Entertaining essays from a genial guide.
A comedian muses on life, love, and simple pleasures.
Host of a daily SiriusXM show as well as a podcast, Papa gives ample evidence of his “ability to live on the happy side of the street” in a collection of funny, warmhearted essays whose overarching messages are, “we should be grateful for what we have” and “shouldn’t take life all that seriously.” The author is thankful for many things, including coffee (at the first sip each morning, he writes, “my entire being knows the day is about to improve”); baking bread, which he does with unabashed pleasure; a weekly date night, which he claims keeps a marriage happy; gathering for dinner with his wife and two daughters (“I just want to look up and see them and have them see me and realize we’re family. That’s why we eat together”); and indulging his desires at 7-Eleven stores, “crammed with everything you could ever need or want, just waiting for your arrival like delicious outposts on the modern-day prairie.” Papa encourages everyone to find someone to love, which, with 7 billion people in the world, should not be difficult. Love, he writes, is “finding someone whose flaws you can put up with.” Certainly, a few things annoy the author: loud, rude people, for example, who invade places that should be quiet and soothing, like breakfast rooms of motels. But if a few essays display irritation, most are generously encouraging. “Our minds are our worst critics,” he writes. “We do it to ourselves.” To keep thinking positively, Papa advises, “you need to avoid anything that can bring you down.” The most delightful essay is a nostalgic paean, reminiscent of E.B. White, to the funky, close-knit Manhattan neighborhood where he and his wife first lived: “we loved it, we loved each other, and even if we wanted to leave, our roots were growing deeper.”
Entertaining essays from a genial guide.Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-24039-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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