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By Dave Barry

While waiting for my husband to get home from Snowpcalypse 2006, I whittled away the hours of boredom and worry by reading this book. If you are waiting for someone to get home safely in the middle of a snowstorm when they have run out of gas, then this is probably the book to read. I think this is the second fiction book Barry has written and it is just as funny as the first one, Big Trouble. You may remember the movie, Big Trouble? Perhaps not, it was due for release about a month after 9-11 and it has a hilarious scene about a nuclear bomb on an airplane, needless to say it didn’t go over too well with the paying public, but I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Anyway, in Tricky Business a bunch of undesirables run around and shoot other undesirables and one of the main characters is a down-on-her luck woman with a sue-happy ex husband. The other is a down-on-his-luck guy who has to live with his mom because he recently discovered his girlfriend’s affair with her boss. That, and he’s a middling musician who is getting no where in life even though he’s trying. You can see the two of them getting together in the end from about page three but that’s okay because as Barry says in the Epilogue “Fay and Wally got married. You figured that out a long time ago.” You must give him credit: the man knows his readers well.

Now, let me editorialize a bit here. A lot of people I know say things like “Oh, Dave Barry? I hate that guy.” and “Man, that guy annoys the crap outta me.” and I for one, am tired of people putting him down. Yes, he’s goofy. Yes, he makes shit up all the time. No, he probably doesn’t follow all the strict rules that “the really good writers” are supposed to follow. But you know what? I don’t care. He makes me laugh. Out loud. Until stuff comes out my nose. I like to read his writing because it’s down to earth and personal and he writes as though you and he are having a conversation. I like that about him. I don’t care that he never uses the word tangential or even valediction because he knows how to put a comical spin on everything no matter how mundane.

I understand there are people out there that would rather not have a comical spin put on anything. I’m pretty sure these are the same people that wouldn’t condescend to read any book unless it’s considered a classic (which is probably why they don’t read very often) It’s true that there is less mental work involved in reading a Dave Barry book than say, War and Peace, but at least you can finish it in a decent amount of time and it’s got a happy ending. And sometimes the point is simply to be entertained. You don’t always have to read books that were published before your grandmother could walk. Get out there and read something . . . anything! If you can’t decide what to start with, start here. It won’t take you very long and you will enjoy the book.

By William Peter Blatty

There is much legend surrounding this book and even more about the subsequent movie. The book itself is based on a purportedly true story. Rev. Father William O’Malley (who played Father Joseph Dyer in the film) has stated that much of the movie is true (about 80%) The main differences being that is was a teen aged boy, not a girl, who was possessed in real life; that the actual possession took place outside of DC in Cottage City, MD rather than the Georgetown setting; and that the color of the “pea-soup” vomit was not green. For a more in-depth look at the book and movie check out this Wikipedia article, it has some interesting links at the bottom of the page.

As a Lifetime sufferer of an over-active imagination, I was actually scared to read this book it at first. I had decided to read it after a discussion about the ending of the movie with a friend at work left me unsure of what actually was going on. I knew what happened but the intent of one of the main characters became unclear the more I thought about it. And, like a particularly nasty hangnail, I could not leave it alone. I checked the book out of the library.

I started out reading this book only when Brian was home and awake. I know myself well enough to make sure I wasn’t going to be alone when I freaked out. If you’ve read any amount of content on this website then you may know one of my greatest fears in life is demonic possession. And you may ask “Why, at thirty-something years old, should you be afraid of that?” Well, you see, I watched this movie when I was only about 8. It’s called “The Exorcist” and apparently, it scarred me for life.

In the end I did read the book, and I was shocked to realize that it was not as scary as I thought it would be. It was, in fact, very interesting. I did find parts of the story disturbing, especially the infamous “Spider walk” scene which was cut out of the original movie but edited back in for the 2003 release. However creepy you may have found this scene in the movie, let me assure you that the scene in the book is much more unsettling.

Another surprising aspect of the book was the entire Karl/Lieutenant William Kinderman subplot. The movie doesn’t go into as much detail about this which is a shame because it serves to flesh out the main dichotomy between good and evil in small but significant ways. The most prominent of which is an explanation of the “head twisting” scene. If you are interested at all in this movie I would recommend the book, it’s not as scary as the movie but it’s still worth reading.

By P.D. James, narrated by John Franklyn-Robbins

I didn’t realize that PD James wrote these books so long ago. Unnatural Causes was copyrighted in 1967 which would explain a bit about the dating of this book (one of the character was remembered from a few years prior – in 1959) In “Unnatural Causes” Inspector Dalgliesh takes a vacation at his Aunt’s house in Monksmere Head. Being a seaside town the community is small and (relatively) tight-knit. When one of their number drifts to shore dead, in his brother’s dinghy, with his hands chopped off everyone starts to point fingers and accuse the people they have known and lived with for years.

As with most of the PD James stories I have read, listened to or watched I was a bit disappointed about the ending. Again I find that Dalgliesh sits back and watches everything unfold for him. He must be the luckiest detective in the entire world since I have yet to witness him apprehend and drag in a criminal. Okay, well may he’s done it once or twice but they are usually killing themselves, getting killed or generally disposed of before the whole mystery wraps up and the reader is left with a complicated plot with no one behind bars. That’s all well and good for a couple of books but I would like to read a James novel where the protagonist doesn’t just happen upon the bad guy in a coincidence. Still a fun book to listen to and Franklyn-Robbins does a pretty good job keeping the reader involved.

As you may already know, J. Brian, the Catfish and I are moving house. You may Not already know this but I hate moving. Speaking from massive amounts of experience in the moving house department, Let me be the first to say:

It Sucks.  Royally.

Last time I had to move, I broke a tooth out of sheer tension. When we were done and completely moved into this house I said to myself:

“Self, we’re never moving again. I hate moving.”

to which I replied:

“Right you are self! I can see us growing old in this lovely little home.”

Ah, but then there you have the problem. Did you spot it? It’s a tiny little word. Little. Our lovely Little home. It’s a great house in great location with excellent neighbors but we are outgrowing it. Adding to our discomfort is the fact that the rooms are not laid out for easy child-rearing access. For instance, you can’t see the living room if you’re in the kitchen. So, If you’re cooking dinner and the Catfish is say, banging on something really loud in the living room, you can’t really see if it’s a chair or the window which is taking a beating. This is becoming more and more important as our son has discovered the use of arms AND legs and generally tries to get into anything that is not nailed shut, nailed down or nailed to the wall. And we’re running out of nails.

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By Terry Pratchett, narrated by Nigel Planer

In the middle of the most stressful period of my tragic and tearful existence Terry Pratchett is like comfort food for my brain. I think it’s called Brain Candy but I’m going to call it comfort food. To clarify, Brian and I are in the middle of an intense few months what with moving house and trying to sell at the start of the PNW rainy season – when people aren’t used to the daily deluge yet and they’re all still complaining because the sun’s not shining. No one wants to buy a house in those conditions, especially one with great big pine trees that shed needles all over everything. Needless to say,  it hasn’t been easy trying to regain control of my galloping, anxiety-riddled brain but listening to Nigel Planer helps quite a bit.

Sorcery is all about the eighth son of the eighth son of an eighth son which, on Discworld is quite a powerful Sorcerer. They don’t like Sorcery on the Discworld because it’s too strong for mere men to use. It’s magic for the gods. And this is the story of how a boy brought it back and almost ended the world. It’s quite entertaining listening to Planer animate the characters from the page. He narrates Rincewind a particular effortless style that hits his personality straight on. Planer is a talented reader with many voices in his repertoire – if you’re looking for funny and entertaining, you can’t do much better than this!

By P.D. James, narrated by Simon Prebble

PD James is a good writer but I’m beginning to suspect that I don’t really like how she constructs a story. For one, her main character, Inspector Dalgliesh, is very standoffish and we don’t really get to know him very well. All we know is that he likes to write poetry and he’s pretty private. Well, yes, I can agree to that. He is so private we don’t really know much about him. Also, he doesn’t ever seem to catch the killers, they always end up committing suicide or forcing their own deaths in some manner which I think is somewhat of a cop out. A Certain Justice was fun to listen to but I don’t know about the Dalgliesh series. I’m going to give “Unnatural Causes” a try and decide at that point. Incidentally, Prebble is, as always, delightful to listen to.

By Haven Kimmel

She Got Up Off the Couch is the sequel to Kimmel’s first memoir A Girl Named Zippy. I was excited to read this book because of how much I enjoyed Zippy. And I must say that I was not disappointed. I was, however, surprised by the none-too-subtle disturbing undertones echoing throughout her stories. If Zippy was about an ideal, if somewhat sparse childhood, SGUOtC  is the darker plunge into sort-of knowing what’s really going on in the world. I can relate quite a bit to the author’s perspective because I myself traveled around my little world in a haze of bicycles, mud pies and summers spent lazing about reading as a child until one day I woke up and everything had changed.

Kimmel weaves her family tragedies throughout the book so that the reader understands what is going on and yet as the author, she still maintains her innocence of the situation. A delicate and wonderful way to relate some things that are too tragic and too cliche to say outright. Anyone can say “My dad was kind of a jerk and my mom was depressed” but Kimmel never once does. She professes love for all these people and shows them as they really are (or were) to her. Her sister’s wedding was particularly hard to read because of this.

A Girl Named Zippy was a delightful introduction to Kimmel’s writing style but She Got Up Off the Couch definitely  has more spit and polish. This is not always a good thing for artists. Sometimes the extra attention to detail makes the deficiencies of character or talent shine brighter and become more grating. But not so in this case. It is obvious that Haven Kimmel has a wonderful sense of language and knows how to paint all of her characters in their best light. I recommend this book.

Hey all you out there (And by you I mean, of course, Elaine and Gretchen – if there are more out there I’m prepared to be shocked, SHOCKED) Anywho – if you are inclined to read this website on occasion but find that you forget that it exists more often than not – I have the answer for YOU!

Right Now, for no money down and no money later, you can join our mailing list to get updates on any new, well.. updates, to the website. All you have to do is send Three box tops, two stamps and one thin dime to:

mailinglist@snickerpants.com

Or you can just email us and we’ll make sure to let you know the next time something entertaining happens.

And fear not! We can not sell your email address to anyone as we don’t know anyone to sell it to – though I wouldn’t even if I did. That would just be rude…

Pack the cat and strike the pig oven, we’re moving!

No, not to a different web address. Are you kidding? Do you know that there are actually people out there that think they came up with the name Snickerpants before me? I wouldn’t give up this real estate for nothing. Nothing I tell you, NOTHING! Everyone laughs at my email address but I tell you this…No One forgets it. It’s not like JohnSmith893@stupidtown.com. No way. Snickerpants has….well it has something. I’m not sure what it has but you don’t forget it in a hurry, that’s for sure.

No, as I was saying before we were I so rudely interrupted myself, is that Brian, the Catfish and I are packing up everything we own and moving house. It was a strange thing to have happen to us, I’ll admit. It’s not like we were sitting around our house one day thinking “Hmmm, let’s move. I’m tired of living in this nice house with half an acre of land and our very own pig oven. Plus all those mature fruit trees and that shitake mushroom patch over in the side yard. I know, Let’s sell it all and move someplace else.

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By Terry Pratchett

The second book in Pratchett’s Johnny Maxwell series, Johnny and the Dead was a bit more somber and much more self-aware than Only You Can Save Mankind. There are many insights that young Johnny, the hero of the story comes up with that are not something I would question as a child. But that doesn’t mean that kids wouldn’t understand them. On the contrary, I think that many points brought up in this book would seem so logical to kids that they might not understand how profound they are. It’s funny how things get all messed up and convoluted when you get older. When you’re 12 and everything is simple and there are not many shades of grey to decipher, well, it seems that life can be as profound as it wants and it wouldn’t make much difference to your average preteen.

Right, I’ll get off my soapbox now. JatD is the wonderful story of Johnny Maxwell and his newfound ability to talk with the dead people in the local cemetery. He doesn’t really want this ability and his friends think he’s making it up (until they get really creeped out that is, then they just hope he’s making it up) He learns the value of past lives as the dead learn the value of what lies beyond. Not a lengthy book but well worth the time spent reading it.