Audiobook Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by

still from the book trailer

Reviewed by Christina
[Read Megan's review of the print version here.]

Published: 2011

It's about: The story opens after Lizzie and Darcy have been married for several years.  Elizabeth can't seem to muster up much excitement about life now that she is A Gentleman's Wife; social mores bar married ladies from doing battle with Zed-words.  Just a few minutes into the book, a child dreadful attacks and bites Mr. Darcy and his wife enters into a humiliating plot to save him.  The mastermind behind said plot is Lizzie's formidable foe, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Can Elizabeth secure a cure for the Zombie Plague before it's too late?

I thought:  As you may know from my reviews of the original P&P&Z and its prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, Dreadfully Ever After is the third and final book in the zombie mashup trilogy.  It's written by the same author of Dawn, not the same as the originator of the series, Seth Grahame-Smith, who first inserted monsters into Jane Austen's British regency-era world.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked everything about Dreadfully Ever After far better than Steve Hockensmith's previous contribution.  Honestly, everything is better in Dreadfully as compared with Dawn: pacing and plotting, character development, general originality, humor.  I just really liked this audiobook.  It kept my attention through many a mile of running; it didn't sag or become tiresome.  I even laughed!  While running!  That is quite an achievement, Mr. Hockensmith.

If you are a big P&P fan, I think I'd recommend the zombie sequel less for its undead action and more for its development of two previously minor characters:  Kitty and Mary Bennet.  Both are in their early twenties in this story, likely on their way to spinsterdom (their mother has given up matchmaking- she needs caretakers in her old age, not more married daughters abandoning her). But Kitty and Mary contribute at least as much to Darcy's rescue as Elizabeth does, and they become full-on people.  Their character trajectories made sense and amused me, even if I doubt they are very similar to anything Jane Austen herself would have devised.

Katherine Kellgren, the reader, does a fabulous job as ever.  She is hilarious.  There is one character with an extremely exaggerated Scottish brogue, and his endlessly rolled r's did get on my nerves after a while.  But not terribly so; I enjoyed mentally casting King Fergus as him, and imagining his son looking something like a dandified Young Macintosh.  Good times.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf!

Reading Recommendations:  Read them in order for the best experience.  Even though I didn't love the first P&P&Z installment, I still think most readers would like the trilogy best in its entirety.

Warnings:  Zombie gore.

What I'm listening to next:  Matched by Ally Condie

Review: The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne

The Sweet Potato Queens, via

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 1999

It's about:  "To know the Sweet Potato Queens is to love them, and if you haven't heard about them yet, you will.  Since the early 1980s, this group of belles gone bad has been the toast of Jackson, Mississippi, with their glorious annual appearance in the St. Patrick's Day parade.  In The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love, their royal ringleader, Jill Conner Browne, introduces the Queens to the world with this sly, hilarious manifesto about love, life, men, and the importance of being prepared.  ... From tales of the infamous Sweet Potato Queens' Promise to the joys of Chocolate Stuff and Fat Mama's Knock You Naked Margaritas, this irreverent, shamelessly funny book is the gen-u-wine article." (back cover)

I thought:  You know, sometimes I don't notice or I'm not terribly annoyed when a person is being a little sexist if they're also being really funny and I get that it's not serious.  I mean, if an actual person is standing right in front of me saying mildly offensive things, I'll usually give them the benefit of the doubt and laugh at their jokes in the name of social nicety (within reason).  Making everyone in the room feel uncomfortable over a small or imagined slight wouldn't really do anything for the progress of feminism, and besides!  I just don't have a confrontational personality.

But books (and movies, and celebrities) get no such special treatment from me.  I will probably always be annoyed by books that exploit gender stereotypes and paint men and women rigidly, even if the goal is hyperbolic amusement.  I understand that lighthearted sexism is supposed to be funny.  But I'm not laughing when I know I've still got 200 pages to go.  Two hundred pages is a lot of time to spend with somebody who doesn't share your sense of humor.  So I'm not sure why I ever picked up this book.  I do consider myself a fan of Southern humor and Southern writing and Southern story telling.  And The Sweet Potato Queens do fit in that category and do some things well.  I did laugh aloud several times:  I loved Ms. Browne's Possum Under the Bed story, I liked her phonetic spellings of certain Southern words and phrases (see Favorite Excerpt below), and I LOVED reading her descriptions of and recipes for a few beautifully fattening foods.  She has some genuinely wise words to impart (humorously, of course).  And the mentions of "off brand" evangelists made me chuckle, as did the legit, hilarious obituaries.  This book IS funny, and I'll bet if Jill Conner Browne were to read this review she'd just shrug because some Yankee Feminist doesn't "get" her.  I'm pretty sure my cranky criticisms would roll right off her back.  I would probably have enjoyed a non-love-themed book more.

I'm not going to tell anyone to avoid this book, and I'm not going to warn you that you'll be terribly offended if you pick it up.  But it is very silly, and overall I didn't really think it was worth my time.  If you want to read something Southern and humorous, pick up some Celia Rivenbark instead or Julia Reed's Queen of the Turtle Derby.  And if you want something Valentiney, go back in time and read our posts from 2012 (They Call Me Naughty Lola) and 2011 (Are Feminism and Romance Mutually Exclusive in Literature?).

Verdict: In Between.  On the lower end of the category.

Warnings: Raunchy humor, a few swears.  And, like I said, sexism.

Favorite excerpts:
"'He-e-e-ey!  Cuteshoestellyoumamahi!'
That is the gist of most conversations in the state of Texas.  In Mississippi, a lot of conversations go like this:
'He-e-e-ey!  KewtshewsyewthenkOleMissgonweeun?'
(If you were born north of the Mason-Dixon line, you probably can't imagine what's being said.  I suggest that you read each line aloud several times, sounding out the syllables phonetically until the words register.  This would be a good preparatory exercise if you ever plan to visit the South.)"

What I'm reading next:  Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Review: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

A view from the AT (Engine Gap, NC).  Photo by George Humphries

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 1998

It's about:  Upon returning to America after living in England for twenty years, humor and travel writer Bill Bryson decides to reacquaint himself with his native land by hiking one of its most established and daunting routes: The Appalachian Trail.  Along for most of the adventure is a woefully out-of-shape old college buddy, Stephen Katz.
Bryson and Katz soldier through hill and dale, all the while learning new survivaly things.  Bryson takes periodic breaks from the travelogue to provide the reader with The Trail's history and folklore.  He also argues for better conservation of U.S. national parks and forests.

I thought:  Well!  I just like Bill Bryson.  This is the third of his books I've read, and I find I can count on him to entertain and educate as well as any other nonfiction writer out there.  A Walk in the Woods especially won me over by being closer to home than any other travel writing I've picked up; it was cool to read someone else's thoughts about places I know and love.  And what's really impressive about this particular book is that Bill Bryson takes a fairly dull, repetitive activity (walking through the woods for hours upon hours, day after day after day) and weaves in enough information and humor to make an entertaining story.  Another aspect of this book that differs from Bryson's others: the presence of chubby, unambitious, good-natured Katz.  He nicely balances out Bryson personality-wise, and he adds an element of variety to the narrative that could have become stale pretty quickly.

I read this one aloud to Brooke, and he felt it was uneven, losing momentum midway through when Katz and Bryson part ways.  Without spoiling too much, Brooke was also pretty disappointed with the trajectory of their hike.  I can see what he means with both criticisms- I too liked the first half of the book better than the second half.  But overall I still look back on A Walk in the Woods with fond memories, and I'd still recommend it to hiking/camping people (of which I am not one at all), Bryson fans, and travelogue-lovers.   

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf!

Reading Recommendations:  I've said it before: Bill Bryson is perfect for reading aloud in the car.

Warnings:  A few swears, a little potty humor, and one or two mildly off-color jokes

What I'm reading aloud in the car next:  Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

Audiobook Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

(a still from the book trailer)

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 2010

It's about:  Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a prequel, taking place five years before Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  It opens with a funeral, attended by the Bennets, in which the dearly departed unexpectedly rises from his coffin, heralding a rebirth of the undead in Hertfordshire.  Mr. Bennet dispenses with the zombie; he knows what to do because he fought for the Royal Army during "The Troubles" (England's very first zombie uprising) twenty or so years before.  The interrupted funeral prompts him to hire a young martial artist named Master Hawksworth to train the Bennet sisters in "the deadly arts."  Just as the girls start to show promise as zombie-slayers, a regiment comes to town and takes up residence at Netherfield Park.  Together the Bennets and the soldiers try to protect the locals and the land from the ever increasing numbers of grave-fresh "Dreadfuls" until finally they are besieged in a hideously gory climax.

I thought:  As you might remember, I very much enjoyed listening to P&P&Z back around Halloween.  So I was happy to stay in the zombified Regency universe a little longer but I was curious about what differences I'd notice in Dawn of the Dreadfuls.  As we all know, Jane Austen didn't write a prequel to Pride and Prejudice so this is pretty much fanfic.  And it's not even written by the same author who came up with the original mashup idea.

Can you tell my expectations were a little on the lower end for this one?  And rightly so.  I didn't love it.  The characters seemed a little stiff outside the real P&P story.  The story itself lagged quite a bit, and the slightly more descriptive zombie violence didn't do anything to ramp it up.  I could take or leave most of the new (non-Austen) characters.  Everything just seemed kind of shallow in Dawn of the Dreadfuls.  But maybe I'm being too hard on it.  It is just a zombie novel after all.

Still, I loved loved loved the reader, Katherine Kellgren, just as much as I did in P&P&Z.  She is SO FUNNY, you guys.  So funny.  This story would have completely fallen flat with a less talented reader.  Despite my blah attitude toward Steve Hockensmith, I maybe have to check out the last installment of the trilogy just to keep Ms. Kellgren in my life.

Verdict: In Between.  If you NEED Austen-era zombies in your life, Dawn of the Dreadfuls is pretty fun.  But in general I think you could probably skip this one and go straight to Grahame-Smith's original parody, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Warnings:  Oh, you know.  Brains and severed body parts and stuff.  Zombie gore.

What I'm listening to next:  Maybe Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

Audiobook Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 2011

It's about:  Tina Fey is an actress, comedian, writer, and producer.  She's most famous for her work on Saturday Night Live (writer, Weekend Update anchor and Sarah Palin imitator), 30 Rock (writer/star) and several films (Mean Girls, Baby Mama). 
Bossypants is less a memoir and more a collection of humorous autobiographical essays.  She tells a funny, light version of how she became who she is.

I thought:  I love Tina Fey!  So I pretty much knew I would love this book.  I just think she's hilarious and so relateable- as one friend mentioned in her goodreads review, a big part of why Ms. Fey is so popular is because many women (me included) believe that if we knew each other in real life we would be BFFs. 

The audiobook really helped me maintain that delusion, since it's read by Tina herself.  Did you catch that?  A brilliant comedian reading her own book!  She does voices and accents and stuff!  All of the inflection is perfect, because it's exactly as it sounded in her head when she was writing it!   So, while listening, I got to pretend that my friend Tina was just telling me all about her life.  It was awesome.  And hilarious. 

It's hard to make recommendations in the humor department, but if you like the author's showbiz work, there's a good chance you'll dig Bossypants.  But don't come into it looking for a tell-all in which Ms. Fey spills her deepest, darkest secrets.  Almost all of the book stays well within the realm of comedy writing, which I thought was appropriate.

And if you're torn between audio and print, GO WITH THE AUDIO!  You might have a few embarrassing moments if it makes you uncomfortable to laugh aloud around strangers on the subway or whatever.  But it will be worth it. 

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf! 

Listening Recommendations:  Like I said, be prepared for passersby looking askance at you as you smile/laugh at funny things they can't hear.

Warnings:  Swears. 

Favorite excerpts: Way too many!  Here are a few, and you can read more here.
“Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? “I’m not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I’m just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I’d like to cut your chest open.” The crowd cheers.”

“Now let me be clear; millions of women around the world nurse their children beautifully for years without giving anybody else a hard time about it. Teat Nazis are a solely western upper-middle-class phenomenon occurring when highly ambitious women experience deprivation from outside modes of achievement.”

And "The Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter"

What I'm listening to next:  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Review: Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? by Henry Alford

Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? A Modern Guide to Manners by Henry Alford

Reviewed by Ingrid 

Published: 2012

It's about: Despite the subtitle ("A Modern Guide to Manners,") this is not your traditional etiquette guide. A lot of reviewers on Goodreads were quite put off that this book wasn't the straightforward, how-to-have-good-manners guide they thought it would be. The summary provided by the publisher is a little bit less misleading - "A laugh-out-loud guide to modern manners." This is humor. Look, it has a toilet on the cover.

Henry Alford via

So, "guide." What does that mean anyway? I don't think a "guide" necessarily has to be purely informative. This book is mostly a series of short stories and example of good and bad manners that Alford has observed and etiquette experiments and consequently, mistakes he's made himself. It;s more like a journey.  Imagine yourself on a Disneyland ride through the world of manners with Henry Alford as your enthusiastic chaperone and narrator.

I thought: I like it. It was fun. In my opinion, Alford's wandering style and random thoughts and stories about the wonderful world of manners is far more exciting than an Emily Post-style guide. Alford's style of humor is, yes, a little too self-inflated at times, but mostly funny. I like learning about manners, I like laughing at people with horrific manners, and I like laughing, so I enjoyed this book. It wasn't earth shattering-ly entertaining or significant to me, but it was fun.

Verdict: In between. A good library check-out, but I don't know if I'd buy it.

Reading Recommendations: Henry Alford was interviewed on Radio West earlier this year. Listen to a bit to see if you like his sense of humor.


Warnings: Some swear words.

Favorite excerpts: "Most people prefer to be complimented on something they've done (painted a room, closed a deal, raised a child) rather than on something they are (beautiful, adventurous, smart, scrupulous). A compliment wants to be specific, but not so specific that it's hair-splitting and seems calculated. If you tell a friend you love her new haircut, she'll probably smile; but if you tell her instead that you love the way her hair now curls around her ear when she's standing in a strong wind, she may start. She will spend more time than she ought to thinking about this comment. Too many compliments (or too strong a compliment) is just as bad as no compliment; one rarely wants to verbally fellate. Maybe the analogy to employ here is flowers: Compliments should be a single sunflower set on a windowsill for her to walk up to and admire, not three dozen roses delivered by an exhausted-looking bike messenger in an angel costume."

What I'm reading next: Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Review: The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

Reviewed by Christina

Full title: The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

Published: 2004 (There's also a "Version 2.0" edition from 2005 that has the same text only with an bonus story tacked on to the end.)

It's about: I'm going to use the bookjacket description because it gives a better idea of the novel's style and tone than anything I could come up with:
"'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit. It is the hap-hap-happiest time of the year, after all.
But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven=year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.
But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say 'Kris Kringle' he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen."

I thought: Remember last year when I included this book on my Top Ten Books to Read During the Holidays even though I hadn't actually read it yet? Well now I've read it. And the good news is that I don't regret putting it on that list. During the last month of the year, I relish a good strong dose of Christmas irreverence. I get so tired of everything being warm and fuzzy and special. So in its silliness and cynicism, The Stupidest Angel was the right read at the right time. I laughed, I rolled my eyes, I didn't shed a tear. It was great.

I also liked that Christopher Moore seemed to be seizing the idea that ANYTHING can happen in fiction. This book has a wacky plot that is just all over the place. There's a contagious sense of authorial joie de vivre that you don't often have in serious fiction. But it's clever and well-written enough to keep the intelligent reader interested.

I didn't go gaga over everything about it, though. I hate that certain forced feeling that I get sometimes when I'm reading books that are classified under the Humor heading. The "Wings, get it?" line in the synopsis above is a perfect example. It's a joke. It is intended to make you laugh, and that break in the fourth wall distracts and annoys me. No humorous book is ever going to be 100% successful all the time with every reader, and it makes me feel awkward to be reminded of that when I'm reading.

Still, I did laugh at a lot of Christopher Moore's jokes.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf! I won't call it high art, but it's amusing and refreshing in sort of a dirty way.

Reading Recommendations: Check it out if Christmas makes you cranky, or if you liked Zombieland and/or Shaun of the Dead

Warnings: Guess what! Mr. Moore includes one himself! It reads: "If you're buying this book as a gift for your grandma or a kid, you should be aware that it contains cusswords as well as tasteful depictions of cannibalism and people in their forties having sex. Don't blame me. I told you."

Favorite excerpts: The opening paragraph: "Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe."

and

"Winter denial: therein lay the key to California Schadenfreude-- the secret joy that the rest of the country feels at the misfortune of California. The country said: 'Look at them, with their fitness and their tans, their beaches and their movie stars, their Silicon Valley and silicone breasts, their orange bridge and their palm trees. God, I hate those smug, sunshiny bastards!' Because if you're up to your navel in a snowdrift in Ohio, nothing warms your heart like the sight of California on fire. If you're shoveling silt out of your basement in the Fargo flood zone, nothing brightens your day like watching a Malibu mansion tumbling down a cliff into the sea. And if a tornado just peppered the land around your Oklahoma town with random trailer trash and redneck nuggets, then you can find a quantum of solace in the fact that the earth actually opened up in the San Fernando Valley and swallowed a whole caravan of commuting SUVs."

What I'm reading next: My Evangeline by Heidi Radford Legg

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Reviewed by Connie

Published: 2009

It's about: Half the original text of Pride and Prejudice, half zombie parody, Grahame-Smith adapts a classic story about marriage and the rules of civilized society to feature the excitement and humor of managing an epidemic of brain-sucking zombies. In the author's words: "You have this fiercely independent heroine, you have this dashing heroic gentleman, you have a militia camped out for seemingly no reason whatsoever nearby, and people are always walking here and there and taking carriage rides here and there . . . It was just ripe for gore and senseless violence. From my perspective anyway."

Read more »

Review: Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst

Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: I think I saw that this one is coming out in October 2011? Now I can't find exactly where I saw that. Anyway, it's not out yet, but it will be out soon.

It's about: Jeanne Darst comes from a family of four sisters, a spunky, alchoholic mother, and a father with romantic visions of a career as a writer and an unhealthy obsession with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. In this memoir, Darst writes about how she has come to terms with her unique family situation, specifically her eccentric father, and how through some very hard times she came to be a successful writer herself.

Read more »

Review: They Call Me Naughty Lola, edited by David Rose

(Full title: They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books. Edited and with an Introduction by David Rose)

Reviewed by Christina

Published: 2006

It's about: A personal ad, for you young'ns, is like a classified ad with the goal of soliciting romance. It's the analog ancestor of online dating. Lonely Hearts Columns, as they're known in the U.K., appear in newspapers and some magazines. This book is a collection of said ads from the London Review of Books.

I thought: Generally, personal ads tend to be sweet, serious, and sometimes a little sad. Here's one from Harvard Magazine:

"Accomplished, attractive, Cambridge/NYC woman, part-time academic, good-natured, fit, allergic to superficiality, interested in meeting man of similar sort, 60's, early 70's, to explore friendship and what may come."

It's difficult and uncomfortable to try to sum up everything positive about yourself and everything you hope to find in a relationship in so few words. But They Call Me Naughty Lola isn't a collection of those kinds of ads. Here's the ad from which the title is taken:

"They call me naughty Lola. Run-of-the-mill beardy physicist (M, 46.)"

If you don't think that's funny, this book probably isn't for you. It is 150 pages of clever, bizarre, and/or untrue personals. The people who write these generally aren't taking themselves or the column very seriously. That's what I found refreshing, especially since I read it during the month ruled by Valentine's Day, a holiday characterized by sappiness on the part of people who are in relationships and bitterness and self-pity on the part of people who aren't.
In this volume the bitterness and self-pity is always self-deprecatingly humorous; you get the impression that you're laughing with the advertisers, not at them. And then there are lots of ads that are nearly 100% joke, like this one:

"When you do that voodoo that you do so well, I invoke 16th-century witchcraft laws and have you burned at the stake. No shenanigans with Quaker M, 39."

Here are a few of my favorites:

"Not all female librarians are gay and called Susan. I, however, am and would like to meet non-librarian gay women to 35 with names such as Polly, Kate or Demeter."

"I'm just a girl who can't say 'no' (or 'anaesthetist'). Lisping Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, female lecturer in politics (37) WLTM man to 40 for thome enthanted eveningth."

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf! It made me laugh! Not that that's a terribly difficult thing to do, but still. I'd recommend it.

Reading Recommendations: Since there's no story to keep track of, They Call Me Naughty Lola would make good read-aloud-in-the-car material. It's a very quick read and, obviously, would be a great pick for Valentine's Day.
Apparently there is a second collection, published about a year ago, called Sexually, I'm More of a Switzerland.

Warnings: Innuendo abounds.

Favorite excerpts:
I think this might be my favorite one of all:

"In June 2001, Laura Buxton released a balloon during her grandparents' golden-wedding anniversary celebrations in Staffordshire. She'd attached to it her name and address along with a note asking the finder to write back. Ten days later she received a reply. The balloon had been found by another Laura Buxton in Wiltshire, 140 miles away. Both Lauras were aged 10 and both had a three-year-old black Labrador, a guinea pig and a rabbit. The replies to my personal ads are of a very similar nature, always coming from people who share my name and major characteristics of my life. The only distinction is that my replies do actually come from me. It's not because I have a poor memory and respond to adverts I don't remember placing, but because I'm so damned attractive I find me irresistable. You will, too, but if you don't own a three-year-old black Labrador, a guinea pig, and a rabbit I won't reply. Man. Gorgeous man. 37. Kettering. Adorable. Yummy. Reply soon. Of course I will, you silly little pussycat."

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

Reviewed by Ingrid


Published: 2010

It's about: Golden Richards is a Mormon fundamentalist living in southern Utah in the 1970s. Completely overwhelmed by his family life, consisting of 4 constantly bickering wives and 28 out of control children, Golden escapes by spending as much time of possible in Nevada at his construction project ... which his wives believe is a senior center, though it is actually a brothel. While in Nevada, Golden develops a little crush on an attractive young stranger named Huila, who turns out to be the wife of his boss. But, Golden soon finds that keeping secrets from his wives is not all that easy, because as soon as he is gone they confer with each other and compare versions of his excuses.
The narrative also follows Golden's fourth and youngest wife, Trish, and his wild, attention-seeking son Rusty.

I thought: I loved this book. All of the characters were endearing as well as emotionally complex, each one loveable in their own way. Udall's writing has its own particular humor, which made the story fun and engaging to read.
Overall, I loved how this book highlights the particular importance of family love and how an ultimately tragic situation can bring out of Goldon and his wives a deep familial love. This was definitely one of the most satisfying books I've read in a long time.

Verdict: Definitely stick this one on the shelf.

Reading Recommendations: Take your time reading and enjoying this book. Great for the beach or long plane rides.

Warnings: There is an f-word every few pages, and many sexual situations are described but not explicitly.

Favorite excerpts: "Something rose in him, some echo or vibration, and before he realized what he was doing he was already mumbling under his breath, his old habitual chant, EmmaNephiHelamanNaomiJosephinePaulineParleySybilDeeanne . . . and as the names made their way past his lips he felt, as if for the first time, the peculiar shape of each one, their particular syllables attended in his mind by some token to whom each name belonged, a dragonfly barrette, a smile full of missing teeth, a pair of orthopedic shoes, the dusty scent of sun-warmed hair, a nightmare cry from down the hall, an infant's tart breath, and here they came, his children, one after the other--not as hopelessly long and tangled strand of DNA nonsense-letters, or as a single, pulsing organism (as he had come to think of them lately), ever growing and demanding to be fed, but as individual bodies and faces appearing behind the glass window and screens of front doors, waiting, eyes bright, wondering where he was, what was taking him so long to come home."

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Reviewed by Chioma

Published: 2008.

It's about: This book is a collection of personal essays written by Sloane Crosley, a publicist who lives in New York City (among her clients are Dave Eggers, Toni Morrison and Joan Didion). While a book about her experience with those authors and the fabulous NYC life would be interesting, these essays are more down-to-earth. Her stories range from focusing on the difficulties of having a unique name in "Bastard Out of Westchester" (I can relate!), navigating old friendships in "You on a Stick", and dealing with old gifts from ex-boyfriends in "The Pony Problem (who can't relate?)

I thought: Her sassy, smart personality comes out strongly in her writing. She actually makes a story about losing her wallet interesting ("The Beauty of Strangers"). The stories are written as though Sloane (I figure I can refer to her by her first name) is an older sister or friend who is telling you her post-college stories in a clever and hilarious way. Each story is true to life and funny.

Verdict: In-Between. Like most funny things, it really depends on your sense of humor. I'd probably borrow it from a library or read excerpts from her website before purchasing it. I think her humor is one that some people might not like. Also her audience is more geared towards young adult women. Not sure how well males would relate to this book. As well, I'm not sure women in my mother's age group could relate to the stories either. But I certainly enjoyed it.

Reading Recommendations: You don't need to read the stories all in one sitting. Although I would read them in order because some stories are self-referencing.

Warnings: As a New Yorker, she occasionally peppers her stories with the a-word, s-word and a few f-words. There are allusions to sleeping with guys and some light innuendos, but nothing graphic. However, I would skip "One-Night Bounce" (a story about Sloane's pursuits of one-night stands). One story, "F-You Columbus" is actually a pretty good one despite the title. I would say the book is similar to a PG-13 rated chick flick.

Favorite excerpts: The day I get shot…will in all likelihood be the day before laundry Sunday and the day after I decided to clean out my closet, got bored halfway through, and opted to watch sitcoms in my prom dress instead.

Perhaps it's simply that niceness has always been New York's best-kept secret, kept quiet to keep the tourists out, like how it really don't rain all that much in Seattle.

Number of times I have received an email with my name spelled incorrectly in response to an e-mail originating from me and therefore making use of the correct spelling of my name and thus have passive-aggressively retaliated by leaving off the last letter of the sender's name in all future correspondence: 32. "Thanks for getting back to me, Rebecc."

Dave Barry Slept Here by Dave Barry

Reviewed by Liesl

Published: 1997

It's about: As the subtitle suggests: "A sort of history of the United States." It is essentially a history of the United States according to Dave Barry, from the early Native Americans to the Revolutionary War to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff to the Bush senior administration, only it leaves out the boring stuff and focuses on more interesting things, even if they aren't historically accurate or even relevant to the topic. He includes inaccurate maps, parodies of hit songs, and declares that all historical events occurred on October 8th, for easier remembering. There's a rare serious moment in this book, as it is intended solely for laughs.

I thought: Hilarious. I think it helps to know a lot of the history going on to appreciate the satire. I couldn't stop laughing at some of the things he wrote, like the history behind the name of Plymouth Rock. I think I got more out of this book than I did in my 10th grade U.S. History class. Dave Barry makes it light-hearted, entertaining, and memorable. His commentary for each significant event was amusing, and it made for a good read. There were times where I couldn't breathe because I was laughing so hard. Oh, Dave Barry, you card.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf? Please?


Reading Recommendations:You can read it in one sitting, or if you can only stand so much of humor writers at once, I'd read a chapter today. Go somewhere quiet, where people don't have to hear that embarrassing snort that you too often employ. And please do share, because it's so entertaining. The book, I mean, not the snort.

Warnings: Swears a little bit. You might not have the same sense of humor as Dave Barry, or even a sense of humor at all. I think the only time you would ever find yourself offended is because you just got kicked out of the library for laughing too loudly while reading this book. I would also not recommend this for any 8th grader expected to do a summary of the history of the U.S., because it is definitely not accurate.

Favorite excerpts: "Hundreds of thousands of years ago, America was very different. There was no civilization: no roads, no cities, no shopping malls, no Honda dealerships. There were, of course, obnoxious shouting radio commercials for car dealerships; these have been broadcast toward Earth for billions of years by the evil Planet of Men Wearing Polyester Sport Coats, and there is nothing anybody can do to stop them. But back then, you see, there was no way to receive them, so things were pretty peaceful."