sheets filled …
Michael Palin – Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years
A thick 600+ page book, Palin’s Diaries start slowly but become increasingly engrossing. Covering the very first year Python starts making shows until the release of Life of Brian, Palin describes Python’s ever-increasing popularity. Palin writes with a witty, kind and …
Steven Blush
This book is worth it just for the cover. Blush gives you an up close and personal look at the biggest, hairiest and most famous metal bands. Each page brings a band with still bigger hair, more makeup, hazier lenses and thickly studded leather outfits – all brand …
Kyle MacDonald
I first became aware of the ORP project when I heard a mention of it on Alice Cooper’s radio show (yes he has a show, yes he is quite funny). Unemployed dreamer Kyle MacDonald decides he is tired of sponging off his patient girlfriend Dom. Faced with the …
A.J. Jacobs
We had the great pleasure of hearing Jacobs speak a few weeks ago at the Wisconsin Books Festival about his new book A Year of Living Biblically. I am greatly looking forward to getting my mitts on this book. A mere 100 other patrons and then it …
Terry Pratchett
Moist VonLipwig. Spike. Golums, A small dog named Mr. Fusspot. The Patrician. Perfidious minds. Lousy puns. It’s all good- it’s all Pratchett.…
Wendy McClure
While helping her folks clean out the basement, McClure found an old box of Weight Watchers recipe cards from the 60s and 70s. From frozen cheese salad, liver pate en masque, and frankfurter spectacular, its all here. Low fat, low cal. and vilely gleaming on mustard yellow platters …
Laurie Notaro
In her first non-fiction novel, Laurie Notaro writes with her same funny, off-kilter and slightly neurotic voice she has recorded her life with in her fabulous autobiographical short stories. Although a bit slow to get off the ground, once she hits her stride the story takes off on …
The McSweeney’s Book of Lists
Brought to you by McSweeney’s, this collection of lists submitted by readers is silly, with undertones of randomness. Especially the unicorn bits.
Adjectives Rarely Used by Wine Tasters
Chunky
Supercharged
Pondy
Wine-a-licious
Alcoholy
Things Going Through Robert Plant’s Mind When Jimmy Page Takes a Solo…
Chuck Murphy with a forward by Priscilla Presley
OH. DEAR. GOD. I never had any strong desire to see Graceland until I snagged this doozy from the pop-culture shelves. You know those glittery white jumpsuits Levis used to wear? Those look tasteful and subdued compared to Elvis’s dear old home. …
