Form-T Books

It starts out as a smile, then a giggle, then a guffaw. I have had to read this book in small doses -- I'm afraid of breaking something if I read too much at a time! Paula is the best!

I bought Paula's book on CD. What could be better than listening to Paula's book being read by Paula? Paula is funny and always entertaining. I can highly recommend buying the book on CD. I can also honestly say I didn't read the book because she read it for me. It doesn't get any better!

Weird, in a good way, and charming juxtaposition of biographies of famous people and Poundstone's meandering thoughts on everything from motherhood to... well, everything. Plenty of laugh out loud moments and some interesting insights into the author.

I'm a great fan of Paula Poundstone, and have thoroughly enjoyed her televised comedy specials--and therein lies the problem. In this abridged reading of her book, she covers very little material that wasn't in her Bravo specials. Worse, her reading delivery is wooden and lacks the impeccable timing of her stand-up acts. All that said, this audio book is vintage Paula, and a pretty good companion for a long commute.

This book is an unusual mixture of hollywood tell-all, historical biography and stand up. But throughout, Poundstone is funny, charming and clever. Enjoyable to read.

Dennis Miller's rants combine hilarity and brutal honesty and with his gift of insight, his intellect, and his candor, Miller toes the line between coolness and utter jerkdom as he yells his views on topics that range from politics to popular culture. Miller is surprisingly patriotic, deeply cynical, individualistic, and often mildly insulting. I found his trademark obscure cultural references charming at first but they do grow old after a while. (Not that Miller cares.) The thing that won me over here is that unlike so many other motormouths in the entertainment business, Dennis Miller truly has something thoughtful to say and the points he makes are generally worth thinking over.

Dennis Miller is one of the best in the business of cutting humor today.I don't know if he writes all his own material;but I am inclined to think he does.He claims to be neither a Democrat nor a Republican and it really doesn't matter.I think he has decided the whole bunch of them are fair game.He comes up with one great line after another and he has an ability to put his thoughts forward that take you by surprise and leave you gasping for air from laughing.Youl'll say to yourself;Yeah,he's hit the nail right on the head,but I never thought of it that way.
On Liberals..."They are running around like an organically fed,free-range chicken with its head cut off.No wonder they fight so hard for the spotted owl- they're right behind them on the endangered species list."
Recently, Miller has been showing up on FOX with Hannity and Colmes and he had the pair of them doubled up with laughter .
This book was first published in 1996.Miller's rants in this book are already 10 years old.However;the more things change,the more they stay the same.

"Now I don't want to get off on a rant here,but"..

I wish that he would put a lid on his use of the F-word. It's not that this is too harsh for my sensitivities, having spent my teen years in the local Pool Rooms,and later 5 years in college with engineers and 7 years in the Army. So,with all that,vulgarity is'nt anything new to me.However; when you are a good humorist with good material and timing,you don't need vulgarity to get attention.In fact,I think it detracts from his talent. It may be alright for a Drill Instructor, but the great humorists like Mark Twain,Myron Cohen,Red Buttons,Red Skelton,Bill Cosby and such,did not lower themselves to its use.I particularly feel this way with female performers. What I'm really trying to say is that it detracts rather than enhanches the persona of a good entertainer. Miller is too good to have to resort to foul language and his humor would be better off without it.I feel the same about George Carlin.

"Of course,that's just my opinion.I could be wrong."

This book was very hilarious, filled to the brim with some of Dennis' best rants from his acclaimed HBO show Dennis Miller Live, leaving you nostalgic for those wild and crazy 1990s. If you remember and miss Dennis from his times as the news anchor on SNL or from his hit HBO show Dennis Miller Live and want to relive some of his witty remarks and prodigious monologues, I highly recommend you purchase this book.

This collection of rants from Dennis Miller is generally excellent and topical social commentary. Written long before 9/11 and his coming of age as a more conservative voice, this is a fairly libertarian, rational, and practical look at life in the United States. There are a few areas that I disagree with him on, but I am not recommending that anyone think a certain way, just that people hear different concepts with an open mind and make their own decisions. In this book you can see the seeds of Miller's conservatism, although it is clear that he has been awakened and revitalized by the events of 9/11 and is thus more conservative now than when this book was written.

Overall, this is a neat summary of Miller's world view as it existed in 1996. His gift of satire is preeminent in the world today, and while probably everyone will find something in this book to provoke or annoy them, at least it insists on the reader thinking for themselves. I would have given this book five stars except for the fairly frequent profanity. I know this is adapted from some of his HBO material, but the book could be used for a much younger audience to excellent effect if not for the language. Excellent job overall: highly recommended for people of any political leaning.

Since I've been alternately lambasting and lauding Dennis Miller on my new website, "An Open Letter to Dennis Miller", and since I've written a few poems about him, it's only fair I backtrack and learn more about the guy I used to admire, but hadn't fully appreciated.

So I bought a couple of books, borrowed others from the library, and listened to "The Off-White Album". I'll limit this review to "The Rants", which I have both on audiocassette and hardcover. Dennis, please, please, find that person you once were! In the first rant, "Liberalism", he recognizes that liberalism is probably dead as a political party, but needs to stay alive as a spiritual force. In other rants, I find genuine chunks of wisdom mixed in with snide or too-clever comments. Sometimes I giggle or smile, and sometimes I'm out-loud guffawing. And the F-word and other obscenities aren't as frequent as I expected (though certainly frequent enough!).

I find the Dennis Miller of old clever, cocky, a little annoying, sometimes embarrassing, and overall enjoyable. I find the Dennis Miller of early 2003 hateful, intellectually lazy, pandering, sucking up to the hilt--and only occasionally funny. Will the real Dennis Miller please come back?

An Excellent book on the on-going apparitions of Medjugorje!
This book should be read by all. Mary is the Mother of all people.
Jesus gave her to us from the cross. I thought the book was fascinating.
And the price can't be beat.

It has the ability to be life changing if you are open to the messages.

If this doesn't wake you up out of your lull in faith, nothing will. After reading you will realize how short a time we truly have on earth to make a difference to those in need. Very inspirational.

I am not finish with the book yet, but I am very interested in what the auther and the children have to say about the appearing of the Blessed Mother Mary.

I first bought this book sitting around SFO waiting for a plane back to LAX. Bought it for my wife who has great faith. My mom had been to the site and she had some very special experiences that changed her life. However, outside of saying the Rosary much more often afterwards, she did not go into immense detail and what she saw and felt. We just knew it was powerful. Please note, at that time, she was already sick with cancer, so perhaps her communicative abilities were limited. We lost her to brain cancer in 1994, so I wanted to learn more about her own Yugoslavian openings.

If you have an open mind, be certain to read this book. My wife and 12 year old step daughter were in big tears within the first few pages. From a Catholic perspective, this is much more evidence, in droves, of the presence of the Mother of God calling out to us for prayer and faith right now. To a non-believer, the author approaches the visionaries like a great reporter - asking tough questions over and over, sometimes the same ones in very different ways. The consistency of their answers, all of them, helps justify the notion that this is a very real phenomenon and one worth studying closely. It almost feels like the interviewer does or did not believe, hence the tough questions from a variety of angles. These are not softball questions on their visions if you read her style closely. They have plenty of chances to slip or be inconsistent.

If you love books and claim to have an open mind, please read this book. The experiences they share of hearing personally from the Mother of Jesus are like nothing you will ever read again. She is so full of love and concern for all of humanity that it's very beautiful and compelling. We have been profoundly blessed by this work and bought many copies to share with family and friends, Christian and non alike. You will not be disappointed with this loving book.

it is good, but too hard for non-native speaker. anyway, a book worth keeping on the shelf.

I am not going to review the famous poem. Such a review, from an Amazon customer, would be unnecessary and preposterous. (It astonishes me so few have realized this). This is a review of the selection of texts this Norton Critical Edition has annexed to the poem.

The editor of this book has (a little lazily, perhaps) simply concertinaed Eliot's sources and a sampling of critical essays into 280 pages. The reader receives little to no editorial guidance from Michael North. But the approach is simple and it works. If you are determined to understand Eliot's poem, then all the pieces of the exegetical puzzle are here, in one convenient volume, to be pieced together. That piecing together, let me emphasize, is not done for you. But then, I wonder if any other approach to Eliot's poem is possible.

I have given the book four stars instead of five for the inclusion and the placement of the rather long-winded essays on the publication history. What passages, words, punctuation marks Pound chose to excise (de-exise and re-excise) and when, and where, and even in what colour pencil does little (I did not say nothing) to enrich our understanding of the poem. There should have been less of this, and it should not have preceded the more illuminating and explanatory critical reviews. The result is that the reader is overwhelmed with the minutiae of Pound's twiddling and tuning before everything has been done to help the reader understand the already sufficiently knotty FINISHED poem.

In conclusion, I found this book to be imperfect, but helpful.

Recently in this space I reviewed Allen Ginsberg's modern 'beat' classic Howl. I have in the past written admiringly of the metaphysical poet John Donne and of my hero revolutionary Cromwellian Commonwealth political activist/poet John Milton of Paradise Lost fame. All poets in their ways different but held together by one common bond-the ability to sense the beauty hidden in the English language and to put it in symbolic form. Eliot is in that company. To a great extent, at least in the modern era, T.S. Eliot's little poem is the one that permits all following poets including Ginsberg to explore and explode the possibilities of the language. No bad for a bank clerk, right?

I remember first reading, halteringly, Wasteland in high school straight up without notes. We spent a lot of time on the arcane references Eliot sprinkled throughout the poem and we collectively had a project to dig out all the unfamilar symbols buried in the lines of the poem. That, my friends, was serious work. In fact one classmate argued that the Arthurian quest for the Holy Grail was child's paly by comparison. We definitely could have used the copious notes provided here to speak nothing of the various critical interpretations presented. Well done. With the availability of this reference work do not, I repeat, do not fly solo with the Wasteland. It is too important a poem of the modern age to lose its meaning for lack of knowledge of some arcane references.

I'm not really qualified to review TS Eliot. First of all, I couldn't be impartial---I made a special trip while in Somerset to visit the man's grave (actually a little plaque). Secondly, the corpus of his work represents one of the greatest pinnacles of the English language. I'll let Oxford dons review Waste Land.
This book of essays, however, was extremely helpful to me as I studied this poem, this monument to our decaying culture. I really think that it was instrumental in allowing me to reach a certain level of understanding, a level of comfort, with one of the most dense poems in English. However, it's not cheap, and no easy read in itself. You have to want it!
If you are serious about your Eliot, pull out the VISA and go to town. If you are just passing through, your local library has a copy you could check out before spending the money.

Norton Critcal did it right with this edition. With enough essays and criticism to help anyone get a deeper understanding of Elliot's poem, this edition is a must have. Rainey's essay on the publishing of the poem is particulary interesting.

if you enjoy the unique narrative stories by david sedaris, augusten burroughs and erma bombeck, you will really really enjoy the voice of susan reinhardt. this was the first novel i read of hers and i'm going to pick up others for some good beach reading.

This uncensored collection of deeply funny and moving scenes from the life of a modern-day Southern belle will pull a laugh right up out of your belly, while at the same time you're shaking your head and saying, "Yes! Isn't that just how Life is?" Susan Reinhardt is not afraid to lay bare her own soul, fearlessly sharing some painful spots along with the fun ride. The result is unforgettable.

Loved most of this book (as it is a book of short stories of the writer's life). She definitely has a great way of telling story AND she sounds like we could be best of friends. She is hysterically funny and REAL. The only bummer is there were a few stories that were a bit depressing. I dropped the book for 2 weeks and didn't pick it back up cuz I was bored with it. I would read other stories of hers though.

Just finished reading Don't Sleep with a Bubba: Unless Your Eggs are in Wheelchairs and per usual, I laughed til I almost wet myself (perhaps more information than you bargained for), and cried as well. Loved it! I will force the women of my mom's club to purchase every last copy at barnes and noble!

Also, wanted to say thank you to Susan for her heart-felt honesty with regard to depression and bipolar disorder. Like her, I'm one of those women who smiles through everything and cracks jokes so that know one knows or sees the "darker side." I had awful post-partum depression after my son was born and suffered in silence. I'm certain my husband thought I needed a straight-jacket and horse pills, but no one said a word. I loved the chapters about her children (my little angel had jaundice as well - poor thing had to go back to the hospital and bake under the lights too!) Luckily, my best friend gave me Susan's first book "Not Tonight Honey" and my mood lifted! Amazing what a little womanly humor can do for the soul!
Susan has once again touched my heart and lifted my spirits! A must-read for every woman!

I throughly enjoyed her first book, and delved into the second with a good deal of anticipation.

The book is well written, and worthwhile in many ways, but it is NOT lighthearted comedy. If you are looking for escapist light humor, THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR YOU. I would have felt differently about this, perhaps, if I had had a glimmer of a warning of some of the subject matter. It certainly was a drastic departure from the content and tone of her first book.

Imagine, if you will, expecting a light hearted romp of southern foibles, and then reading, in order, about rape, suicide, and then the murder of hamsters in a grisly fashion. Yech! I do not know what happened after that, the book is now in the trash, and I am a little sickened every time I think about it.

It seems like some of the stories are abbreviated in the daily sections. I enjoyed the Billy sections and others, but just don't feel like I'm getting the entire story. Maybe I'm just missing the point of this collection. I did pick it up in my alley for free so I won't complain. The jokes are still relevent. The "A vast Ye maties, Bank of America's about to go belly up" strip has struck a chord with our current economical woes. Enjoy anyways.

Im assuming anyone who is reading this knows Berkeley Breathed, Opus and Bill the Cat. This is a great collection of his comic strips and would be a wise purchase of anyone who enjoys this comic strip.

Thankfully we can still get his books of Bloom County and Outland and of course, his current iteration, Opus.

I have always loved Berkely's quirky look at life, politics, love and what not through the eyes of Milo, Opus, Cutter John and others throughout the years and when I bought this book, I would read 2-3 pages, often before turning out the light at night and would find myself laughing at much of the strips. That's how good they are, even now some 20 years later and I recall reading many of then when they were running in the papers. While some of the strips show their age a little, the strip is as still timeless now as when they were originally conceaved. That's a rare feat in my book.

While it's by no means all of his Bloom County strips, it's a good collection of some of the best and that alone is worth it.

Bloom County is on my short list of all-time favorite comics. The original form, before short-lived "Outland" or the current "Opus", is long gone, though. Picking up this book was a wonderful piece of nostlagia.

The series peaked some time in the early 80s, and "Babylon" offers a sample of that time. I had forgotten how topical it was, full of references to then-current supermodels, presidents, movies, and sitcoms. Despite that, much of the humor has aged well. Milo's anxiety closet, for example, never needs to end. Various bogey-men (and -women) will reside there for their times, and move on. The anxiety will always be there, however, no matter how silly it looks to everyone else.

Even a book this size can't capture every strip in the five years (82-6) that it covers. That means that some of my favorite characters, like winsome Pistachio, barely even had cameo appearances. I'll take what I can get, though, and this is a pleasant sample.

If you ever liked any strip comic, you liked Bloom County or will like it. Maybe the 80s were before your time, but the characters will still look right up to date. Enjoy!

//wiredweird

Despite what the item description says, there are no color pages in this cheap reprinting. The pages are printed only in black and white, and are printed in very poor quality. What a shame, because the book itself is fantastic. I have an original printing of this book and love it. I ordered this reprint as a gift and had to return it because of the poor print quality. I wish I had noticed the other reviews about this problem (listed below) before I wasted my time and money!

I grew up reading his books and am now ordering them as gifts for my kids. They shoot canoes don't they and a fine and pleasant misery are my favorites.

McManus uses his thigh-slapping humor to urge us toward a kinder, more gentler humanity.

Well, when it comes to books they, aren't my thing. you see, I don't like to read but when I read the book They Shoot Canoes Don't They by Patrick F Mcmanus, now I like to read a little bit better. The book is about this guy Patrick Mcmanus. He tells these little stories about what stupid things he has done and or this that have happed to him or his friends and family. Like this one little story his wife goes through the garage tossing junk in the garbage and she finds this one box with his childhood memories and the he tells a little story about what happened. It all starts when he first meets his wife and he takes her hunting. She puts on his antler tag as a bracelet and can't get it off then he tells a different, story but Ill leave the rest for you to find out what happens.
Travis Knipfer

This collection of short stories is one of the funniest I have ever read. To fully understand the humor in these stories, you must enjoy outdoor activites and appreciate first-class sarcasm. Included in this book are about twenty-five chorts, all exploding with laughter at every turn of page.
These stories are about the personal experiences of the author, and the people that he is close to. He writes about hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor activites. His stories are so personal because he is writing about his past; as he was growing up, and his present. In addition to laughing at him, the reader also laughs at himself, because as you have said, thought, or done the very same thigns that he is writing about. One story in paticular describes his thoughts and fellings about getting glasses. At first McManus attributes the change in the world's clarity to communists, subsequently he is diagnosed with an astgmatism. He does not think that a big game guide should wear glasses, so he does not confide his new spectacles to his friends, until he realizes that an adult mentor of his also has glasses. Normally a person getting glasses would not be considered humor, but when written by this autor almost anything becomes funny.
In addition to entertaining, these stories also teach the reader. A few lessons that can be learned are: take time to enjoy the simple things in life, laugh at yourself, and take time out of your normal schedule to go outdoors and spend time with family and freinds. If you enjoy a good laugh pick up "They Shoot Canoes Don't They," or one of his many other novels.

Another very enjoyable McManus collection. I first started reading his material in the 80's. Now my kids enjoy his humor with me. Great for anyone who has a love for the outdoors and all the misadventures they have experienced.

I gave this book as a gifrt to a friend who had her first grand baby She loved it immensly

I sent this to my mom for mother's day as a gift from my twins, who aren't born yet. She poured through it within a matter of days and said she loved it.

Bought this for my mother, and decided to read it after her.
Very well written, and mom was very pleased as well.

A great gift for the soon be be grandmother or grandmothers at any stage!

This is a laugh-out-loud book but with capturing the deep emotins of becoming a grandmother at the same time. Ms Wyse has certainly captured the modern style of being a grandmother and made her come to life. I have given it to each of my friends as they announce they are going to be a grandmother.I also reread it from time to time just to see how I am doing as a grandmother and what might come next.

I read this collection of life stories and events with an admitedly negative attitude toward it because of my dislike of the first book of this collection. Nevertheless, I thought that this volume was even worse than it's predicessor. I don't believe that this book has any literary value to it at all. It most certainly didn't make me feel better about my life. Personally I believe that these events are things that happen to everyone in their lifetime. Merely reading about them AGAIN had even less appeal to me than it did the first time.

I read this collection of life stories and events with an admitedly negative attitude toward it because of my dislike of the first book of this collection. Nevertheless, I thought that this volume was even worse than it's predicessor. I don't believe that this book has any literary value to it at all. It most certainly didn't make me feel better about my life. Personally I believe that these events are things that happen to everyone in their lifetime. Merely reading about them AGAIN had even less appeal to me than it did the first time.

Jack Canfields is a genius. I may not be the smartiest person in the world, but I know heart when I see it and this guy, he has it. I can only compare Canfields to Bil Keane as an inspiration in my life. Delightful. If I could only give it 11 stars...

I wrote a story for this book called, "A Strawberry Malt and Three Squeezes, Please!" to honor the memory of my mother who died of Alzheimer's Disease. I hope it touches your heart. She was a very special woman!

This book will make the most depressed people to walk the earth's spirit rise to hapiness. The stories in this book touched my heart and will yours. At first I thought it was just another popular book, but when I read these stories, I fell in love with this books. Each story and each section of the book has a signifigance.I say again, these stories touched my heart, and will yours.

Ignore the slam reviews here, this is pretty darn funny stuff from the early years of the best animated show on TV today. You pay less than ten bucks, you read this in an hour, you crack a smile or two, you feel a little happier. What more is to be expected of a book based on a TV show, for crying out loud? Some people need to re-align their parameters in accordance with reality. I think this is good...

As a huge King Of The Hill fan, I eagerly purchased this book. I though it was fairly boring, and only a few pages had me laughing, and just a few more made me smile.

It was a quick read, and it didn't seem to be based on much of the show. The illustrations didn't seem to be the calibur of the actual show. It was funny however, and interesting. I would pick it up on a discount, or at the library, but I wouldn't buy it. Save your money for season 3 on DVD whenever that may come out.

Hank wasn't born in Texas but in New York. Did you actually ever watch the show?

This book was clearly assembled by people who never watched tv show and were working from only the most cursory descriptions of the characters and mood of the show. The show is all about subtlety and understatement and there is none of either in this book. Blech. Blech I say.

WD40 for the Soul, on the other hand, is definitely true to the spirit of the show and I do recommend that one.

(the 2nd star is for the centerfold of John Redcorn)