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Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists [Paperback]

A.V. Club , Chuck Klosterman
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 13, 2009
Each week, the writers of The A.V. Club issue a slightly slanted pop-culture list filled with challenging opinions (Is David Bowie's "Young Americans" nearly ruined by saxophone?) and fascinating facts. Exploring 24 great films too painful to watch twice, 14 tragic movie-masturbation scenes, 18 songs about crappy cities, and much more, Inventory combines a massive helping of new lists created especially for the book with a few favorites first seen at avclub.com and in the pages of The A.V. Club's sister publication, The Onion.

But wait! There's more: John Hodgman offers a set of minutely detailed (and probably fictional) character actors. Patton Oswalt waxes ecstatic about the "quiet film revolutions" that changed cinema in small but exciting ways. Amy Sedaris lists 50 things that make her laugh. "Weird Al" Yankovic examines the noises of Mad magazine's Don Martin. Plus lists from Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Ben Garant, Tom Lennon, Andrew W.K., Tim and Eric, Daniel Handler, and Zach Galifianakis -- and an epic foreword from essayist Chuck Klosterman.


Frequently Bought Together

Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists + My Year of Flops: The A.V. Club Presents One Man's Journey Deep into the Heart of Cinematic Failure
Price for both: $27.71

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Inventory is awesome and will provide you with endless hours of reading and arguing with friends. I love this book, except for page 124. I don't care what anybody says, Bowie's 'Young Americans' sounds terrific with the saxophone. Go f*** yourself, A.V. Club." -- Joel McHale, The Soup

"In a culture that worships the disposable, lazy lists obligatorily put together by self-serving editorial staffs at the likes of Barely Information Magazine, The A.V. Club has decided to embrace what it parodies until it meets itself just outside of heaven and shakes its own hand while flipping itself, and you and me, off. Kudos, A.V. Club!" -- David Cross, Mr. Show and Arrested Development

"I'm going to put this awesome book on my coffee table so when people come over they'll think I'm fun, clever, and sophisticated, but charmingly populist. And when they see my name on the back cover, they'll also think I'm famous!" -- Mindy Kaling, The Office

"Despite the fact that they declined to ask me to participate in this award-winning* book, I bear no ill will toward the writers because they are all geniuses; buying this book will make you feel a genius, too.** (*This book has not won any awards. **No, that was not a typo. I literally meant you would feel a genius.)" -- Michael Ian Black, The State and Michael And Michael Have Issues

"I did look at the book and enjoyed it, but didn't have time to come up with a quote, unless 'Seems like a pretty good book. I had a great time skimming it' works." -- Eugene Mirman, Flight Of The Conchords and The Will To Whatevs

Review

"Inventory is awesome and will provide you with endless hours of reading and arguing with friends. I love this book, except for page 124. I don't care what anybody says, Bowie's 'Young Americans' sounds terrific with the saxophone. Go f*** yourself, A.V. Club." -- Joel McHale, The Soup

"In a culture that worships the disposable, lazy lists obligatorily put together by self-serving editorial staffs at the likes of Barely Information Magazine, The A.V. Club has decided to embrace what it parodies until it meets itself just outside of heaven and shakes its own hand while flipping itself, and you and me, off. Kudos, A.V. Club!" -- David Cross, Mr. Show and Arrested Development

"I'm going to put this awesome book on my coffee table so when people come over they'll think I'm fun, clever, and sophisticated, but charmingly populist. And when they see my name on the back cover, they'll also think I'm famous!" -- Mindy Kaling, The Office

"Despite the fact that they declined to ask me to participate in this award-winning* book, I bear no ill will toward the writers because they are all geniuses; buying this book will make you feel a genius, too.** (*This book has not won any awards. **No, that was not a typo. I literally meant you would feel a genius.)" -- Michael Ian Black, The State and Michael And Michael Have Issues

"I did look at the book and enjoyed it, but didn't have time to come up with a quote, unless 'Seems like a pretty good book. I had a great time skimming it' works." -- Eugene Mirman, Flight Of The Conchords and The Will To Whatevs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Scribner; Original edition (October 13, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416594736
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416594734
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
(18)
4.7 out of 5 stars
It's a lot of fun. Mike Smith  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying, even if you read the website October 19, 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I make it a point every Monday to read the AV Club's new Inventory. These pop-culture lists are almost always interesting, even if I'm not necessarily interested in the subject at hand. When they hit on a subject that does interest me (such as the list of great movies that are too upsetting to see twice), it's absolutely fascinating.

I debated whether or not to buy the book; my main reason to buy it was for the book-only content: guest lists by people including Andrew W.K., Patton Oswalt, John Hodgman, and others. The guest lists are pretty disappointing, on the whole; they certainly don't hold up to the quality of the AV Club's writing, and many of them are not even in the spirit of the AV Club Inventory. (The first one, by Robert Ben Garant, is a simple list of gross-out moments from movies. It's not particularly witty or interesting; any blog commenter worth his "firsties" could have come up with it. Sorry, Mr. Garant; you're far from alone.) The only guest list writer who really gets it is Patton Oswalt; his list is smart, insightful, and funny.

But really, the suckiness of the guest lists is my only complaint (and you'll see, I didn't even ding the book a star for it). I bought this book for my Kindle, because it's a great thing to have in portable form and be able to read in bits and pieces while waiting around. It would also be a great book to buy and keep in the bathroom or nightstand; it lends itself perfectly to being read in small doses.

Next time, AV Club, skip the guests and give us more of your own writing!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Americans are list crazy. There is no use denying it, and it's especially true when it comes to pop culture. We are endlessly categorizing songs, movies, TV, books, etc... in arbitrary and meaningless ways. Well, no one does arbitrary and meaningless like the AV Club! In this post-modern twist where the list about entertainment becomes entertainment in and of itself, the AV Club has assembled the delightfully skewed "Inventory." This volume contains lists and nothing but lists. It's great to read straight through, as a conversation starting coffee table book, or it's especially practical as a bathroom read. Oh come on--I'm sure the AV Club probably intended it for just such a sit down session!

Some lists are quite amusing, others enlightening. On the amusing side, one of my favorites was "15 Dr. Seuss characters that sound like sex toys" and another is "25 sure signs that a sitcom is terrible." On the more informative side, we've got "13 particularly horrible fast-food innovations" and "16 plus books based around odd literary conceits." There are tons more--these are just a few samples to explain the randomness of the inclusions. Some lists will resonate with you more than others--it really all depends on your primary interests. But if the book sounds appealing by this description--chances are you're going to like it.

A few celebrities also weigh in with "guest" lists. I always love Amy Sedaris and she's here--but strangely it's "Weird Al" Yankovic's list of Mad Magazine sound effects that stood out. A fun book, "Inventory" is simply entertainment for the sake of entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. You may forget about it soon after reading it--but it's definitely good for a laugh.
... Read more ›
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Obsessively hilarious December 14, 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm not a terribly huge fan of the AV Club; I check the website every now and then to see what is going on. I bought this book because it was only 10 bucks and, after reading most of it I must say, is a steal. Not only are the lists themselves incredibly entertaining, but the commentaries for each listing are written well enough to make me care about a Lars von Trier movie (Bravo!).

This book won't change your life, but for the price, you will find hours of entertainment and interest. Additionally, some of the contents of this book are available online, but additional lists and guest-celebrity lists make this purchase worth the money.

Edit (over two years later): After reading this book, I found myself returning to it on multiple occasions. A word of warning though: this book may only be for pop culture nerds. My friends who don't care about pop culture trivia only find INVENTORY mildly amusing. Since my initial review, I seem to check the AV Club every day, so it seems to have struck a chord with me.
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5.0 out of 5 stars I Don't Need To KNow Any of These Things. And I Love It December 26, 2011
Format:Paperback
I am discovering new things left and right, ordered in the funniest, most random way I can imagine. This is a book that will never, ever grow old, even if new things appear that are worthy of any of these lists. (Hey, Keanu could have one more good movie in him in spite of him... right?)Thank you so much, AV Club.
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Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read this on my breaks at work and sometimes at lunch. It's great for something to read when you don't want to get too involved in a book (I'm a read-all-the-way-through-don't-want-to-put-down type reader) so the short articles and hilarious titles/articles are perfect to get me through the day. Some are longer than others, you can pretty much open to any article or read straight through. I will definitely be passing this along to fellow pop culture junky friends of mine!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff
When I was in middle school, I came across Book of List which turned out to be one of the most exciting books that I could read. Read more
Published on March 13, 2011 by Tim Lieder
4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of bang for your buck
Do you like lists? Do you like smarmy pop culture references? Are you in on all the in-jokes?

Good. I knew you were. Read more
Published on March 1, 2011 by J. Edgar Mihelic
5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect table book!!!
If yo have to have something on your table for people to look at and thumb through, this is a must!!!
Published on May 23, 2010 by William S. Spencer
4.0 out of 5 stars A mostly fun read from The Onion's A.V. Club
I am a huge fan of the online publication The Onion. The A.V. Club is the section of The Onion devoted to entertainment--namely film, television, music, and books. Read more
Published on April 23, 2010 by Beth Cholette
3.0 out of 5 stars Intermittent Genius Surrounded By Soporific Pabulum
I purchased "Inventory" because I enjoy the A. V. Club web site and am intrigued by humorously presented minutiae. Read more
Published on March 28, 2010 by Robert I. Hedges
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for the Heaven and Hell lists alone!
Picked this up for my son - but I've really enjoyed this as well.
A great depiction of recent pop culture.
Published on March 14, 2010 by KimP
5.0 out of 5 stars Trivia With a Twist!
I must confess that until I paged through INVENTORY, I had never heard of the A. V. Club. I guess that makes me one of those "living in a cave for the last 300 years" reprobates of... Read more
Published on January 27, 2010 by Michael OConnor
4.0 out of 5 stars Full of Useless Information - Just How I like It!
When I saw this book, I knew I had to have it. I like pop-culture and I like lists - they are perfect for my ADHD mind. Lots of useless info packed into a small space. Read more
Published on January 27, 2010 by Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
Everything went smoothly. The book was in great condition, as the seller said it would be, it came quickly in the mail, and made it in time for Christmas! Read more
Published on January 17, 2010 by A. Palmer
5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining gathering of lists from film, music, TV and more
INVENTORY: 16 FILMS FEATURING MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRLS, 10 GREAT SONGS NEARLY RUINED BY SAXOPHONE, AND 100 MORE OBSESSIVELY SPECIFIC POP-CULTURE LISTS offers an entertaining... Read more
Published on January 15, 2010 by Midwest Book Review
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Thanks. May you live to be a thousand years old.
Jun 2, 2009 by Nathan Rabin |  See all 4 posts
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