Customer Reviews

But I Digress

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have read Joe Lavin's Internet columns, this book will not be new to you. It will, however, remind you that Lavin who some may consider to be a Dave Barry genetic mutation is truly a columnist on the rise. And I'm not making this up!

The fifty-four columns in "but i digress" are punched with Lavin's myopic brand of contemporary humor and weasel-biting prose that strips the flesh off of sacred cows and individuals (sometimes being one and the same). The book is a great read and serves to document events, happenings and headline grabbing individuals with a perspective not often considered rational...by normal thinking folks. The book is genuine Lavin. The book will be a collector's item.

Would I recommend this book to others? Not only have I recommended it, but I have given the book to those who are serious about discovering new authors.

Having been a fan of Joe's since his pre-interet days it was great seeing his work in print once more.

Joe's subtle, sarcastic wit has never failed to make me laugh. The "interesting" way he looks at life, the universe and everything is an inspiration to those of us who have neither his wit or charm.

Bu this book, and buy one for your friends. I promise you that they'll thank you for it.

This is a wonderful collection of columns -- funny, hip, and irreverent. Joe has a gift for pointing out to the world, ever so politely, that, um, it doesn't actually make any sense, you know? And the world has an equal gift for paying no attention to him and continuing to be absurd. One of the funniest essays is his account of being the object of a telephone survey about the wonders of iced coffee, which he despises -- and the hapless survey giver keeps right on asking the questions, in a way that reminds you of Green Eggs and Ham (Would you like it in a boat? Would you like it in a coat?) He talks about why we should get to elect our television pundits, and why we might want to get in on the Joe Lavin for President Exploratory Committee. He tells us about the problems generated by what he believes must be a neon sign on his forehead inviting crazy people to talk to him. His columns touch on sports journalism ("What Were You Thinking While Choking in Front of Millions of People?"), the weird sort of composite TV show created by clicking through hundreds of channels, customer support lines ("Keeping Customers on Hold since 1983"), cloning, "Fighting the Inner Pack Rat," Dummies' Guides, school ("Nazi Germany and Seventh Grade: a Comparative Study"), and many other things. I've followed Joe's columns for a couple of years, and he really has selected his very best stuff for this volume. They're bound to inspire you with the urge to get on his e-mail list and keep up with his new stuff.

A healthy, irreverent look at life, the universe and everything. In this case, that covers politics, television, sports and Anna Nicole Smith. Oh, and work. Fits somewhere between Dave Barry and P J O'Rourke on the bookshelf - and not just alphabetically.

From the insanity of shipping a TV set across the states and finding a flat in Boston to the aggravating choice of which channel to watch and which pundit not to believe, these columns deal with the some tougher questions of life. Why take part in exit polls? What was behind 'Furbymania'? Or the museum of bad art? What are the Teletubbies all about? What future for all the pundits released into the wild after the Lewinski episode? As they say in Norway (really, they do) - 'a word in the fog'.

Buy this book. Read it in bits. Keep sane. Join the 'Joe Lavin presidential exploratory committee'!

Having been a fan of Joe's writing since his days at the LSE, reading this book was an absolute pleasure.

His gentle, ironic humour has kept me amused through many a dull situation.

The stories are readable and re-readable. I'd recommend this book to absolutely anyone.

Having read all of the columns already (via the internet), I bought this book mainly as a gift. Imagine my surprise to open up the book and find that they are still as funny as when I read them the first time! I'm going to keep this book and intend to get many more hours of laughter out of it!

... I've heard his humor described as "weasel-biting" but I don't know much about weasels so I'm not sure if I can agree with that. I do, however, know that it's one of the best humor books that I've had the good sense to throw onto the stack that I haul to the checkout counter of the bookstore. I'd rank it in the top five of my list of "Best Impulse Purchases", perhaps number two, right behind my sparkly green shoelaces. The pieces are short enough to read on the bus and funny enough to make me laugh out loud in public (well, in public transportation anyway).

Joe's got a sneaky sense of humor and, I think, an evil mind and those are qualities that I look for in my humor writers. I think he'd be fun to talk to into the wee hours of the morning (especially given his self-confessed night-owl personality). I can picture it now, I'd be punchy with lack of sleep and he'd just go on being sneaky and evil until I was laughing too hard to breath... he'll be the death of me I tell you.

I can't wait for the next one, bring it on.

And you thought reading humor columns was just silly fun. Reading "but i digress...," Joe Lavin's collection of humor columns, can actually change your life.

Where else can you get step-by-step practical advice on how to write a "...For Dummies' book? ("In order to make your reader feel better, try to make fun of smart people. Remember, smart people suck.") Lavin also teaches you to stifle the inner pack rat by moving as much as possible and storing your most useless junk at your parents' house. (Note to self: Make sure my parents don't read this book.)

This book also gives Lavin an opportunity for public service work. I'm sure many of you sports fans missed the interview with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt on the 300-hour long Fox NFL Sunday Tostitos Budweiser Prudential Super Bowl Pre-Game Show. Lavin reprints it here, just for you. ("Jennifer, who do you think will win the Super Bowl?" "Um, I really like the Yankees.")

"but i digress..." takes on any topic, from trying to move a television across the country to an in-depth review of the Anna Nicole Smith biography Lavin skimmed through while the bookstore was closing. In fact, the funniest columns are the ones about the minor annoyances in life. Lavin finds humor columns in all the little glitches, surprises, and setbacks.

He's even spent his time and energy reviewing a web site for people born with the shame and horror of....red hair. As a fellow redhead, I owe my life to Mr. Lavin for his courageous investigative reporting. He'd have written more about it, but he couldn't bring himself to part with the twenty-dollar membership fee.

If you aren't familiar with Joe Lavin's work, it's time to get acquainted with the humorist whose web site is visited weekly by over 5,000 fans. "but i digress..." is a great introduction.

Joe Lavin is a lot like that boy who insisted that the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes. He looks at the world around him and says, "Um, that doesn't actually make sense" (to which the world responds by keeping right on being absurd). When he was called for a telephone survey about iced coffee, he pointed out that he loathed iced coffee; the woman continued through the questions anyway, about when he would drink it and what he compared it to, a dialog that began to sound remarkably like Green Eggs and Ham ("Would you like it in a boat? Would you like it in a coat?). He recounts his adventures with the crazy people of the world, who adore chatting with him and telling him about their personal relationships with space aliens. He takes on topics like school ("Nazi Germany and the Seventh Grade: a Comparative Study"), the Dummies guides, the differences between men and women (only women or married men would ever buy a hutch), sports interviews, customer support lines ("Keeping People on Hold since 1983"), channel surfing, and why we apparently don't need elections because the newscasters are perfectly happy with exit polls. He asks useful questions, like why can't we vote for our pundits as well as our politicians. His take on the world is funny and offbeat and dead-on-target. I've been reading his column for a couple of years now, and this collection is indeed some of his very best stuff.

This book is something Lavin fans have been waiting on for some time. It's the sort of book you can't read in a place where sudden bursts of laughter are forbidden, because it's almost impossible to not crack up. The columns are well written and clever, and the way Lavin phrases things just stick with you and make you chuckle later on.

Buy the book. It's worth it! Dave Barry - watch out, you've got some competition!