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CHUD Book Club Poll- Choose Our Next Assignment

post #1 of 45
11/10/08 at 1:30pm
Thread Starter 

or


Personally, I'm torn.
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post #2 of 45
11/10/08 at 2:28pm
I'm not seeing any Dan Simmons on your list. What gives?
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post #3 of 45
11/10/08 at 2:39pm
Is Artie Lange taking a dump in that picture?
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post #4 of 45
11/10/08 at 2:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suttytx View Post
I'm not seeing any Dan Simmons on your list. What gives?
As soon as he writes a memoir involving cocaine and golden showers he'll earn a spot.
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post #5 of 45
11/10/08 at 3:11pm
I Hate Your Guts for me. Lange's I can wait on until paperback but I plan on owning all of Norton's first editions.
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post #6 of 45
11/10/08 at 3:54pm
Too Fat to Fish for me.
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post #7 of 45
11/10/08 at 4:10pm
I'm leaning toward I Hate Your Guts, but I want to finish the George Carlin omnibus that I'm currently reading (150 pages in...only 700 or 800 to go!) before I pick up anything else.
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post #8 of 45
11/10/08 at 5:53pm
Holy shit, could that be any tougher of a decision? After much carping, Lange for me.
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post #9 of 45
11/10/08 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
I'm leaning Lange as well. If I read it for free in B&N I'll just look like some kind of uncouth dirtbag. But the Norton book will make me look like a pedo. So I'll just wait until that one hits the library. They understand me there.
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post #10 of 45
12/3/08 at 12:36pm
Only 60 pages in, but Norton's new tome is a triumph of mean-spiritedness.
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post #11 of 45
4/21/09 at 12:43pm
Thread Starter 
Too Fat To Fish is okay, but I've heard most of these stories on Stern already. Also, Artie obviously doesn't have much personal insight in regards to his addictions. So outside of the funny anecdotes there's nothing else of interest.
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post #12 of 45
4/21/09 at 12:52pm
I enjoyed Too Fat quite a bit. Some of the stories I had heard on Stern but a lot of it was new to me. I was aware of his Dad's accident but reading about all the particulars was brutal. Plus, as a hardcore DIRTY WORK fan I was enthralled by the chapter devoted to the making of the film.

But after reading them both I Hate Your Guts was indeed the better of the two. So hilariously hateful.

These book clubs are fun.
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post #13 of 45
4/21/09 at 12:53pm
Similar vein (get it??), but a decent read as well:



The stuff about his childhood pets eating their own young and babysitters molesting him is less bittersweet than you'd think!
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post #14 of 45
4/21/09 at 12:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moltisanti View Post
Only 60 pages in, but Norton's new tome is a triumph of mean-spiritedness.
This is a magical coincidence! I just happened to order "Happy Endings". I haven't been able to hear Opie and Anthony since they went off the air the most recent time. I also am looking forward to his next book, "I Hate Your Guts" which talks about some of my favorite topics Norton has discussed at length on the show, including "Reverend Al Sharpton, Scumbag Extraordinaire", "Al Roker: Eat like a Whale, Blog like a Bitch", and "Steve Martin- A Real Piece of Merde"
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post #15 of 45
4/21/09 at 1:03pm
You can't go wrong with either Happy Endings or I Hate Your Guts. The last stand-up special Norton did was a bust for me, but his books are ambrosial.
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post #16 of 45
4/21/09 at 2:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moltisanti View Post
I was aware of his Dad's accident but reading about all the particulars was brutal.
Something that he left out, probably because it was speculation-
On Stern he once talked about he suspected his dad may have had a friend euthanize him that night. This followed a particularly funny story about his dad getting his ass wiped by a flamboyantly gay male nurse.
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post #17 of 45
4/21/09 at 2:25pm
Thread Starter 
I dunno know, Phil. If I have to choose between that or the new Don Rickles...
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post #18 of 45
4/21/09 at 2:58pm
What's the word on Steve Harvey's book? That thing is a juggernaut. He must really have his finger on the pulse of modern relationships.
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post #19 of 45
4/21/09 at 5:23pm
Thread Starter 
I heard it puts Paul Reiser's entire series to shame.
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post #20 of 45
4/21/09 at 6:07pm
The lady who cuts my hair said Steve Harvey's book was hella good.
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post #21 of 45
4/24/09 at 9:30am
Thread Starter 
Attention Rath: I've found your next favorite book.


What's great about this memoir is it has practically no structure. It's a freeform collection of anecdotes with no story arc, no chronology, no rhyme or reason. Many times you have to reread the opening of a paragraph because he's gone from telling an SNL story from 1978 to telling an unrelated anecdote from ten years later. The stories are mundane or interesting or laugh out loud funny. My favorite chapter was a collection stories about his slow downfall at SNL. There's some good Lorne Michaels stuff here.
Worth looking into. And the best part is you don't have to commit to the whole book.
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post #22 of 45
4/24/09 at 9:36am
I almost bought that a couple of weeks ago. Since I just re-read Mr. Mike, I think I might have to check it out. I'm a sucker for good SNL stories.
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post #23 of 45
4/24/09 at 10:05am
You've read Live From New York, right Rath?
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post #24 of 45
6/3/09 at 4:32pm
As I am currently lacking the balls to dive into Infinite Jest, I'm going to read something short in the interim. Looking at my shelf, I have it narrowed to either:

Alex Garland's (The Beach, Sunshine) The Tesseract, or

Ron Hansen's (The Assassination of Jesse James BTCRF) Atticus.

Both seem like decent fodder for the withered husk that is the book club, so I will put it up to you. First to get 2 votes wins the prize.
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post #25 of 45
6/3/09 at 4:39pm
I was going to do the Infinite Summer thing! Sheeeit. Maybe I can read one of these alongside Jest.
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post #26 of 45
6/3/09 at 5:02pm
Thread Starter 
I don't think Schwartz understands what this thread has become.
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post #27 of 45
6/3/09 at 5:03pm
Yes, because he didn't suggest Dennis Leary's "Why We Suck".
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post #28 of 45
6/3/09 at 5:04pm
Thread Starter 
To steer us back on course:
Avoid this book like it were death itself. Rickles' GIMME A BREAK appearances were funnier than this. I don't even think he wrote it.
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post #29 of 45
6/3/09 at 6:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobClark View Post
I don't think Schwartz understands what this thread has become.
Dead?
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post #30 of 45
6/3/09 at 6:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobClark View Post
To steer us back on course:
Avoid this book like it were death itself. Rickles' GIMME A BREAK appearances were funnier than this. I don't even think he wrote it.
That's disheartening, as I read a description that included this passage from Rickles' letter to Queen Elizabeth:

Quote:
Is it true your husband has a day job working at a sword factory?
I don't even know what that means but it made me chuckle. Are you saying the whole book doesn't keep up that rapid fire style of humor?
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post #31 of 45
6/3/09 at 7:13pm
Thread Starter 
Watch the Landis documentary instead. It's on Hulu. The first ten minutes, showing how he opens his act, is downright sublime.
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post #32 of 45
6/3/09 at 7:16pm
I've seen it a couple of times. Loved it. The stuff between Carson and him was just grand.

I'd love to see a follow up doc exclusively about Rickles and Bob Newhart going on vacation together with their wives.
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post #33 of 45
9/30/09 at 1:35pm
Thread Starter 
Finally got my hands on a copy of I HATE YOUR GUTS. Halfway through it and I can safely say Jimmy Norton has replaced Erma Bombeck as America's most vital and endearing memoirist.
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post #34 of 45
9/30/09 at 1:52pm
The chapter on the Oscars is just magic.
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post #35 of 45
10/1/09 at 9:47am
Thread Starter 
I'm fonder of the simpler tales of humiliation. The "mugging" in New Brunswick is hilarious.
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post #36 of 45
10/1/09 at 4:06pm
Is that the tale of the thug stealing the cap off his head, and he snatched it back really fast and bashfully said "If you wanted to see my hat, all you had to do was ask!"

UGH that made my heart hurt to read!
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post #37 of 45
10/1/09 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 
Better!
When he was 13 he and a friend are approached by a young "thug" on the street. He asks if they have money, then asks to see it and they just give it to him.

Of course the humor of this tale is all in the telling.
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post #38 of 45
10/1/09 at 4:32pm
That was good too! I think my favorite chapter was the one on Keith Olbermann. What a scumbag! Have you read Happy Endings? I liked that one a little bit more.
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post #39 of 45
10/1/09 at 4:38pm
Thread Starter 
Haven't got to Olbermann yet.
I liked Happy Endings better too because it has more embarrassing true life tales.
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post #40 of 45
10/1/09 at 5:03pm
I'd give the edge to Endings, but there were still some solid embarrassing tales in Guts.

Loved reading how disgusted he made himself during his attempt to be photographed with Derek Jeter.
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post #41 of 45
10/8/09 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 
Attention Moltisanti:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=113538358

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post #42 of 45
10/8/09 at 12:47pm
I don't know, I saw Shaffer actually appear as a guest the other night on Letterman to plug the book. I'm tempted to put it on my Christmas list, but is he really gonna dish it up?
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post #43 of 45
10/8/09 at 12:50pm
Thread Starter 
I understand he and Poppa John Phillips were close...
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post #44 of 45
10/8/09 at 12:53pm
If this goes into the behind-the-scenes of late 70's era SNL and the Late Night show at NBC, I'll be all over this.
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post #45 of 45
12/8/09 at 12:56pm
Thread Starter 


Ultimately kind of lame. It's about comedians who came up in the LA club scene of the late 70's, specifically the ones who went on "strike" against one club. It's a lopsided account by someone clearly on the side of the comedians. But if you wanted learn all about the early lean days of Jay Leno, Richard Lewis and Elayne Boosler this is for you.

Isn't there a better book on this subject out there? One thatw as written recently? Surely Rath would know...
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