Humor Books

This book was wonderful. Not everything applied to my situtation but it was very helpful in knowing what to expect. There were even some great tips that I shared with my husband. We even had some interesting chats regarding specifics of the book.

My wife and I purchased "Bearing the Big H", at one of Pattis' book signings. I was the first to read it. I was pleasently surprised and read it in a couple of nights. The " big H", is not something a man is normally knowledgeable about but it can drastically affect your relationship with loved ones. Ignorance is defenitely not bliss. My review? I've decided to purchase additional books for my parents(in their 80's), sister, and brother for Christmas gifts. Loved the book Patti!

Wanna laugh?..READ THIS BOOK! Wanna cry?.....READ THIS BOOK!
This author's wit and humor are both hilarious and heart tugging! This is not a medical journal on Hysterectomy, this is a very real and funny account of a very real and funny woman's journey through the BIG H. Laugh at her, laugh at yourself, but READ IT and be encouraged. Honest feelings and earthy humor make this book a delight!

As a retired nurse, I think the vast number of women who undergo removal of their uterus are usually well informed of the surgical procedure, the possible risks, and anatomical changes, but only a rare few are prepared for the hormonal frenzy that follows. Patti Pfeiffer's humorous--and sometimes heartbreaking--account of her surgery and the weeks that followed is a must read, not only for those who have had, or will have, a hysterectomy but for their spouses, too. Even those not involved in this medical dilemma will be amused by Ms. Pfeiffer's journey.

This book was both entertaining and enlightening! I would wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone facing the surgery, or anyone who just wants a good Venus/Mars laugh!

A unique, quirky twist on observational humor. Ms. Rosenthal has a knack for capturing the minutiae of life with a concise and fresh wit. I think eleven is a funny number and, after reading this hilarious compilation of lists of eleven, you will too.

This book (and its author, whom I've never met but feel like I have) are witty, funny, intelligent, crazy, insightful, silly, sexy, and kinda stupid sometimes. Sound good? It is.

This book is absolutely hilarious! I am a high school student, and these are things that come into my mind, and many of my friend's minds on a daily basis. All I can say, this is stuff that most of us don't think to put onto paper. I wish I would have written it. But, hey, great job to Amy!

This book is absolutely hilarious! I enjoy reading humor, but rarely find anything written funny enough to laugh out loud about. This book changed that. I spent the whole book laughing as well as pondering.

This is a great, quick read that can be enjoyed over and over. Buy one for yourself and some as gifts, their great!!!

I really wanted to be heartily entertained by this book. Not having read any prior work by this author I was very hopeful. However, this Seinfield-esque "brain lint" just did not translate in print as well as it might have had Jerry and Elaine done an episode based on it. Maybe this type of humor is already getting old - or maybe I am - I just found it neither clever nor all that funny. I kept reading waiting for the funny parts, but feeling instead as if I'd been duped into purchasing something that hadn't required much originality or effort from the author after all. But, perhaps I expected too much having seen all those five stars.

Reviewed by Vicky Burkholder
on 07/13/2008

Who has not been to summer camp, even if only for a day? And as an adult, who has not sat in his or her industrial beige/grey cubicle on a clear, beautiful summer day and wished they were once again that carefree youngster jumping into a frigid lake or pounding initials into a piece of leather?

Josh Wolk, a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly, decided to spend part of the summer before his wedding doing just that. He returned to his old haunt as a counselor, hoping to find his boyhood before stepping solidly into adulthood. His lighthearted look at the goings on at camp will keep you laughing. But, just as in life, all is not high-jinks and pratfalls. He is looking back at this from the perspective of twenty years beyond most of the people there. But he gives even the serious stuff a humorous edge.

If you've ever been to summer camp, or even if you haven't, you'll enjoy this book. It's both funny and nostalgic, a perfect blend of entertainment. So grab your gorp and bug juice and come along for the ride. You'll be glad you did.

I enjoyed this book from line one. Josh Wolk is a wonderfully funny story teller. Even if you never spent any time in summer camp, you will love the stories and characters. I didn't want it to end!

I am never at all sure why I like reading camp books. I hated the actual camp experience, due to overwhelming homesickness and general dislike of being in groups! But I love reading about camp, and this is probably the best book about it I've ever read. Josh Wolk spends the summer before getting married working as a counselor at the camp he attended for many summers as a boy. The best part of this book is that it really doesn't romantize the experience. Josh feels like a misfit much of the time, the 14 year old boys in his cabin can be very, very hard to deal with, the other counselor in the cabin doesn't pull his weight at all...but still, he has many moments of remembering what he loves about the camp. It sounds like a great camp. I have 13 and 10 year old boys, and I wish now that overnight camp wasn't out of our price range, as it sounds like it could be a wonderful experience.

I hope Wolk writes more books. I'd love to hear about his life as a parent, as he seems like someone with real insights.

Even though it's been 35 years since the first time I was a counselor, every year around Fathers Day I have the urge to grab my sleeping bag and head up to camp for staff orientation. This book reminded me of why that urge is still so strong - why I spent six summers of my life as summer camp staff, working 14 hours a day most days and making less than I could have working a virtually anywhere else.

In the summer before he married and entered a new phase of life, the author chose to relive part of his childhood by becoming a camp counselor at the same camp he'd attended as an adolescent. Although older than the typical counselor and with a fiance waiting at home for him to finish his adventure, the authors experiences of feeling like he didn't quite fit in with the staff, his struggles with trying to stay upbeat after weeks of little sleep and hard physicial work and the silliness he shared with his campers mirror the experience of every counselor, whatever age. His story rang so true - although I worked at two coed YMCA camps rather than an all boys camp, the songs, jokes, activities and adolescent angst are universal.

For those who were campers, it's a window into the mysterious life that counselors led. For those of us who staffed camps, it's a sometimes funny, sometimes touching reminder of why we chose spend our summers without creature comforts of home, making little money while living with other people's children.

I take that title from a Frank Black song, which I think is a pretty accurate way of describing the nervous step you take into full-fledged adulthood. "Cabin Pressure" details Josh Wolk's step.

I first took notice of Wolk through his terrific writing at "Entertainment Weekly." He wrote day-after commentary on the "Real World" that was so gut-bustingly hilarious my friends and I used to E-mail the highlights to each other. After a while, the writing was so good and the show so bad, we stopped watching the show and just read the wrap-ups.

Wolk's best skill as a writer is his gift of observation. Give him any scenario and he can instantly break it down, expose each player's motivation, and end it all with a hilarious analogy.

He brings that keen observation to "Cabin Pressure," his tale of heading back to camp as a counselor on the brink of his wedding day. Having remembered camp as a kind of innocent oasis, Josh wants to reexperience it one more time before he becomes, gulp, a husband and a father.

Wolk fills us in on summer-camp life -- what he remembered from his day, what has changed, and what hasn't. The best part of the book is Wolk's interaction with the kids in his cabin. He does an amazing job of letting you know each one, whether they are charming, maddening, or depressingly and prematurely stressed-out and miserable.

I don't necessarily think I bought into Josh's overall theme here -- this whole nostalgic innocence trip -- but it doesn't matter because "Cabin Pressure" is often hilarious and reading this book is like a well-spoken, really funny friend telling you his best summer-camp stories.

The tone can shift from body-odor humor to some strong emotional connections with the boys, and all the while Wolk's razor-sharp observation and pitch-perfect punchlines remain.

After reading Wolk in "Entertainment Weekly" all those years, and laughing my butt off, this book lives up to all of my expectations. Funny and insightful, "Cabin Pressure" is a wonderful debut book.

...and for that matter, for anyone who likes to laugh out loud. Boynton is a comic genius - both as an illustrator and as a writer. Despite the large amount of real information she provides about chocolate and its history, she never forgets to entertain.

And her comment on why carob is not a satisfactory substitute for chocolate should be sent to every health food store in the world. I won't spoil anyone's fun by quoting the final line. Just add the book to your shopping cart and read it yourself! (No, I am not related to Boynton and don't own stock in Amazon.)

Sandra Boynton really did over research this topic, and has done a wonderful job telling us about chocolate with all of her comic characters. All of the characters have a chocolate personality: dark chocolate, semi-sweet, white chocolate, etc. And each tell us the details and wonders of each.

I cannot imagine a better combination of information, humor, and fun concerning the great pleasure we all get from chocolate.
The only thing missing from this book were instructions about which chocolates to have ready to fortify yourself as you read and ponder Chocolate -- The Consuming Passion. Since the book describes every possible kind of chocolate (from baking chocolate to white chocolate . . . and of ever possible shape and quality), I suggest that you stock up every variety you can think of. Naturally, you will then get more benefit from the book if you eat a sample of what is being described as you proceed. I estimate that at least five pounds of each type mentioned is about the right quantity. Then, you can savor the experience . . . no matter how fast you eat chocolate!

Ms. Boynton notes that "this book was written for the Chocolate Elite -- the select millions who like chocolate in all its infinite variety, using `like' as in `I like to breathe.'"

Before going on, let me mention that I had the great honor of providing strategic consulting services for a chocolate business in 1973. It was heaven. I can still remember the wonderful aroma of the plant! In the process, I was thrilled to find out how chocolate is grown, processed, and turned into finished products like chocolate chips. Since that time, I had never seen a book that shared the same kind of information that I learned from working with my client . . . until Chocolate -- The Consuming Passion. So at an information level, the book is terrific.

You should know that the humor is even better than the information though. Just when you've really gotten the scoop on what semisweet chocolate is, Ms. Boynton will drop in an unexpected joke. For example, she describes in great detail what happens with chocolate when it is too hot or too cold. Then you turn the page and find that above Dow 4000 chocolate also conglomerates, and you see a list of all the companies that have acquired chocolate businesses.

Ms. Boynton's trademark hippos seem especially appropriate in the context of being a serious chocolate aficionado.

The subjects covered are truly broad. You begin with a little history of chocolate, including how it was pronounced in different languages. Later, you return to that theme . . . and find out how to ask for chocolate in many more languages. The details on the definitions and ingredients of various chocolates are thorough without being boring. The humor keeps lifting your spirits while refreshing your taste for more information. The humorous "recipes" for making items out of chocolate are pretty funny. I especially enjoyed the suggestions for what to use the results of cooking flops for instead.

Now, I was most impressed to find that Ms. Boynton took on the really big issues. Why is 55 percent of all ice cream consumed in the vanilla flavor while only 9 percent is chocolate? Why are delightful chocolate truffles given that cautionary name suggesting moldy forest floors? Is white chocolate (which lacks chocolate liquor) really chocolate at all?

I recommend that you buy a copy for yourself . . . and everyone you know who really likes chocolate!

What could be more fun than learning and laughing about something you love while you directly enjoy some? What other subjects offer this opportunity?

Develop your tastes and your interests at the same time by being prepared to experiment!

I have always had a soft spot for anything Sandra Boynton does, but "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion" is probably my favorite of her books. I have bought it for more chocolate-loving friends than I can count and they have all been thrilled with it.

Boynton deftly blends together her signature cartoon animals (who for the most part try to look dignified in less than dignified circumstances--the key to their hilarity), actual chocolate facts (on the front of the book, it says, "Written, Illustrated, and Overresearched by Sandra Boynton"), and a heaping helping of utter silliness. Boynton tosses her own opinion in wherever possible:

"Those who favor dark chocolate have little patience with cute candy."

"Whoever said, 'The best things in life are free' was, of course, just kidding. The best things in life go for $6.50 a pound and up."

"Chocolate is not a privilege; it is a right."

"If the remotest possibility exists that you could become snowbound, take this simple precaution: Remove and discard all insulation from ski jacket. Replace with seven lbs. (approx.) of shaved chocolate. Resew seams. Warning: Never warm up in front of a fire without first removing jacket."

See especially Boynton's sections on white chocolate and carob (as you might expect, she's a dark chocolate snob, as are so many chocolate aficionados) and her hilarious explanation of the "myth of chocolate's fattingness." Boynton gives helpful information on opening up your own cacao plantation--on which you will need "4,000 or so cacao seedlings and time" and an international section on how to ask for chocolate in half a dozen languages.

There are even recipes, including one for "Chocolate Chip Cookie (Theoretical yield: 48 cookies, 2 inches each) and "Hippo Pôt de Mousse." This book has pleasures that keep on giving even after the first, second, or fourteenth reading.

This is a lovely book! Beautiful and funny illustrations, delicious recipes, interesting facts ... "Chocolate The Consuming Passion" covers basically everything any chocolate lover would want to know. It includes chocolate profiles, information about different kinds of chocolate, chocolate myths and funny observations. One example is this: "The greatest tragedies were written by the Greeks and by Shakespeare. Neither knew chocolate." Of course, there is no causality, but still!

Although this book is written for children, any chocolate lover will adore it, regardless of age. Actually, one does never really grow out of picture books, at least not the good ones.

The first time I saw this book was in the window of the best chocolate store in my town, The Belgian House of Chocolate. I knew I must get it! I have not been disappointed.

This dog is great for the canine looking to break free of the urban lifestyle and reconnect with his or her roots. Few dogs know of the rich oral traditions and ancient culture of mans best friend. Get this book if you need reassurance that you are a good dog and those feelings you have about the cat are completely natural.

The first dangerous thing about this book is that it WILL make you laugh out loud, which will cause other "humans" to think you might indeed be crazy. But what difference does that really make? Your dog already knows you're crazy. Probably the most dangerous thing about this book is that it's true. Any dog owner will adore this read as they see hints of themselves in the vivid descriptions within its pages. But don't say you haven't been warned. After reading this book you may find yourself watching your best friend just a little bit closer.

We love it, can't find enough copies to send to everyone in the family! I'd heard of the books for girls and boys, but this one is too funny. We have 11 month old pups, and believe me, they've already read it. I especially love the question and answer chapter, "who's a good boy"? Yes, if you want to understand your best friend, check out this quick read. No kids required, just the love of a good canine.

This book is an endless source of levity and promotes enough loud laughter to scare your dog out of the room! It's so great I've already gotten 3 other folks hooked on it.

My husband and I were reading one of these stories aloud the other day - the one about "How to Make Your Owner Look Like an Idiot" while Scottie slept at our feet. Or so we thought he was sleeping. The next day on his walk, Scottie executed the instructions from the book to a 'T', thus turning both of us into - well, startled and laughing - but idiots nonetheless! Read page 119 for the full story, but read it silently. They listen to this book and you might be the next victim!!!

Priceless. Don't think twice -- I recommend to buy it now!

I gave this to my son for Christmas, who is an animal lover, and he really enojyed it very much.

I've known the author almost my entire life, and have never met a man with a bigger heart or a bigger set of "ba..lls".. He writes the things that we all think about but never say.. Ed touches on the subjects that rub us the all the wrong way and has the guts to ask why...Reading this hysterical book is like talking to the author in person, no false pretenses here, a real book written for the people by a author who pulls no punches and takes no prisoners...

This books is a great book written by someone that is not afraid to tell it like it is, or give you his opinion on something. Too many people in todays world try to be politically correct, or tell you want you want/need to hear. Ed will tell you the way that it is, without "sugarcoating" it.

Ed takes on many of todays problems of the world, saying how it is. If more people would take the initiative that Ed has, maybe we could change some of the "problems" with America.

Met Ed via my brother and that's how I heard about his book. Because I'm a Social Studies teacher, I figured this would be a "must have" for personal reference. I would categorize this book as a "water cooler ranting" because the questions, concerns, and social mores Ed mentions are exactly what all of us regular folk say at work, home, or in our heads. He's put out a work we can relate to - poor grammar, spelling, and lack of political correctness. Very good that someone is voicing what we're thinking (but too fearful to say).

Kudos, Ed. I want my copy signed! Ha!

This is a great book..I would suggest that you read this book it will really make you think..An Edward is a GREAT author.He says what were all thinking.I bought 2 copies one for myself and for my girlfreind. And she can't say enough about it We'll be sure to tell everyone we know.....CAN'T WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT BOOK....Will absolutly buy it

This is a really great book. I never read a book like it. I think a lot of people think like Ed but would never have enough nerve to put it down on paper. He has no trouble telling it like it is and at the same time it's funny. Can't wait for the next one. Good job Ed.

Another entertaining, stimulating and vibrant work from the inimitable Wodehouse. This book of short golf stories is the perfect gift for everyone who is a golfer, or aspires to be one. That is, if you can bear to part with such a brilliant piece of literature! Wodehouse rules!

It`s a nice hole in one , for all the 36 handicaps ! . Enjoy , read this book and your slices and hooks will be painless . Evem if you play with your wife/husband !!!

If you or someone you know likes golf,OR if you or someone you know likes P.G.Wodehouse,I promise you cant go wrong with this book. All of his golfing stories are here and they are all top notch. A keeper.

The manner in which Wodehouse has developed the characters in the stories is indeed amazing. One hilarius feature I noticed in many of the stories is the attempt made by the victim (listener) to escape from the oldest member's clutches whenever he begins to narrate a story.

Wodehouse is at the top of his form in this one. Die hard Wodehouse fans should not die without reading this one.

Great literature is supposed to bring you an appreciation of something you hadn't considered before. Wodehouse's golf stories did it for me like few others. None are terribly subtle--most are told by the Oldest Member, who on the first half-page collars a helpless younger golfer and tells him a story that turns out to be worth staying for. The narration is slightly sarcastic, and there are only two types of stories at heart: guy and girl made for each other get married because of golf, or guy uses golf to avoid girl unfit for him. There's always a subplot of a bad golfer breaking 100 or two longtime rivals in an 18 hole match, but nothing seems to get reused.

Despite using upper-crust characters in his stories, Wodehouse's work exhibits only a fake pretension. Plus there are cool names and recurring characters such as the golf champ Sandy McHoots. It's a bit more comprehensible than some Yoknapathawpa nonsense. A love triangle through three stories features a poet who(gasp) recites his poetry while people focus loses a golferess to a golfer, almost regains her, and then tries to learn golf courting her sister. Nobody is evil, although some people deserve--and get--a good comic socking.

But what makes Wodehouse appealing is how his characters are comically obsessed with golf. I have better things to be obsessed with, but I was able to connect with this and recognize how Wodehouse laughs at them. After I stopped laughing.

I've never read a collection of stories more insightful, easy to follow and enjoyable.

This book was delightful, funny, thought provoking. The cover might give you the idea that it is preachy, not at all. I really enjoyed it.

I read a few pages of this book when my friend was reading it. I found it really funny and decided to get my own copy. However, after reading the entire book, I am rather disappointed. The characters and the situations in the book are rather cliched and predictable. The main character, sydney, is not really likable. Just another book about a commitment-phobic 30 something woman.

I recently received `The gospel according to Sydney Wells' as a gift and I could not put it down. Don't be fooled by the title, this book has a full share of love, lust and humor.....look out Bridget Jones Diary here's the thinking girls memoir. The main character, Sydney Wells is an impressive young woman with a quick wit and an outlook on life to be envied.
The story is woven with humorous references to religious polarities which are so relevant to the world we are struggling with today. Susi Rajah ruthlessly exposes the facts about religion via email directly to God amidst a contemporary love story with an unexpected twist. The email address's to God are particularly amusing e.g. God c/o presidentotheunitedstates@whitehouse.gov and God c/o theforce@lucasfilm.com.....I found myself laughing aloud throughout the book. A must read, I'm sending copies to all my girlfriends.

What a fabulous witty concept! Susi Rajah has applied intellect, humour and relevance to her thoroughly researched theme, to deliver an addictive novel that you just want to share with your girlfriends immediately!

A perfect birthday present - I have already ordered 5 for my best friends! This has all of the natural ingredients for a successful movie, I would love to see this on the big screen!

The Gospel According to Sidney Welles
Sidney Welles is assigned the Catholic Church image overhaul campaign and sets out to give the church a face lift of sorts...what ensues is a hilarious stumble through questions of faith, love and self discovery.


Susi Rajah's solo debut has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that contemporary literature or Chic Lit can be thought provoking and outrageously funny without requiring the reader to check their common sense and intellect at the door.

Sydney Welles was one of those career women that seemed to have everything figured out and running smoothly. However, that which works so well on paper does not always translate into reality quite so seamlessly. Dumped by her boyfriend for a shapelier blond, she throws herself into work. Assigned, by her alcoholic boss, to the all important Catholic Church image overhaul campaign, it's up to Sidney to find a way to put the church back into the good graces of the people. She begins sending emails to god, simple questions, comments and personal observations and rants. In one particularly poignant communication she tells `god' she prefers he not respond, because these days folks that claim to speak with him aren't exactly Solomon or David.

Part saint, part sinner, wholly engrossing, this book will have you laughing, while nodding your head in agreement. The no-nonsensical dialogue style brings the reader right into the heart and soul of theological, religious debates, as well as, the hypocrisy within our society through this hilarious, entertaining read. The blurbs on the dust cover are appealing appetizers, that give the reader an indication of the delicious entree just waiting to be devoured. Brilliantly conceived, uniquely written and conveyed with depth and conviction, Rajah's quick wit and subtle criticisms, combined with no holds barred emails to the Big Guy himself, demonstrate her uniquely evocative way of crafting an intelligent feast that is truly satisfying!

This is one of those novels you will want to pass around to friends and family! I recommend this novel to all fiction readers, ladies and gentlemen alike! If you enjoy a fun read that seems to melt the hours from the clock and never insults your intelligence, The Gospel According To Sidney Wells delivers!

Happy Reading!

Note:
This would be a wonderfully fun romantic comedy movie - provided the right folks were cast to play the roles! I would love to see it on the big screen!

Back when paper zines were cool.....

An eclectic, entertaining, interesting and thought provoking collection of people, organisations and ideas expressed as only a combination of Boing-Boing (the original 'zine) and Wired could.

Sex, drugs and cyberspace as seen in 1995

When I first read it, I had never before heard of the Cacophony Society, bOING bOING magazine, the Billboard Liberation Front or Burning Man, and I had no idea what "culture jamming" was. But my eyes were opened, and my life has gone all *kinds* of strange and wonderful new directions, all because of the resources in this incredible little book.

It's a damn shame it's out of print, but it's howling for a sequel. How about it, Carla?

Everything from prank calls, odd types of hacking, and Wham-o products to strange but simple foods, comix, and the Happy Mutant Hall of Fame, the Happy Mutant Handbook has most everything that the other 10% of the human population, who aren't Normals, could want to know. There are lots of fun little pranks that can always be used. One is standing in an elevator and giggling the entire time you're reading the phone book. It's quite entertaining and your able to read it again and again, each time knowing that there are actually other people like you out there. If there weren't this book wouldn't exist. So worship it and read it.

Because of the happy mutant handbook I know now that being weird is the best thing in the world!! It has made me look at the world in a whole new way. I carry it with me every were. you to sould check out this funky book on life. a must have for any one pussing reality.

Do you laugh at authority, enjoy silly putty, get a kick outta kitsch, appreciate goofy pranks, take pride in being a do-it-yourselfer? Do your knees get weak over Water Wiennies, Sea Monkeys, Crazy Straws, or Esquivel? If you answered "yes" to a few or more of these then you are probably a happy mutant and this book is for you.

It's great. You'll find tips on building hacking, how to do "your" work while appearing to be doing "their" work, turning the tables on telemarketers, creating your own personal anti-marketing strategy, getting your zine seen, and The Urban Absurdist Survival Kit which offers official looking signs you can copy and stick around to confuse and amuse. It also includes character profiles of idiots you are likely to run into on the net, conveniently printed up as cards to cut out and keep handy for quick identification. Plus, articles on Ivan Stang, Roger Corman, Jim Ludtke, and Patch Adams (oooh, even scarier than Robin Williams).

Get your giggles off while undermining the Man. But, this book isn't all just fun and games, it contains a degree of seriousness, yet it is also serious fun. *The Happy Mutant Handbook* possesses teeth but when it nips it aims for the funny bone.

Buy this book, read it, play with it, give it a hug. You two kids could become really good friends.

The first time that I flipped through this book, it affirmed what
I already like about this comic strip, which is one of my favouritie comic strips out there. Heart Lamarr's daily antics always have a way of making me laugh. In fact, "Heart of the City" is usually the first comic strip that I read when I get "The Toronto Star" every day during the work week. In closing, keep up the good work Mr. Mark Tatulli; and I hope to see another "Heart of the City" comic strip book sometime in the near future.

I found this comic in the internet and became a daily reader. During my last holiday in the USA I finally had to buy the book. Heart is an amazing girl, full of energy, ideas and she definitely shoots her strait to your heart. It is fun sharing her life and meeting her friends Kat and Dean. - Get to know how a Karli doll subdues Darth Maul. Find yourself in the middle of Karli dolls' weddings, at school, in the theatre or simply see Heart dressed up. Buy the book and become a part of Heart's world!!! Buy it today!!!

I haven't felt this way about a comic strip since the day I saw the very first Calvin and Hobbes. This is truly a magical, wonderful strip! My local papers don't carry it, but I saw it in a bookstore, and after reading only a few pages, knew I had found something truly wonderful. I had to force myself to only read a few pages at a time, since I wanted it to last as long as possible. The writer has truly captured the innoncence and imagination of that age of life like no one has since Bill Watterson gave us Calvin and Hobbes. I eagerly await another book! :)

I recently stumbled across "Heart of the City" at my local library. After a few pages in, I fell in love with it. There are obvious tangents towards Calvin and Hobbes in the style (Heart's mom looks like a more cartoonish version of Calvin's mom), humor and comic timing as well as Baldo (Heart reminded me a lot of Baldo's younger sister both in looks and personality). It doesn't matter to me though that it has a very similar look and feel to Calvin and Hobbes because it's good in its own right.

Right at the onset, the characters are well developed with distinct personalities that are all equally lovable. I especially liked the Star Wars nut, Dean. (I also loved Heart's picking apart Episode 1, extremely accurate too!) The style is just right. It's cartoonish enough to get great exaggerated expressions on the characters and feeling much more alive than many of the rotten comic strips filling up newspapers nowadays (Zits and Fox Trot notwithstanding).

I was shocked to find this book was published in 2000 and here I am finding out about it in mid-2003. Heart of the City is such a great comic strip that I'm surprised it isn't bigger than it is. Congratulations Mark Tatulli, you've made this 26 year old guy a fan of a little girl named Heart.

What a CHARMING little comic strip!!! But it's so sad it isn't printed anywhere except in this nifty little book that I suddenly came upon at my college bookstore. Drawn in this adorable, whimsical cartoony style rather like Calvin and Hobbes (ooh...how I HATE imitations, but this seems to work here), it's all about a very spunky little girl who likes to dress up, play make-believe, dance in a glittery pink tutu and ragged stockings, bawl at sad movies on the tube, and tease her divorced mom about getting another man! Very girlish, yet it's got plenty of wit and a very insightful view about what it's like to be a single young mother living by herself with an very imaginative child and her hyperactive buddies in the very middle of a city as well as those terrific movie take-offs (especially of Star Wars) featuring our plucky young heroine in her famous demin bonnet and ballerina slippers!