Review: This is a Book by Demetri Martin

Overview:

From the renowned comedian, creator, star and executive producer/multiple title-holder of Comedy Central's Important Things with Demetri Martin comes a bold, original, and rectangular kind of humor book.

Demetri's first literary foray features longer-form essays and conceptual pieces (such as Protagonists' Hospital, a melodrama about the clinic doctors who treat only the flesh wounds and minor head scratches of Hollywood action heroes), as well as his trademark charts, doodles, drawings, one-liners, and lists (i.e., the world views of optimists, pessimists and contortionists), Martin's material is varied, but his unique voice and brilliant mind will keep readers in stitches from beginning to end.  

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Review:

There were a couple standout funny moments in the book, but honestly I found Martin's writing and drawings more interesting than funny. I enjoyed his short fiction stories, as well as his random listings. Very clever indeed. If you were to purchase this book- without knowing Demetri Martin (which I didn't)- based solely on the star studded reviews on the back cover, I think you'd believe the book was more laugh-out-loud funny than it is. That being said...I could picture Martin and Jason Schwart There were a couple standout funny moments in the book, but honestly I found Martin's writing and drawings more interesting than funny. I enjoyed his short fiction stories, as well as his random listings. Very clever indeed. If you were to purchase this book- without knowing Demetri Martin (which I didn't)- based solely on the star studded reviews on the back cover, I think you'd believe the book was more laugh-out-loud funny than it is. That being said...I could picture Martin and Jason Schwartzman collaborating really well together.

Review: Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman

Overview:

Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman—who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best known as Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson?  Combining his trademark comic voice and very real expertise in woodworking—he runs his own woodshop—Paddle Your Own Canoe features tales from Offerman’s childhood in small-town Minooka, Illinois—“I grew up literally in the middle of a cornfield”—to his theater days in Chicago, beginnings as a carpenter/actor and the hilarious and magnificent seduction of his now-wife Megan Mullally.   It also offers hard-bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.

A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even hand craft (and paddle) their own canoes.

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Review:

 

This book had a lot of ups and downs for me. I greatly enjoyed Offerman's insight into family life- both growing up in a big Midwestern farming family and his married life in California. He makes some excellent points about what fuels happiness and fulfillment. That being said, overall the book seems a little disjointed- particularly in the first half. Time, place, and situations were disorganized. Later chapters found a rhythm.

Quite a bit of time was spent rallying against religion. It felt like any given topic somehow came back to religion. Once Offerman let this go, the book flowed much more smoothly. I don't consider myself an overly religious person; however I found it quite bothersome to continue to read all the religious negativity. It seems counterproductive to Offerman's ultimate message, and certainly contradicted his "personal" take on religion and religious practices. In fact, at one point I had considering abandoning the book, in an effort to preserve my enjoyment of Offerman's acting work. Thankfully the remainder of the book remained focused on Offerman's life and pursuits of happiness.