Book #66: "Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States"

As promised, the first part of Dave Barry's trip through US History. I have read this book probably twenty times, and still laugh at lines like, "...things remained fairly calm until 1825, which saw the election of yet another person named John Adams, who was backed by the Party to Elect Only Presidents Named John Adams." Or the bit about Teddy Roosevelt and the stick ("nicknamed Betsy").

It occurred to me on this reading that I have no idea what political party Dave Barry belongs to-not that it matters, but everything seems to be about politics these days, and I find it interesting that I can't tell. Also, he mentions the year he was born, which means he's pushing 70, which is MIND-BOGGLING to me. I mean, I know he's been writing books most of my life, but somehow he just never seems to get older.

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: Some language and crude humor

Book #65: "Dave Barry's Money Secrets"

I've never been good with money. Like a lot of people, I live paycheck to paycheck, and it's only in my thirties that I have been able to get my bills paid (mostly) on time.

After reading this book, my money-managing skills may have actually gotten worse. But it was so funny that I don't care.

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: Some language.

Book #64: "Dave Barry is Not Taking This Sitting Down"

There isn't a lot to say about this book or this author that I haven't already said, so instead I will say this:

You guys. I am, officially and finally and any other -ly that works here, CAUGHT UP. I have now written entries for every book I have read to this point. And it only took...well, in actual time since I fell behind I think it's been about a year, but let's focus on the part where I wrote six entries in one night and say three hours. It only took three hours! Huzzah! Again!

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: There's...a toilet on the cover? This book also gets a little more into political issues. More than usual, anyway.

Book #63: "Dave Barry is NOT Making This Up"

Mark Twain is supposed to have said something about pretty much everything, which is why people quote him so often. It also makes those quotes hard to verify. But because I like it so much, I'm going to use this anyway:

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't."

I would also argue that truth tends to be much funnier than fiction, which is why if I had to pick my favorite Dave Barry book, it would be this one. Interestingly, this book also contains a couple of fairly serious pieces, which work just as well for me. And of course, his most popular column EVER: the Bad Song Survey. Along with my time in customer service, the survey emphasizes for me that most profound and universal human condition: people don't always talk much about stuff that makes them happy. But they WILL go on at great length, volume and eloquence about things they HATE. I myself am proof of that more than I care to admit.

But not here, and not now. Here I talk about books, and books are what I love. Reading makes me happy, and reading Dave Barry makes me laugh. Huzzah for humor! (Words make me happy too, and people don't say things like "Huzzah!" enough. I'm changing that.)

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: No more than is ever present with his books

Book #62: "Dave Barry's Homes and Other Black Holes"

A funny thing happened on my way to find this image: I realized I had never seen the cover image before! This is one of the abandoned I adopted to save it from destruction, and is apparently the first one I have come across since I started putting pictures in. So this is evidently what it looks like.

I don't own a home, but there is still a lot to be amused by here.

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: Nothing I can remember.

Book #61: "Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far)'

In this entry, I mentioned that I originally planned to read my library the way it was shelved. I also gave some thought to reading alphabetically by title, but discarded that as untenable because of what it would do to any series I own. (Within any given author, the books are shelved alphabetically by title unless they are part of a series, in which case they are of course in series order.)

There are instances, however, where reading alphabetically by title would be useful, and this is one of them, because this book's title means I end up reading Dave Barry's version of history in reverse chronological order (for the rest of it, see "Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort-Of History of the United States", coming soon to a blog near you!)

Clearly it doesn't bother me enough to do anything about it-or, more accurately, to do more than spend about thirty seconds complaining about it. I've only read this once before, and the first time I remember thinking I didn't like it as much as "Dave Barry Slept Here". Perhaps I find it more amusing now because we are now about eight years away from its publication, and the perspective that time affords me allows me to find more humor in it. Perhaps I just wasn't paying attention the first time around. Either way, it's still not my favorite, but well worth a read.

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: A lot of political satire, and occasional language

Book #60: "Dave Barry's Greatest Hits"

If you have known me for more than about twelve minutes, you have almost certainly heard me quote Dave Barry. That is because I think he is one of the funniest people on the planet and I adore him. Well, I've never actually met him personally, so it would be more accurate to say I adore his writing. (I'm sure he's delightful in person too.)

I was trying to find my favorite essay from this book, but merely by flipping through it, I discovered so many that like Inigo Montoya, I must say, "No. There is too much. Let me sum up." This book makes me laugh. A lot. You should read it.

Author: Dave Barry

Potentially objectionable content: Not really. These were mostly drawn from Barry's time as a columnist at the Miami Herald in the eighties, so nothing you wouldn't read in the newspaper

Book #59: "Bottom of the 33rd"

As a child, my reading choices were almost exclusively fiction. The fact that my horizons are considerably broader now can be traced to the sports biographies I read (all of which will make an appearance here eventually. Someday. When I get farther in the alphabet than B.) For a while, they were the only non-fiction I was willing to attempt.

And it is one of those books that I was introduced to the topic of this particular volume: the longest game ever played in professional baseball. When this came in as an ARC, I immediately absconded with it.

(Incidentally, when I started this project, my intention was to start with the first book on the shelves and go straight through, But because of the way the library is organized, I would have had to go through all of non-fiction first, and I couldn't bring myself to do that. I'm better at it now, but not that much better! Anyway, had I done it that way, this would have been the first book I read instead of the 59th.)

Beautifully written and filled with fascinating information, humor and appearances by famous players (Bobby Ojeda, Bruce Hurst, Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr.), this is more than the story of a marathon. More than a Who's Who of future stars, More than a list of records set. It is a story about
baseball, and baseball is forever.

Author: Dan Barry

Potentially objectionable content: Fair amount of language

Book #58: "Peter Pan"

When people find out you love to read, they frequently ask a perfectly well-meaning but horrifically difficult question: "What is your favorite book?"

I used to hate this question and all its variants ("What's your favorite movie?" "What's your favorite band?" "What's your favorite food?"). Over the years I have given several different responses, which include but are not limited to: "Oh, I have no idea-too many to choose from"; "How much time do you have?"; and, occasionally, the title of the book I was currently reading. (I also gave some thought to snapping back, "Which is your favorite child?" or whining hyperdramatically, "Why do I have to CHOOOOOOSE?!"

But several years ago, one of my roommates was graduating and moving back to India. I wanted to give her a gift, and (selfishly, I admit) I wanted that gift to remind her of me. So I thought to myself, "Self, if you were a book, what book would you be?" And the answer that immediately came to mind was this one.

I have read this book more times than I can actually remember. It was the first book I ever gave my first niece. And it is now, and most likely always will be, my answer to the question: "What is your favorite book?"

Author: J.M. Barrie

Potentially objectionable content: Battle scenes and an attempted poisoning

Book #57: "Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well"

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I READ A BUNCH AND DON'T UPDATE AFTER EACH BOOK.

I forget things. Obviously, this should have come between "Candy Freak" and "The One and Only Ivan". And actually, since those were later additions to the library that happened to fall within the letter I was reading at the time, it should have come between Julie Andrews and Jeffrey Archer. Ironically, I figured out I missed it when I was checking the list to make sure I was writing the books up in the right order.

I like Maya Angelou's poetry, and she was an interesting person also. But I have absolutely no frame of reference for most of the things she went through. So I suppose I would say that her poems appeal to me intellectually, but I can't quite connect with them emotionally.

Author: Maya Angelou

Potentially objectionable content: Honestly can't remember. My recollection is that there are some references to some rated-R experiences, but I have nothing beyond that.

Book #56: "Praise to the Man"

When I close my eyes and picture the summers of my childhood, I have a lot of memories: watching "Petticoat Junction" and "The Beverly Hillbillies" on TV in the mornings; endless games of hide-and-seek in the warm nighttime; trips to Wild Waters. But what I remember best was all the time we spent at the Little League baseball fields.

I mentioned before that I have six siblings: four brothers and two sisters. With varying degrees of enthusiasm, we all played baseball or softball (seven years, in my case; the Jukebox played one year of T-ball.) My mother also served several years as the Little League president, so the majority of our spring and summer nights were spent at the ball fields or in the car on the way there.

This was in the late eighties and early nineties, when legendary radio host Paul Harvey in his broadcasting heyday. In his most famous segment, Harvey would tell a story with a revealing fact (usually a famous person's name or a date in history) saved for the penultimate sentence. He would then conclude his tale with this trademark phrase: "And now you know...the rest of the story."

In this book, Larry Barkdull takes a Paul Harveyian approach to the story of the title hymn. Based on the experiences of W.W. Phelps, I think the subtitle ("a story of uncommon friendship") says it all. If your only experience with this hymn is singing it in church (and wondering why most organists persist in playing it a snail's pace), you need to read this book.

Author: Larry Barkdull

Potentially objectionable content: Incidents from Church history include some violence and other unsettling things.