Two stars only, despite the fact that the subject is London and I would really like to go there this summer but with Corona, it is unsure whether this will be possible!

To me, this felt like John Gay wanted to write an epic tale about, walking through London. There is loads of references to Greek Mythology and a lot of places in London are mentioned, but it is all rather random. Besides, the rhyming scheme felt forced, and although I am sure it is not easy to do, it did not feel right.

Not my style.

~Little Black Classics #107~

Well, that was fun and enlightening. I love etiquette books, and am neutral on advice columnists in general except for Daniel Ortberg's Dear Prudence. But then there's that whole other aspect: the how-to-do-anything-better field is one I appreciate. Paradoxically, I have never been a fan of the Self-Help book genre. Yes, I think there is a great deal we can all learn from the billions of other people in the world, many of whom have struggled with the same issues and also, at the same time, skeptical of the idea that reading a book is ever going to really turn anyone's life around. Mari Kondo has much to teach me about how to best put things away, for example, but neither her book nor show is going to convince me to spend a month finding every book in the house and putting it into one big pile in order to hold each one and wait for the spirit to move me in a joy spark or not way.

Much of the historical stuff was completely unknown to me. I had heard of Poor Richard's Almanack, but knew next to nothing about Franklin or his publishing. I knew of Graham, but Alcott was a surprise. Etcetera.
Clever and also entertaining.

Library copy

See my full review (and more!) at Mystereity Reviews

The duo from The Dollop podcast have written a book full of the odd, the outrageous and all the funny stories that never made it into the history books.

This was a very humorous take on some of the lesser well-known stories that make up the fabric of our history. The presidential cheese story made me chuckle (What. A. Legend.) and the Lobotomobile story was outrageous, but the best story, and the reason I wanted to read this book, was the Kentucky Meat Shower story.

The stories are indeed hilarious and absurd, but not necessarily untold. I've seen a few of the stories in other places, and Reddit is full of Action Park stories (and even has its own subreddit, /r/actionpark, so check that out if you want more!)

Overall, The United States of Absurdity is a short and funny look at US history, great as a time-waster, side-splitting funny and a must-read for trivia fans and history buffs.

Thank you to Ten Speed Press and NetGalley, who provided an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.