Grouchy Miscreant Forgiven for Being Australian

This is the fourth book by the author and like all humorists/memoir writers, he has a tendency to revisit certain themes as building blocks for his stories.

1.  American activities are weird to Australians and ripe for mocking.
2. Australians are weird and ripe for mocking.
3. Horrible tales of child neglect can be hilarious if told the right way.

I like to keep light, amusing books like these on-hand for when slogging through a novel that has heavier themes.  Sometimes I just want the literary equivalent of jelly beans.  The essays in this book are candy coated delights that should be consumed with a nice microbrew at the end of a long and stressful week.  While the actual essays are somewhat forgettable, Thorne’s writing elicited a few deep belly laughs from me and more than one embarrassing snort of laughter.  This book is best parceled out over time instead of read in one sitting.  After a while some of the jokes start to feel stale, so it’s best to put it down and pick it up a few days later so you can appreciate the humor.