- Shopping Bag ( 0 items )
Want a NOOK? Explore Now
Dave Barry is the author of many bestsellers including Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up. A wildly popular syndicated columnist, Barry won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He lives in Miami, FL.
Yes, Barry is juvenile at times -- but he has achieved the kind of success that can only come from combining a juvenile mind with intelligence, timing, and a keen eye for the absurd. Favorite Barry targets include government inanity, dogs, guys, the Internet, and other oddities of life. He also specializes in weird news and urban myths involving UFO hunters, Pop-Tart science, and toilets. Many of these essays feature the line that has become his catchphrase, "I am not making this up." (Unless, of course, he is introducing something serious and daunting such as a book about the federal government, in which case he reassures that he has made everything up.)
Usually, though, he's not making it up. What he's doing is making it very funny. Whether the target is Congress or commercials, Barry refuses to take anything seriously, least of all himself – but he manages to convey some pretty indicting truths in the process. He's a master of irony and visual punchlines, sometimes interrupting himself with lists, snippets of dialogue, or other on-topic digressions. On the subject of turning 50 and dealing with waning eyesight (a "good thing" about aging, because "you can't read anything"), Barry describes finding restaurant menus suddenly printed "in letters the height of bacteria." He continues: "For some reason, everybody else seemed to be able to read the menus. Not wishing to draw attention to myself, I started ordering my food by simply pointing to a likely looking blur.
ME (pointing to a blur): I'll have this.
WAITER: You'll have "We Do Not Accept Personal Checks"?
ME: Make that medium rare."
Barry has had the most successful and prolific publishing career of any working newspaper columnist, and his humor never seems to go out of style. In 1999, he decided to try his hand at fiction. The result was Big Trouble, a comic thriller à la Carl Hiassen (though filled more with gags than guns) that Entertainment Weekly proclaimed "... not only very funny, [but] sure-footed, even-handed, levelheaded, and other leading book review adjectives." In 2004, he and Ridley Pearson collaborated on Peter and the Starcatchers, a clever prequel to Peter Pan that spawned two additional novels and a series of spin-off children's chapter books.
Along with several other published authors, Barry is a member of the musical group Rock Bottom Remainders. In assessing the band's talents, he has been quoted as saying: "They are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud."
Some things never change: Barry was elected class clown by his Pleasantville High School class in 1965.
Barry got his start in journalism at the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pennsylvania, then worked as a business writing consultant before joining the Miami Herald in 1983.
Attempts to convert Barry's humor to the screen have been less than memorable. The early '90s CBS sitcom based on two of his books and starring Harry Anderson, Dave's World, was short-lived; the spring 2002 release Big Trouble, starring Tim Allen, didn't fare well at the box office. Barry did, however, get a cameo in the latter.
I love this book. It hits the nail on the head as far as almost all of the songs go (and I'm sure there are sentimental, non-quality-related emotional issues keeping me from agreeing 100% with Mr. Barry). My children took this book away from me for awhile because at one point I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and they thought I might die. I managed to get it back AND survive reading it, and now, 10 years on, it still makes me laugh uncontrollably. Fantastic.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 17, 2007
I picked up this book and couldn't put it down. I laughed through the whole thing. I didn't agree with every assessment (I think 'Chicago' songs don't belong in there) but that's OK. I read some passages to my husband and HE was laughing. This book is hilarious!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 9, 2006
First of all, this is supposed to be HUMOROUS! To all of those who took it seriously, lighten up! It is fun, quick read!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 6, 2005
I love that song and it´s not stupid! It has great sentimentalism in the lyrics.......you just have to get the hang of it, that´s all. And I´m just 16!!!!!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 23, 2003
This book made me laugh so hard I was in pain at times. The book starts with a warnign tat it will make you sing bad songs. And that is certainly true--most of the songs mentioned were top sellers at one time in our youth, and I still remember them. He hit MacArthur Park on the head--it is a metaphor, but a truly STUPID metaphor. the songs are just a part of the pleasure of reading the book. teh commenary is just as good. He discusses the outraged reactions of fans of various singers to being included in the column, etc. This is top-notch humor from a master.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 3, 2002
Dave Barry is the Hare Krishna of funny authors. The only thing to be said is: 'feelings wo wo wo feelings....'
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 5, 2001
I started off reading 'just a line or two' to a friend on the other US coast, and ended up taking two hours to read the book aloud. It took 2 hours because we were both laughing so hard she couldn't stop, and I couldn't get it out without laughing again. He's the only author to give me laughs or make me smile since 9/11.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted September 13, 2000
Well, this was downright hillarious, in true Barry fashion. My advice: buy it, but don't read it all at once. Although the entire book just keeps getting funnier (in my opinion), three chapters of bad songs and you tend to go kind of numb.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 15, 2000
Dave Barry covered every bad song you could ever imagine, from McArthur park to the teen death songs of the 60's, and all of those annoyingly silly songs that stay ingrained in your brain for the rest of your life. I laughed from the minute I opened this book. Absolutely hilarious!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 19, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview