everything friendship unscientific cartoon-a-day

books:

9 reviews
Roz Chast

Bloomsbury USA, 2004

The best
Since her first cartoons in the New Yorker I have found Ms Chast to be absolutely in line with my own sense of the absurdities we find around us. Maybe it's generational, I find the same with Matt Groening and both the Simpsons and his other cartoons. A great book with an excellent chronological collection of some of her best.

Cold Comfort Farm (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

8 reviews
Stella Gibbons

Penguin Classics, 2006

Rural Gothic
The humor of this glorious funny book resides mainly in Gibbons' masterly control of prose style; if you have only seen the movie, you know less than half of what the author has to offer. Yes, she creates a wonderful gallery of extraordinary characters, and the story clips along nicely if rather predictably, but it is the author's language that really gets you laughing out loud. Written in 1932, ...

Parallel Universes

1 review
Roz Chast

Harpercollins, 1984

Best cartoon book of the 80's
Many people know Roz Chast from her work in the New Yorker, but those snippets of urban irony do little to expose the extraordinary talent Chast has for stating the unobvious.

Unscientific Americans

3 reviews
Roz Chast

Doubleday, 1986

Understated but frightfully clever humor
The cartoons in this book aren't the sort that tickle your funny bone with a tire iron. Instead, they start with an idea that you think has been hackneyed to death, give that idea a slight twist, and take that twist to its logical conclusion. The results are such cartoons as "Lunatic Fringes" and "Unpopular Mechanics."

The Four Elements: Cartoons by Roz Chast

1 review
Roz Chast

Harpercollins, 1988

Hilarious!!!!
I was first introduced to Roz Chast's work in The New Yorker but was never quite sure what to make of her cartoons. Her understated, offbeat humor escaped me when I would happen upon one of her drawings in the magazine. Then, I bought this book, purely out curiosity. I was hooked! It's hard to describe Chast's style. It's satirical but not mean-spirited. She pokes fun at the very average, ...

The 1993 Cat Cartoon-a-Day Calendar

1 review
Sam Gross

Viking, 1992

If you love cats OR you want to be a cartoonist...
This guy's for you. Edited and cartoons by the famous Sam Gross (S.Gross) of National Lampoon, Playboy, and New Yorker fame, with a daily cartoon by dozens of New Yorker and syndicated cartoonists. Quite a variety of places, cats, and people. There aren't any books with this same variety of cartoonists and styles. In fact, this same calendar has been reproduced several times in succeeding ...

Now Everybody Really Hates Me

4 reviews
Jane Read Martin

Joanna Cotler, 1993

A guaranteed "laugh-out-louder!"
My 7 year old niece Kristen and I both adore this book. Easily read (and re-read!!) by child and auntie alike, Patty Jane's conversation about her plan to dig her "Tunnel to Freedom" with her "pointy dress shoes" is hysterical, and the illustrations are equally perfect ("yukky foods: aspic with things in it") We both want MORE!!!

Childproof: Cartoons About Parents and Children

4 reviews
Roz Chast

Hyperion Books, 1997

Very Funny...
A collection of Roz Chast cartoons about parents and children, featuring, for instance, "bad mom" trading cards, and America's Ten Most Wanted babies. You may even learn a few things, such as games to play during a long road trip with children- suggest the "quiet as a mouse" game - the first one who makes a peep loses. Great gift for parents and/or Roz Chast fans.

Now I Will Never Leave the Dinner Table

1 review
Jane Read Martin, Patricia Marx

Joanna Cotler Books, 1996

Oh, this is even better...
...than "Now Everybody Really Hates Me". I think we've all been here. And once again, Roz Chast's illustrations practically tell the story themselves. Seeing Joy reading "Perfect Girl" magazine and going, "La la la" while she practices her hobby of folding shirts is worth the price right there. But how does what Patty Jane did to the spinach make it palatable?

The Joy of Worry

1 review
Ellis Weiner

Chronicle Books, 2004

Reads like a Woody Allen screenplay
Brilliant! Satirizes Worry Worts! I swear the author had spycameras in my parents home when I was growing up! Jewish people should especially relate to this book. Loved the diversified portfolio 50 different funds, 2% of total portfolio! A must read for laughs!

The Joy of Being 50 Plus

2 reviews
Allia Zobel, Roz Chast

Workman Publishing Company, 1999

Hahaha! Roz Chast is the Best!
I don't plan to be like this at 50, and neither is Roz Chast, now; but I think baby boomers can find much to laugh at in this little book. A very athletic guy I know who turned 50 and is nothing like these little old ladies, found the wit and wisdom quite appropriate!

Proof of Life on Earth: Cartoons by Roz Chast

1 review
Roz Chast

Perennial, 1991

Another Great Roz Chast Book
Roz Chast hits the bullseye once again with this book of cartoons. I'm at the point now where I'll snap up anything that has her name on it. She's consistently and howlingly funny without being mean or snide. Hope the New Yorker pays her enough for her work. Checking out her cartoon in there is the first thing I do when I get my issue.

Dot in Larryland: The Big Little Book of an Odd-Sized Friendship
Patricia Marx

Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, 2008

He may be huge and she may be tiny, but Dot and Larry are destined to become best friends. Dot, a teeny tiny little gal who’s no bigger than a dust mite, is very lonely and would love to find a friend. Larry, a guy who’s so big his head is always in the clouds, doesn’t think anyone understands him. But a chance meeting at a diner (just after Larry’s fifteenth burger) leads Dot right to the most humongous man in the ...

One Bite Won't Kill You

30 reviews
Ann Hodgman

Houghton Mifflin, 1999

I'm the picky eater, not my kids...
Yes, when I bought this cookbook years ago, I was the picky eater, not my kids. I was also a fearful cook in the kitchen, not feeling at all confident I could cook something that didn't involve the car and a drive through window. Like another reviewer said, this is one of the few cookbooks I actually use. I don't have 200 cookbooks...just a few dozen now. And this is the one I most often use. ...

The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z!

35 reviews
Steve Martin, Roz Chast

Flying Dolphin Press, 2007

Funny, as expected
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my 25 year old boyfriend since he's a huge fan of Steve Martin's. And of course, I flipped through it when I got it and was surprised at just how amusing it was. (I should have been tipped off by the title, I suppose.) I don't know how this would fare with a kid, they might miss a lot of the details that make it amusing to an adult (sometimes for the better), ...

Meet My Staff

2 reviews
Patricia Marx

HarperCollins Publishers, 1998

Witty and whimsical delegation of everything kids hate
What a delight! Walter introduces us to Last Place Larry, who obligingly loses at all games and competitions, the Laughers who think all his jokes are funny, the Thing-Finder, the Homework Helper, and all the rest of his staff, who perform unpleasant tasks and provide support in every aspect of his life. Children will adore the deliciously subversive idea of a staff to take all of the ...

The New Yorker Book of Kids Cartoons

3 reviews

Bloomberg Press, 2001

Warning: World-Class Guffaws, Chuckles, and Belly Laughs!
Before reviewing this book, let me note that the cartoons contain several examples of foul language. If such things offend you, skip those pages or the book. I have read all of The New Yorker collections of subject-oriented cartoons, and found this collection to be by far the funniest one! The average quality of each cartoon is unusually good, as well. While many of the other collections ...

Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health-Inspected Cartoons, 1978-2006

24 reviews
Roz Chast

Bloomsbury USA, 2006

here's what
After Halloween, I'll trade you 1. three Snicker bars 2. all my hard candy 3. everything in my storage unit, and 4. my mother for a copy of the Chast book.

Weird and Wonderful Words

7 reviews

Oxford University Press, USA, 2002

A Foray into Logodaedaly
Word lovers should find this book highly entertaining. The selected words include some of my personal favorites, and a great many words completely new to me, some of which are new favorites. The illustrations are ho-hum and may lead many readers to wish the space had been used for more words. Luckily, the compiler plans a collection of weirder and wonderfuller words, which will be given some ...

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