My Planet: Finding Humor In The Oddest Places (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
I can't believe this is the same woman who wrote Packing for Mars, which I enjoyed so much. I'm going to blame it on the Reader's Digest 500 word limitation.A few well-said lines of humor could not make up for the banality of the stories. The length of each essay didn't permit any insight or even an entire story to be told, leaving each topic just as it was getting off the ground, each ending with a lame joke that referenced the beginning of the story. Here's a summary of one story, a "Reader's Digest version," if you will: She likes staying at hotels during book tours, but the showers are all different, and one time the shower curtains blew open, and she got water all over the bathroom floor. The maid tried to come in just then, so she didn't let her, and cleaned up the bathroom. That's it, that's the story. Comedy is to be found in everyday absurdities, but come on, this is too bland. I was also distracted by how many cliches about women and men were the central theses of these tales, over of half of which had a premise summarized by lines like "The American male will always choose to watch sports over spending time with his chatty wife" or "It is common knowledge that all women lack the building-things gene." These kinds of boring observations of 90's TV sitcoms (of the lower quality variety) were not what I expected from the journalist who delivered the science of space travel to me in such a thoughtful and funny way.Two stars simply for the few lines that gave me a chuckle. In Mary's book My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places it had some really funny moments, but was mostly an O.K read. Perhaps too much focus on her husband, Ed, was its downfall at times. The 42 Minutes and Holding was my absolute favourite among these short articles and it was very apt. I found I share the same scientific weather reporting system as Mrs Roach, so not alone."This consists of a) opening the bedroom window, and b) sticking my arm out and waving it around. It is important to wave it around , so as to get a proper air sample and to keep the neighbors wondering."
What do You think about My Planet: Finding Humor In The Oddest Places (2013)?
Pretty hilarious! Author is very witty, and the humor is relatable and wholesome.
—khalil
