Satire Books

It's hard to describe Pretty Face. Masashi Rando was once a typical shonen (boys) manga hero. But the brash karate club leader suffered horrific burns in a bus crash and fell into a coma. He wakes a year later with everyone thinking he died, including his family. And the doctor who reconstructed his face worked from the photo in his pocket - a photo of his crush Rina.

When he stumbles into Rina, he's shocked to find she isn't surprised by her doppelganger. Her twin sister Yuna ran away two years ago to become a beautician and she thinks Rando is Yuna returned. Rando does not particularly like his new role, but if pretending to be Yuna makes Rina happy, he will do it. Now he just has to find the real Yuna so he can regain his identity.

There are the expected hijinks: Rando must keep his male identity secret despite the fact he's walking around in a miniskirt. But his failure to act like a nice, sweet girl creates the best comic moments. He understands the power of cuteness but just cannot resist using his feet and fists on jerks. There's also a great deal of fanservice and ecchi moments some readers might be uncomfortable with. I am just curious as to why the girls always manage to flash their panties when they kick someone but Rando manages to keep the family jewels covered despite the fact he beats people up multiple times a chapter. (Okay, he doesn't always manage, but he does more often than not.)

One main problem with the manga is the real Yuna. She leaves without a word and never writes or visits. But all evidence in the story shows that she cares deeply for her twin as well as the rest of the family. It doesn't really add up. However, it's that sisterly relationship that allows PRETTY FACE to work. Rando truly cares for Rina, and in his disguise he does his best to be a good older sister. He doesn't take advantage of the fact they live together. (He just beats anyone who looks at Rina the wrong way.)

I like gender bending comedy. I think PRETTY FACE does it well, with a good blend of violence and sweetness. I do not think people new to manga should start with this title. There are less absurd titles that might be a better place to start. (For girls, the reigning gender bender comedy is probably Hana Kimi.) For those who don't mind a crazy plot and a little fan service, PRETTY FACE is a pretty good title to relax with.

From In Bed With Books

This has got to be the funniest manga I own at the moment, unless Pretty Face volume two is funnier. Rando was just a regular male. Well, not really. He was the strongest guy in the Karate club and he beat people up. He also had a crush on Rina. Well, when he awakes from a bus crash, a doctor mistakes him for her and does plastic surgery to look like her. Now Rina thinks Rando is her twin sister who's been away for about a year or two.

This is funny stuff. The characters are perverted and hilarious, and there is much suspense going on. In fact, the end leaves you hanging for a sequel which is the second volume. Rando gets into sticky situations that almost get him caught of being a male and considered the biggest pervert in Japan. Wow.

Very funny manga. I recommend it to Older Teens.

I found myself in B&N a few weeks back browsing a large shelf of manga. I have not been keeping up with my series lately and just wanted somthing fesh to get me back in the mood to read. I saw this lovely little cover upon the shelf and almost set it back before catching a glance at the summery on the back cover. Interested immidiately I bought it and read it all the way home.

This manga is wonderful in everyway! I think it is one of the most original plots I have read in years. It is hilariously funny and entertaining. The art is just perfect! Yasuhiro Kano is an amazing talent! I will buy every book in this series with haste!

I am in love! ^_^

Well, it's not exactly a novel idea in manga / anime to have a guy 'become' a girl - Ranma 1/2, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, etc. among the notable ones along that theme. But Pretty Face does a surprisingly good job at taking that same beginning and giving the story a whole different perspective.

As a lead character, Rando has surprising depth. In our first introduction to him, he comes across as an egotistical, shallow bully with no real friends. In fact, even though his fellow Karate Club members cheer for him at competitions, they are really only civil to him at all out of fear of getting beaten up by him. Oblivious to all of this, he goes on with his life thinking that he has the respect and admiration of his classmates, when it really is just fear and intimidation.

After his accident, and circumstances causing him to become 'Yuna', he gets an outsider's look at his former life - and really doesn't like what he sees. Pretty much the whole first volume is the struggle of him fighting his instincts and trying to do the right thing this time around.

But before it sounds like this is some great highbrow philosophical epic, let me say that they are definitely playing it for laughs. The plastic surgeon, Dr. Manabe, is a great recurring character, as he persists in his pervy efforts to persuade Rando to let him 'finish the job' and do a full-blown sex change. And the artwork is superb - the facial expressions are over the top throughout - especially in the chapter involving 'Yuna' suddenly gaining massively enhanced breasts overnight...

From what I have seen in this volume, there's a lot to look forward to in the upcoming releases. (In fact, I now have Vol. 2 on pre-order...)

Witty quips and bold statements blend with 'retro' and cranky observations to create a fun women's nostalgia item perfect for gift-giving. Color images from the 50s supplement a chatty, charming set of one-liners which are pointed as they are hilarious. "Raging Beauties: Confessions & Advice" is the perfect gift choice for that independent, cranky woman who 'has everything' - and has been there/done it all.

Where to begin...brilliant just brilliant! I am now & forever a fan of Mr.Wright's!! When is the next one coming out?!?! The most witty, clever & creative of it's kind to come along in a looooong time.EVERYONE MUST OWN A COPY!!!!

Funny, pithy comments accompany nice color graphics. Just enough sass to make a cute hostess gift.

FABULOUS!!!!

This book says what every woman feels and only sometimes admits!! What a great buy for any woman and every woman!! This is a keeper AND I am going to purchase several for all the important ladies in my life!!

Angie in WV

Literally! Each one of the cards in the pack has a story to tell. The play ranges from amusing to wonderful. Right through the Pack is probably in everyone's top ten all-time bridge books.

This book is in the pantheon of bridge books. It's the one classic book that is often mentioned in other bridge books, including other classics.
If you also want my opinion: that's no coincidence. The writing is superb (unlike in, oh 99% of bridge books). The hands are well chosen, a few oddities are thrown in, but most seem realistic, and the analysis manages to bring out the beautiful depths hidden in them without the endless double-dummy over-analysis so common in bridge literature. This book is recommended for players of all level. Admitedly beginners will be overwhelmed by many of the analyses and plays, but this is one of the most entertaining introductions to the finer points of bridge.

Great book to read for any level bridge player (or at least I think so, since I am a beginner). The bridge was a side note to the the stories, but if you like good stories and a little bridge this is a great book for you.

The "plot" of the book is each of the 52 cards in a deck telling of a bridge hand where they were the critical card. Most of the hands teach a subtle point of play (to my casual bridge skills) such as forcing an opponent to lead into your tenace position to avoid the finess and squeezing the opponents (both beyond my skills). I got an appreciation for how much more there can be in a hand. The other hands are just plain hysterical. I won't spoil them by revealing too much, but imagine bidding and making seven hearts missing both the ace of diamonds and the ace of hearts! The chapters are short which makes reading a chapter or two before I go to sleep easy - my kind of book. I have a long list of books in progress, but this one quickly jumped to the top of the list to finish.

So many of us grew up in a highly competitive culture of achievement that gave the very clear message, "You are only OK if you get perfect grades, are a top-rate athlete, look good, go to Harvard (or Stanford :-)), marry well, make lots of money, join the right club,etc, etc, etc." And this meant something was obviously wrong with those of us who didn't quite make the grade. We were not OK. And so we set out to fix ourselves. To our amazement we found that there are thousands of people, organizations, books and disciplines just waiting to help us do just that. They agree there is something wrong with us, they know exactly what it is and they just happen to have the very thing to fix us and make us absolutely perfect and forever happy self-actualized human beings. Better than the rest of the herd. Forever OK!

If we are fortunate and ready to hear it, sooner or later a fun and enjoyable Dr. Seuss-like book such as Self Improvement Removement comes across our path and tells us the truth - even with all of our apparent problems, imperfections and foibles, we are already OK, just as we are, even when we are not! You do not need to be changed or fixed! Just be who you are. WoW! What a concept!

This fun little book suggests:

"Be honest and true
Be loyal and fun
Be a good person
And you"re pretty much done!"

And that's all, folks! Enjoy this book!

Crowley's wit and writing offer a lighthearted and more simplified alternative to the oversaturated market of self-help guides today. Crowley creatively presents wisdom as handed down through the ages: help yourself by accepting yourself. I highly recommend this book for those who wish to be liberated from the countless years of the journey --

This book is "way ahead" of its time. It is funny, well written and has incredible illustrations.You must see it to understand the brillance that Gary Crowley has accomplished. This book is a great book "as a gift" for anyone. Not only is it very funny and lighthearted but carries with it a really BIG hearted message.

If you're looking for a cathartic laugh about the whole self-improvement industry, pick up copy for yourself or the self-improvement junkie in your life. Inside the humor, you'll find some valuable insights that might enrich your life and make you smile - without having to 'improve yourself'.

Both verbally and visually, Finley's book is a delight, with sly fun hiding in both the pictures and text. No ordinary cutesy pet gift book, this one is actually worth the price of admission. The story is clever and witty and the photos will have you laughing out loud. I gave copies to friends and even the non-pet people thought it was a hoot. And some of them owned cats! And I'd tell you about the neat twist at the end, but you should find out for yourself.

I enjoyed the amazing photos - they have so much detail. I keep finding more to laugh at each time I look at them. The story is funny on so many levels. It's about dogs and art and history and it has a good twist at the end. I highly recommend this to dog lovers!!

The obvious comparison here -- to William Wegman, who's made a cottage industry out of dressing up Weimaraners -- is probably the wrong one. Yes, there's a teasing critique of Wegman implied throughout, but Finley's real models are more overtly comic (and, IMHO, more interesting) artists: Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and Robert McKimson of Warner Bros. legend, as well as oddball illustrators & humorists from James Thurber to Ralph Steadman.

As art, the images here are quite good. Finley's experience with commercial photography, portraiture, and Photoshop wizardry yields images that are crisp, beautifully laid out, and a riot of color. But that's not really the point -- the pictures are all in service of the story, which is both funny and deeply weird. Finley's got a knack for visual puns, for setting up gags and drawing them out. Hence the title -- a shaggy dog story is all about delaying punchlines. Handsome though it is, it's more like a comic novella than an Art Book.

What comes through most here is a real love of dogs. The book's both zany and slick, but it's also full of tender humanity (if that's the right word). The protagonists undergo and then dish back out all sorts of esthetic humiliation without simply playing it deadpan; they're as expressive and noble as we should all try to be in a world full of opportunists and banana peels.

This would be a pretty sweet gift for anyone interested in dogs or Photoshop. Or Leonardo da Vinci.

(Disclosure: I know the author quite well -- but I wouldn't kvell thus if I didn't like the book so much. Nice work, Finley!)

A carefully planned and executed picture book with amusing text using "dogs" as man in his (or their) endeavors. Takes you all over LA and Europe with one picture layout after another perfect in its conception and execution. The payoff is ironic. A hoot. A laugh a page, or many if you will. I have given copies to everyone I know who is savvy enough to enjoy it. I am over 13 and of sane mind and sound body. Don Fouser

After reading his book, Shocco Tales, I was even more convinced that Jim Ritchie was the great story teller that I assumed he was. He is everything a Southern writer should be: humorous, mysterious, and entertaining. A definite must have...

The stories are side-splitting funny and the art, makes you want to cut out the pages to frame. What a duo..husband and wife.

This book has long been a family favorite---we reviewed it in draft form and enjoyed it even more as a finished product. Having known Jim Ritchie for many many years he truly is what you see is what you get kind of person-----this book is a real keeper and guarenteed to make you laugh as you see yourself in some his stories. ..Frank C. Stebbins, Jackson, Ms

You can see the cracker barrel in your mind and picture the old timers sitting around it listening to stories such as these. The stories come alive and the illustrations are terriffic! If you are from the south you will relate. If you're not from the south (too bad) you will wish you were. Great read, great fun! I recommend it heartily!

Having recently finished Stephen Colbert's I am an American, this book hit me with a strange "de ja vu" feeling (go figure). Never mind that Juvenal wrote his Satires around 80 to 90 AD in/around the city of Rome. Like Colbert, Juvenal concocts a bombastic, "holier than thou" alter ego narrator who rails on every vice afflicting his contemporary culture, from avarice to homosexuality to the female sex. Although Juvenal the narrator voices his strong opinions in an over-exaggerated way (some times to the point of the reader's irritation) he provides an eye-opening window into Roman society. Effeminate men in see-through robes, women dressing up like soldiers and training in swordplay, noblemen serving themselves lobster and peacock and making their lower-ranking guests eat stale bread--all this disgusts Juvenal. Sometimes his tirades go on a bit long on subjects of less interest to modern readers (out-of-context discussions of now-forgotten politics), and some are flinchingly harsh (Satire 6 "against women"--I suspect the man was never married). For the most part, Juvenal provides an eye-opening and accessible look at how ancient life parallels the modern.

This book was totally sweet. The Roman satirist Juvenal's biting critiques of Roman civilization are as informative as they are fascinating(and I must say biting critiques make my little bitter person inside happy). His writing style and the English rendering of it flow rather nicely. Perhaps most importantly is Juvenal is able to paint a portrait of a civilization, warts and all, that has been gone for 2000 years. It's kind of like he took a snapshot of his own day that has endured until our time. Now that's what I call sweet history action!!! In fact this book is such sweet history action that when I took a Roman history class and my professor told a student to use just one of Juvenal's satires for an assignment I thought to myself it's cruel and unusual punishment to make a student just read one satire, you just have to read all of them!!!

Juvenal, is by far one of the greatest writers of the Roman era. His biting style and keen insight is a pleasure to read, and has not lost its appeal after the long years since it was written. Many of the subjects that Juvenal lashes at with his sharp wit are still apply today (government corruption and decadence among others).
However, Juvenal clearly wrote his satires for the era of the roman empire, not the 21st century, and his refferences often fly over the reader's head. The translator has done a fabulous job in explaining these details in the copious notes at the back of the book. It is highly suggested that one reads sections of the notes before reading those sections in the satires to gain the greatest understanding.

Juvenal was a misanthrope who looked around at the people he saw in ancient Rome and decided that most people were dishonest, corrupt, obsessed with sex, stupid, cheaters, etc. It's an ugly picture but hard to argue with as people are pretty much the same now. There are some masterly depictions here and some very good common sense, too. Not a pick me up. More like a "pull you down". Still worth reading to confirm your worst suspicions and also as an antidote to much positive thinking nonsense.

I love this book, and I'm getting a bunch to give out as Christmas and birthday presents. Highly recommended.

Reading this little book brought back memories of some of the wonderful gaffs that have occurred in public over the last 25 or so years. Some of the featured "speakers" are perennial favorites that misspoke almost every time they opened their mouths, and some are one time wonders. Either way, the people featured here had a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease and suffered the ultimate penalty....banishment from the public eye.

I really enjoyed the book and thought it was a lot of fun for a quick read. Just don't expect a long read or a lot of explanation. Do expect to chuckle!

As human beings, we all say things that we regret ever opening our mouths to say in the first place. However, if your job is in the public eye & you have millions reading, hearing or seeing what you say, it goes double to watch your mouth or the fame you worked so hard to build can go down in flames. A SLIP OF THE TONGUE not only shows just how badly loose lips can sink a famous person's ship, but may even make the average reader glad their verbal gaffes are not captured for all to see.

Even I admit I speak before I think sometimes, but reading the anecdotes in A SLIP OF THE TONGUE certainly makes my slip-ups seem tame & merely laughable. I can apologize for speaking wrong & move on. When you are famous, though, apologizing is not enough to save your career, image or self-respect. The public has come to expect something from you, and one little stray remark can turn someone from an ally to an adversary. Reading this book has even made me thankful that I am not a celebrity.

Most of the misspeaks in A SLIP OF THE TONGUE are of the politically incorrect variety that some people may deem examples of political correctness gone berserk, but I rather deem as just failures to practice simple common sense. Naturally, things said by John Rocker, Marge Schott, Trent Lott & Earl Butz (to name just a few) still go down in history as racial insensitivity, ne plus ultra. In the case of the first two, they apologized (how sincere was a matter of debate) for their remarks & got to keep their jobs, at least until their next verbal misstep. The last two seemed to show no remorse for their thoughtlessness (again, sincerity was questionable at best), and fell from grace faster than a stone. In particular, Butz's remark is still jaw-droppingly racist & shortsighted 30 years after it was first uttered, and I will certainly not recount it here (the fact he is from Indiana is enough to make me ashamed to be a Hoosier; in fact, I would like to apologize myself on behalf of Indiana for Butz's "masterpiece" of racial nearsightedness). But it is safe to say that even Butz's fellow Republicans began to disown him overnight.

Even slips of the tongue involving sex are enough to stop a promising career dead in its tracks. A SLIP OF THE TONGUE recounts those still infamous to this day (presidential candidate Gary Hart) & also those the public may have forgotten (CBS golf announcer Ben Wright & U.S. Congressman Martin Hoke). No amount of apologizing could redeem them, and they quickly became professional pariahs overnight. These stories in particular demonstrate the authors' fearlessness in proving just how foolish the speakers were in letting their lips do the thinking for them. Whether or not you like political correctness, you have to admit being sensitive to one's feelings is probably the best way to keep one's job, and yourself away from a sexual harassment suit.

Other stories A SLIP OF THE TONGUE recounts involve misspeaks that were just plain inappropriate, either for the time of their utterance or the situation at hand. Whoopi Goldberg's famously salacious joke about George W. Bush is documented early in the book, and while she may have not suffered permanently for her brashness, one can bet it took a while for the dust to settle in order to make her employable again. To her credit, though, she does make a valid point about being yourself & whoever decides to hire you for an engagement should keep that in mind.

In the foreword, the authors remind us that while sitting presidents like Bush & Reagan may have provided standup comics with years of great material with their gaffes, nothing they said ever cost them an election. However, Michael Dukakis may be an exception, with his legendarily glib, businesslike response to a question posed to him during the 1988 presidential debate. His failure to break down an icy, unsympathetic front literally gave George Bush, Sr. the election with just a few (or as the author points out, much more than that) misguided words.

A SLIP OF THE TONGUE is not afraid to report the facts behind the choice words that meant curtains for a celebrity's career. But the fact the authors are unafraid to irreverently comment on the situation & those involved is what makes this book a fast, entertaining read. After all, this book is in the humor section of your local bookstore for a reason. If there is only one thing lacking, it is that there are many, many more famous tongue slips in history, that A SLIP OF THE TONGUE is a little on the short side. Then again, that is what sequels are for.

Marvel at the fast falls from grace that A SLIP OF THE TONGUE recounts, but if you are not famous, be thankful you can misspeak & atone for it in peace.

"A Slip of The Tongue" is great fun...I'd highly recommend it. The writing is clever and funny, but what really made this book for me were the wonderful caricatures done by Richard Beckerman. Beckerman's playful and beautiful portraits have a richness and quirkiness, which is the perfect compliment to the text. If the stories don't have you laughing out loud, the art work will.

What a great read! Its the perfect book to take you away from the daily grind. I was reading it out loud to a few friends and we all were laughing our buts off!

Be careful reading this book in quiet places, you will disturb people when you laugh out loud. "Goumba" Johnny has been entertaining people on the radio and in comedy clubs for years... he's finally put down the cigar and picked up the pen to allow people outside of the NYC area to enjoy his comedy. Pick up a copy for someone who needs a laugh in these very stressful days. Bravo Johnny!

Great reading, laughs throughout the book, alot of good info, especially for non italians, like Goumba says " lets face it, if you were, you'd already have a pretty good inkling of how to get this operation like this off the ground" (funny line)

I absolutely loved this book. I cannot believe how funny, interesting and well written it was. His "Take it From Me" remarks are laugh-out-funny. I recommend this book to all ages, male or female. It's hilarious.
Danielle

Stand By-Y-Y to Start Engines

"The Best and saltiest of Admiral Gallery's tales of goings-on in the Navy." -- Inside Books

"GUARANTEED TO KEEP SAILORS, SOLDIERS, OFFICERS WIVES AND ALL CIVILIANS ROLLING WITH LAUGHTER" -- Independent Star News

"Required reading for all seafaring men who like robust, salty humor. Landlubbers are allowed to read it provided they have no stitches from recent operations that are likely to bust loose." -- Onalaska Record-Times

The same superb quality as Now Hear This!... the funniest and most revealing fiction about the U.S. Navy." -- New Castle News

"A Good supply of high-seas hilarity." -- Sioux Falls Argus-Leader

"By the author of Now Hear This! and Clear the Decks STAND BY-Y-Y TO START ENGINES "STARTS OUT ON A FUNNY RIB-SPLITTING NOTE, AND GETS FUNNIER WITH EACH CHAPTER." -- Palm Beach Post Times

"Hilarious tall tales about our present-day Navy.... A truly funny book which moves along a fast pace, except that now and again the reader has to stop and laugh at loud.... A whale of a story." -- Charleston, S.C. News and Courier

"Rousing, robust, hilarious..." -- Bridgeton, N.Y. News

"If you enjoyed NOW HEAR THIS!... You will have a hard time putting this one down... STAND BY-Y-Y TO START ENGINES." -- Shipmate

"THIS NEW ONE REALLY TOPS THEM ALL." -- The Virginia-Pilot

"A HILARIOUS STORY OF LIFE AT SEA..." -- Henry III, News-Republican

"... button-busting laughter... the third side splitting book by Gallery, and his funniest." -- Florida Times-Union

"It is worth reading, particularly for old salts. Even old salts who have never been to sea." -- The Providence Journal

"... riotous adventures..." -- St. Paul Pioneer Press

"... THE SALTIEST AND CERTAINLY THE FUNNIEST WRITER ON WARSHIP LIFE IS REAR ADM. DAN GALLERY..." -- Chicago Tribune

Gallery-

The commander that had a "Dirty Tricks Squad"
The commander that earned his anchor by being a "Sailor's" commander.
The commander that actually regarded his men as more than "enlisted". This commander actually listened to the wisdom of experienced seaman.
It was said of Halsey that Halsey was a sailor that was welcome on any ship; at any time; on any sea... the same may be said of Gallery.

Here are tales of Naval Aviation from the Blue Angels to Blue Water Seamen whose names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent(?).... to keep someone from getting a possibly well deserved Court Martial in the midst of extremely plausible circumstances. Anyone that has been in the real Navy around the real shipboard duties knows in their heart of hearts that these adventures are just too good to have been simply made up.

And ANOTHER plus: Here is Naval lore that you can let your nine-year-old can read without reservation as to language or content. When a reference needs to be made of "salty language" Gallery refers to the verbage as exactly that: Salty Language. Specifics are left to the imagination of the beholder as it were.

I spent 7 years in the Navy, this is one of the few books that can make me look back to theose days and smile.

Better make sure your chair has arms, otherwise you'll fall off laughing so hard. Check in with the screwball Navy populated by Lt. Cmdr. Curley Cue, Lt.(jg) Willy Wigglesworth, Adm. Windy Day, Adm. Bugler Bates and the rest to see how life must really be on an aircraft carrier. Written in the 1960s, Gallery's stories still ring true. No matter how technologically advanced today's Navy becomes, its still all about ships and men. And both have their foibles. Gallery exposes them all in this funny book. Don't stop with this one. Write the publisher and ask it to reprint all of Gallery's books. I am still missing a few from my collection.