101 Damnations: The Humorists' Tour of Personal Hells

by Michael J. Rosen

Dear flappable reader: Do you bristle at a handshake that resembles a limp fish? Do oblivious pedestrians bring you to the brink? What about museum gift shops, superfluous courtesy (do we need a gas pump to show us gratitude?), behemoth SUVS, or inexplicable operating manuals? Have you had it with screeching leaf blowers, beseeching telemarketers, escalating movie-ticket prices, or proliferating celebrity magazines? Is it children's choirs or karaoke...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312284802
• ISBN13: 9780312284800
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

YOUR gripes and grousings...but elevated by humor

In the hands of humorists, all those things that really get under your skin suddenly take on a new life--an amusing one, that doesn't sound like whining! I found most of my personal pet peeves: the cashier that puts the receipt in your palm, then the bills, and then the change, so that there's no way you can put any of that in your pocket or purse before the groceries or the change spills. The dreary terror of little league baseball. Children's choirs. Leaf blowers. You name it, it's here. ... Is this an important book? Well, it's important to laugh at these little things so the really big things you can't do anything about don't get the best of you! It's 101 examples of smart thinking about our dumbest things.

If you hate it, it's in here

With an all-star lineup of funny folk, you'd expect something hilarious, and that's often what you get with 101 Damnations. Grouped into 9 circles of hell, everyone from Calvin Trillin to writers for the Letterman Show take off on golf, Tuscany, customer service, going bald -- you hate it, they cover it.The essays are all very short - some hardly worthy of "essay" status - and most are thought provoking, and will definitely get a rise out of you. Some of the pieces, however, are truly hilarious, such as Kevin Shay's take on people who mime being on the phone by using their thumb and pinky, Camuso and Seely's movie trailers, and Andrew Marlatt's "My Left Hair," which describes the true feelings of the haired vs. the un-haired.Overall, you will absolutely not be dissapointed with this book, and at times you will laugh out loud. Ideal for any bathroom reading library.