What a fun book! This is comedian Josh Lieb's first book after working with the Daily Show and The Simpsons.
Oliver is 12, chubby, and diabolically smart. By day, he appears to be the dumbest lame brain in the seventh grade. By night, Ollie runs a secret corporation complete with figurehead CEO. He can purchase African paramilitary groups, steal a moon rock from the National Museum, and frame Miley Cyrus for the crimes. His parents are clueless. When Ollie takes a bet to win the election for class president, he discovers that winning the hearts and minds of middle schoolers is a little tougher than ruling the world.
Read it. Read it. Read it.
Showing posts with label humor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humor. Show all posts
Odd Thomas by Koontz
Twenty year-old Odd Thomas has a lot to deal with in life. He comes from a seriously disfunctional family and is plagued by supernatural abilities. The dead, including various murder victims and Elvis, who can't seem to move on, come to see Odd. Sometimes they want justice. Sometimes they want company. Sometimes they want revenge.
But the dead aren't the worst of it. Odd also sees bodachs, shadowy harbingers of death and destruction. When a flood of bodachs decend on Odd's hometown of Pico Mundo, CA, it's up to Odd to predict and avert the coming crisis.
This a great book, but it's an even better audiobook. The performer, whose name I can't seem to find, brings Odd to life with honesty, tragedy, and humor. Koontz eventually wrote a series featuring this strange tragic hero, but for my money, this is the best one of the set. A fabulous read. Or listen, for that matter.
But the dead aren't the worst of it. Odd also sees bodachs, shadowy harbingers of death and destruction. When a flood of bodachs decend on Odd's hometown of Pico Mundo, CA, it's up to Odd to predict and avert the coming crisis.
This a great book, but it's an even better audiobook. The performer, whose name I can't seem to find, brings Odd to life with honesty, tragedy, and humor. Koontz eventually wrote a series featuring this strange tragic hero, but for my money, this is the best one of the set. A fabulous read. Or listen, for that matter.
You Don't Know Me by Klass
There aren't too many authors who can depress you and make you laugh within a half a page. Klass is one of those lucky few. "You Don't Know Me" is the timeless story of John, a 14 year-old fringe kid with a sharp mind and a crappy home life. John has a tremendous sense of irony. He tells of his school that is "anti-school" (a place where one merely suffers rather than learns), does battle with a tuba that is really a giant frog, and pursues the lovely but vicious "Glory-Hallelujah," the supposed girl of his dreams. The funniest part of the book is their horrendous date where John escapes certain death via a cat door.
John's life has a flip-side, however. His mother's boyfriend is brutal and abusive and John's mother is clueless. John fears to tell anyone the truth because he believes his mother will choose the boyfriend over him. In the end, "the man who is not his father" almost kills him and John realizes just how much he has going for him in life.
I love this book. It takes a serious issue and treats it with both sensitivity and realism. The humor is delightful, but never detracts from the message and meaning of this important book.
John's life has a flip-side, however. His mother's boyfriend is brutal and abusive and John's mother is clueless. John fears to tell anyone the truth because he believes his mother will choose the boyfriend over him. In the end, "the man who is not his father" almost kills him and John realizes just how much he has going for him in life.
I love this book. It takes a serious issue and treats it with both sensitivity and realism. The humor is delightful, but never detracts from the message and meaning of this important book.
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