Three New Books to Dip In and Out Of

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

One of the side effects of being cooped up inside for so long is that our attention spans have shrunk. After binge-watching episode after episode of the latest Netflix craze, we need a break. When it comes to reading, the thought of tackling a big novel or doorstopper of a biography can be too daunting. This month’s Book Report has three suggestions for books you can dip into and out of to give your self a break.

Todd Doughty’s book Little Pieces of Hope had its origins on March 11, 2020 when he began to make a list of “happy-making things in a difficult world” and posted the list with a photo on his Instagram account (@todddoughty). That was the day the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. 

The post became the basis for his book. Most of his lists are a single page, so this makes it the perfect book to just grab when you have a few minutes and want something to bring a smile to your face as you recognize things that brought you joy as a youngster or give you hope today. 

He lists things like “Staying up late and hearing “Live From New York, it’s Saturday Night!”, “A day at the state fair”,  and “Ripping open the presents” that evoke a visceral memory for so many of us. He has pages titled “Bucket-List Suggestions” (seeing a Red Sox- Yankees game at Fenway), “Things You Might Consider Doing Today” (make Ina Garten’s weeknight Bolognese), and “That Moment in Life When You” (realized your parents are people too). 

There are many things in this delightful book to make you think, make you smile, make you nostalgic. Sometimes it’s just one word- “Kevin!” (from the movie Home Alone), or his Mixtape pages of songs that will have you rushing to make a Spotify playlist to dance to that bring you happiness. I particularly like his lists of characters from my favorite TV shows of yore, or books I Ioved. His name-checking of famous paintings and photographs had me Googling them to take a look. 

Little Pieces of Hope is the kind of book you’ll want to take a highlighter to so you can refer back to your favorite sections, or call your siblings or best friends to ask them if they remember this or that. It will bring a smile to your face and earn a permanent place on your favorites bookshelf.

Ann Patchett’s book of essays These Precious Days compiles some of her best pieces of nonfiction writing where she asked herself “what mattered most in this precarious and precious life.” The first essay, “Three Fathers” is a beautiful homage to the men her mother married, including her own father, and recalls what each brought to her life. She shares a lovely photo of her with the men at a family wedding in 2005, shortly before she began to lose them. 

In “Flight Plan”, Ann relays her doctor-husband’s love of piloting his plane, and how even though she worries when he takes off, she knows how much joy it brings to his life. The title essay, “These Precious Days” is the best of the book. Ann met Tom Hanks’ assistant Sooki at an event and was drawn to her right away. 

Sooki had a serious illness, and one of the medical trials for her condition was taking place in Nashville, where Ann lived. Ann’s husband was able to get Sooki into the trial, and Ann insisted Sooki stay with them during the trial. Shortly after Sooki arrived the pandemic hit, and she ended up staying with Ann for much longer than expected. Sooki staying with Ann and her husband changed their lives, and this essay is one of the most moving I have ever read.

Crime fiction writer Laura Lippman’s short story collection Seasonal Work is filled with unforgettable characters, mostly girls and young women. “Seasonal Work” is the first and strongest story, about a family whose van filled with their Christmas gifts is robbed on Christmas Eve. “Snowflake Time” is a sly story about “the woke culture” and how it affects a television news personality. People spying on others is a theme- a woman thinks her neighbor is up to no good, a wife finds her husband’s secret burner phone- and it doesn’t always end well. Even though you can read one story at a time, I admit I devoured this delectable collection in one day. 

Little Pieces of Hope by Todd Doughty- A 

Published by Penguin Life

Trade paperback, $16, 245 pages

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett- A

Published by Harper

Hardcover, $26.99, 336 pages

Seasonal Work by Laura Lippman- A

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $26.99, 336 pages

A Theory of Everything Else- by Laura Pedersen

A Theory of Everything Else  by Laura Pedersen

Published by She Writes Press ISBN 9781631527371

Trade paperback, $16.95, 305 pages

One of the funniest books I ever read was Laura Pedersen's Buffalo Gal, about her growing up in 1970's Buffalo, NY.  I grew up a few hours away in the same time period, and there were so many events  and touchstones that I could relate to, especially her stories about lake effect snowstorms. (Now we both live on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. I would love to run into her on the street someday.)

Her newest effort is a book of essays, A Theory of Everything Else, that is both by turns hilarious and philosophical. There are four classes of essays- Quadipeds,  Bipeds, Estrogen-Americans, and Human Kind. 

Beginning with Quadipeds, we learn about Pedersen's love of all things dog.  She jokes about giving her dog a messy bone, and every time he will drag it on to the most expensive oriental rug to chew it on. If the dog is on a bathroom floor and starts heaving, it will immediately jump up on a bed or a "sofa covered in cream-colored silk brocade to vomit." Dog lovers will recognize many of her observations.

She has humorous human observations as well. She noted that today, when bridal parties are preparing their hair and makeup on the big day, it is now a celebration with mimosas being freely poured. Combine this with the dieting that these ladies did to fit into their dresses, and it could be a problem. At one friend's son's wedding, the maid-of-honor began to sway at the altar, and then the bride and bridesmaids each began to fall. Luckily an athletic coach-guest ran to his van, brought back Gatorade, and the ceremony continued on with the bridal party seated in chairs.

Pedersen shares more Buffalo stories, going into how the majestic churches there were built by the church members themselves. They'd go to their factory jobs during the day, went home, ate dinner, then went to build their community's church until ten at night. Her comparisons of the different religions to sports (Buddhism is badminton, Mormons are a marching band, Shakers would be cliff divers) is clever and funny.

I love her chapter on her OCD nurse mom, who once was able to prove (without hidden cameras) that her apartment manager was using her apartment as "love nest" when she was in Florida. Her retirement community apartment was so meticulously organized and maintained that she was able to get a rent reduction because they could use it a model when prospective residents wanted to view a furnished apartment.

As Pedersen gets older, she finds she is more like her parents. For example, when she was younger, her schedule was completely filled every day. Now, she will do only thing per day. If a friend asks her to dinner, and she has an 11 o'clock hair appointment and can't make dinner, her friend will reply "Call me when things calm down." (Oh dear, I think I can relate...)

The latter chapters turn more philosophical. As this is the beginning of Women's History Month, Pedersen delves into the struggle women have historically had to tell their stories, the problems facing women in comedy, and the importance of encouraging girls to study STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).

In the Humankind section, Pedersen talks about the transformative power of art, trying to get home to NYC after 9/11, and how to find The Good Life.

I have always appreciated Laura Pedersen's ability to make to me laugh in her books, and in A Theory of Everything Else, I now also appreciate her ability to make me think about bigger issues. How can you not like a book that makes you laugh and think in equal measure? Laura Pedersen is a treasure. 

Friday 5ive- February 5, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. New York City got hit with the massive snowstorm that blanketed much of the Northeast, and we got 15 inches of snow. The city shut down for two days, but then it was right back to normal.

1)  Walking around the neighborhood, I saw this sign in front of a liquor store. It's spot-on.

2) We found a new appetizer, made right here in New York City and available for purchase online. Pizza Cupcakes are mini bread bowls filled with mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce. There are two flavors- Margherita and Pepperoni, and they are quite tasty. We found them just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, and if you like Pizza Bagel Bites, this is your next new snack. You can order them here.

3)  One of the best books I have read in a long time is Nancy Johnson's novel, The Kindest Lie, (my review here), and I listened to her in conversation with Zibby Owens on her podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read. It was a fascinating conversation, and since Nancy was a TV news reporter for over a decade, she is a great communicator. If you take my recommendation and read The Kindest Lie, follow it up with this podcast episode to get a deeper dive into the book. 

4)  I watched the Netflix movie, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the film version of the brilliant August Wilson play of the same name. Viola Davis shows why she is one of the best actors of her generation as she ferociously tears into the role of real life 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey. Chadwick Boseman gives the best performance of his short life as a trumpet player yearning to become a star in his own right. The film is set in Chicago at a recording studio, and was deservedly nominated this week for both multiple Golden Globe and Screen Actors' Guild awards. 

5) It's been a week for nonfiction. Buffalo native Laura Pedersen (whose book Buffalo Gal about growing up in Buffalo in the 1970s made me laugh so hard) has a book of essays out.  A Theory of Everything Else is both hilarious (with more funny stories about growing up in Buffalo) and philosophical as she tackles the subjects of the importance of art, women in history, religion and more. It made me laugh and think. My full review will follow next week. 

I also started a collection of essays, Moms Don't Have Time To- A Quarantine Anthology, edited by Zibby Owens (see #3 above).  Owens collected original essays from 60 authors who appeared on her podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read, about things that have helped and hindered people during quarantine. The sections are READ, WORK OUT, EAT, HAVE SEX and BREATHE. The essays are short, something you can dip in and out of, from authors like Chris Bohjalian, Gretchen Rubin, Wendy Walker and more, and are relatable to what we have all been going through. Proceeds of the book go to the Susan Felice Owens Program for COVID-19 Vaccine Research at Mount Sinai Health System. Susan was Zibby's mother-in-law who died from COVID-19 a month after caring for her own mother who passed away from the disease. The book launch is scheduled for February 16th, with 50 authors in attendance on Zoom. More information on that is here. 

Stay safe and socially distant, wash your hands, wear a mask, and get a vaccine when it's your turn.

Here For It by R. Eric Thomas

Here For It by R. Eric Thomas

Published by Ballantine Books ISBN 9780525621034

Hardcover, $26, 264 pages

I admit I had not heard of R. Eric Thomas or his humor column "Eric Reads the News" for ELLE.com. But so many people that I respect told me I must read his book of essays, Here For It or, How to Save Your Soul in America, and when Jenna Bush Hager picked it as one of her Read With Jenna selections, I knew I must buy it.

I'm so glad I did. Here For It had me chuckling throughout the entire book. Thomas burst on the scene when he referred to a photo of President Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nietro as "the new interracial male cast of Sex and the City." That Facebook post went viral and ELLE.com came calling with a job offer.

From his childhood obsession of the puppet Lady Elaine Fairchilde, whom Thomas calls "essentially a reality star" because she has a royal title and is "constantly in feuds with her brother" to knowing that his mother meant business when she put on her "Betty Grey suit" (so called because a woman named Betty Grey gave it to her mother) to confront a school principal over a racial incident, Thomas shares how his growing up black, gay, and Christian in a dangerous area of Baltimore, raised by parents who sacrificed by not buying any clothes for themselves for ten years so he could attend a private school, informed the man he grew up to be.

As one of the few black students in his school, he bonded with Electra, a black transfer student from New York City. They worked together in the school library, went to prom together, and Electra shared her deep obsession with Madonna, which Thomas did not necessarily share.

Thomas ends up at Columbia University, where he spies on people entering the Queer Student Alliance meetings "with all the attention and nuance of Gladys Kravitz, the nosy neighbor from Bewitched" afraid to go inside. When the Black Student Union informed him he was to mentor a younger student, the younger student ending up being more of a mentor to him.

After leaving Columbia and returning home to go to a local college, Thomas ends up in Philadelphia, living with a man who encourages him to join the gay softball league. I found this chapter very amusing, as Thomas knew nothing at all about softball, and he ended up having to take a remedial softball class for those who needed extra help. 

There are poignant sections in the book as well, with Thomas trying to find love, bringing home a boyfriend to Thanksgiving dinner to meet his truly wonderful parents, his grave upset on election night 2016, and his wedding to a pastor, which put him in mind of himself in the Whitney Houston role in The Preacher's Wife. 

I love a book that makes me feel something, and Here For It gives me a lot of that. From his howlingly funny way to look at the world, to his loneliness in the search for love and friendship, R. Eric Thomas is the kind of person you want have his cell phone number so that he can text you during the day with his thoughts and emojis. Jenna Bush Hager and Adriana Trigiani were right- I needed to read Here For It. I highly recommend it.

Southern Lady Code by Helen Ellis

Southern Lady Code By Helen Ellis
Published by Doubleday ISBN 9780385543897
Hardcover, $22, 224 pages

In 2016, I read American Housewife. a hilarious collection of short stories by Helen Ellis  I literally laughed out-loud at the stories of women with neighbor problems, reality show aspirations, book club issues and more. Her women get things done, and take no prisoners doing it. Given what happened since 2016, Helen Ellis was a little bit ahead of her time.

Her latest book is Southern Lady Code, a book of essays that is just as hilarious, though it is nonfiction. She opens with a story Making a Marriage Magically Tidy, where she confesses to not being the neatest housekeeper. When her patient husband asks her a year into their marriage to please keep the dining room table clean, as it is the first thing he sees when he comes home, Helen fears he wants a divorce.

She calls her mother in Alabama, who tells her that she married a saint and she needs to clean the damn table! Her mother is a frequent commentator in these stories, beginning her sentences with "Helen Michelle" followed by advice only a Southern mother can give. (Side note- my middle name is also Michelle, and after reading this I'm going to insist that my mother begin calling me "Diane Michelle" in a drawling Southern accent.)

The essay that I now consider a classic is The Topeka Three-Way which begins at a dinner party for three couples where the host asks "Have I ever told you my Topeka Three-Way Story?" How a person cannot want to hear what comes next is unfathomable to me. It begins on an airplane with a man who asks to switch seats with our host so he can sit next to a beautiful woman.  People were staring at me on the beach as I guffawed reading this.

Many of the essays deal with being married, and in How to Stay Happily Married, Helen shares some very sage advice for wives:

"Don't let him see you get out of an athletic bra or into a pair of control-top pantyhose. Don't wear eyeglasses on a leash. Don't lotion your elbows in front of him in bed. Don't remake the bed after your husband has made it."

She talks about her Grandpapa who insisted she write thank-you notes and "carried grudges like handkerchiefs". When she references Julia Sugarbaker's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" rant, I could see and hear Dixie Carter giving that speech on Designing Woman. 

We learn that "a hair bow clip is a Southern lady's tiara". Ellis says that she is "not a dresser-upper" but she is "put together" which in Southern Lady Code means "you can take me to church or red Lobster and I'll fit in fine." You can fill a notebook with all the new phrases you'll learn.

I could go on and on (and if you should ask me what to read, you will hear more about Southern Lady Code), but suffice it to say that this is wonderful book to give all your girlfriends, sisters, cousins, your hairdresser, favorite grocery store cashier, anyone you truly like. Then you can all get together, make Helen's grandmother's favorite things (cheese logs, onion dip, mail-order ham), drink wine, laugh, and take turns reading aloud from your post-it note stuffed copy of Southern Lady Code.  Now that's a party!

If you like David Sedaris, Sloane Crosley, and Laurie Notaro, put Helen Ellis on your must-read list.

You'll Grow Out Of It by Jessi Klein

You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein
Published by Grand Central ISBN 9781478936619
Hardcover, $26, 287 pages

Jessi Klein is the head writer and executive producer of the very funny Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer. For that reason alone I wanted to read her book, You'll Grow Out Of It.

The book is a series of essays about how Jessi got to be where and who she is. The first essay, The Tom Man, recounts what happens when a  tomboy grows up. People like tomboys, tom men not so much.

She didn't care much what she looked like, wearing "her dad's old button-down cowboy shirts with enormous shapeless jeans and combat boots" in high school. When she got a real office job, she still dresses " a smidge like a rodeo clown" and thought that Hanes Her Way bikini underwear was the height of sexiness.

Finally, when she met a girlfriend at a bar, and her friend told her that she loved her, but her maroon backpack overflowing with papers and books hurt her feelings, she got the message. Jessi decided that if she wanted to date a Grown Man then she'd have to make an attempt to look like a Grown Woman.

"But when I looked at what it would mean to become a woman- one of those standard grown-up ladies, like the ones from commercials for gum or soda or shampoo- it all seemed to involve shrinking rather than growing."

Klein's observations are thoughtful, like in her essay The Bath, about how women loves baths because for women, the bath is "where you go when you run out of options", when you don't have a room of your own to go to.

"This is why Virginia Woolf stressed the importance of having a room of one's own. If you don't fight for it, don't insist on it, don't sacrifice for it, you might end in that increasingly tepid water, pruning and sweating while you dream of other things."

Klein is a comedy writer, so there are many funny lines in here, like describing a woman who was "just rounding third from medium drunk to very drunk." (I'm a sucker for a baseball metaphor.)

In talking about attending a Bar Method exercise class, she observes that "women have problem areas in a way that men don't. We have big hips and muffin tops. Men just have the thing where they create wars and wreak havoc all over the globe."

In The Cad, she advises that "when you encounter a man wearing loafers with no socks, run. I once heard that the late Tim Russert also believed that a sockless man is not to be trusted, which means that it is definitively true."

One of her funniest essays is Types, where she describes the different types of men she likes and their celebrity inspiration. I don't normally read anything about the TV show The Bachelor, but her take on it made me think, as did her essay on porn.

The one essay that spoke to me the most was Ma'am, abut that time in all our lives when we move from being called miss to being called ma'am by department store clerks, waiters, bank tellers, etc. I just kept saying "amen" throughout this essay, like Klein was a preacher in church and I was agreeing wholeheartedly with her sermon.

The book ends with Klein preparing to attend the Emmy Awards, just a few weeks after giving birth to her son. She was panicked about choosing a dress, and when her friend told her that the one Jessi liked best made her look like Mrs. Roper, she nearly gave up hope.  Anyone who likes the backstory on Hollywood will love that essay.

You'll Grow Out Of It made me laugh and made me think, just like when I watch Amy Schumer's show. It's a little Tina Fey mixed with Amy Poehler mixed with Nora Ephron, and it's a great gift to give to a young woman just starting out in life. I recommend it.

New In Paperback- This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 9780062236687
Trade paperback, $15.99, 320 pages

I have loved Ann Patchett since I read her phenomenal Orange Prize winning novel Bel Canto, about a group of people held hostage by terrorists in the home of the vice-president of a South American country. Last year's fantastic State of Wonder again dropped me into an unfamiliar world, this time the Amazon jungle where an American medical researcher has gone to find a missing colleague.

Patchett's latest is a brilliant book of essays, This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage. Patchett made a living writing non-fiction articles for such publications as Esquire, Harper's Magazine and Bridal Guide before hitting it big as a novelist.

The essays in this book take us through Patchett's life, as a daughter of divorce, a graduate student, a unhappily married woman, a dog owner, a friend, a writer, editor and bookstore owner. These essays feel like a patchwork quilt of her life.

In The Getaway Car, Patchett takes great umbrage when a woman tells her that "everyone has at least one great novel in them." She asks the woman if everyone has a one great floral arrangement, algebraic proof, five-minute mile or Hail Mary pass in them. The woman replies that no, but everyone has the story of their own life to tell. Just because you have it doesn't mean you can write it well.

Patchett then writes about the happiest time in the arc of her writing process:

"This book I have not yet written one word of is a thing of indescribable beauty, unpredictable in its patterns, piercing in its color, so wild and loyal in its nature that my love for this book, and my faith in it as I track its lazy flight, is the single perfect joy in my life."

There are so many great essays, and some of ones that spoke to me most are:

• The Best Seat in the House- about Patchett's new love for opera
• On Responsibility- about taking care of her failing grandmother
• The Wall- about taking the LAPD police academy test and her father, a retired LAPD captain
• Dog Without End- about the loss and of her beloved dog and the grief that followed

Patchett lovingly articulates what writing has meant to her life. I read each poignant and incisive essay slowly, wishing to savor the beautiful language and thoughts in each one. I know that this is a book I will return to again and again, gaining insight with each reading and finding new things to appreciate in them. It has a permanent place on my bookshelf.

This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage is a wonderful book to give to someone who appreciates good writing, and I think women in particular will relate to Patchett's story of love and trying to lead a fulfilling life.

rating 5 of 5

Ann Patchett's Parnassus Books' website is here.
My review of State of Wonder is here.
My post on Ann Patchett's visit to Barnes & Noble on 86th St. in New York is here.

This is The Story of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Published by Harper Collins ISBN 978-0062236678
Hardcover, $27.99, 320 pages (Also available as an Ebook)

I have loved Ann Patchett since I read her phenomenal Orange Prize winning novel Bel Canto, about a group of people held hostage by terrorists in the home of the vice-president of a South American country. Last year's fantastic State of Wonder again dropped me into an unfamiliar world, this time the Amazon jungle where an American medical researcher has gone to find a missing colleague.

Patchett's latest is a brilliant book of essays, This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage. Patchett made a living writing non-fiction articles for such publications as Esquire, Harper's Magazine and Bridal Guide before hitting it big as a novelist.

The essays in this book take us through Patchett's life, as a daughter of divorce, a graduate student, a unhappily married woman, a dog owner, a friend, a writer, editor and bookstore owner. These essays feel like a patchwork quilt of her life.

In The Getaway Car, Patchett takes great umbrage when a woman tells her that "everyone has at least one great novel in them." She asks the woman if everyone has a one great floral arrangement, algebraic proof, five-minute mile or Hail Mary pass in them. The woman replies that no, but everyone has the story of their own life to tell. Just because you have it doesn't mean you can write it well.

Patchett then writes about the happiest time in the arc of her writing process:

"This book I have not yet written one word of is a thing of indescribable beauty, unpredictable in its patterns, piercing in its color, so wild and loyal in its nature that my love for this book, and my faith in it as I track its lazy flight, is the single perfect joy in my life."

There are so many great essays, and some of ones that spoke to me most are:

• The Best Seat in the House- about Patchett's new love for opera
• On Responsibility- about taking care of her failing grandmother
• The Wall- about taking the LAPD police academy test and her father, a retired LAPD captain
• Dog Without End- about the loss and of her beloved dog and the grief that followed

Patchett lovingly articulates what writing has meant to her life. I read each poignant and incisive essay slowly, wishing to savor the beautiful language and thoughts in each one. I know that this is a book I will return to again and again, gaining insight with each reading and finding new things to appreciate in them. It has a permanent place on my bookshelf.

This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage is a wonderful book to give to someone who appreciates good writing, and I think women in particular will relate to Patchett's story of love and trying to lead a fulfilling life.

rating 5 of 5

Ann Patchett's Parnassus Books' website is here.
My review of State of Wonder is here.
My post on Ann Patchett's visit to Barnes & Noble on 86th St. in New York is here.

Short & Sweet #2- Self-Inflicted Wounds by Aisha Tyler

Book: Self- Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation by Aisha Tyler
Publisher: It Books, ISBN 978-0062223777
Hardcover, $24.99, 256 pages (Ebook available)

Genre: Humor, Memoir, Essays

Plot: Aisha Tyler is a standup comedienne, co-host of TV's The Talk, voices a character on FX's Archer, hosts Whose Line Is It Anyway and has a hugely popular podcast Girl on Guy. (She is a bit of an overachiever.) One of the features of her podcast is asking guests to recount a self-inflicted wound, something incredibly stupid that they have done in their lives. She turns the table on herself in this book, recounting her own self-inflicted wounds in humorous and touching essays.

Short & Sweet:  I have seen Tyler at her various jobs, and always thought she was funny, but I never realized how smart she was. She is a terrific writer, and her misadventures on the way through life had me laughing out loud. 

She says that she wants "this book to inspire you to be yourself. I hope this book will encourage you to follow your dreams." It does do that. If this too tall, intelligent, nerdy girl with a smart mouth can succeed in a business where women are not often welcomed, you may have a shot at success in life too.

She opens each chapter with a quote from someone smart, such as "The wound is the place where the light enters you"-Rumi, then one from her- "This thing is gonna need ointment", which opens the chapter "The Time I Cut Myself in Half", about the time when, as a child, she rode on a rusty, broken rocking horse she found in an alley and fell off, cutting her stomach wide open.

You'll laugh and feel empathy for Tyler, and even recall your own self-inflicted wounds and realize they weren't that bad after all, and just maybe they help to make you the person you became. (A note to anyone who goes to lunch with Tyler- she has been known to throw up on people. Consider yourself warned.)

I saw Tyler this summer at Bryant Park discussing her book, and she is as funny and direct in person as she is on the page.

rating 4 of 5

Aisha Tyler's website is here.

My Planet by Mary Roach

My Planet by Mary Roach
Published by Reader's Digest ISBN 978-1-62145-071-9
Paperback, $14.99, 191 pages

I know Mary Roach as a bestselling author of books, like Stiff and Bonk, (wait, they sound slightly pornographic) that incorporate science with humor. But I never knew that she wrote humor columns for Reader's Digest, mostly about her life with her husband Ed.

These columns have been compiled in My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places, and it had me laughing so loud as I read it, my family stared at me as if I were crazy. I was crazy, crazy with laughter and recognition at Roach's observational humor.

From page one, I was a goner. She describes her first date with her husband Ed, who got up from the table to wash his hands almost immediately upon being seated at the restaurant "like a little raccoon, leaning over the stream to to tidy himself before eating."

She goes on to discuss their "hygiene gap". Ed immediately replaces the toilet seat when he moves to  a new place because "he didn't know who'd been sitting on it." (I'm with Ed on that one.) Mary flossed her teeth in bed and drank straight from the OJ container. (Again, I side with Ed.)

Mary used the "Designated Countertop Sponge to wash the dishes and the Designated Dishwashing Sponge to clean the bathtub" an act she describes as "tantamount to a bioterror attack", according to Ed. Ed had what Mary called "crud vision" and she didn't.

She said that "like any normal couple, we refused to accept each other's differences and did whatever we could to annoy one another." It just got funnier from there.

Mary makes lists: "daily, To Do lists, long-term To Do lists, shopping lists and packing lists." Ed reluctantly makes lists on the corner of newspapers that are illegible. Making lists keeps her anxiety levels down, while Ed controls his anxiety by forgetting to make lists.

Her best list is composed of party guests that dates from 1997. On occasion she updates it, deleting people who have moved away, adding new friends. They are never having this party, but just updating the list is a party for Roach. (I think I know some people like this.)

Her essay on relatives visiting struck a chord of recognition. After day six, she says that

You begin to view your guests through the magnifying glasses of the put-upon host. A TV set turned four decibels higher that you like it registers as "blaring." Making a 13-cent long-distance call is perceived as "running up my phone bill!"

She concludes this essay by saying

Family are people who live together- if only for a week at a time. They're people who  drop towels on your bathroom floor, put your cups and glasses in the wrong place and complain about your weather. You do it to them, they do it to you, and none of you would have it any other way.

One of the essays I most related to was about conjugal hearing loss that affects married couples. She says that married couples attempt to communicate with the other person is in a separate room or on separate floors, "preferably while one is running water or operating a vacuum cleaner or watching the Cedar Waxwings in the playoffs." (This is one of my pet peeves.)

Other humorous topics include entering the Age of Skirted Swimwear, dropping off her car at the mechanic because it won't start only to have him call her and tell her he's charging her $50 because "she is stupid" (the car was out of gas, but she praised him for not ripping her off by claiming it was something more serious), and arguing about buying a sofa.

Roach's essays reminded me of Erma Bombeck. She deals with life's issues in a relatable, funny and  good spirited manner. This is a wonderful book to stick in the car and read while you are waiting for the kids at baseball practice or in a doctor's waiting room. It's good for laugh and you'll want to read aloud from it so that others can enjoy her humor too.

rating 4 of 5

I Can't Complain by Elinor Lipman

I Can't Complain by Elinor Lipman
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN 978-054757620X
Hardcover, $20, 161 pages

I've read a few of Elinor Lipman's novels, but had not read any of her essays. Some have previously appeared in magazines (Good Housekeeping) and newspapers (she had a regular column in the Boston Globe), but all were new to me.

Lipman shares stories from her childhood, where her father always listened to her and her sister, an appreciative audience for their anecdotes. He was an avid reader who introduced his daughter to humorists like Max Schulman. Her mother was "dainty and fussy" and could not abide any condiments, could not even be around them. Lipman grew up without ketchup, mayonnaise, Worchestershire sauce.

She writes lovingly about her husband Bob, with whom she shares no common hobbies or interests and likes it that way. She sees no need to play golf or Jet Ski with him. I love that she said if she were a matchmaker, her important questions would include Do you want children? How far ahead of your flight do get to the airport? Are you willing to leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight? She thinks these are more important predictors of compatibility than shared hobbies and I so agree.

I loved her essay, "My Soap Opera Journal", tracing her life's moments through her soap opera viewing habits because I could relate to it. I go to a lot of author events, and her essay on things that have gone wrong at author events had me chuckling.
I also enjoyed "Ego Boundaries" about her and Bob's clashing fashion styles; he is "a sharp dresser with an impeccable eye" and she is, well, not so much.

One of the last essays is a heartfelt one about Bob and the devastating illness he faced. It is a testament to Lipman's brilliant writing that in this slim volume of essays I got to know Bob so well, it felt like I was losing a dear friend too. How she and her son Ben dealt with this illness is honest and heartfelt.

The back of the book compares Lipman's essays to Nora Ephron and Anna Quindlen, both of whom I love, so it is no wonder that I enjoyed "I Can't Complain" so much. It's a great gift to give a girlfriend of a certain age.

rating 4 of 5

By the way, Lipman has a lovely, unique looking website here.