A clever, humorous collection.
A debut collection of short reflections on time, life and being a regular guy.
In this collection of 64 “literary tidbits,” Lubow, a former creative director at an ad agency, reflects on a wide range of topics. The pieces are each meant to be read in about a minute; the author provides word counts for each one, with the highest hitting just 160 words. All originally appeared as part of a series on the “Guy Page” of the Chicago Tribune from 2004 to 2008. The author draws on his background as a writer of short television spots to succinctly express deep, meaningful ideas throughout this collection. The tone is conversational and direct, often addressing subjects in everyday life. Some are short stories that reflect on particular points (a father and son roll malted milk balls into a crowd to see which get stepped on, leading the father to think about the nature of luck); others are short reflections about such subjects as how hard it is to feel nostalgia when things keep coming back into style. Still others use a second-person perspective to draw readers into the experience; one begins, “[Y]ou’re with your dog in the vet’s crowded waiting room,” and goes on to describe how dogs accept their differences more readily than humans do. Some themes come up repeatedly, including various aspects of being a “guy” and the nature of a minute (what one can do in 60 seconds or how a minute can feel long or short depending on what’s being done). The book also critiques specific TV shows and books, such as Blue Collar TV, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink (2005). Most of these wise little pieces, however, are general and relatable for both sexes, who will likely find truth, comfort and humor in them.
A clever, humorous collection.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615626819
Page Count: 142
Publisher: Two-Fisted Birdwatcher Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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