Customer Reviews

They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is a gem and my title describing it as intellectual humor with a touch of the loo is apt...The English are wonderfully fastidious with the use of language. When combined with a sense of modesty, a wry British sense of humor and a penchant for understatement, one has a delightfully funny collection of snippets from the "London Review of Books" personals. The Brits who contribute to these personals go out of their way to make themselves seem both interesting and unattractive at the same time. Nothing here is close to "likes long romantic walks on the beach" that one finds in U.S. personals... these individuals all have warts ...real or imagined!

It is a wonderful holiday gift sure to evoke peals of laughter from any adult with a pulse.

The personal ad in this review's title is from the LRB, but is not among this book's selections. Nonetheless, it provides one with the flavor of the treasures to be found herein. Actual paraphrased examples from the book include:

-- "Writing this ad has given the biggest sense of accomplishment I've felt since successfully ironing my pants for the first time (on June 14th, 1998.)"
-- "Blah, blah, whatever. Indifferent woman. Go ahead and write. See if I care."
-- "I used to have the sharpest mind in the land; now I can't even find my pen. Wait-- here it is!"
-- "Some chances are once in a lifetime. Not this one; I've been in the last 12 issues."
-- "I am not an accountant."
-- "Ppfffttttt, ssshhhhhhhhwwwwt, peeffwt, pffpt. Man, 36. Bad at whistling."

The only other thing that needs to be said is that editor David Rose provides some quite helpful annotations for the cultural references that might elude those of us on this side of The Pond.

Heard about this on NPR and it was worth buying. Wonderful as a present, it was a great icebreaker at a party and had us all rolling on the floor.

What can I say other than this book makes me laugh so hard that my ribs ache. The humor is dry, the personal ads are as precise as haiku, and nobody seems to be taking themselves too seriously. Well, maybe the "beardy physicist" who provided the ad from which the title was taken, but certainly not the parade of loners who have not forgotten that humor is the most powerful aphrodesiac of all.

Two people who couldn't be more different, yet both absolutely loved this book. I cherished hearing their giddy laughter on Christmas day. This book is for the smart, the cynical, & the anglophile on your gift-buying list. Or buy it especially for single folks with a great sense of humor!

British humor [humour] often has a strong streak of self deprecation. I remember an interesting dinner with three Brits years ago, all of them in their late fifties or early sixties. After a bit, the conversation touched on sex [all of us males], but unlike a similar conversation in the States, all three of the fellows tried to out do each other describing how inept they had become in this endeavor as they approached their Golden Years.

Kate Fox, a cultural anthropologist and author of Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, was interviewed by "The New York Times" four years ago. She compared the London Review personals to a British advertising campaign showing people recoiling in revulsion from Marmite. "An advertising campaign focusing exclusively on the disgust people feel for your product strikes a lot of people as perverse. [But when Britons exaggerate their faults, they are really telegraphing their attributes.] "It does speak of a certain arrogance, that you have the confidence and the sense of humor to say these things."

Amazon is very generous in allowing access to the contents of this book, and it is pretty easy to find a number of very funny examples:

A lady: "I've got a mouth on me that can peel paint off walls but I can always apologize."

A gentleman: "Shy, ugly man, fond of extended periods of self-pity, middle aged, flatulent and overweight, seeks the impossible."

Another lady: "Eager-to-please woman, 36, seeks domineering man to take advantage of her flagging confidence. Tell me I'm pretty, then watch me cling."

As a hard or soft cover book, this sort of collection is generally much more fun taken in small doses -- but of course having a book available for a minute or two of persual isn't always practical. However, on the iPhone, this collection really shines. My cell phone has become an essential part of my life. These short ads remind me of exceedingly clever Twitters, and my phone delivers just enough of them to be fresh and funny without becoming cloying.

Best of all they are always at hand.

Robert C. Ross 2010

A constantly amusing and often hilarious collection of real ads.
Usually self depreciating and frequently absurd.
Smiles, chuckles and belly laughs.
Highly recommended.

This book is too funny and I have discovered it is a great book to have around. Whenever someone comes by and has to wait some, this is the book they pick up to read. Almost always.

I absolutely adore this book. I keep it at work sometimes and read the ads to my co-workers to brighten up our day. They are absolutely hilarious! This is a really funny coffee table book - great for conversation.

This has to be one of the most enjoyable, off-center collections ever. The personal ads are all the more enjoyable because of their ironic tone and intellectual content. Despite some recurring themes, I was constantly caught offguard and found myself laughing uncontrollably. Absolutely delightful.