was good! It was so fun finding a McManus book that I hadn't readtimes before, I made the mistake of reading half of this book in a public spot, and I'm sure I made a spectacle of myself by shaking with surprised giggles.
McManus is one of my favorite humorist writers, After I made some kind of humorous story involving a poorly done concrete job, a friend of mine found this book, which features a similar story, For the most part, the author and I have diametrically opposed approaches to humor, My own sense of humor tends to be rather dry, often understated and highly sardonic, full of wit and subtlety, and the author is more about over the top humor that is wildly improbable and not particularly witty or subtle at all.
Even if it's not my sense of humor, though, this book, like others of its kind, is enjoyable to read, The author is suitably selfeffacing, seemingly the sort of person who does not care if people are laughing at him as long as they are laughing, It's not a sense of humor I think is comfortable to know in person, but in reading a book, it certainly can make for a pleasant book to read as long as you do the appropriate discounting for the obvious exaggeration that the author engages in on a regular basis.
Unsurprisingly, this book was a bestseller, because many people enjoy laughing and don't like to think too hard about it,
This book of aboutpages long is full of a host of interesting stories that show the appeal of rural life to its audience, We have stories about families and stepfamilies, stories about trips gone wrong and relationships that struggle, and the author generally presents himself as somewhat clueless but wellmeaning.
There are stories about doityourself disasters, encounters with wild and domesticated animals and aliens and ghosts, stories about hunting and fishing, and the like, The author is at his funniest when he talks about things that at least have a high degree of plausibility, like his odd sense of humor and his school hijinks.
Many of the stories take place with the author as a child, and some of them have a bit of underlying issues where he and some guy named Rancid as well as some of his friends find themselves involved in adventures alone.
There is a distinct absence of womenfolk here apart from an old girlfriend that throws up in a carnival ride, a woman engaged in belly dancing when they run out of money to watch, and teachers of one kind or another, as well as the author's wife Bun.
The author has published a wide variety of books and there are probably many similarities between them, The odds are high that these books bring a smile and a laugh to many people who enjoy laughing at the author for being such an incompetent person in so many areas of life.
I have always found it a bit of a shabby trick for people who are obviously very intelligent to play dumb because that is the expectation that people have of those from rural areas of the country, or for people to play up their foibles and incompetence so that people laugh at them.
Perhaps those who are class clowns or mascots find a great deal of comfort in the goodwill they gain by making a fool out of themselves, but that is not a way of behavior that I personally understand or like to practice to a great degree.
Life is full of humor, and at the base of these stories there are surely at least some real life nuggets of information, but the absurdity of life is something that I do not think needs to be exaggerated for comic effect, as is obviously done here.
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sitelink blog/ This, and the many other Patrick McMannus books not listed here make the best campfire readaloud's around, oinkus
pigs Collection of comedic short stories Several years ago I picked up a fourvolume set of Mr.
McManuss work, this being the first read, Mr. McManus is a nowretired writer of outdoor humor, having contributed to “Outdoor Life” and other such magazines, Mostly its the adventures of a natureloving klutz and his fictional friends, most of which date from his childhood, with names like Rancid Crabtree and Crazy Muldoon.
These guys manage to get into all kinds of scrapes and situations, mostly by blindly leading each other into them, A major player is the narrators wife Bun, a longsuffering, patient woman who has known these goofballs far too long,
Case in point: The narrator reads an article on controlling his life, with the advice being making a list of what you want to accomplish.
Well, after receiving cynical support from Bun, he cant find a pencil to make the list with, so he goes to the store to buy a pencil and on the way he bumps into Retch, and they end up at the ubiquitous Kellys Bar and Grill, where they have a discussion over beer and pool with other patrons about controlling their lives they end up looking at boats and trying to fix one, ending up doing nothing productive.
My favorites of thesestories are one describing a “fishing box,” which is where one throws those items from the tackle box which may be of little or no use, but which one does not wish to throw away eventually, one must get another boxAnd the other is called “Camping In,” in which the “hero” is a pickup truck camper Wife Buns attitude is that “She says she likes a little something extra between her and the hard, cold ground, preferably several floors of a luxury hotel.
” Of course, the narrator tells a brief history of his recent tentcamping experience, the conclusion of which is that he himself may be getting too old for sleeping on the ground in winter.
Nonetheless, there are descriptions of freedom, relative comfort, Sasquatch you can smell im, bears and remembering when you took the camper off and put it onto a framework.
I enjoyed this book, light, humorous reading, especially if youve done any outdoor activities, Looking forward to reading the other three,
A number of years ago we were visiting my inlaws and, having run out of reading material, I picked up this little book my fatherinlaw Jim had left on a side table.
I started reading it and couldn't put it down, It had me in stitches, Pat McManus is a humorist who writes frequently for Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and other outdoorsy magazines, Many of his stories concern his childhood in rural Idaho, The stories are peppered with colorful characters like his friend Crazy Eddie Muldoon and a cantankerous old woodsman named Rancid Crabtree, Occasionally he'll have a story about his adult life, mainly about his failed efforts at hunting and fishing and the barbs from his longsuffering wife Bun, He is often accompanied in his adult adventures by his friend Retch Sweeney,
After I read this book, I went out and read pretty well every other
collection I could get my hands on,
The childhood tales are a delight, Crazy Eddie is always concocting some harebrained scheme and the old woodsman is always proffering advice that doesn't always turn out very well,
McManus is one of my three favorite humorists the others being Stuart McLean and P, J. O'Rourke. very funny Bestselling outdoor humorist McManus The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw bags another in this collection of yarns featuring irascible woodsman Rancid Crabtree, "Phantom of the Woods" Retch Sweeney, boyhood pal Crazy Eddie, and others of McManus's acquaintance.
Also meet hunting dog Strange, dog delinquent, whose prey of choice is yearold roadkill, Readers of McManus's humor column in Outdoor Life will enjoy his observations on the joys of pigback riding, workshop puttering, and Sasquatch ducking, So will those who, like McManus's wife Bun, appreciate nature most from the window of a sevenstory luxury hotel,
Contents:
Controlling My Life
Strange Meets Matilda Jean
Tough Guys Don't Bird
A Good Deed Goes Wrong
The Fishing Box
Social Skills
The Clown
A Good Night's Sleep
A Brief History of Giving
Pouring My Own
Teenagers From Hell
Secret Places
Puttering
Search and Uh Rescue
The Bust
Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!
Blood Sausage
Crash Dive!
My Abduction by Creatures From Space, for What It's Worth
Phantom of the Woods
The Piano Lesson
Zumbo and the Misty Mountain Ghosts
The Road Hunter
Why Is It
The Late Great Fourth
Camping In Very funny collection of essays, some of which brought tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks Controlling My Lifestars, McmManus attempts some time management.
Strange Meets Matilda Jeanstars, the degenerate family dog, strange, meets a cat,
Tough Guys Don't Birdstars, the joys of bird watching, when the critters move in and drive you nuts,
A Good Deed Goes Wrongstars, Patrick and Eddie create a bobsled run and do a good deed for Rancid Crabtree, engineering another traumatic runin between Rancid and old Mrs.
Swisher.
The Fishing Boxstars, ramblings about a fisherman's catch all junk box,
Social Skillsstars, teaching the neighbor, Finley, the fine points of asking farmers for permission to hunt their land,
The Clownstars, reminiscence aboutth grade math class, the fierce teacher, and the class clown,
A Good Night's Sleepstars, McManus and friends descend on a high class hotel in all their redneck glory,
A Brief History of Givingstars, the fine points of gift giving for the socially clueless male,
Pouring My Ownstars, McManus pours concrete,
Teenagers From Hellstars, Retch and Patrick borrow Mr, Sweeney's car, cabin and boat,
Secret Placesstars, Crazy Eddie and Patrick run a scientific experiment in their secret hiding place, I just about choked laughing,
Putteringstars, ramblings about what it means to putter,
Search and Uh Rescuestars, cousin Buck saves a man lost in a snowstorm sort of, and becomes a hero,
The Buststars, one of his weird hard boiled cop parodies involving detective Joe Kelley and a criminal bird watcher,
Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!stars, Patrick, Crazy Eddie and his father get involved with an ornery black horse,
Blood Sausagestars, Patrick's stepfather Hank enlists the family in making Blood Sausage, and Patrick uses it to engage in some mischief aimed at his grandmother and her boyfriend.
Crash Dive!stars, Patrick and Eddie build and test a submarine,
My Abduction by Creatures From Space, for What It's Worthstars, finally an alien abduction account that is totally beyond question,
Phantom of the Woodsstars, game warden Sneed keeps Rancid honest,
The Piano Lessonstars, Patrick takes piano lessons,
Zumbo and the Misty Mountain Ghostsstars, a simple ghost story,
The Road Hunterstars, cousin Buck engages in low down road hunting and Patrick nearly gets caught in the divine/cosmic retribution,
Why Is Itstars, a long list of comedian style "why is it that" observations,
The Late Great Fourthstars, nostalgia of the dangers of Fourth of July celebrations past,
Camping Instars, Patrick and Retch go on a camping trip and get involved with a Sasquatch and some bikers, .
Explore Real Ponies Dont Go Oink! Produced By Patrick F. McManus Offered As Physical Edition
Patrick F. McManus