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Grand Central
About 10 years ago, I had this great idea for a nonfiction book. It would be nothing more than a collection of short essays, with each chapter devoted to a person or group that irked me to no end. The title was awesome: “Chances Are I Hate You.”
But now there’s no need, because humorists Lauren Allison and Lisa Perry have beat me to it — or is it a case of devious mind theft? — with “The Woman Who Is Always Tan and Has a Flat Stomach and Other Annoying People.” Touché, Misses Allison and Perry, touché.
In 50 easy-to-digest chapters, the two skewer types of folks different enough from us that we have to laugh once we get past being pissed off. Odds are great that you know someone who fits the descriptions:
• “The Nutrition Mom Who Needs to Be Resuscitated After Finding Out You Fed Her Child a Hot Dog,”
• “The Couple Who Write the Holiday Letter Telling You How Their Little Timmy Came Up with an Alternative to Fossil Fuels,”
• “The Culinary Mom Who Brings Crab Aspic with Red Pepper Coulis to Her Child’s School for Snacktime.”
And there are some entries I’m glad don’t fit anyone I know, like “The Woman Who Receives Martha Stewart’s E-Mail ‘Thought for the Day’ and Is Too Scared to Delete It.”
These first-person comedic accounts lean mostly toward suburban-mother topics. For the record, my chapter on Barbra Streisand would’ve killed.
—Rod Lott
Rating:
Not Yet Rated
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