Book Review: Number One is Walking: My Life in Movies and Other Diversions by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss

Number One is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions
by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss (Biography Martin)

Comedian/actor/musician/writer Steve Martin and cartoonist Harry Bliss team up for a second collaborative book, following their 2020 release, A Wealth of Pigeons.

 

This time, it’s even more autobiographical than it was the last time. The first 60% of the book is Steve Martin’s reminiscences about his years in the motion picture industry, where he made over 40 films before ultimately becoming disenchanted with the film-making process and walking away. This portion of the book is told through a series of cartoons of Steve and Harry taking a walk with Harry’s (talking) dog, and Steve throwing out bits and pieces of memories, which Harry then illustrates. The book is crammed with dry, wry humor and fond memories. And Harry’s artwork, while occasionally fanciful, also includes absolutely stunning recreations of many of Steve’s co-stars or the other celebrities in whose orbit he occasionally found himself.

 

The latter 40% of the book is a collection of (mostly) single-panel cartoons co-created by both Martin and Bliss — which feel very much like Bliss’ frequent contributions to the New Yorker magazine.

 

I enjoyed Number One is Walking a great deal, and constantly found myself in awe of Harry Bliss’ ability to capture the essence and personalities of so many recognizable entertainers and celebrities in a few simple brush strokes. However, as much as I enjoyed reading this, I left this book feeling like I wanted more than I was given…it feels very lightweight, especially in comparison to most celebrity biographies. On the other hand, even if each of Steve’s show biz memories is only 2-4 pages long, the artwork brings them all to life! So…it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try A Wealth of Pigeons by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss, or the autobiography Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, or possibly Steve’s humor book, The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten. The Tweets of Steve Martin.)

 

( official Harry Bliss web site ) | ( official Steve Martin web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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Book Review: Death Wins a Goldfish: Reflections From a Grim Reaper's Yearlong Sabbatical by Brian Rea

Death Wins a Goldfish: Reflections From a Grim Reaper’s Yearlong Sabbatical
by Brian Rea (741.5 Rea)

Death receives notice from Human Resources that he has scads of vacation time and MUST use it. So he’s forced to take off work for the next year. Death decides to keep a journal of his thoughts and activities while he’s vacationing. This is actually a humor (comic, graphic novel) book about work-life balance — who knew that topic would be funny, poignant, and sweet?

 

Pay close attention to the illustrations. You’ll find lots of unexpected humor. I loved Death’s rabbit slippers which aren’t really rabbits (or maybe they are?) but are skulls. Be sure to read the author’s introduction, which is equally laugh-out-loud.

 

Death Wins a Goldfish is a very quick read and I was sorry when it was over.

[ official Brian Rea web site ]

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Adulthood is a Myth: A Sarah's Scribbles Collection by Sarah Andersen

Adulthood is a Myth: A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection
by Sarah Andersen [741.5 And]

I’d seen various friends sharing single examples of the Sarah’s Scribbles webcomic in their social media — Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. — and enjoyed Sarah Andersen’s wry, self-deprecating humor. So, when I saw this oversized collection of her work on the library’s “new books” display, I couldn’t pass it up. Andersen is a member of the Millenials generation, and pokes a lot of fun at all the standard Millenial tropes. There are themes that run through many of the strips or stand-alone panels included in this volume. I found myself smiling or laughing frequently, however, I also found a lot of her art to be uncomfortably or awkwardly amateurish, so I have a hard time giving it a full recommendation. The introduction of her rabbit character was fascinating — I found myself really enjoying the strips in which the rabbit appears. All in all, this is lightly amusing, with some serious looks at Millenial attitudes — If you like the online Sarah’s Scribbles comics, you’ll love this. If you prefer your artwork a little more…polished…you have have reservations about this one.

[ official Sarah’s Scribbles web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Ice Cream and Sadness by Kris Wilson and others

Ice Cream and Sadness
by Kris Wilson and othrs [741.5 Wil]

This latest collection from the web comic “Cyanide and Happiness”, created by several different artists/writers working together, captures the sarcasm and occasionally sick sense of humor of the comic series perfectly. These artists work on taking standard presumptions about jokes and humor, and putting unexpected twists on them — a punch line that would normally be a “feel good” line turns into something that makes you wince or cringe even. If your sense of humor is open-minded and willing to be bent in strange directions, you’ll probably appreciate this collection and the ongoing web comic. If you prefer more traditional humor strips, you’ll probably want to avoid this one!

[If you like this item, you might like these too – The web comics (and related print collections) by The Oatmeal and possible xkcd.] [ official Cyanide & Happiness web comic site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Star Trek Newspaper Comics, Volume 1: 1979-1981 by Thomas Warkentin

Star Trek Newspaper Comics, Volume 1: 1979-1981
by Thomas Warkentin [741.5 War]

This book is a collection of Star Trek newspaper comic strips. I didn’t know there was such a thing till I found this book. The comic didn’t run for very long so there is only this volume and one more. The original series is my favorite and this collection features the original crew characters of Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty. There are about ten separate stories in this first volume. I really enjoyed it. It felt like reading new episodes of the show; the characters and moods of the stories felt the same. It’s like an extension of the show, movies and the animated series rather than something completely different, but at the same time, the storylines were new. I would highly recommend this book to Star Trek fans, particularly of the original series, or of the new movies with Chris Pine.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz or The Original Series on DVD.] [ entry for this book at the Library of American Comics site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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What's So Funny? My Hilarious Life

What's So Funny? My Hilarious Life
by Tim Conway [Biography Conway]

Tim Conway has cracked me (and probably literally millions of people) up for decades so I was delighted to see that he put out this memoir last year. It is a funny and gentle read, with a large helping of quirky thrown in. He and his immigrant parents personify the American Dream of working hard, being successful eventually, and living a happy life. I was amused to find that Tim, born "Toma", gets much of his off-the-wall personality from his parents, a tall Irish groomsman and a short Romanian-American housekeeper and seamstress. And I was surprised to learn that Tim has a wide range of educational and occupational experiences -- radio DJ, tailor, baker, army clerk, -- and he played several sports, too. And, of course, Tim reminisces about his wonderful years with the gang from the Carol Burnett Show. How can you not love a guy who would make a suitcoat and tie for himself out of the same plaid material that covered his home office walls for a "where's Tim" gag? -- recommended by Becky W.C. - Walt Branch Library [ see Becky's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try This time together: Laughter and Reflections by Carol Burnett; My lucky life in and out of show businessThe Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers.]

[Also available in Large Print format.]

[ official Tim Conway web site ]

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Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Born Standing Up
by Steve Martin [Biography Martin]

The book ranges from his youth working at Disneyland — handing out guidebooks, working in a joke shop, putting on magic shows, — then on to acting in shows at Knott's Berry Farm. During these years he also branched out, performing at a variety of clubs integrating comedy and magic. Once he got the hang of it he was hired and wrote jokes for the Smothers Brother Show and also the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. After performing many times for Johnny Carson he was hired to host Saturday Night Live where he was famous for being a Wild and Crazy Guy — among other things. Once that started he realized that he was getting too famous and began feeling isolated — he couldn?t go anywhere without being recognized and when he couldn't take it anymore, he quit standup completely. He got closer with his parents who health was quickly declining and began working on movies because they were less stressful. It's an excellent read, less than 200 pages, so it goes by quickly. It also has a lot of cool photos of Steve through the years. You learn a lot about his personal life which I don't want to spoil for you but I would highly recommend it. -- recommended by Carrie K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Ten, Make that Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make that Ten, also by Steve Martin, which is a collection of his Tweets and some of those written by his followers.]

[Also available in book-on-cd format.]

[ official Steve Martin web site ]

 Have you seen this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!