Fact, Fiction, or Just Plain Funny?

Hi there!

Welcome back to…well, you know where you are, or you should anyway…and if you don’t perhaps you need to step away from the computer.  Away I say!

What’s with the snarkiness of today’s post?  I know, I know…not my usual style, but neither is the book I’m featuring and well, let’s just say some of it can rub off on you (or rub you the wrong way…take your pick).  Without further fanfare and whoop-de-doo-ing because really, who needs it?  Today’s book of choice...selected work…printed protégé from an author who should have known better (but didn’t because hey, it’s funny AND it sells!)….

The Internet is a Playground:

Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius

By

David Thorne

*WARNING*  All of today’s snarky remarks and slightly grayish humor should be taken with a grain of salt (or sugar if you prefer).  They are intended to be made in good humor in light of the featured title and any offense caused to readers was unintended…unless you laughed, then THAT was intentional.*

Perhaps you’ve been to this author’s website before and witnessed his work first hand…than again, perhaps not.  Hey, I don’t know what you do all day? To gain a little insight on him, in his own words (from the ARC back cover bio)…”..he reads too much, generally exceeds others’ tolerances, and listens to Linkin Park.  He stays up too late, drinks too much coffee, smokes too much, hates getting up in the morning, and has offspring who thinks he doesn’t know what he has been up to when he deletes his Internet history.”

Yeah…that sounds about right…or at least it does once you’ve read his work.  This is not a book to be taken seriously (hence the Humor genre in which it resides) but it is a book to be taken one sip at a time much like a dose of ill tasting medicine…you know it’s good for you, but it doesn’t change the fact that it can taste like the drippings from an oil pan.  There are many topics covered within ranging from the benign to the OMG-you-did-not-just-write-about-that.  

“Bill’s Guide to Everything on the Internet” is a condensed version of our multitude of social, search and shopping outlets with a penchant for the KISS method (stands for “Keep It Simple…Sally – well, in polite circles it is…) of description.  Are they accurate?  Some are (surprisingly) but mostly it’s just for kicks…or is it?  (dun dun dunnnnn) Jetting forward some dozen pages we unearth “Ten Jobs I Would Rather Have Than Mine” that reveals the particular wonders of one day becoming a Fortune Cookie Writer (if you get a message from the future about a robot invasion in your next one…you know he met this aspiration) as well as a Forest Fire Lookout (though I’d be scared if he achieved this one…O-O), and everything in between (well not everything because then it would be called “A Million Jobs I’d Rather Have….”).  Perhaps my favorite “conversation” in the collection is actually the first one you encounter about an overdue balance, an inability (or blatant refusal) to pay, and a drawing of a spider.  LOL…I’m chuckling as I recall it right now…and getting strange looks from a passerby.  *ahem*



Author David Thorne



Overall, a fun and funny filled read that I understood about 50% of the time…sorry, not everyone’s humor level revolves around a conversation about what type of monkey would be most useful.  Yeahhhh.  Scariest part?  The introduction lists that the email conversations included…are all…verbatim.  O-O  I’ll let you digest that for a minute.  *tick*tock*tick*tock*  Might make you a little more wary the next time you send something out into the virtual black hole we call the Web.  Anywho…recommended for older teens through adult readers.  There is some questionable humor and offensive language, so it’s best to keep this one away from the kiddos.  Just tell them the spider on the front will come to life if they touch it….

This little beauty was released in 2010 from Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin Group USA, and won via Shelf Awareness. (THANKS!)  To pick up your own bright and shiny (okay, black and new?) copy of this book, visit a local bookstore near you or if you prefer, one of the multiple strands of the Web dangling before your eyes (okay, not literally…but pull up Google and believe me, they’ll dangle).  For more information on the author or publisher, feel free to click on the links embedded throughout the post…I promise, they won’t lead anywhere questionable…well, not too anyway.

Until next time…happy whatever-it-is-you-think-you’re-doing (...and happy reading!).

^_^

Deja Vue: It's Friday...and time for (Another) Giveaway!

Happy Friday!

So...how did your week go?

Read anything good?

Oops, my bad...of COURSE you did...hopefully you shared it with me as well; if not, my wish list is always looking for a few good titles.  Anywho...it's the end of another week and its time for a little fun, deja vue style.  How so?  Oh, you'll see, but first, a little picture share from my page-a-day calendar that is just PERFECT for today's post...really, it is...just look below...

See?

Told ya!
Seems to me this little guy might need to read today's bookish prize even more than I.  Luckily, I've already read it (and rather enjoyed it...*ahem* my review just in case you're curious....) but now it's time to share the bookish love with all of you.  If you recall (see, we're getting to the deja vue moment here), last Friday we started up a contest to win a $75 gift card from CSNStores.com (which is still accepting entries) and Monday held your chance to win a Wereling prize package from Feiwel and Friends (also still open)...lots of contest goodness, just check the right hand sidebar for the links!  This time around...you have a chance to win 1 of 2 ARCs of the recently released title The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart, thanks to the wonderful folks over at Tarcher/Penguin.  (THANKS GUYS!)

Entries will be accepted starting today (02/04/11) through Monday February 21st, 2011.  Why the 21st?  Good question.  The first tweet on Twitter was on March 21st, 2006.  Don't believe me?  I thought you might feel that way.  I discovered the information here and to see the tweet from Creator, Co-founder, and Chairman of Twitter yourself, click here. 

*waits*

Ah, so NOW you believe me.  That means that according to my calculations...I was SO far behind in the social media game when I joined in 2009, it isn't even funny.  Okay, okay, so it is funny to a degree, but let's not dwell on that now, I mean red is not a great color for me (at least for my face) and we have a contest to enter here.  Focus!  FOCUS!  We will celebrate the first tweet ever by closing the contest a month before the 5th anniversary of that tweet-storical date.  Sound good?  What...you're still asking why I tied it to this event?  *shakes head* (~mutters~ ...curious readers now aren't you...)  It seemed like a great way to play up the plugged versus unplugged "connection".  (Ha!  Get it "connection" and plugged...okay, moving on...)  Here's the scoop....

The prize:

1 of 2 ARC copies of...

The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart

How to enter:

Just fill out THIS FORM and TADA...you're entered.

Bonus entries?

You got it...in fact the options will be listed on the form, but to get the ball rolling, let me reveal one of those options now.  I want you to put your thinking caps on....got it?  Are they on?  Okay, good.  Now think of YOUR favorite way to "unplug"...and share it in the comments section of this post.

It can be reading, writing, whatever it is that you do that is NOT online...that mean no iPhone, iPad, or any other "i", "e", "o"(you get the picture) is involved with this activity or lack thereof.

The rules...

*Open to US/Canada mailing addresses only!  No P. O. Boxes please.

* Entries will be accepted from Friday, February 4th, 2011 through Monday, February 21st, 2011 at midnight CST.  The entries will be tallied and entered into the random.org randomizer, after which a random number will be picked by their number generator.  (This way all the entries are mixed up nicely.)

* All entries must be submitted using the form accessible through this post.  You MUST include your email address in order to be counted as well as contacted should you be chosen as the winner!

*The winners will be announced and contacted via email by Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 and have 48 hours to respond with their mailing information.  Should you decide to include that optional information in your entry, no worries...the time frame issue is erased.

*Mailing information will be used by yours truly for prize send out only and then discarded.

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There you have it!

Ready...set....GO!

Until next time...happy (unplugged) reading!