The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman by Julietta Henderson

The Funny Thing About Norman Forman

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778331957

Trade paperback, $16.99, 296 pages

Sometimes you want to read a book that reaffirms your faith in human kindness; Julietta Henderson's novel The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman is that book.

Told from the alternating perspectives of 12 year-old Norman and his exhausted single mom Sadie, we meet them in their home in the small town of Penzance in Cornwall, England. Norman is a kind young man who suffers badly from psoriasis, causing him severe pain. 

His only friend is Jax, a bad boy who gets into trouble at school, but is true-blue to his pal Norman. They watch endless hours of comedy on TV, and have worked up their own comedy routine, with Jax as the funny one and Norman as the straight man. They have a Five Year Plan to end up at the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. They call themselves "the Rolls Royce of friends".

When Jax dies of an asthma attack, Norman and Sadie are both devastated. Norman decides that to honor his friend, he will go to Edinburgh and perform alone. The only problem is that Norman is the straight man, not the funny one.

Sadie has a connection to the Fringe Festival. Thirteen years ago that is the place where she had a series of one night stands with four men, resulting in the birth of Norman nine months later. Along with the help of Leonard, retired IT expert and part-time janitor at Sadie's job, they track down the four men and plan a road trip to Edinburgh.

Leonard has arranged for stops along the way for Norman to work out his comedy routine at open mic nights, while Sadie contacts the four possible fathers. Hijinx ensue.

The writing is crisp, with plenty of humor and a little sadness. Sadie has some really funny one-liners, and it seems that everytime they need a skill- setting up a spreadsheet, Photoshopping- Leonard had taken a helpful adult education class at the community center. (He can also ice a wedding cake, weld, and cook a proper Spanish paella.)

When Norman and Sadie needs some kindness, there are people there to help: Big Al, the 6'2 beer-swilling Keats-loving poet who gives Norman pointers on his performance, Tom (a possible father) and his girlfriend Kathy who attend Norman's disasterous talent show where two Frank Sinatra inpersonators end up fighting onstage, and a young Goth woman Sadie meets on a bus who helps Sadie find a missing Leonard.

The spirit of young Jax hangs over all of this lovely story, a mashup of Ricky Gervais' Nextflix show After Life, the Broadway show/movie Mamma Mia, and a buddy road trip movie. (Now you know you can't resist.)

If you're looking for a delightful story that will renew your faith in the goodness of humans (couldn't we all use that right now), pick up The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman. I'm still smiling thinking about Norman, Sadie & company. It's a love letter to single moms and their sons, and this would make a fantastic movie, I certainly hope someone options it right away. 

Thanks to Harlequin Books for putting me on Julietta Henderson's tour.

New in Paperback- Two Funny Books About Marriage

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

With Valentine’s Day in the rear view mirror, it’s intriguing that two new releases deal with marriage and divorce in humorous novels- Matthew Norman’s Last Couple Standing and Gigi Levangie’s Been There, Married That. 

Matthew Norman’s previous novels, Domestic Violets and We’re All Damaged deal with men who are having difficult times in work and marriage. In his latest novel, Last Couple Standing, we get both the husband and wife’s stories. 

Mitch and Jessica met at college, and became one of the Core Four- four men and four women who were friends, and then all paired up and married. The group did everything together- got married, had children, lived in the same city. For nearly twenty years they were inseparable.

And then one of the couples got a divorce. It wasn’t a complete surprise, if they were all to be honest, they knew that Terry and Megan loved each other the least. Terry was cheating on his wife, so divorce was inevitable. 

After the first, came the second, which was more shocking because Sarah and Doug seemed the most in love- until Sarah reconnected with an old boyfriend on Instagram, and Doug became involved with his “work wife.”

Four months later, Amber and Alan got divorced after realizing they were never in love. All this shook Jessica and Mitch to the core. They became afraid that they would catch divorce from their friends, and wanted to find a way to avoid that disease.

Since most of the breakups seemed to be related to infidelity, Jessica and Mitch came up with a plan. They would each have sex with someone else, and get it out of their system to save their marriage. They came up with a set of strict rules, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot it seems.

Norman writes characters that are so relatable, you feel like they are people you know. His dialogue seems like he has eavesdropped on people at the table next to him in a restaurant. He had me laughing out loud at some of his lines, and then in the next paragraph you feel sorry for the characters. Last Couple Standing is a cautionary tale for married adults, where you find that the grass isn’t always greener. I recommend it.

Gigi Levangie’s hilarious novel, Been There, Married That begins with Aggie, the wife of Hollywood uber-producer Trevor, at her 48th birthday party. Of course Trevor has gone all-out for the party, with the most expensive champagne at the hottest restaurant in town. He is excited to give Aggie her gift, which he makes a big production out of presenting to her in front of everyone- a Fitbit.  

And so begins their story. Aggie is a Hollywood wife who has written a novel she hopes will be made into a movie. Trevor is a classic Hollywood husband, who one day decides that he is putting his marriage in “turnaround”- which in Hollywood-speak means he wants a divorce.

Aggie is even more shocked than when he gave her the Fitbit. It appears that their assistant, who now wears her hair like Aggie’s and wears the same clothes as Aggie (wait, are those Aggie’s actual clothes?) is now sleeping in Trevor’s bed. But they just cuddle.

Aggie’s lawyer tells her not to move out of the house, so she is given a schedule of when she can use certain rooms in the house. Trevor does not want to bump into her when he is getting his breakfast.

Eventually Trevor gets nastier (if that is even possible). He sues for custody of their tweenage daughter, whom he never spends time with. Aggie gets even when her sister Fin shows up after a stint in prison. 

Fin is "the Solange to Aggie’s Beyonce"; she will not let Trevor get away with mistreating her sister. Trevor needs everything in its place, like the notepads next to the phone, which must be placed at a specific angle. Fin and Aggie move all of his furniture, and every item he owns in the house, two inches. It drove him nuts.

Been There, Married That is a hilarious novel, perfect for fans of any of the Real Housewives TV series (although I am not a fan of those and I enjoyed this book a great deal). Gigi Levangie knows how to write zinging dialogue, and having been previously married to producer Brian Glazer, she knows this Hollywood scene intimately. If you need a good laugh, pick this book up.

Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman- A-

Published by Ballantine

Trade paperback, $17, 288 pages

Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie- A

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Trade paperback, $17.99, 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. 

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.

A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost

A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost

Published by Crown ISBN 9781101906323

Hardcover, $27, 312 pages

If you know Colin Jost as the Weekend Update co-anchor for Saturday Night Live, you won't be surprised to discover that his memoir, A Very Punchable Face, is very funny. If you know that he was the head writer for SNL, you may not be surprised to know that his book is also very well written. 

I have to say I was mildly surprised to discover that A Very Punchable Face is one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books I have ever read, and I read a lot of books by funny people. The only book I laughed harder at was Justin Halpern's S*it My Dad Says.

Jost grew up on Staten Island, on a block where his extended family owned all of the houses. He didn't speak until the age of four, and when he did he said he talked like he was Carmela Soprano. He was a chubby kid, not very athletic until he took up swimming. As a lifeguard at the local beach club, he lists his seven most important duties, five of which involved monitoring the beer kegs for the members.

After getting accepted to the prestigious Regis High School in Manhattan, he took a ferry, bus and subway one and a half hours each way to get to and from school. He ends up at Harvard, where he works hard to get onto the staff of National Lampoon.

There are chapters about the seven times he got stitches, spending a semester abroad in Russia where he didn't speak Russian and his hosts didn't speak English, and his job working on a local newspaper after college.

And then he lands a job as a writer on SNL. Jost gives us some great backstage information, from his meeting with Lorne Michaels where he was unsure if he was hired (he was), a chapter on some of the memorable sketches he had a part in writing, his successful partnership with Michael Che, his co-anchor on Weekend Update, and their disasterous co-hosting of the Emmy Awards.

Some of the funniest parts of the book are his footnotes at the bottom of the pages, which contain some of his best one-liners of the book. His chapter "Why I Love My Mom" about his mom responding to 9/11 and nearly dying twice, is harrowing and a beautiful tribute that any mom would love to receive from her son.

This world can be so troubling at times, it's great to be able to pick up a book and have a laugh. I give Colin Jost's A Very Punchable Face my highest recommendation. 

Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel

Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel
Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books ISBN 9781501176418
Hardcover, $27, 416 pages

Sometimes you read a book at the exact right time, and Amy Poeppel's new novel, Musical Chairs, is that book. I enjoyed her first two novels, Small Admissions, about a young woman who works as admissions officer at a fancy Manhattan school. n (My review is here).I loved her second one, Limelight, about a mom who moves with her family from Dallas to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she ends up accidentally becoming an assistant to a Justin Beiber-like character as he prepares for his Broadway debut. It was hilarious and sweet.

Her newest novel, Musical Chairs, features a protagonist closer to my age, which is refreshing. Bridget Stratton is preparing for a sexy summer with her boyfriend at her summer home in Litchfield, Connecticut. But like all great plans, this one falls apart.

First her boyfriend breaks up with her on the advice of his ex-wife. (She dodged a bullet there.) Her adult daughter moves in for the summer after she quits her finance job in Hong Kong, her married adult son shows up without his newlywed husband, and her best friend Will meets and falls in love with a woman from town.

Her house is rundown and now it is overflowing with roommates. Her father Edward, a famous classical composer and musician, lives close by and decides that he is getting remarried to his deceased wife's best friend, his best friend's widow.

Will and Bridget also have to find a new member for their classical trio after the young violinist they had hoped would help them revive their group and career quits before she starts. When Will suggests their only hope is their original violinist who ditched them and became famous in his own right, Bridget fears a secret from her past will surface.

Every character in Musical Chairs is so fabulous, even the secondary ones. Jackie, the young city woman from a much different background who becomes Bridget's dad's assistant, has so many great lines as a fish out of water, wondering how she got here with these crazy people. (The scene when she gets drunk at Bridget's house is priceless.)

Madge, Edward's housekeeper and cook, "a plump, short, direct woman who wasn't into small talk" keeps things running smoothly and is delightful, doling out kindness and orders in equal doses.

There are so many great scenes in this wonderful novel, and when someone compares a scene to a British Drawing Room Farce, I had to smile in recognition, as that was my very thought. (Although, given that it takes place in New England and a barn plays a major part, maybe it should be called an American Barn Farce?)

You don't need to enjoy classical music to like this book (I am not), but if you are an aficionado, you will get an extra layer of enjoyment out of it. I absolutely adored Musical Chairs, and even thinking about it now brings a smile to my face at a time when we could all use a little joy. This is a book I will return to again and again when I want to forget the troubles of the world. It will make you laugh out loud. I give it my highest recommendation.

The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History by Andy Greene

The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene
Published by Dutton ISBN 9781524744977
Hardcover, $28, 464 pages

With everyone stuck inside all day and night, people turn to binge-watching great television shows. One of Netflix's most watched shows is The Office, which ran for nine years on NBC, and introduced the world to many talented writers and actors.

It is great timing that Andy Greene's book, The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History published last month. If you are watching The Office, whether for the first time or rewatching on Netflix or Comedy Central, this book is one that will enhance your enjoyment of the show.

Greene is a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and he wrote a article for the magazine about the show when it was on NBC. Over the years, he has written other articles about the show, and even became good friends with Creed Bratton, who began as an extra, and worked his way into one of the most interesting roles on the show.

The book begins with the start of the The Office on the BBC in Great Britain, the brainchild of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. If you are not familiar with that show, you get a great peek into the mindset of the origins that led to many international versions of The Office.  It works so well because many people all over the world work in an office with characters like the people we see on the TV show.

Greene goes season by season, giving an overview of the season, and doing a deep dive on one specific episode, like "Diversity Day", and "The Dinner Party", generally thought of as the best episode of the show.

He interviewed writers and producers of the show, which really adds to the inside baseball aspect of the show. I found this the most interesting parts of the book, getting a perspective we haven't yet heard about.

While most of the quotes from the lead actors (Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fisher, Rainn Wilson) came from previous sources (which Green annotates at the end), his new interviews with the actors in secondary roles (Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, etc.) are fascinating.

We learn which actors auditioned for the roles (Bob Odenkirk from Better Call Saul came very close to playing Michael Scott), and why Steve Carrell was generally thought of as the nicest guy in show business. Everyone loved him, and for good reason. His goodbye almost had me teary-eyed and I don't even know him personally.

The show had up and down years, and when Carrell left after season seven, the show lost its way. The writers, producers and actors were pretty honest about what happened. Imagine what would have happened if James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) actually took them up on their offer to join the cast as the new boss!

So many great talents came from The Office- Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, producers Michael Schur and show runner Greg Daniels are among the many people who have left their mark in the entertainment industry.

If you are a fan of The Office, this is a must-read. If you know a fan of The Office, give this as a gift. Who knows, you might get a World's Greatest Gift Giver mug in return.

When Life Gives You Pears by Jeannie Gaffigan

When Life Gives You Pears by Jeannie Gaffigan
Published by Grand Central ISBN 9781538751046
Hardcover, $28, 303 pages

If you're familiar with comedian Jim Gaffigan, you know from his standup routines that he has five children and an amazing wife Jeannie. In addition to parenting their five children Jim and Jeannie write together- his standup comedy specials and books, and they created and produced his sitcom, The Jim Gaffigan Show, based on their family life, that ran for two seasons on TV Land. (You can watch it here- it's fantastic.)

In 2017, while Jeannie had coralled the children to their pediatrician for a visit, the doctor noticed that Jeannie has troubling hearing out of one ear and recommended that she see an ENT doctor. What the doctor found was that Jeannie had a brain tumor the size of a pear.

Jeannie describes what happened next in her memoir When Life Gives You Pears- The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People. She takes the reader along on her medical journey, through the fears and pain, and yes, because she sees everything though the lens of comedy, the laughter too.

Jeannie Gaffigan is a woman of strong Catholic faith, and she relied on that to help get her through this frightening event. Being the mother of five young children and living in New York City, she is also an extremely organized woman. (Just trying to get the children to their various schools located in all the different corners of Manhattan is a Herculean task.)

And even though the Gaffigans were able to find and afford the best doctors, things can go wrong. After a successful surgery to remove the tumor, Jeannie aspirated and got life-threatening pneumonia in both lungs.

Jeannie's road to recovery would be long and difficult. She and Jim had to rely on neighbors, family, and friends to help care for the children, and for Jeannie when she came home. She takes us through the various nurses, doctors and therapists who helped her get better to get home to her family.

A Shift Schedule was created so that Jeannie wouldn't be alone in the hospital. Her mom flew in to stay with the children. Her many siblings left their own families and jobs to come help out. As the oldest child of nine, Jeannie helped raise some of her siblings and they came to help her in her time of need becasue that's what families do.

I highly recommend When Life Gives You Pears. Jeannie Gaffigan is a terrific writer; her organizational skills, her humor, and her humanity shine through the pages. Most of us will go through some kind of medical episode either ourselves or with someone we love, and we'll be able to relate to Jeannie's journey. I put this one on my annual list of the Most Compelling Books I Read in 2019 (and I read nearly 100), and you should read it in 2020.

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.

#HockeyStrong by E. Robuck

#HockeyStrong by E. Robuck
Published by Elysian Fields Press ISBN 9780982229811
Trade paperback, $15, 324 pages
Ebook available $4.99

I just read a news article that said that the night before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest nights of the year for reading. I guess everybody traveling by plane and train leaves lots of time for a good book. (Just please don't read and drive- I can't believe that people actually do that.)

If you're looking for a good, quick read for the night before Thanksgiving, I have a great suggestion.

E. Robuck has written a very funny and pointed satire #HockeyStrong that will appeal to anyone who has spent time freezing their gloved hands off at a hockey rink, football stadium or baseball field. (My sons played high school baseball in Central New York in April- yeah, I wore my winter coat, hat, gloves and boots.)

Kate and Charlie Miller's 11-year-old son Brett made the cut for the elite travel team for hockey. Coach Butch has declared that hockey comes first- before school, before family, before vacations. When he sends a group text announcing an emergency practice IN ONE HOUR, if you don't show up, you are benched. If he can get them into a tournament at the last minute, you end your family vacation and come back. In "a season that will last as long as a pregnancy, and costs as much as a small island in the Caribbean", your family life will revolve around hockey and nothing else.

The Millers don't completely buy into the entire 'hockey is life' scenario. They don't think that Brett is headed straight to the NHL, even though he is the best scorer on the team. Coach Butch doesn't like Charlie because he never played hockey as a kid, and he takes that out on Brett. Brett just wants to play hockey with his buddies.

Robuck's hockey parents are an exaggerated group (or maybe not?). There is a dad who keeps a detailed binder for his son titled "Kyle's Path to Hockey Greatness."  Bill and Tina Church's wardrobe consists solely of clothes emblazoned with their son's name and number (in team colors of course- and they are sales representatives for the company that sells them if you would like some for yourself. The team gets a cut of the action!). They also host a podcast about being a sports parent.

Piper ignores her two young daughters, and is social media maven, immediately posting updates about the team and her son's progress to Facebook. The competition between Kate and Piper to post first is hilarious. Piper also has a drinking problem and embarrasses herself and her family more than once.

There are parking lot fist fights between moms, a child disqualified because his parents lied about his age, a child trying to play with a broken foot, a parent who surruptiously sprinkles protein powder on her son's Nutella- the level of craziness seems both unbelievable and familiar at the same time.

Robuck spent many years sitting on the sidelines, and her imagination ran wild in this book, which she states is based on no one in particular, but the reader may recognize the character types here.

I highly recommend #HockeyStrong for those who have already finished with the sports parent scenario or those just looking for a really good laugh. Maybe your family won't seem so crazy this Thanksgiving once you've met the Polar Bears' parents.

Erika Robuck's website is here.

Al Franken- Giant of the Senate by Al Franken

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
Published by Twelve ISBN 9781455540419
Hardcover, $28, 404 pages

Many people, myself included, were surprised when Al Franken, whom I knew from his long tenure as a writer/performer on Saturday Night Live, won a Senate seat in Minnesota. I have been following his Senate career and find him to be an intelligent, serious person, doing a good job.

Franken recounts his path to the Senate, and his time there thus far, in Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. He brings the reader up to date on his life, starting with his family who moved from New Jersey to Minnesota when Al was just four.

His Dad was a liberal Republican, (which Franken points out no longer exists), his Mom a Democrat. The Franken family were middle-class, at a time when that meant you believed you could do anything you wanted.

Franken went to Harvard, where he met his wife Franni at a freshman dance the first week of school. Franni's family had it harder than Al's family, as her father died when she was a baby, leaving her young mother to raise five children on her own. They all went to college thanks to Social Security, Pell Grants, the GI Bill, and Title I, and Franken wants every family in this country to be able to have the opportunity that his wife's family did to move into the middle class. And that is why he says he is a Democrat.

We learn a little bit about Franken's comedic partnership with Tom Davis, and their tenure on Saturday Night Live, but it is his road to the Senate that is more interesting, if you can believe it.

He was angered when Norm Coleman, who won Paul Wellstone's Senate seat after Wellstone was tragically killed in a plane crash, made a rude statement about Coleman being "a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone."

Wellstone was a beloved, compassionate man who worked his entire career to make things better for his constituents, and Franken respected him greatly. After that statement, Franken decided to run for Senate against Coleman.

We get a fascinating look at what a Senate campaign entails, as well as a look at what Minnesota is like as a state. They have a significant Native American population, they are home to the well-respected Mayo Clinic, and they are skeptical of show business people.

We learn what a 'bean feed' is (think spaghetti dinner or fish fry), and that Franni makes a mean apple pie. Coleman went after Franken's comedy roots, twisting sketches he wrote on SNL to imply that Franken is perverse- he jokes about bestiality for goodness sake!

Franken's 4th grade teacher made a commercial for him that had a big impact, but it was Franni's commerical where she talked about how Al helped her get through a bad period when she had a drinking problem that turned the tide.

The election was so close that there was a recount- that lasted eight months before Franken was able to take his seat. Franken talks frankly about his Senate experiences with Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Jeff Sessions, and a hilarious chapter on Ted Cruz, whom no one likes.

We get an inside look at how a bill really gets to be a law (it's not as easy as Schoolhouse Rock makes it out to be), Senate hearings on Sonia Sotomayor, and the work to get the Affordable Health Care Act passed.

Franken has kind words for the Clintons, both of whom helped to get him elected in 2008, and while he respects Barack Obama as a great President, he and the DSCC did not help him much at all. He was re-elected in 2014, and speaks with great disappointment and concern that Trump was elected, and what that means for America.

After reading Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, I have even more respect for Franken. He works hard for the people of Minnesota, on issues that effect their everyday lives. He studies and does his homework, and I admit to tearing up as I read his last chapter about attending a high school graduation where a young Muslim woman, who was a Senate page for his office, spoke. He believes in the greatness of the American people, something that we are seeing play out right now in Texas as volunteers flock to help those devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

I give Al Franken, Giant of the Senate my highest recommendation. It gives you hope that there are good people in government on both sides, and hope for our country's future. It's also laugh-out-loud funny at times. (#Franken2020, anyone?).

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman
Published by Henry Holt and Company ISBN 9781250124692
Hardcover $26, 304 pages

Summer is a great time for light reading, and I love nothing more than picking up a really funny book and laughing my head off. Laurie Gelman's debut novel, Class Mom, caught my eye with its title. Since I was a class mom more than once, I bet I could relate to this one.

From the very beginning, Class Mom had me in stitches. Jen Dixon has two daughters (by two different men) in college and is now happily married to "Baby Daddy #3 and Husband #1" Ron Dixon. They have a young son Max, now headed to kindergarten.

Jen gets a call from her best friend and "reigning high priestess of the school's PTA" Nina, begging her to be class mom for Max's class. Jen was class mom for seven consecutive years when the girls were in elementary school, a record that still stands at William Taft Elementary, and it was the worst job she had since she worked at Allstate.

Now she is the oldest, "oh, sorry, wisest" mom in kindergarten, and she reluctantly takes the job as class mom. The highlights of the book are Jen's hilarious and sarcastic emails sent to the parents that, according to the author, were based on the ones she sent to parents when she was class mom at her child's New York City school. (She was fired from her position.)

Jen's emails are everything every class mom wishes she had the guts and humorous instincts to send, including rewards for those who respond quickly to emails and punishments to those who don't. They are filled with shout-outs, un-PC statements, and cutting sarcasm that some of the parents either don't understand or are very upset about. Jen does get called to the principal's office.

We meet the various parents, including one whose child is allergic/sensitive to everything (or maybe it is the mom who is that way?), one family who always volunteers to bring cups, and one mom who always sends the fastest response stating that she is out of the office. Every. Single.Time.

Miss Ward, the kindergarten teacher, is a bit of a puzzle too. She is young, dresses way too provocatively for Parent's Night, and doesn't believe in celebrating class holidays, like Halloween and Christmas. Her idea of a class trip is to go to the city recycling center.

One of the dad's in the class is an old high school crush's of Jen's, separated from his child's mother. There is some fun sexual tension there, though Jen deeply loves her wonderful husband Ron.

Jen and Nina try to figure out who is the mysterious "out of office" mom (why has no one met her?) and what the deal is with Miss Ward, as well as work to keep Jen from getting fired from her volunteer class mom position.

You don't need to be a former class mom to enjoy Class Mom, but if you are, you will laugh until you cry with recognition reading this hilarious book. I gave my favorite class mom friend a copy and she agreed with me.

I give Class Mom my highest recommendation- an A+.

Three Books by Funny Ladies

I really enjoy a funny book, and recently I read three books by funny ladies that made me laugh out loud. And with the election madness that seems to be pervading the news, now is the time to laugh.

Laurie Notaro is new to me, and she writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her latest non-fiction book is Housebroken, and after reading this gut-busting book, I immediately went to find any of her fiction at the used book shop where I volunteer.  (I scored with there's a (slight chance I may be going to hell.) 

Notaro recounts her many failings in the housekeeping and parenting department, and I loved her way with words in describing the feelings most of us have about being less-than in the days when we are bombarded with HGTV shows about uber-couples who remodel other people's homes and the perfect recipes people are creating in Facebook videos.

Notaro was unfriended by her father on Facebook, had no shelves in her refrigerator when her boyfriend (now husband) came to visit and brought beer (she told him to pile it on top of everything else), and her take on the famous book about tidying up your life by getting rid of all the things that don't bring you joy had me in stitches. If you are not a Martha Stewart acolyte, Housebroken is for you. Fans of Jen Lancaster will enjoy this one.

Jill Kargman's situation comedy Odd Mom Out on Bravo is one of my new guilty pleasures. She plays a version of herself- wife, mother, trying to build a career as a photographer on the Upper East Side in New York City, an off-kilter brunette in a world of cookie-cutter blonde perfect mommies- that is hilarious. If you have not watched the show, do yourself a favor and find it on demand.

Kargman's new book is Sprinkle Glitter On My Grave, a funny collection of essays that builds on her TV show. Since I live in her neighborhood, I related to many of her observations. She writes about a man who was panhandling outside a local popular restaurant. She usually gave him a few dollars, but this time offered to buy him lunch at the diner. He agreed and gave her a very particular, well-thought out order for a smoked, not roasted, turkey sandwich with Russian dressing on the side and a complete listing of additional fixings.

Kargman makes lists of things that bug her, like dog strollers (a big thing in NYC), fur vests, and going over the Visa bill with her husband. You don't have to live in NYC to enjoy Kargman's biting humor, but if you do you will enjoy Sprinkle Glitter On My Grave on another level. I almost fell off the treadmill laughing at some of her stuff, so be careful when reading.

Jen Kirkman is a standup comedian, best known to TV viewers from her many appearances on Chelsea Handler's Comedy Central talk show. Her latest book I Know What I'm Doing- And Other Lies I Tell Myself is a memoir about getting married, getting divorced a year later, turning forty, and life as a comedian.

I expected the book to be funny, which it is, but is also very moving. Kirkman writes very honestly about divorcing her husband after a brief marriage, and how hard it was to admit that she had made a mistake.

She writes about dating and life on the road as a comedian, but my favorite part of the book is where she decides to travel abroad by herself. She describes getting up the courage to eat alone in a restaurant and a horrible Twitter debacle she had while overseas that could have ended her career.

Kirkman is a terrific writer, and her tribute to the late Joan Rivers and how Joan inspired her is wonderful. She recalled passing Joan Rivers on the street when she was struggling to make it and then years later getting to have lunch together and what that meant to her.

I Know What I'm Doing- And Other Things I Tell Myself reminded me of comedian Todd Glass's memoir The Todd Glass Situation, in that both books are honestly written and very moving accounts of their lives as comedians and human beings on this planet.

All three books contain lots of profanity, so if that is not your thing, you have been warned.

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.

Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann

Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann
Published by Ballantine Books ISBN 978034554990
Trade paperback, $16, 224 pages

I was sorry that I didn't post a review for Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat before the holidays because it was such perfect antidote for those of us who feel that the holidays can be a bit overwhelming and we somehow don't do it as well as everyone else.

Jen Mann's mother goes all out for Christmas, with multiple themed trees in every room. It takes her weeks to get all of her decorations out and weeks to put it away. She never throws any holiday decoration away, and adds more to it each year.

Perhaps as a reaction to all of this holiday merriment, Jen has an aversion to all of the holiday hoopla. She does buy Christmas gifts throughout the year for her two kids, and hides them so well she thinks she should create a treasure map because when the time comes to wrap them she has no idea where they are, and sometimes they are not found in time. (Been there, done that.)

Jen's young daughter has inherited her grandmother's joy of Christmas, so she has been given hand-me-down decorations much to Jen's utter dismay. Jen also shares the panic all of us parents have faced as our children's Christmas list change at the very last moment and the hunt for that ultimate gift is on.

I loved Jen's descriptions of conversations between the mommies who spend all day at yoga class as they describe the gift of cosmetic procedures bestowed on them by their husbands, and their un-ironic Christmas letters sent with all of their family members' brilliant achievements. Needless to say, Jen's letter is completely different.

If the holidays were just too much for you, Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat may just be the cure for you. I laughed a lot at it. (Note- the language is a little salty for some.) People who like Jenny Lawson and Jen Lancaster will enjoy this. I recommend it.

Jen Mann has a website- People I Want To Punch in the Throat and it can be found here.

Make 'Em Laugh by Debbie Reynolds and Dorian Hannaway

Make 'Em Laugh by Debbie Reynolds and Dorian Hannaway
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062416634
Hardcover, $25.99, 288 pages

The subtitle of Debbie Reynolds' book Make 'Em Laugh is Short-Term Memories of Longtime Friends and it aptly describes this book; it's filled with short anecdotes about Reynolds and the people she met in her long and storied career.

While reading it, I felt like I was sitting next to her on her couch in her beautiful home while she flipped through a scrapbook, sharing memories of the many famous people she has met and known.

Reynolds is hilarious, as anyone who has seen her on a talk show or award show knows. She has a sharp, quick wit that is well on display here. She also has some funny stories to share about her family, including daughter Carrie Fisher who inherited her mom's sense of humor.

Carrie opens the book recounting the evening that her brother Todd accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a blank from a gun. Debbie called a cab to take him to the hospital because "ambulances can be so loud", and when Debbie was brought to the police station to be fingerprinted, Debbie gave them one finger to be printed. And we're off.

Reynolds shares that she likes to do talk shows, The View and The Talk being two of her favorites. She really loved being on Craig Ferguson's show, saying that no matter what she said, he was right there with her.

She was one of Joey Bishop's first guests on his talk show in the 1960's and recalls demonstrating on Regis Philbin (Joey's sidekick) the proper method taught to Girl Scouts to put out a fire. She jumped on him and he came out of it bruised and scraped, while she split her dress. She was a hit, making the front page cover of New York Sunday News.

Reynolds talks about her visits to the White House, sitting next to Prince at the Oscars, who was wearing a purple lace shawl over his head, dancing the night away with Belgium's bachelor King Baudouin and having her rear end pinched by both Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth's husband) and Robert Kennedy.

Jonathan Winters and Jimmy Stewart were favorite dinner party seat mates, Milton Berle, whom Reynolds called "obnoxious", was not. Neither was Shelley Winters, "a pain in the ass." She shares a tale of dumping a bucket of ice and water over a drunken Elaine Stritch's head when Stritch was talking through an entire cabaret performance of a friend of Reynolds.

One anecdote she shares is one I was there for. She recounts attending the first preview for Bette Midler's Broadway show about agent Sue Mengers. She was seated near Liza Minelli, and I was sitting across the aisle from them and was so excited to see both of these superstars.

If you are a fan of Debbie Reynolds, Make 'Em Laugh is a book you'll enjoy. It would make a lovely gift for the Turner Classic Movie aficionado in your life.

Three Books By Funny People

I recently read three books by funny people: Comedian and actor Brad Garrett's (Robert from TV's Everybody Loves Raymond) When The Balls Drop, Adam Resnick's (a former writer for David Letterman's The Late Show) Will Not Attend, and comedienne and actress Ali Wentworth's Happily Ali After.

When the Balls Drop by Brad Garrett
Published by Gallery Books ISBN 9781476772905
Hardcover, $25, 288 pages

Brad Garrett's When The Balls Drop is a comic treatise on what it's like to be a 50-year-old man whose body is falling apart. It is clearly geared towards men of that age, and as a woman of that age, I am not the target audience. Garrett spends too much time complaining about his ex-wives and how much money he had to give them. For my taste, it was a little off-putting.

I most enjoyed his stories about growing up with funny with his interesting family, and opening up for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas. Garrett has had a long stand-up comedy career, and those chapters were fascinating to me. I think he has a whole other book about this area of his life.

He spent nine seasons as Robert, the much put-upon older brother in Everybody Loves Raymond, but he doesn't share many stories from those days, other than Marie Roberts, who played his mother, could drink everyone under the table, and Peter Boyle, who played his father, had a gas problem. Again, I would have liked more of this. The book has many bursts of just laugh-out-loud stuff, just like his I can't-believe-he-really-said-that stand-up act.

Will Not Attend by Adam Resnick
Published by Blue Rider Press ISBN 9780147516213
Trade paperback, $16, 272 pages

The premise of Adam Resnick's Will Not Attend is that he is very anti-social and would much rather stay home than participate in any family dinner, much less go to Disney World with his nemesis, his wife's sister Diane, and her family.

Resnick's sister-in-law is one of those people who like to control everything, and Adam does not like to be told what to do and when to do it. Their epic blow-up in the middle of a Disney vacation where every slight was brought up was uncomfortable (though, I admit, kind of funny to see someone put in her place) to read, I can't imagine seeing it in person. After reading this, I was hoping that Diane was a purely made-up character because how he could have any relationship with her after this is unfathomable.

The language in the book is pretty rough at times, there is a lot of swearing here, so if you don't mind that, you may enjoy it. Again, I don't think I am the target audience for this book.


Happily Ali After by Ali Wentworth
Published by HarperCollins ISBN 9780062238498
Hardcover, $25.99, 240 pages

I read Ali Wentworth's first memoir Ali in Wonderland that hilariously dealt with her years trying to make it as an actress in Hollywood. Her very funny voice shone through each page. In her new book, Happily Ali After, Wentworth shares her adventures as a wife (to ABC newsman George Stephanopoulis) and mom to two young daughters.

I loved this Happily Ever After even more than Ali in Wonderland, probably because I can relate more to Ali the wife and mom than Ali the struggling actress. She tells great stories about trying to stay young-looking, her husband's poor driving, and her daughter's sex-education questions.

One of the stories that I most loved involved a trip the family had planned to Spain. Ali was in charge of making all the preparations, and when they got to the airport to take a late-night flight, they were told that the girls' passports had expired and they were going nowhere that night.

George was furious at Ali, and the girls went back and forth from one parent to the other asking if they were going to get a divorce. The car ride home was uncomfortable, and when they got home, Ali told George how so very sorry she was. As they lay in bed, he kissed her and told her he knew she she was sorry and that it was OK. Every couple has had that potentially huge fight, and could relate to this big oopsy that Ali committed.

Ali's story of a girl's weekend at a friend's California home with a psychic as entertainment was hilarious too. We all have our girlfriends, and her description of that party had me guffawing.

Reading Happily Ali After is like sitting in your funniest girlfriend's kitchen and listening to her crazy stories about her husband, her family, her job, her life. If I ever see her on the streets of NYC,  I will invite her over for a glass of wine just to hear her stories.

Weekend Cooking- Food, A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Published by Crown Publishing, ISBN 9780804140416
Hardcover, $26, 352 pages

Jim Gaffigan is a well known stand-up comedian and actor whose biggest claim to fame is his "Hot Pockets" routine about the frozen food item eaten mostly by drunk college students and/or lazy people with a microwave.

He has written two books, Dad Is Fat, about living with his wife and five young children in a one-bedroom New York City fifth-floor walkup, and his second is Food: A Love Story, about his love affair with food.

As a stand-up comic who has traveled all over the world, Gaffigan has eaten in many restaurants. When he travels on tour, he tweets to his fans, asking them where and what he should eat. This section of the book is terrific, and in addition to being very funny, it includes wonderful tips for traveling "foodies" (a term Gaffigan disdains).

Gaffigan divides the United States into five major food areas-

• Seabugland (Northeast Coast)
• Eating BBQland (Southeast/Parts of Midwest)
• Super Bowl Sunday Foodland (Midwest/Parts of East)
• Steakland (Texas to Upper West)
• Mexican Foodland (Southwest to Texas)

He is not a big fan of seafood, especially shellfish, saving particular distaste for oysters. His discussion of barbeque, which is used as "a verb, noun, and adjective and even a potato chip" is funny and informative.

Gaffigan recounts how each city is proud of its own unique recipe for barbeque, and that in every Southern city he meets the same guy who says the same thing "Obama ate there, and you can get it shipped anywhere you want." He also mentions places that you can get great BBQ not in the South, with Syracuse, NY (Dinosaur BBQ) on that short list.

He tells a funny story about dragging his family to a gas station in Kansas City, MO to eat at Oklahoma's Joe's, where Gaffigan joined a very long line at 11am. The line was filled with "predominantly, pudgy, balding, exhausted men in their thirties and forties," all happy to be there, though if these same men were confronted with such a long line at a grocery store to get milk or diapers, they would leave the store rather than wait for such unimportant items for their family.

Another hilarious story had him following a man in Kmart, who was drinking gravy from a styrofoam cup he got in the KFC located in Kmart.  His description of the ambience of Kmart as a store that always looks like "it was just attacked by a flash mob" brought a chuckle of recognition.

Food: A Love Story, had me laughing all the way through it, and as I was reading in on the treadmill (Gaffigan would disapprove of this- exercise, I mean), my fellow exercisers would look at me as if I was a little crazy. (Note: laughing while reading on a treadmill can be dangerous. If you get doubled up with laughter, you can potentially fall. Not that that almost happened to me.)

Serious foodies may take offense, but Gaffigan is a comedian who has found his niche in poking fun of his eating habits, and most of us can find something to relate to in this humorous book. He also loves his family (I adored his section about taking each child individually to his favorite deli, Katz's), and I got some great ideas on where to eat. (And anyone who believes that Shake Shack has the best burgers in world is my kinda guy.)

If you need a good laugh, and like to eat, (which is, like, everybody) Food: A Love Story, is for you.

rating 4 of 5

In my Reading Challenge for 2015, Food: A Love Story fulfills my Funny Book selection.

A Great Book For Father's Day- Good Talk Dad by Bill and Willie Geist

Good Talk Dad by Bill and Willie Geist

Published by Grand Central ISBN 978145554727

Hardcover, $27, 272 pages

Bill Geist has been doing pieces for CBS Sunday Morning for years. He usually profiles interesting (quirky) people and places, and his sense of humor makes me smile. His son Willie Geist is currently one of the co-hosts on the third hour of the Today Show, and is featured on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He clearly inherited his father's sense of humor.

Just in time for Father's Day, they have written a book that I dare say most of us can relate to: Good Talk Dad: The Birds and The Bees...And Other Conversations We Forgot To Have, which pokes fun at the fact that Bill never gave Willie 'the sex talk'. Come to think of it, they never had deep conversations about other important things either. Sound familiar?

Early on, Willie describes embarrassingly being baptized as a 19 year-old in a church service, along with several babies sleeping peacefully in their mother's arms. He asks: 

"Couldn't they have done this in a private ceremony before the service, as they do with the technical awards at the Oscars? In a ceremony earlier today, nineteen-year-old Willie Geist was given the sacrament of baptism."

If that made you giggle, you'll love this book as much as I did. Bill and Willie alternate telling stories from their lives, some of which differed depending on whom was telling it.

Bill and his wife Jody decided to send Willie to summer camp. But not to the camp that all Willie's friends were going to; Willie went to Camp Carson, "where convicted nonviolent offenders were sent to serve out their sentences", unbeknownst to Bill and Jody. That wasn't in the brochure. The campers had to decide whether they were safer backing the Latin Kings or the Spanish Gangster Disciples, who, at night, slashed each other car tires as a "prank".

When Bill received a $10,000 check to write a book, he bought a brand new red Jeep to celebrate. Willie loved his dad's "instinct to take that ten-thousand-dollar book check and spend every nickel of it as fast as you could, like a rapper who just got his first record deal".

Some of the funniest stories involve that Jeep. Jody taught Willie to drive on that Jeep, and then when it was all beat up and on its last legs, Jody drove down to Nashville to accompany Willie to college, but they had to make many stops along the way, coaxing that Jeep and stopping to repair it and feed it antifreeze several times before making it to Vanderbilt.

Bill and Willie shared a love of the New York Yankees and inappropriate humor. When Willie's basketball team held a year end banquet and discovered that the special guest was not a famous New Jersey Nets player but the team mascot, the boys pounded the poor mascot with rolls from the table. Some dads disciplined their sons, yanking them out of there. Bill laughed hysterically, thinking it was pretty darn funny.

There are serious moments in here, such as when Bill finally tells his children (after ten years) that he has Parkinson's disease. They found out when they received emails from people after reading about it on Bill's Facebook page. They suspected something was wrong, but never realized the truth.

I met Willie at Big Fish on Broadway- nice guy!

I loved the stories about aunts and uncles and grandparents; it reminded me of my own family. And when Willie becomes a dad, his stories about his children, Lucie and George, are utterly charming.

This is a perfect book to read this Father's Day, or to give as a gift. It is funny, heartwarming (but mostly funny) and Bill and Willie are terrific writers; their voices come shining through as if they sitting next to you on the couch, recounting their stories aloud. It's like S@$t My Dad Says, but without all the cursing.

rating 5 of 5