Tag Archives: Humor

We Are The Perfect Girl (review by Ms. Pelman)

January 24, 2020 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

We Are the Perfect Girl by Ariel Kaplan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A charming, fresh, and sharply written retelling of Cyrano De Bergerac where friendship, not romance, is at the heart of the story. Aphra and Bethany are best friends. Bethany is painfully shy—she can’t string 4 words together when attempting to speak to her crush Greg. Aphra is smart, funny, and outgoing, but does not consider herself attractive mainly due to her nose (naturally). In the midst of trying to help Bethany get together with Greg, she inadvertently begins an anonymous relationship with him online, which she then parlays into assuming the Cyrano role, feeding Bethany lines during dates and composing text messages for her. As an overwhelmed Bethany tries to go along with the plan, Aphra falls harder and harder for Greg.
Even readers unfamiliar with the original story will understand both the folly of their plan and the inevitable blowup that will ensue. The trick is making us care. Kaplan accomplishes this feat and more in her deftly constructed novel. With its swift pacing, humor, and fully-realized characters, readers will be swept up. Far from simply zany, the substantive plot makes clear Aphra’s journey through anger and pain, and her awakening to the kinds of love that matter most. While its seeming conventionality may be a turn off for some, readers who don’t mind romantic entanglement mixed in with their strong, intelligent female protagonists will find much to enjoy. -Ms. Pelman

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The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (review by Anya W. ’20)

December 21, 2018 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On a rather boring Thursday, a rather boring (but mostly harmless) planet known as Earth is demolished by a Vogon construction crew to clear room for a new hyperspace overpass, along with most of its inhabitants, who rather unfortunately had yet to invent a method of faster than light travel and therefore had neglected to see the clearly posted notice in Alpha Centauri. Ford Prefect, writer for a new edition of the “Hitch Hiker’s Guide” and alien who’s been stranded on Earth for the past decade-and-a-half is not content with vaporization. He takes up his usual pastime, Hitchhiking, bringing along one Arthur Dent, a boring, regular, specimen of humanity if there ever was one, who also happens to be a very good friend.

One of the landmark novels of science fiction and a great influencer of pop culture, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a must read. Adams writes a ridiculous romp through worlds and galaxies on an unimaginable scale, and mixes ridiculousness with unspeakable horrors in just the right proportion to make his book a comedy instead of a textbook. One of the great advantages of science fiction and fantasy novels is the ability to wave away plot holes with “magic” or “science,” but the methods Adams uses to rationalize his fantastical universe are so creative that they hardly deserve the title of Applied Phlebotinum. – Anya W. ’20

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Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (review by Melissa K. ’18)

January 15, 2016 mspelmanlibrarian 1 Comment

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Television personality Mindy Kaling has an opinion about everything, from the ideal level of fame to men’s chest hair. In her first book, she recounts stories of photo shoot fiascos, lists her favorite moments in comedy, shares her elaborate “Revenge Fantasies While Jogging.” While her memoir may read like a series of unrelated essays—she might transition from a chapter about “Karaoke Etiquette” to a chapter about “Day Jobs” without so much as a page break—the lack of flow reflects Kaling’s writing style: spontaneous, bold, and prone to going off on hilarious tangents.

As a size eight Indian woman, Kaling is the minority in Hollywood. She could have easily preached to her readers or reveled in her own achievements. Luckily, she wrote a much more enjoyable book instead: one filled with sarcastic humor, random entertaining facts, and insightful observations. Highly recommended.

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Oh the Moon: Stories from the Tortured Mind by Charlyne Yi (review by Shannon H. ’16)

September 10, 2015 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Oh the Moon by Charlyne Yi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh the moon made me laugh and made me cry with hundreds of pages that flew by (literally, some pages didn’t have words on them). The book is relatable, fun, and of course, mindblowing. The frankness of the stories gave me pause, waking me up from the banality of college applications. In one story, a woman who is ALL LEGS (literally) takes control of her destiny and runs away from her repetitive life. In another, two people who are in love are stuck in separate snowglobes — whatever shall they do? I appreciated Charlyne Yi’s randomness (like when an old lady gives birth to a giant on the second page), and her writing made me feel like she actually understood me and my optimistic cynicism (people say teenagers are the cross section of idealistic and intelligent/aware). Reading these short stories was an adventure in grasping odd metaphors, suspending disbelief, and finding the beauty of life.

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The Return of Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (review by Andrew R. ’17)

December 19, 2014 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Return of Jeeves: A Jeeves and Bertie Novel by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

These days, nearly half a century after the death of P. G. Wodehouse and twice that long since his first books were published, readers tend to remember only one subset of his canon: the Jeeves and Wooster novels, which follow bumbling young aristocrat Bertie and his suave, brilliant butler Jeeves as they dodge the salvos of undesirable jobs (and occasional death threats) hurled at them by Bertie’s overbearing aunts. Well, Wodehouse is worthy of plenty of complimentary adjectives—he’s witty, endearing, and well-paced, to start—but “versatile” isn’t one of them. In The Return of Jeeves, Bertie is off on vacation, so Jeeves has been left to take care of Bill Towcester (pronounced “Toaster”), a bumbling young aristocrat with overbearing female relatives. Sound familiar? And yet, despite the fact that nothing in the plot marks a radical departure from the Jeeves and Wooster pattern, the narrative feels uncomfortable and clunky, more like a Wodehouse impersonator than Wodehouse himself. The humorist is exceedingly good at toying with the same characters in the same situations and same settings, but, as I was disappointed to discover, he has trouble with even the slightest variations on his trademark theme. – Andrew R. ’17

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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (review by Lauren L. ’17)

September 30, 2014 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second installation of Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide series, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe continues the adventures of the three-headed, two-armed ex-president of the universe, his cousin, his girlfriend, and an unfortunate and bewildered human being. (And a depressed robot, but of course, everybody’s already forgotten about him.) Just as absurd as the first book of the series, Restaurant, reveals the man who actually controls the entirety of the universe and sends Arthur and Ford to Earth two million years ago, where they find that a group of telephone sanitizers, hairdressers, and marketers aren’t the best people to start a new civilization, since sticks are best used as curling tongs, and to discover fire, you need to first research it to find what people want from it. Just like the previous book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe will be enjoyable to all . Lauren L. ’17

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Pyramids by Terry Pratchett (review by Mr. Silk)

February 26, 2014 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fans of science fiction with a twist of Egyptology will really enjoy this entry into the Discworld series. “Pyramids” is basically an alternate history, asking what if the ancient pyramids really held magical powers, and what if those powers got out of hand? There is plenty of action, adventure, and comedy throughout the book as we follow the dead king – frustrated that he is being mummified, the new king and his camel (a brilliant mathematician; the camel, not the new king), and the pyramid builders as their world starts to unravel around them. Not for everyone, but if you like stories that are a bit “wacky” this one is for you. – Mr. Tony Silk (Harker teacher)

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Night Watch by Terry Pratchett (review by Andrew R. ’17)

November 4, 2013 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Commander of the City Watch, Sam Vimes is one of the happiest, wealthiest, and most powerful men in Ankh-Morpork. And he owes all his success to his mentor, John Keel, who taught him all he knows nearly thirty years earlier. Today, as Vimes chases a dangerous murderer through the streets, both men are sucked through a time portal and land in the Ankh-Morpork of thirty years ago. It’s bad enough that Vimes is stuck in one of the darkest periods of the city’s history—but the situation is made much, much worse when the criminal kills John Keel before his time. While writing a time-travel novel, many well intentioned writers fail to come up with a convincing theory for how to send their characters to another era; Pratchett avoids this trap entirely by intentionally putting forward the least convincing, but most entertaining, argument I’ve ever read. Science-fiction purists may have a hard time swallowing his theory (which includes monks with brooms, quantum physics, and the Baked-Bean Tin of Universal Oneness), but any other fan of the Discworld will enjoy this City Watch novel as much as the rest of Pratchett’s series.

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The Hunger Pains by The Havard Lampoon (review by Kai A. ’17)

October 11, 2013 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Hunger Pains: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Based on The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Pains follows Kantkiss as she unwittingly accepts being volunteered for the Hunger Games in place of her sister, Princess, and proceeds to the Capital with the affable but pudgy Pita. The Harvard Lampoon pokes fun at Collins’s sensation, distorting it into a laughable story revolving around Kantkiss’s obliviousness, which allows The Lampoon to mock the characters and plot in a sneering, sarcastic tone. The Hunger Pains begins with an introduction of the main characters and a creatively expanded historical background, though a little too much emphasis on names and an incredible amount of stereotyping. Additionally, the humor is enjoyable but sometimes limited, starting out as juvenile and transforming into inappropriate. In summary, The Hunger Pains is a quick, easy read made for those who are easily amused and need a laugh, but nothing more. – Kai A. ’17

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (review by Mr. Silk)

September 17, 2013 mspelmanlibrarian Leave a comment

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If there was ever a book that defines comedic science fiction, this is it. Based on his own radio scripts (which are also available to read) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the first of six books that tell the story of Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered, somewhat helpless Earthling who gets swept up into a space adventure with his best friend Ford, who happens to be an alien, when the Earth is unceremoniously destroyed. Adams keeps the pace brisk in this short novel, introducing a variety of wacky characters as Arthur and Ford hitchhike across the galaxy. Although the science fiction is much more fiction than science, the dialogue is crisp, and the laugh-out-loud moments are frequent. And, while the rest of the series never captures the brilliance of this first book, you’ll be eager to find out what happens to Arthur’s motley crew – if only to discover why all your friends think the number 42 is so hysterical. – Mr. Silk, Harker teacher

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