Category Archives: humor

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (Bill Bryson)

When I was a kid, every day was packed with ten times the activities I’d dream of doing now. Most of it was spontaneous, like finding out what kind of dog was barking on the next block. All of it … Continue reading

Comments Off on The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (Bill Bryson)

Filed under biography, humor

Noises Off (Michael Frayn)

There’s something deliciously sneaky about reading a script. You see the actors fussing about on the stage when you watch a play, but you have access to the actors’ code book — the stage directions — when you read a … Continue reading

Comments Off on Noises Off (Michael Frayn)

Filed under drama, humor

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Jeff Kinney)

QUICK TAKE: It’s not easy being a middle school kid. Just ask Gregory Heffley, the narrator in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons. The boy who figures he’s “somewhere around 52nd and 53rd most popular” … Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under humor, youth fiction

The Areas of My Expertise (John Hodgman)

Ever wonder how much you should tip a hotel’s starling boy? Or its melancholier? Or its feral turn-down service? Do you even know what these are? Neither did I … until I came upon John Hodgman’s The Areas of My … Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under humor

Marley & Me (John Grogan)

Marley was not the world’s worst dog, although it may have seemed so to John Grogan from time to time. He was expelled from obedience school and ate speaker covers so thoroughly they vanished. (I won’t even begin to describe … Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under animals, humor