Tag: comedy

The Perfect Fall Read: Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, Faith Erin Hicks

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Pumpkinheads - bookspoilsAh, there’s nothing quite as comforting to me as settling into a new Rainbow Rowell release. Having re-read all her books countless times, I take particular joy in any new works.

Plus, having that familiarity with her books, it’s funny noticing how this graphic novel didn’t have the main characters sit on the floor by the bed, which is something I’ve hit upon recently when browsing through her writing. Carry On caught my attention with this scene mentioning it: “…and sits on the floor at the end of his bed, even though the room is full of comfortable things to sit on.”

Moving on, Pumpkinheads feels like the quintessential fall read that makes you want to cozy up in your layers.

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Also, any time I have to type the word “pumpkin,” I just think back to Fangirl‘s Cath cringing at Levi’s misspelling. Now I’m ultra-aware of the word.

And I adored so much in this read that it’s best summed up here:

  • Why is Josiah the perfect visualization of Levi? Like, all the plaid and farm boy vibes are screaming “Levi!” at me. All he’s missing is that infamous Carhartt jacket. I mean does this move not scream “Levi!” to you:Pumpkinheads 3- bookspoils Josiah is like if Levi had anxiety in social settings, especially romantic ones.

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Luckily, he has Deja there to hold up half the weight, maybe sometimes (usually) even more. You know when someone’s so great you can never find the right words to encompass all their greatness? That’s Deja. This is them in one panel:Pumpkinheads 2- bookspoils

  • Tackling the widespread idea of romanticizing people because they look like a great cover for whatever story you want to paint them in your head. Deja put it best:

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  • The artwork by Faith Erin Hicks is a whole new world of brilliant. Am I spying a Rainbow Rowell pop up within the graphic novel or??

Pumpkinheads 4- bookspoilsB R I L L I A N T

  • Many great puns and humor incorporated throughout, which we’ve come to expect with Rainbow’s great one-liners. Few examples include,

    “Vanessa Pudgens,” “Fudge Judy,” and more that I’ll leave for you to find out.

Check out just that through this excerpt:

Review: Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

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While browsing the library for a book to read (preferably a humorous one at that), I stumbled upon Justin Halpern’s Sh*t My Dad Says. I then proceeded to open up the light read on a random page to see if it’d capture my attention… And it succeeded in making me laugh out loud with this one passage:

On Bob Saget’s Demeanor While Hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos

“Remember that face. That’s the face of a man who hates himself.”

What follows is a book that delivers pretty much everything I’ve been seeking: laugh-out-loud funny anecdotes, family, cursing, and so much more.

Here are a couple more gems I’d like to share:

On How to Tell When a Workout Is Complete

“I just did an hour on the gym machine. I’m sweaty, and I have to shit. Where’s my fanny pack? This workout is over.”

On Chivalry

“Give your mother the front seat…. I don’t give a shit if she said you could have it, that’s what she’s supposed to do, and you’re supposed to say, ‘No, I insist.’ You think I’m gonna drive around with my wife in the backseat and a nine-year-old in the front? You’re a crazy son of a bitch.”

But the true key to fully enjoying this book was listening to it on audio (which is, by the way, only three hours long). The narrator, Sean Schemmel, does this hilarious deep voice that perfectly captures the anger, frustration, and love behind the dad’s words. This read wouldn’t have been as laugh-out-loud funny without the audio format for me. But I do have to note that Schemmel’s choice of using a high-pitched voice for the female characters was absurd and completely threw me out of the story, so I tried to tune that out as much as possible.

On another note, getting to read about Justin Halpern’s relationship with his dad, who’s a rather blunt individual, and sharing his quotes and quips, surprisingly evoked a wide range of reactions. From laughing at one section to being moved deeply by another, I was never short of experiencing numerous emotions throughout my reading experience.

One part that stuck out, in particular, was this breakfast shared with his father at Denny’s:

“Dad, can you please get to the point you’re trying to make? I don’t want to talk about this the whole breakfast with all these people around us,” I said, as I looked to my left and right, indicating that people were listening and that it was embarrassing for me.
He paused and looked around the restaurant, and then right at the college kids next to us, who quickly glanced away.
“You give a shit what all these people think, huh? Even though you never met a goddamned one of them,” he said.”

Sam Halpern really made me shift my whole view with just the one sentence: “You give a shit what all these people think, huh? Even though you never met a goddamned one of them,”

And on said though, that will no doubt be playing over and over in my head, I’ll end my review for this noteworthy book I’m beyond glad to have listened to. If you’re looking for a swift and comical read that’ll have you laughing out loud, Sh*t My Dad Says is the one.

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Review: I Thought You Would Be Funnier by Shannon Wheeler

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This collection of single panel comics and gags was the perfect thing to fly through in exactly ten minutes. Touching on universal themes such as death and clowns, cats and dogs, love and relationships, Shannon Wheeler’s cartoons were a pleasant surprise for a first-timer.

I do want to mention that though this promises to make you laugh out loud or feel something at least once during your reading experience, it didn’t end up happening in my case. So the title I Thought You Would Be Funnier fit like a glove. Still, there were a handful of noteworthy panels that I would like to highlight next:I Thought You Would Be Funnier 1-- bookspoils

 

I Thought You Would Be Funnier 2-- bookspoils

 

I Thought You Would Be Funnier 3-- bookspoils

 

I Thought You Would Be Funnier 4-- bookspoils

 

I Thought You Would Be Funnier 5-- bookspoils

 

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3/5 stars

Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in buying I Thought You Would Be Funnier, just click on the image below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!