Humpty Day….
Thanks for all the kind posts and emails yesterday in support of the new book. You guys are so awesome! Group hug!!
So I thought I would MAC on Last Comic Standing….I’m a huge–no, make that huuuuuge–stand up fan. Always have been. Even flirted with the idea of trying it out (okay, I was in eighth grade, but flirting was all I could do then.) We’ve had a long standing tradition in my family of listening to comedy on road trips (trust me, laughing your behindys off for a couple of hours makes being stuck in tightly enclosed spaces with fellow family members go way more smoothly. You’re laughing so hard you don’t even notice “she’s touching me!!!” Trips feel WAY shorter and it’s a great family bonder. Highly recommend it, still do it today.) I’m just glad my sons (and their friends!!) are older now so our material selection has finally expanded beyond vintage Steve Martin and Bill Cosby.
Anyway…back to Last Comic Standing…so I think this show can’t be MAC’d quite yet. We’re in the incredibly frenetic selection phase and we raced through so many one liners I got stand up whiplash trying to keep up. Mercifully, they didn’t spend all that much time on the truly disturbed, but not a whole lot more time on the talented either. There were more of them, but not enough on each. Of course, given the number of stops and folks they highlighted in a two hour show, when you think about it, they packed a lot into those two hours. But the best stand up doesn’t always come across in ten second blips.
While we didn’t even get to see most of the folks who made it to the night auditions, and there were a bunch I liked (from the five seconds I saw of them anyway) that didn’t make it…almost all of the people that did go through to the semifinals next week were funny. Or made my lips twitch anyway. Hard to get an actual guffaw in ten seconds of air time. Seriously. Whiplash comedy at its finest. But we have hopes of future guffawing, and that will have to tide me over.
I miss Amazing Race and Survivor. No preliminary weeks on those reality shows, just Let’s Get Right To It on the premiere night. I want more of that. I don’t need more of this. Let’s get on with the funny people, people. Make me laugh, already!
Hey, I told you comedy wasn’t pretty. I wasn’t necessarily talking about the comics. 
It appears we’ll get to see an actual act from the finalists next week, so hopefully things aren’t too dragged out. I can hang another week. We’ll see how MAC’able it is though. I’m not exactly “involved” yet, with either this or Dance.
But…the real trainwreck of summer (yes, I’m talking about the mother of all trainwreck television, Big Brother) doesn’t start for weeks yet. So, for now, we have filler MAC.
Okay… it’s time for Book Chat
I’m done judging the final round of the RITA, so it’s time to dig into my tottering Must Read Next!! pile…and first off the stack was Don’t Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer.
I know they took some flak over this book and some of Jenny’s long time readers really felt this was too big a departure, so I had no idea what to expect. Well, color me very pleasantly surprised. I didn’t think it was such a huge departure. Sure, there was more suspense (thank you, Bob!) and there was a lot of information being put out there, but Jenny’s trademark wit was there in every paragaph. I haven’t read Bob’s books, but I can only assume he shares her wit since, given that he wrote JT’s pov and Jenny wrote Lucy’s, it came across pretty seamlessly to me. The Jenny classic quirks were there (music, food, Wonder Woman underwear…) the romance was definitely all there, (and JT is so my kinda guy…sigh) and I adored the precocious Pepper, who reminded me of my equally precocious nephew. Five-year-olds rule.
I guess I’m not getting what the big problem was. I read some of the critical reader reviews and I just didn’t see that huge of a leap away from her previous work. It was a little leap (intentionally) I mean, it was supposed to be a suspense novel, but everything I loved about Jenny was there for me. And I like suspense, so it was a great hybrid for me. We need more funny suspense. Okay, I do anyway. Janet Evanovich doesn’t publish fast enough. I thoroughly enjoyed Don’t Look Down and anxiously await the release of the next combined effort, Agnes and the Hitman next spring.
What did you all think? Thumbs up? Down? Wavering?
If you’re curious about the book but have no idea what I’m talking about, click on the Jenny n Bob link in the Writer Buds column to your right or here and read all about it.
Happy Wednesday all!
Well I was wavering … might actually check it out now. Thanks for the info.
Never could get Big Brother, so I’ll pass on that one. Thought I’d give Dance a try - that’s on tonight, isn’t it?
I thought Don’t Look Down was awesome! I am so with you on funny suspense, Donna… what a great combination! It did remind me of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series a little bit with the humor and suspense combo going on so that was great. Jenny’s fans shouldn’t go wavering on her just because she wants to try something new and different. None of us like being in the same rut all the time so why whould we condemn Jenny for being like the rest of the world?!?! I highly recommend Don’t Look Down!! I am a Jenny fan and I was not disappointed in the least!!
Eve - you might like Dance. I’ll enjoy it a lot more when it’s the actual show, though. So don’t judge by this prelim stuff.
As for Big Brother, oh, yeah, that’s a special kind of disease, that one. *g* My mom was visiting a few summers ago and we started watching it, snarking about how awful it was and who would watch that and WHY was Julie Chen associating herself with this tripe… Oh yeah, totally, shamefully, rubber-neckingly hooked. It’s a sickness, I tell you. And I SWORE I would not watch the next season. Ch-yeah, that vow lasted, like, a week. Did I mention my mom visits every summer?
Last summer I even Netflixed an earlier season they put out on DVD while she was here, and we curled up every night with our bowl of ice cream to watch another few shows. Coverd the whole season in two weeks. God, it was just so bad it was great. LOL Good times, fond memories. Now it’s like this ritual, annual torture. Unfortunately, she’s coming early this year for my son’s graduation, so we’ll miss watching it together…but that’s what IMing is for, right???
I’ve never read any of Jenny’s books before but love Janet’s so I know I’ll enjoy DON’T LOOK DOWN plus I like the idea of having two pov by each sex, I’ve never read a book like that either.
I’m having reality withdrawel too,I can’t wait for BB, my sister heard we pick half the house and the show picks the other half,this should be interesting-good vs. bad-we’ll see….
Lori - So glad to hear you loved it, too! I can’t wait for the next one. And JT? He can call me. Anytime. Hubba.
Donna - Yeah, JT has been added to my list of must have men… right along with Rourke, Ranger and Joe Morelli!!! Wow, are those girls that Nora, Janet and Jenny write about lucky or what?!?!
I know, Lori. The wenches.
That non-fiction essay I did for the Stephanie Plum collection is All About Ranger. SUCH a good time putting that together. I know, some days it does not suck to be me.
I LOVED DLD. My only complaint is that I wanted more of it, more of the characters, just more!
*sigh* JT.
If you are wanting to check out a different kind of reality show, try watching “Hell’s Kitchen” that stars chef Gordon Ramsey (this man definatly speaks his mind…you never know what will come out of his mouth).
This show premiers June 12th.
With those wonderful memories mixed in with watching Big Brother, I can see why you continue to watch.
I forgot to say that laughter has always been a big thing in my family. It’s how we deal with things. If you can find something to laugh about even in the biggest tragedies (I’m always finding humor with mom), then you can get through anything.
I love all of Jennifer Crusie’s books. It seems to me many people aren’t happy with an author doing something different and make up their mind that they aren’t going to like it no matter what. I’m looking forward to getting Don’t Look Down, but first I have to get my TBR pile down to fewer than 15. LOL
I can’t wait for BB to return!
A TBR has to be less than 15? I’m in BIG trouble then. *gg*
Susan meant 15 stacks…right Susan? No?
(Donna looks at the bookshelf holding her TBR pile… Rats.)
I do have a MUST READ NEXT! pile next to the bed and that one totters at around a half dozen to a dozen at any given time. So I’ll just count that as my TBR pile. I don’t know *how* those unread books over on my bookshelf got there… I’m uh holding them for somebody…yeah, that’s it! (My mom always told me I’d be somebody someday. Bada bing!)
Yeah, my TBR pile is growing by the minute. There are just so many books out there I want to read! I have books next to my bed, on my bookshelf, everywhere.
I think I’ll go read now.
i did like her others more than this one
94 - that’s all I’m going to say - except there are more on the way. It’s a sickness. (she had to mean stacks - or at least bookcases)
Hello, my name is Eve and I’m a bookaholic.
Oh, oh and 4 new readers! I love having this power (insert maniacal laughter here)
So…Eve….where do I send those double stuff Oreos anyway?
And Kim…was it the increased suspense you didn’t like? That, to me, was the biggest change in the Crusie book, but because I like suspense, this was a great blend for me. If you aren’t into it, I can see how it wouldn’t be as enjoyable. But the dialogue was classic Crusie (and, I’m assuming, Mayer!) I’m glad she tried something new - but I wonder if it’s a permanent shift, or just in addition (like Nora and her JD Robb books, etc.) I’m just greedy - I want it allllllll!!!
Waiting for BB is keeping me sane. LOL I can’t wait to see what the mix is this year. Its the silliest show but I watch it every year.
I have Jenny’s book in the pile I can’t wait to read it. I know I will love it.
There. In a second course has been full of the concentrated rations. wwe torrie wilson I.
kelly brook naked Hi, but 1 guarantee you wanted a doctor in the holomap. The atomic.
Damn. In what color meant go to buy anything stripping game at me! Aahz.
And groaning, somewhat overwhelmed by eager, you got really hard hardcore racing to expect in her.