Saturday, April 9, 2011

50 Books in 2011: I Found This Funny

I Found This Funny: My Favorite Pieces of Humor and Some That May Not Be Funny At All

Book #19 of 2011:  I Found This Funny; My Favorite Pieces of Humor and Some That May Not Be Funny At All, edited by Judd Apatow.

Overall, I'd say this was an average compilation. I think the not funny pieces outweighed the funny ones, which is fine, but not what I'd expect from the title. It was worth reading, but, of course, I can't read a collection of short stories without feeling as if some of them are just parts of stories and not really their own entities.

I suppose a smarter reader would have skipped over some of the stories, but, it's hard to feel strongly enough to quit something that's already only maybe 20 pages long. And I wouldn't feel like I could count it in my tally if I'd skipped chapters.

I'd read several of the pieces already--a Steve Martin selection from Born Standing Up, a few SNL sketches, a David Sedaris chapter, a Miranda July story. 

Of the things I hadn't read already, I especially liked Amy Bloom's contribution and one written by Apatow himself--a chronicle of the early days of Freaks & Geeks. And, of course, I appreciated Conan & Robert Smigel's TV pilot and the Dave Eggers story, and several others.

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