Since I never expect to visit Siberia myself, I thought I would listen to this very long book on CD about it. As a travelogue, it combines many of the elements one might expect from the genre: adventures with food, people, weather, and transportation; a review of the literature on Siberia; a his...
Picked this up off a remainder table. Looked like a humorous pastiche of mommy blogs, which I guess it was, minus the humor. Apparently, the book is based on a frequent column in the New Yorker by Ian Frazier, who wrote the favorite nonfiction I've read this year, The Great Plains. While I admire...
There were many chuckles in this book--the children's snowman, school repairs, the cursing mom's beverage choices, etc. I identified with her method of "keeping it all together" by beginning each entry with an inspirational quote, then as her day unfolded, she began unraveling until she became th...
Ian Frazier makes me laugh, so I thought our senses of humor were more aligned. I was surprised that I found many -- maybe even most -- of his choices for this anthology quite dull. However, this is worth reading for a few really great pieces:Steve Martin's "The Third Millennium: So Far, So Good"...
“I fear for the Great Plains because many think they are boring.”ttttttp. 91I'll probably like this book more than you. I salivated over the possibilities of Great Plains after reading the author's Travels in Siberia. I went in with high hopes but acknowledge now that twenty-one years lapsed be...
really enjoyed the pieces i really enjoyed, was completely neutral on the ones i didn't. some of the ones in this collection are heavily dependent on references and allusions to other material. the basic joke or premise is easily still communicated, but you get the idea that you'd like, say, the ...