Amy Newmark

As someone who has long been intrigued by our dream lives, I was immediately interested in an ebook red-flagged by my library app titled "Listen to Your Dreams." In my haste to check it out, I somehow missed the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" header. Nothing against this wildly-successful series, but I've never been a huge fan of books that are compilations of inspirational anecdotes. Nevertheless, my fascination with dreams spurred me to begin reading the assortment. I found the first 15 or 20 show more bite-sized slices of life to be quite interesting. I especially liked how each mini-chapter started with a thought-provoking quote that set the tone for the upcoming tale. However, as I plowed through a few dozen stories, their themes and implied messages seemed to commingle into an almost repetitive collection. I sense I would have arrived at a different conclusion -- and assigned a higher rating -- if I had chosen to read one tale each day for 101 days. But reading nearly 40 entries in the span of a few days felt a bit a like "soup overdose." I guess I had been expecting more of an analysis of dream patterns as opposed to inspirational nuggets. But that's not the fault of the author or the book marketers. In this case, this dream devotee had his head in the clouds and clearly misinterpreted the book's underlying objectives. show less

I am mildly biased as my own story is the second one in the book, "Long Distance Love," on page 4.

This Chicken Soup anthology gathers stories from men and women of all ages, telling tales of lost loves, long marriages, or a second chance at romance after a death or divorce. The mix is just right: humor and tragedy, just like real life. The most emotional stories are the ones at the back, and three of them actually drove me to tears: "The Last Valentine," "The Girl Next Door,"and "Letting show more Go." There's just something about older people in love - especially those confronting Alzheimer's - that just rips my heart to shreds. show less

In a Nutshell: Exactly as the title and blurb promise. Feel-good stories that make you laugh—sometimes with others and sometimes at others—without guilt. Add in some excellent quotes and you have a lovely family-friendly package.

You might surely have heard of the Chicken Soup series. The latest addition to the plethora of ‘Chicken Soup’ titles is this amazing collection. The book follows the traditional Chicken Soup format of collecting real-life anecdotes by theme, and show more interspersing them with suitable quotes. The theme this time is the misadventures and mishaps of everyday life.

As one of the quotes in the book says, “Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look around you.” (credit: Mel Brooks.) You have surely gone through at least a few embarrassing incidents and regrettable life choices. Maybe you can laugh at the cringe-worthy memories today, but while actually going through the incident, you must have wanted the earth to open and swallow you up whole. Well, this book will tell you that you aren’t alone.

This collection brings together plenty of anecdotes contributed by Chicken Soup readers, with every tale highlighting some truly embarrassing or funny moment in the life of the narrator. The stories range from animal/pet adventures to spousal struggles to pranks gone wrong to festive mishaps. Some made me feel sorry for the narrators, but most made me laugh. A few were so painful while being funny that I even felt guilty at laughing, though admittedly, the guilt didn’t stop me from chuckling hard. Only a few left me feeling meh.

Laughing at yourself is the best medicine, and that is the spirit inculcated by most of these writers. If ever you want a feel-good anecdotal collection, this would be perfect. Before every anecdote is a quote. Most quotes were excellent!

Definitely recommended. The number of excellent stories far outnumbers the average ones, and thus this would make for a perfect humorous and relaxing addition to your library.

4.5 stars based on my overall enjoyment of the book.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Well That Was Funny: 101 Feel Good Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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A charming and slim collection of cat-related essays that is just right for some light cat-lover reading. This was part of a get well care package from a good friend (thank you V.!) and it took me a little while to pick it up, but I'm glad I did. I worked at Barnes and Noble in the mid/late-90s during the first wave of Chicken Soup for the Soul mania, and like many of those 90s mega-hits, I always avoided reading them for work-memory-related reasons. While these essays are a little show more sentimental and inspiring, I think they all hit on the good and not cheesy side of that equation. And if you are a cat lover, you'll just get where the authors are coming from. An excellent care package addition! show less