My first Cannonball, hooray!
Housebroken is another collection of humor essays from Laurie Notaro. Throughout the years I’ve read all of her books. Some are hilarious, some are so-so. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Housebroken quickly became one of my favorites of hers. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times.
Notaro’s essays usually focus on domestic issues with her husband or family, or sometimes on the strange people she encounters in her day-to-day life (she now lives in Eugene, Oregon, which it seems has no shortage of people who are. . . a little uncommon). My favorite essays are usually the ones about her family or husband. In Housebroken, there’s a hilarious bit about the time the two of them are caught on a Kisscam at a baseball game. I also really enjoyed the chapter where she read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and attempted to put its practices into action. This is definitely one of her stronger books.
In the past, Notaro’s books have sometimes seemed like there wasn’t really anybody editing them. . .a lot of run-on sentences and awkward phrasing. There was none of that here, which was refreshing. It made me excited to read more of her books, and hopeful that she keeps writing humor essays. It was a good way to finish off my first Cannonball!
So. . . now that I’ve finished a Cannonball I’m trying to decide if I should do it again. I felt like it really pushed me to read new books this year, rather than just rereading. That’s a plus, but on the other hand one of the small joys of life is rereading books that I adore. I think if I do it next year, I might just read whatever I want, even if I’ve read it a million times already.
Books read this year (so far): 62
Books reviewed: 52
Favorite newly discovered book this year: The Hilary Tamar mysteries, or maybe the Checquy books
Biggest disappointment: Either The Road to Little Dribbling or Eligible
Thanks to all you veteran Cannonballers for letting me join in your fun! I’ve enjoyed it!
Happy Cannonball! I like that you included a sort of year in review. Of course you should sign up again next year. You can always aim for a quarter or half Cannonball and then anything else you manage to read and review is a bonus.
Thanks! I signed up! :) next year I’m going to be a little easier on myself and read anything I want–including more children’s books.
That’s always a good attitude to take. Cannonball Read shouldn’t be a chore. You shouldn’t feel like you HAVE to read anything. Re-reading is great, but I find that when I’m working toward my first (or second) Cannonball, I mostly only allow myself to re-read things I haven’t already reviewed, so I can count it towards my final tally. Unless, of course, I am way way behind on my reviews (which I seem to have been more often than not this year), and then I pretty much only re-read, so the list of books I have to feel guilty about not reviewing yet doesn’t get even longer.
Happy Cannonball! I’ve reviewed books I’ve read a million times. There are even a couple of books that I’ve reviewed twice for CBR.
Ok good! I plan on doing the same thing.
Congrats on your cannonball!
Thank you!
Happy cannonball! I love Laurie Notaro but the last couple books I’ve read by her fell a bit flat. Glad to hear this was a hit for you!
Thanks! I agree, I haven’t enjoyed the last couple as much so this one was a pleasant surprise.
Happy Cannonball!
Your cannonball reading can be whatever you like. a year of Star Trek novelizations? Someone did it. All romance all the time, people do that too. Children’s books? ChainedVase is on it and you should absolutely join in. Rereading favorites or classics, we do that too. I’ll look forward to what you feel like sharing in the new year.
Thanks so much! I’m going to try to have a little more fun with it next year. :)
Hooray for Cannonball Ellen! Glad you are in again for next year!