Tag: Humour

Book Review – The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

RyanLeave a comment

Summary from Goodreads

Based on the award-winning blog 1000awesomethings.com, The Book of Awesome is a high five for humanity and a big celebration of life’s little moments and the underappreciated, simple things that make us happy, from popping bubble wrap to hitting a bunch of green lights in a row, to waking up thinking it’s Monday and realizing it’s Saturday. With wise, witty observations from writer Neil Pasricha, this treasure trove is filled with smile-inducing musings that make readers feel like kids looking at the world for the first time: AWESOME!

AwesomeCover

I’m hesitant to admit this, but The Book of Awesome is a book I thought of as little more than fluff. I cynically regarded it as a fun little novelty that was an easy sell to the casual reading masses, but it exposed to me the jaded husk of a man I can sometimes be. While I expected a read that would present forced enthusiasm over little things for a cheap laugh, I instead got something humorously sincere and genuinely relatable.Read More »

Book Review – The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

RyanLeave a comment

As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld could do with a hero. What it doesn’t need is a singularly inept and cowardly wizard, still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world, or a well-meaning tourist and his luggage which has a mind (and legs) of its own. Which is a shame because that’s all there is…

TheLightFantasticCover

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett is the 1986 follow-up to The Colour of Magic and the second novel in the comic fantasy Discworld series. The story continues right where the previous one left off, following Rincewind and Twoflower as they travel across the disc. This is unique among Pratchett’s extensive series of books, which are otherwise self-contained stories with recurring protagonists and characters.Read More »

Book Review – The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

RyanLeave a comment

ColourOfMagicCover

The Colour of Magic is a 1983 comic fantasy novel written by Terry Pratchett. The novel is the first of 41 total books in the author’s immensely popular Discworld series. The story follows Rincewind, an incompetent and craven wizard who gets roped into escorting the Discworld’s first ever tourist. This tourist is a naïve but rich man named Twoflower from the Agatean Empire, who is accompanied by a sentient luggage chest with hundreds of legs. The book is divided into sections, each section kind of like its own short story, following the pair as they travel across the Discworld to see the sights and regularly get into mortal peril.Read More »

Comic Book Review – Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Ryan1 Comment

HyperboleCover

Hyperbole and a Half is a 2013 book by Allie Brosh, compiling anecdotes of “unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened,” from her childhood and adult life. The book adapts her web comic/blog of the same name: text along with intentionally crude drawings done in Paintbrush. Along with seven and a half reader favourite stories included within, there are ten and a half original stories — half because one story is old, but with new content.Read More »

Book Review – Why I Hate Canadians by Will Ferguson

RyanLeave a comment

Why I Hate Canadians

This past week I finished reading Why I Hate Canadians by Will Ferguson, a collection of essays and anecdotes published in 1997 about the author’s experiences as a Canadian, as well as Canadian culture and history more generally. As the title suggests, Ferguson takes a sarcastic and humorous approach, challenging a lot of the points we use to define ourselves as Canadians, often referencing history, contemporary culture, and politics. The print I read was the 10th anniversary edition, with a foreword from the author. It being nearly 20 years since the books original release, the foreword helped to but the book in context.Read More »