Ships from: Miamisburg, OH
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Skokie, IL
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Miamisburg, OH
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Englewood, CO
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Waresboro, GA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Martinez, CA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Geneva, IL
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Chatham, NJ
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: acton, MA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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.
Anonymous
Posted March 8, 2009
I loved this book. I read this to my teenage boys on the way to visit relatives for Christmas. They were laughing their heads off. We got to our destination before the book was over and had to sit in the driveway and finish reading. Not only have I recommended this book to others, my boys have told all of their friends it is a Christmas "must read".
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MarmeJP
Posted December 15, 2011
This little book has a wonderful tender story of family and Christmas. It looks beyond toys and Santa Claus to tell a story that incorporates all emotions. We are sad, warm and loving, laughing all at the same time. And we still get our Christmas miracle.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.diane1942
Posted February 13, 2010
This is a good book to read on a rainy or snowy day and spend some time alone.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 7, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Delightfully reminiscent of my youth. A fun, easy read. Dave Berry captures a youngster's view of the Christmas holidays in an honest and hysterical recollection of events. This book is an excellent gift choice.
Be sure to give one to yourself!!!
bolander
Posted January 10, 2010
Love the book! It was funny and had some serious moments. Great for a bookclub.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Lorilgt
Posted January 9, 2010
This book was okay to good. It certainly wasn't my favorite Christmas book but it was kind of cute. I think young readers pre-teen to early teen may like it.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 26, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
The year is 1960, and, as it is every year, the Christmas pageant at St. John's Episcopal Church, directed by Mrs. Elkins, who used to be in The Theater in New York, and who is tall and skinny with hair the color of the orange part of a candy corn, is a very big deal. Doug is a shepherd this year, which is better than being a Three King, because, for one thing, you get to carry a stick. But there are ...