The Traveling Curmudgeon ... Jon Winokur
I've always enjoyed Winokur's collections of acidulous anecdotes; reading his little books of quotes is like compulsively eating a bowl of salty peanuts. The cover pretty much explains the book.
Showing posts with label jon winokur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jon winokur. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2022
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Items from the Wish List: Clean-Up on Aisle Ten
Rack Toys: Cheap Crazed Playthings by Brian Heiler, Matt Patterson
Colorful packaging hanging from your pharmacists or grocer s
shelves, designed to entice you while you sat in your parents shopping cart.
Often terribly made, these strange playthings were low priced enough to wear
down even the most frugal adult and were most likely forgotten or broken by the
time you left the parking lot. – Amazon.
Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia
of Christmas-Themed Episodes, Specials and Made-for-TV Movies by Joanna Wilson
Tis the Season TV is the comprehensive encyclopedia of Christmas
television programming. Author Joanna Wilson has compiled thousands of
Christmas-themed television episodes, specials and TV movies from the history
of television and placed them at your fingertips in an easy-to-use guide. This
nostalgic reference book is a wonderful holiday resource covering everything
from All in the Family to Ziggy's Gift. – Amazon.
The Christmas TV Companion: a Guide
to Cult Classics, Strange Specials and Outrageous Oddities by Joanna Wilson
Christmas on TV is wilder, weirder, and more
wondrous than you think! The Christmas TV Companion is a
funny, engaging look beyond the same Christmas specials that air every year to
the cult TV rarities, over-the-top made-for-TV holiday specials, and bizarre,
spacey shows that truly expand the notion of Christmas spirit. Loaded with pop
culture references, this book is sure to please pop aficionados and TV junkies
of all stripes. Its remarkable breadth of content covers the far-out gems of
yesterday, as well as the irreverent and cutting edge Christmas material of
today, from Arthur C. Clarke to South Park, and from Ed Sullivan
to Squidbillies. This guide also contains practical examples for
enhancing your own Christmas TV viewing. – Amazon.
Life And Adventures Of Santa
Claus/Nestor The Christmas Donkey (Double Feature) Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr. (DVD)
Wanted mainly for the adaptation of L. Frank Baum's book. Love that opening chant, "Ora e Sempre (Today and Forever)"!
The Complete Fairy Tales of the
Brothers Grimm All-New Third Edition by Jacob
Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
Perhaps no other stories possess as much power to enchant,
delight, and surprise as those penned by the immortal Brothers Grimm. Now, in
the new, expanded third edition, renowned scholar and folklorist Jack Zipes has
translated all 250 tales collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm,
plus twenty-nine rare tales omitted from the original German edition, as well
as narratives uncovered in the brothers’ letters and papers. – Amazon. Had a copy that I gave to my nephew Kameron.
Vaesen by Johan Egerkrans
"They may not look like us, but they are not of this
world. They have many names and many guises. They are elusive, bewitching and
dangerous." Johan Egerkrans’ collection of creatures from the Scandinavian
folklore has become a crossover phenomenon. The dark forests, deep lakes and
vast mountain ranges of Scandinavia are home to a multitude of supernatural
beings. They are known as the little people, the invisibles, or simply the fair
folk. When someone vanishes in the woods, when the milk curdles over night,
when strange noises are heard in the loft or when an unexplained ailment strikes,
it is said to be the work of such entities. Some of these creatures appear all
over Europe: ghosts, giants, dragons, trolls, werewolves and faeries. Others
are endemic to Scandinavia, such as the Neck who rules the rivers, the nightly
Mara, the Huldra who guards the forest, tomtar, mylings and many others. Author
and illustrator Johan Egerkrans presents what he regards as the most important
– and most fascinating – Scandinavian folkloric beings. This richly
illustrated, well-informed collection, a bestseller in Swedish, is now
available in English for an international audience. “Egerkrans does what is
most important: he writes because he himself loves his topic, with great
respect for the reader. This is a book to return to, read parts of many times,
and keep on the bookshelf for a long time.” Dagens Nyheter “A book that, which
is not always the case, takes both the topic and its readers seriously. That
you can return to and immerse yourself in. Even be carried away by.”
Göteborgs-Posten Author and illustrator Johan Egerkrans presents what he
regards as the most important – and most fascinating – Scandinavian folkloric
beings. This richly illustrated, well-informed collection, a bestseller in
Swedish, is now available in English for an international audience. – Amazon.
On the theory that an account of a pleasant journey is best
not thrust upon friends and strangers, that a disaster makes for a more
entertaining story, here is a gathering of quotes, commentary, and anecdotes
about the travails of travel, the downright strangeness of foreign places, and
rueful encounters on the road. Abetted by a parade of well-known curmudgeons,
Jon Winokur offers a thousand reasons not to go there. The Traveling Curmudgeon
proves that travel and all things related to going from here to there --
destinations, the locals, the tourists, the food, the accommodations, and, oh
my god, the souvenirs we drag home -- are all grist for a very entertaining
mill. – Amazon.
The Big Curmudgeon: 2,500 Outrageously
Irreverent Quotations from World-Class Grumps and Cantankerous Commentators by Jon Winokur
The author of the wildly successful Portable
Curmudgeon and Portable Curmudgeon Redux outdoes
himself in the biggest collection yet of acid wit and wisdom cunningly
collected from sardonic savants of every stripe.
A curmudgeon is defined as 1. A crusty, ill-tempered, churlish old man; 2.
Anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; or 3.
anyone who points out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous
manner. The Big Curmudgeon is the richest collection yet of
curmudgeonly commentary, combining all of the material from the
bestselling Portable Curmudgeon and Portable
Curmudgeon Redux, plus selections from A Curmudgeon’s Garden of
Love—and lots of brand-new quips, quotations, and wisdom freshly collected
by compiler extraordinaire, Jon Winokur.
Arranged alphabetically by subject and featuring special sections on such
world-class grumps as H.L. Mencken, John Simon, W.C. Fields, and Dorothy
Parker, the book is the last witty word on all things cynical, snide, and
hilariously grouchy.
Equally suited to the "humor" and "reference"
sections, The Big Curmudgeon is filled with the pithiest,
smartest things ever said by the wittiest people who ever lived. – Amazon.
Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection
Starring Ellen Muth, Laura Harris (DVD)
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Curmudgeons and Other Geniuses
The Portable Curmudgeon, The Portable Curmudgeon Redux, and A
Curmudgeon’s Garden of Love, Compiled and Edited by Jon Winokur.
These three little books gather together the crankiest, most
grouchy, and most stingingly witty remarks ever made about everything. Winokur
makes a distinction between the cynic and the curmudgeon, in that the
curmudgeon actually cares about the genuine emotions behind the pretensions he
is pricking. A collection of quirky quotations what make you laugh and think,
dunnit? Last two volumes illustrated with caricatures by Everett Peck.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Quotations. Humor. Hardback.
The Rich Are Different, Compiled and Edited by John Winokur
A compilation of quotes by and about the rich and their
lifestyle, by the Curmudgeon himself. “This book did not begin as an exercise
in rich-bashing. Nor was it intended to be a cornucopia of wretched excess. It
just turned out that way.”
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code. Quotations. Hardback.
Binky’s Guide to Love, by Matt Groening.
Teeny tiny little eye-strain-o-vision volume of wry
examinations on love by the writer of “Life in Hell”. Perhaps his last humorous
belch before he was consumed by the money-lined maw of the industry.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Cartoons. Hardback.
The Age of Shakespeare, by Francoise Larocque.
An Abrams Discoveries book, small but hefty and full of
glossy reproductions of art connected with that era of English history. Has not
only a precis by Larocque but also contains a short scrapbook of what has been
said of Shakespeare by the famous and influential through the years. Beautiful
and informative.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: History. Literature. Art. Softcover.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance, by Alessandro
Vezzosi.
An Abrams Discoveries book, small but hefty and full of
glossy reproductions of art connected with the Renaissance. Has not only a
precis by Vezzosi but also contains a short scrapbook of what has been said of da
Vinci by the famous and influential through the years. Beautiful and
informative. (Sound familiar?)
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Art. History. Biography. Softcover.
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