Review Me Twice: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling

Our friend Christopher told me to read this book, like, three years ago. Something like that. Anyway, I finally got around to it. And it was worth it.

Books by comedians are usually like having a one-sided conversation with that comedian, and Mindy Kaling is no different. Each chapter is totally random (one is all the photos that are on her Blackberry and a brief description of each one... another chapter consists of detailed instructions on how her funeral should be set up... another is all about the non-traumatic things that make her cry) but it all works together.

Total honesty? She and I probably wouldn't get along. She admits to being a drama queen and loving shopping and crying at trivial things and arguing with pretty much everyone... but it's funny. And I don't have to be her friend; I just want to laugh at her stories. And I did. Out loud, and confusing my husband. (And then reading passages at him. Not to him... at him.)

It's a quick read, and a funny read, and the kind you can put down often if you need to because some chapters are literally one page, and a lot are two or three pages. And I've only ever seen about five episodes total of The Office, so I can also attest to the fact that you don't need to have seen it to get it. (Although it helps to know who Steve Carrell and Rainn Wilson and Michael Schur are, because she talks about them a couple times.)

Little known fact: I usually hate books written by comedians.  Why, you might ask?  Because, usually, they're not as funny as I think they should be.  I think they should be hilarious, and they so often are not, probably because, let's face it, most comedians are not writers.

Kaling, however, is a writer who writes comedy.  For a living.  It is her JOB to make me laugh via writing.  So I was unsurprised when I DID like this book, and I DID laugh out loud a lot because she has that quirky, dry, sarcastic kind of humor that I have and enjoy.

I, like Alex, have limited knowledge of The Office (i.e., I've never seen a single complete episode.  I've never even come close to completing an episode.  The closest I've come is seeing the Leverage parody of The Office.  Which was hilarious.)  But knowledge of The Office is completely unnecessary for it to be funny.  

If you're going to pick up a book by a comedian, I would recommend this one.

Author Bio: Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling is probably best known for her work on The Office (the American version), writing, directing, producing, and acting as Kelly Kapoor. I admit that I only know her character's name because I've already read her book, which we're reviewing this week (Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns). She also has a Fox sitcom, The Mindy Project, which was just (in March) renewed for a third season.

She has also been in film, most notably in This Is the End and Wreck-It Ralph.

She has been named one of the "50 Coolest and Most Creative Entertainers" of Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly and one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world, both in 2013.

Mindy Kaling is funny, successful, not a Hollywood twig, and therefore - in my opinion - a great role model for girls (or anyone).

Review Me Twice - Big Trouble by Dave Barry

The book this week was my pick and, while I did enjoy it, I wish I had picked a different Dave Barry book to review.

It was comical, and very obviously overly satirical.  It fell into stereotypes to show you how ridiculous some of them actually are.  It made commentary about airport security and how useless it really is (and this is post 9/11 we're talking about.)  I mean, it's a very chuckle worthy book.

But having read his other humor (non-fiction) books, this one just didn't hold up.  The other things I've read have side-splitting humor and this just... didn't.  Fiction is not really Barry's forte, I don't believe.

However, it WAS still funny, and it made me smile and you shouldn't be turned off from reading it.  I just wouldn't start with this one if you've never read anything by Dave Barry and you want to.  Try one of his other books first.

This is one of those books that is pretty funny throughout, with only a few literal lol moments. I like books like that. It's like British humor (except Barry is American).

I have to correct Cassy on one point... the book was published in September 1999 (I kept checking the spine label on my library copy when the characters were in the airport, because it really is weird to read pre-9/11 airport scenes, even though I did some flying pre-9/11 myself). The movie was supposed to be released in '01 but they postponed it to '02 due to 9/11-related sensitivity (there's a nuke on a plane at one point, for goodness' sake).

I liked the characters pretty much across the board in terms of writing (there are some characters you just aren't supposed to like) which I love. It's hard to give over a dozen characters relatively equal billing, but he did it, and I love it. It's a technique I'm actually trying to recreate in my Camp NaNoWriMo novel right now (and failing, pretty much).

Favorite Humor Book

In honor of this week's humorous book, we're picking our favorite humorous books this week!

Mine is, awkwardly, an upcoming review book, so I'll say very little about it. Years ago, our friend Christopher told me I needed to read this book: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling, probably best known for her role on The Office. She's also a comedy writer, and her style translates well to bookhood.

But you'll hear more about it in a few weeks... (Oh the suspense!)

I was going to put Paper Towns here, but decided that it's not technically a humor book, it just happens to be hysterically funny.  So I chose a different book by our author this week!

Our book this week is an actual story that Dave Barry wrote.  I'll Mature When I'm Dead is more like his columns, and in fact, some of the stories in there are directly from his column.  He had a Twilight parody (which is pretty much the funniest one that I've read ever), he talks about his dog and his kids and all this real life stuff that's so excruciatingly funny, it could only true.

Types of Comedy

There are all kinds of ways to be funny. And people laugh at all sorts of things. But today, I'm going to just list a few of the ways that people use to make us laugh.

Slap-stick humor

 This is probably one of my least favorite kinds of comedy. However, my Fiance loves it. He thinks that it's just hysterical. The Three Stooges were masters of slapstick comedy. There are also a series of movies that rely heavily on slapstick, like Airplane and the Scary Movie franchise.

Sarcasm

Who hasn't used a little sarcasm in their lives?  It's a dry sort of humor, saying the opposite of what you really mean, but in such a way that the person your talking to realizes you're not series.  Ten Thing I Hate About You was a movie that relied heavily on sarcasm (and is one of my favorites.  Mmmmm Heath Leadger.)

Laugh-At-Life Humor

This is where our author this week, Dave Barry, usually falls into.  He takes real situations in life and writes them in such a way that you can't help but fall on the floor laughing.  He will often talk about his dog, or his children and the comical things that arise out of being a father.

"Bathroom" humor

Is it inappropriate?  Are their fart and boob jokes?  Then it's probably bathroom humor.  Cyanide and Happiness uses a lot of this kind of humor and no topic is unholy (they make everything from fart jokes to cancer jokes.)

Puns

Probably the most simple and basic kind of humor, puns are easy and can be hysterical if you tell the right one.  It also takes a certain kind of person (my old roommate can't get enough of puns, but another friend of mine can't stand them and threatens me with certain death when I tell them.)

Author Bio: Dave Barry

Dave Barry is a well-known humor writer who started out with a newspaper column and has now written over thirty books (most of which are technically non-fiction, but all of which are humor).

You can't email him (no, really, the FAQ on his website says he doesn't do email because he got too much spam so he stopped that whole thing) but he does have a blog, which seems to be a weird personal aggregation site because at least the past two dozen entries are just links to weird stories.

There's lots of other great stuff at his website if you are inclined to go check it out. In the meantime, Cassy and I are reading one of his many books this week: Big Trouble.

Review Me Twice - Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

I had seen this book everywhere during the Christmas season.  Mainly because I work at a bookstore and it's an incredibly popular webcomic turned book.

And I did enjoy the book.  She manages to combine her ridiculous pictures with her even more ridiculous stories (which seem to have really happened.) She has a very poignant story about depression and what it's actually like as opposed to everyone's view of it.  Or at least everyone who has never had it before.

There were some stories that had me laughing.  Mainly ones about her dogs which she lovingly refers to as "the slow one" and "the helper."  It's funny mostly because how she refers to their antics is true, universally true when it comes to dogs.

But I feel like this was one of those books that didn't live up to the hype.  It was funny, but not side-splittingly so.  It was insightful, but not so insightful that it pushed me into a state of amazement.  Maybe it's the kind of thing where you need to read the blog to fully appreciate it, but this reviewer won't be picking this book up again.

I love Allie Brosh. But you probably figured that out on Monday. I've been reading her blog for ages and I was so excited when I found out she had a book deal. I was also really excited when she mentioned in her "omg you guys I have a book deal" post that it would probably be half things already posted on her blog and half new stuff. (I've bought books based on webcomics before... sometimes they're all new stuff, and sometimes they're all stuff you've already read online. I like the half-and-half approach.)

The neat thing about a book like this is that you can read her blog (for free) and decide whether you like her writing, drawing, sense of humor, what have you. Then, if you like it, you can get the book and get more stuff in the same vein. She's consistent, and I love that.

The Book You'd Want to Receive for All Hallow's Read

From www.allhallowsread.com

Yes, it's Halloween again, which means it's All Hallow's Read again, too! This is an up-and-coming tradition wherein you give scary books to your loved ones (or strangers, if you like) to celebrate Halloween. So today, instead of favorites, we're picking the books we would most like to receive for All Hallow's Read.

David Wong is the author of John Dies at the End, which is now also a movie. He also wrote This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It. I found a quote from The Washington Post about this book that said it's like The Walking Dead (which I don't watch, but would likely enjoy) meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm sold.

I knew about this book in the vague, if-you-mention-it-I'll-recognize-that-it's-a-thing-but-that's-about-it way that I'm aware of a lot of things. Then I was helping put together the library's Halloween display, and I saw this in the catalog. And I thought, I have to add that to the display. And on my way from where it had been on the shelf to where it was going on another shelf, I read the back of the book. And then I thought, I have to read this.

So really, it wouldn't make much sense to give this to me for All Hallow's Read, because I know there's an available copy at the library I work in, but still... I haven't read it, it's classified as "horror," and I want to read it. That's how the tradition works!

So, my book is an old one, and one I could pick up at the library or probably buy for pretty cheap (or even second hand.)

I hear so many things about the Shining; how it's basically the scariest thing that people have ever read/seen.  And I believe them, but I just never could bring myself to read it because I've never thought much of Stephen King's work.

(Funny side story; Alex was obsessed with Stephen King when we first met, and the VERY first time that we met, I saw all her Stephen King books and said, "I don't really like him much."  To which of course she answered, "Well, have you read anything by him?"  And when I told her the books I read she said, "Well, those are his worst ones."  Really, people, it's a wonder we ever became friends at all.)

And really, I don't HATE King.  I just don't think he's that great.  If someone were to GIVE me the book, however, I'm the kind of person who would be all the more likely to read it because it was a gift.  Ergo, someone should give me The Shining for All Hallow's Read and then I would actually read it.

Authors Who Don't Take Themselves Too Seriously

This week, we're talking about Dr. Seuss, who writes a lot of children's books (obviously.)  While some of his books do have beat you over the head messages in them (The Lorax, whaaaaaat?), a lot of his books are just silly and fun and made to make a kid laugh (Check out our favorite Dr. Seuss book tomorrow and you'll see a few.)

Here are a few other authors who remember that not all of life is SERIOUS BUSINESS

Lemony Snickett

If you've ever read any of the Series of Unfortunate Events books, you realize that Snickett is all about the sarcasm.  He's constantly defining things in his books, but in such a way that it makes it obvious that he believes reader already KNOWS what the words mean.  People also die in the most ridiculous fashions in his books.  As if all that wasn't enough, he wrote a book called Lemony Snickett: The Unauthorized Autobiography.

Louis Sachar


If you've ever read a single book by him, you realize immediately that he's all about the fun and funny for kids.  He wrote Sideways Stories from Wayside School, which we've reviewed, which is all about a school that was built 30 stories tall by accident.  Kids get potato tattoos, rats come to class and there is no 19th story.  There is no Mrs. Zarves.






Dav Pilkey

Captain Underpants is a book about kids who managed to hypnotize their principle and make him run around in his underwear and a towel.  The whole book is silly and ridiculous, and even Pilkey has said that he wrote the book to be for kids with ADHD.  He even uses the pen names George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the two characters in his book who are writing about their adventures.

Douglas Adams

You only have to be one chapter into The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to realize that Adams is all about a chuckle.  We learn that it's always good to have a towel, the guide has "Don't Panic" written on the cover, and we all know that 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything.

What silly authors do you like best?  What about authors who take themselves a bit too seriously?

Favorite Poems

We're keeping in line with all the CRAZY poetry going on this week by telling you our favorite poems.  And while I was going to put this poem, by Hopkins, I felt that maybe that was just a little too much Hopkins in one week.

That kind of put me at a loss though, because I'm not a poetry fan.  Like, at all.  I mean, I REALLY dislike poetry.  I dislike reading it, writing it, listening to it.  I think there are way too many people who write poems that become greats and I think they're dumb (the poems, not the people.  Though, respectively, I guess the people could be dumb too).  I think everyone thinks Wordsworth is awesome... I just think he's long-winded and overly excited about nature.

So what's a girl to do?  Why, tell you about a hilarious haiku, obviously.  So here it is, my favorite poem:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator

Awesome, isn't it?  I don't think it has an official "author", but you can buy it on a t-shirt.

(And I have that t-shirt!)

I don't hate poetry, like Cassy. In fact, I quite like it. That's why I've been telling you about it all month on Thursdays!

I think the first time I admitted that I liked a poem was when I read "The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe. I like the rhyme. I like the meter. I like the subject matter. I like the word choices, the alliteration, the assonance... it's a beautifully crafted poem, and I like it.

I read more of Poe and discovered that I also liked "The Casque of Amontillado," and "The Tell-Tale Heart," and I liked his short stories too, particularly "Hop-Frog."

But "The Raven" is still the poem I think of when asked to choose a favorite poem. It sounds like a cop-out answer, because it's one of the few poems people can remember from high school, but I love it, unabashedly.

By Its Cover: Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops

This is a wonderfully literal book cover. We see a bookshop (the wall is covered in similarly-colored books) where a customer (with just the best haircut and sweater) asking a weird question, and being answered by a confused woman at the desk. It just doesn't get more honest than that.

The drawing style, bright colors, and jaunty font (say it out loud; it's fun!) fit the tone properly.

And look! My favorite author supplied the review quote at the bottom. (If you can't read it, it says: "So funny... So sad... Read it and sigh." - Neil Gaiman.) And it's absolutely true.

And if you didn't know that Neil Gaiman was here favorite author... well, you must be new here.

I don't really have much to add to Alex's analyzation of the cover.  It's cartoonish, but that a really good this for this book, I feel.  Like she said, you don't get much more straight forward than this (in fact, I'm pretty sure this is a representation of one of the quotes in the book.)  It's got great colors and, if the title didn't already make you want to do this, it makes you want to pick up the book.

Review Me Twice - Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell

Review day!  Always an exciting day here at Review Me Twice, and this week, we take a look at Jen Campbell's book.


So, a little bit of a story for you.  I suggested this book to Alex... oh, probably not long after we started the blog (my Goodreads shows me that I added it to my "To Read" shelves in October, and that was probably pretty near when I told Alex about it.)  Neither of our libraries had it, and nine times out of ten, we get books from the library, so we decided against it.

So then, for MONTHS Alex said that she had a "Top Secret Book" that she was going to mail to me for the blog.  And when I say months, I mean months.  I would say at least two, but probably three that she kept forgetting to mail it to me.

Finally, about two weeks ago I told her, "If you don't mail this secret book, I'm not going to be able to read it."  I also asked her if she would tell me the super secret book.  She said, no, but it was a book I suggested awhile ago.  And then I immediately responded with, "Is it Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores?"

When she said, "DAMN IT!" I knew I was right.  Which was fine, because I had already bought and read it a month before, so she didn't need to send it.

Now, onto the actual review.  It was a fun book.  I mean, it's EXACTLY what it says it is.  Campbell started writing down the absolutely ridiculous things that people would say to her in the bookstore where she worked.  For this particular collaboration  other bookstore workers sent her quotes too, so it's a mix of both her experiences and others.

Some of the things people said... I mean, I worked in retail for awhile and I'm STILL surprised by some of the quotes that Campbell puts in here.

The book is funny, and while, no, not a literary masterpieces, it's still pretty hilarious, so five stars for that.

As a librarian, I get funny, weird, unusual questions about books from time to time. I've had students ask me how much a book costs (at which point I have the opportunity to explain the difference between the bookstore and the library). I had a student who needed books about the work of Pablo the behavioral scientist (who turned out to be Pavlov, of course).

One of my favorite websites that I read on a daily basis is Not Always Right (and the spin-offs Not Always Working and the newly founded Not Always Learning). They're reader-submitted stories about crazy customers (or coworkers/bosses, or students/teachers/faculty). This book is a lot like reading those sites, probably because it started as a similar website: http://jen-campbell.blogspot.com/2011/05/weird-things-customers-say-in-bookshops.html

It's a quick, fun read that delivers exactly what it promises.

Favorite Political Books

No! Don't run away! We promise not to get overly political. The reason we're talking about our favorite political books today is because this week's review book, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, has the (extremely politicized) issue of abortion at its core. "Unwind" refers to the compromise made between the two sides of the debate... but more about that on Friday.

My favorite political book is probably actually Wide Awake by David Levithan, but since it doubles as my favorite LGBT book and we've already covered those, I'm going with America: The Book by Jon Stewart. It was kind of a four-way tie, because I've read this, Earth: The Book by Jon Stewart, I Am America and So Can You by Stephen Colbert, and Colbert's children's book, I Am A Pole (and So Can You). Tough choices.

The best thing about this (and Earth) is the format. This book is in textbook format! I have thought for a long time that more books need to be written in textbook format. It's a convenient, effective way to present information that is improved by the perfect photo or infographic in just the right place.

The trouble with political humor books is that they can get outdated pretty quickly. Example: this book was published in 2004. Do you guys remember 2004? (Of course you do. If you didn't, you'd be either comatose or under nine years old, and neither of those groups are this blog's target demographic.) That was the year Cassy and I graduated high school and started college, so it seems like a lifetime ago to me. But even politically speaking, that was before a black American president was a thing. That was before Sarah Palin did... much of anything. That was the year Kerry ran against Bush Jr. That was only three years after 9/11. Okay, enough examples; it was almost a decade ago, you get it. My point was supposed to be, Jon Stewart is good at making jokes and commentary that aren't just timeless (or as close to timeless as you can get when your fodder is current events) but are also informative.

So what is Cassy's favorite political book, you may ask?  Cassy, who really has zero interest in politics and even less interest in reading about them?  Well, clearly my favorite political book is Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

Ok, before you get on my case say, "OMG, that's not political!  That's fantasy!" Well, ok, yes, technically this is a fantasy book.  BUT not all politics are necessarily American politics, or even real politics for that matter.

The general idea in GoT is that Cersei, the queen, wants to be in power.  She wants to control everything, which is pretty much the reason she marries her husband, King Robert, who controls all of the seven kingdoms.  Cersei's family, The Lannisters, are an extremely powerful and influential family, that is the power behind the power.  And none of them are really the people that you want to have dealings with.

Cut to the Starks, a good family who lives in Winterfell.  Eddard in the King of Winterfell and if Cersei is evil incarnate, Eddard doesn't seem to have an evil bone in his body.  He wants what's good for the kingdom and his family (all six of his kids and his wife) are just like him.  Working for the greater good.

There is intrigue and betrayal and everyone, everyone, is attempting to control the throne.  Control the throne, control the kingdom.  And as if the people IN the seven kingdoms trying to control it wasn't enough, let's add some Dragons.  Daenerys Targaryen is in the East, riding towards the seven kingdoms, ready to claim the birthright that was taken away from her.

This book, this series really, is all about who controls what.  It's all about manipulation and who holds the power and playing politics (after all, Cersei only married Robert so she would be queen, not because there was any actual love.)  It's all about who you know and who holds what position and who can and can't be trusted.  So if you think this book isn't about politics, you need to reread it.  You might have missed the point.

Review Me Twice- Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

This week, Alex and I decided to read Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres.  While this is technically another non-fiction book, it's really very different than what we covered last week.  Obviously, it's a lot more humorous.  Ellen is a comedian (which, unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure you already knew.)  Really, this book is an insight into her life and thoughts, things she does everyday and what she really feels about life.

During certain parts of the book, she talks about some really serious things.  She discusses how she and Portia like kids but don't intend to have any of their own.  She has a chapter that she devotes to manners and how a lot of people don't have them anymore (which, is really my favorite chapter because I completely agree.  People don't even give you simple thank you for things these days.)  She talks about how we don't get out of the house and do things and our attentions span has been shortened.

However, it still has that Ellen wit.  She makes jokes (even the inside flap is funny.)  She has an entire chapter for the audio book where she writes out weird noises and we only have to guess as to what they would sound like on CD.  If you've ever watched her show (like the hilarious clip below), you will see that she is just a funny person.

However, here is my major criticism of the book.  If you are a comedian, someone who I know and love and I think is hilarious, then your book better be, well, hilarious.  I'm not saying the whole thing was dull, but I expecting so much MORE from her.  I expected my sides to be in stitches from laughing so hard.  I expected every chapter to have more jokes than I could handle and, to be honest, I just didn't get that.  Ellen is the type of comedian that she's funny because of her delivery and she isn't a strong enough writer for that delivery to come across the page.  It wasn't that the material wasn't funny, it was that it just wasn't funny on a page without anyone delivering it to me.

That being said, I think this book could have been a lot better if I got the audio version.  I hardly EVER advocate an audio book over the actual book, but Ellen actually reads her audio version and I think the book would just be better with all of the jokes being told as they were meant to be.

My Bottom Line 2 1/2 out of 5

I love Ellen DeGeneres. I don't watch her show and I haven't read her other two books but I do like her quite a bit. I think she's funny, smart, witty, and stands for some very positive things.

I really liked this book. I won't say I loved it because that's something I say about books I'll read over and over again, which I wouldn't do with this book. It was great, and I enjoyed it very much, but once through was enough.

My favorite chapter was "The Chapter for Audiobook Listeners" (even though I was reading a regular print copy). It was very funny, but I won't tell you why, because you should read it yourself.

The best part of the book is that it feels very much like Ellen is talking to you from the page. She wrote it to be that way (writing like she talks, addressing you - the reader - directly) and it works, and I liked it.

Short story: I like it, it's not for reading over and over, and I like the author more than I liked the book (but that isn't saying much because I really like the author).