McSweeney's

Another volume of humor from the fabulous McSweeney's folks, this one filled with essays, lists, epistolary stories, and the like relating to books and authors. Like a lot of the McSweeney's humor stuff, the pieces in here tend to be hit or miss; either you're laughing uproariously in inappropriate locations like the subway, or sort of arching one eyebrow going, "Hm." But when a piece in here hits, boy does it ever hit.

Among the hits: Re: Hardy Boys Manuscript Submission, by Jay Dyckman show more (editor, noting that while it was admirable for the author of the latest Hardy Boys story to try and bring a contemporary feel to the series, "we don't think Frank pacing outside the bathroom door while his girlfriend, Callie, uses a First Response pregnancy test is consistent with the Hardy Boys formula"); Goofus, Gallant, Rashomon, by Jim Stallard, wherein various friends and acquaintances of the two boys are interviewed about how they finally came to a bad end; Postcards from James Joyce to His Brother Stan, by Martin Bihl ("Stan -- Greetings from Paris. Yesterday, my son said, 'Let's go see Napoleon's tomb.' Yes, let's, I thought. And don't let the fact that I'm blind stop us. Christ. And even if I could see, why would I want to look at the remain of a dead Corsican when there are hookers flashing their hoo-hahs in Pigalle? Idiots. J."); and the one that had me falling off the bed, Words and Expressions Commonly Misused by Insipid Brothers-in-Law by Dennis DiClaudio, which doesn't quite fit into the theme but is hilarious anyway.

I won't list the misses, but fortunately, there are far fewer of them. (Although I confess that some of these little pieces are sophisticated enough that the humor simply went over my head -- for example, Pound-Eliot Sestina by Alfred Corn.) show less

This book is just what the title would indicate: a book of lists. But this isn't the old "Book of Lists" you remember from the 1970s -- the lists are along the lines of "Times that a four-dollar umbrella will break" (one of the items is "when you touch it"). Nevertheless, it's generally so hilarious that I was embarrassed to read it on the subway because every time I did I would burst into laughter and people would look at me as though I was one of those crazy people you don't want to sit show more next to. Go out and buy it RIGHT NOW. show less

This book has a higher ratio of laugh-at-loud jokes to failure than most comedy out there, though like all McSweeney's material, there will be a faction of people who don't get it, and another faction who "get" it but aren't amused anyway. While there are a few lists here and there that evoke that same chafing, all-right-all-right-we-get-it-move-on feeling a particularly bad night of SNL or the like evokes, the vast majority instead evoke an odd appreciation for the magically banal in life. show more That's not to say there's any deep meaning here--I should think the writers would be floored by that suggestion--but there's a sinister glimmer in most every sentence here. From Carlinesque language play to unicorn fetishes, from "Nonrecommended Questions for Your Five-minute Speed Date" to "Signs Your Unicorn is Cheating on You," if you're willing to suspend not just your disbelief, but your belief in the literalness of the material world, you'll be in for a wickedly funny ride. show less

Pulled from past McSweeney’s Internet Tendency publications, this collection is irreverent and literary in its references, which made it a fun read for me. Sometimes the humor gets a little juvenile, but on the whole it’s quite intelligent, and as each article is quite short, averaging just a couple of pages, one is never bogged down. My favorites, with titles that are either self-explanatory or at least give the flavor of the book:

- Social Security Denies Gregor Samsa’s Disability show more Claim, by Alex St. Andrews
- I Am Michiko Kakutani, by Colin McEnroe
- Klingon Fairy Tales, by Mike Richardson-Bryan
- Lady Macbeth on Ambien, by Laurence Hughes
- Johnson’s Life of Boswell, by Teddy Wayne
- Ikea Product or Lord of the Rings Character, by Caley Feldman
- Portrait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged TOEFL Teacher, by Rob Curran
- Corman McCarthy Writes to the Editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican, by John Kennan
- Tales of Erotica: Chuck Norris and Me, by Brian Bieber
- Submission Guidelines for Our Refrigerator Door, by Christopher Monks
- Whale of Mass Destruction – Richard B. Cheney, Adjunct Professor in the Humanities, Presents: The Annual Symbolism in Melville Lecture, by Blair Becker
- Holden Caulfield Gives the Commencement Speech to His High School, by Andrew Tan show less