It looks like larva no matter how you cook it.

Laurie Notaro’s 8th book of essays, “The Potty Mouth at the Table,” is ostensibly about manners, but really it ranges from her weird obsession of buying fabric online to her friend coping with terminal cancer.  As with any book of essays, there are some hits and some misses but overall it is a decent bit of fluff from a pretty great writer.  Unfortunately it’s not her best work and I hope she gets her mojo back with her next book.

I had to pull the  title quote about quinoa from the amazon reviews.  It’s not that I didn’t like the book, it’s just that the funny bits were so forgettable that I couldn’t even remember which essays I liked enough to go back and find something to include in this book.

While I highly recommend checking out her other books, especially “The Idiot Girls’ Action Adventure Club” or “We Thought  You Would Be Prettier” This book isn’t a must read.

It would be good to take as a paperback to read on the plane and leave in gate area before your connecting flight.

It would be good to take along to the beach as you aren’t going to pay much attention to it and if it get’s wet, no worries.

It would be good to take to the DMV.  You would be entertained, but not so absorbed, that you missed your number being called.

It would be good gift for a friend who is recovering from surgey in the hospital who needs something to chuckle over. However, if said friend is recovering from abdominal surgery, this book does elicit a few moments of genuine laughter which could pop stitches.

This book is funny.  Some of the essays are downright delightful.  At the end of the day, it’s not going to top anyone’s favorites list, but it sure is more entertaining that appearing in a panel discussion with a misogynistic assface.