Welcome to Litsy!

I discovered this title on our Air BnB bookshelf while we were in Maine. Naturally I had to download the audiobook which is the main way I consumed this one. I wasn‘t familiar with Hogman prior to this, but he‘s a humorist and actor as well. He‘s self deprecating throughout the book and most of the chapters are about his family‘s vacation homes (plural!) with one touching chapter about his mother. Entertaining enough, low pick.

My whole family enjoyed Hodgman's dry humor and his take on New England culture during our travels through Maine. They preferred this to the Stephen King we started with; I feel unaccountably pleased that they resonate with GenX humor. Hodgman is a little name-droppy, but self-consciously so, which I can excuse.

🎧 This book has been in my audio list for like three years, and I finally went for it…and was delighted!

I‘d only barely heard of John Hodgman before reading this book, but many know of him from The Daily Show and his podcasts. He is an excellent storyteller!

I laughed a lot, and I highly recommended this - especially in audio format. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

End of summer read. I love John Hodgman‘s observations of aging, Maine and western Mass. Essays on family and work and garbage. The audio is great too!

1. Short Answer: 2
Long Answer: If we travel by car, I‘ll bring 2 to read, and my tbr for the month + anything location related for Bookstagram/Litsygram purposes.
If things go right I‘ll be bringing more home with me.

2. Yes. I‘m a paper person.

Thanks for the tag @EadieB !
Thanks for asking @TheSpineView !
👉 I tag anyone else who wants to share!
#Two4Tuesday

1. As many as firs on my kindle. 😂
2. Depends on what kind of vacation. Visiting family - 1 or 2. An actual vacation - none.

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

My first Hodgman read, and wow, what a delight! It doesn‘t hurt that these stories all swirl around one of my favorite places, Maine. Looking forward to reading more, but this on audio is great, if you‘re into audiobooks!

Just back from two weeks of camping, seeing Niagara Falls, and visiting family, with no reading whatsoever. Going to ease back into it with the morning paper before diving back into the Wheel of Time.

Listened to this one, which is the way to go. Hodgman is a storyteller.

I am just waiting on one more thing to arrive to me for the #staycationintimeswap package I will be sending out hopefully it arrives this week. @Chrissyreadit

I was expecting this book to be about the author‘s tales of vacations gone awry from the title and subtitle but quickly grasped that this was not the case. Hodgman‘s book encompasses his youth as an awkward kid, the death of his mother and his grappling with middle age in addition to tales of family vacations in New England. His offbeat sense of humor added much to the book and I remain a fan many years after watching him on The Daily Show.

Some pearls were gleaned from this one.

Coffee in bed and a little comic relief is a great recipe for dealing with 2020.

Home from vacation! Also known as the universal “excuse-to-buy-all-the-books” (and yarn). See any you like? I‘m on a mission to replace as many paperbacks as I can with hardbacks...especially classics.

#bookhaul #vacationhaul #knittersoflitsy

Very fun flowery language. So self aware, warts and all.

Picked this up at a local bookstore that‘s going out of business. I‘ve heard good things!

Very droll, sarcastic and self-deprecating humor. I recommend the audiobook because Hodgman's narration makes the book really shine. 4 💥💥💥💥

Seventh and final book for #24B4Extended

@Andrew65 @SumisBooks @jb72

My husband is NOT an audiobook fan, but we had a long drive this weekend to attend out of state wedding and I wanted to listen to something other than music. Downloaded this and it was a success! Kept his attention and I even caught him giggling a few times 😀

“Everything ends; nothing lasts”

Really liked this. It made me laugh and is remarkably self aware, which is good because it could have been unbearable. Fun but quirky.

“I do not have a sweet tooth, I have an alcohol molar.”

Oh this book is making me laugh!

Not what I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it. I thought the humor landed somewhere between Bill Bryson and David Sedaris (but closer to Bryson). But it was also serious at times, reflecting on what it means to be financially successful, male, and white, while living in Maine (evidently not known for its diversity). It felt honest rather than for show, and for all his talk of being a narcissist, the tone is pleasantly self-deprecating.

Day 4 #7days7covers. I haven‘t read this one yet but felt this was an eye catching cover.

NB fauna. #vacationlamd

Obligatory jelly fish picture. #vacationland

Rained out morning. #vacationland #sologaming

Wood church, painted by hand by the curate, Lamèque Island, NB. #vacationland

1. Scattered vacationland.
2. Litsy, Samsung Health, and Pokemon Go.
3. Vegetables of some sort.
4. This is my niece Lauren.
5. @kspenmoll @FantasyChick @Lacey
#wondrouswednesday @eggs

This was very entertaining.

The most hilarious book I‘ve read in years. I laughed out loud so many times, nodded with my whole body in the silent-crying-laughter of agreement, and actually even sobbed in one instance. I need more John Hodgman in my life. (December 2018)

Like Hodgeman, I am from Western Massachusetts, or western Western Massachusetts, as I grew up in the Berkshires. Rural dumps, swimming holes, hahaha! He‘s amusing the heck out of me.

There is no mansplaining like white mansplaining, because white mansplaining don't stop.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Just look at this pretty cover! Admittedly, I hadn‘t previously heard of John Hodgman. After a quick Google, I realized I knew him not from The Daily Show (because I never watched) nor from NPR‘s This American Life, but from the “Get a Mac” Apple campaign several years ago. 🤦🏼‍♀️

I like this brand of dry, offbeat humor (think watered-down David Sedaris), and quite enjoyed the audio version, narrated by the author.

▶️🎧 #libby #audiobook

This is right up my alley. I recently bought this in paperback, but decided to give it a listen instead. Hodgman‘s narration is 👌🏻👌🏻.

I thought this one was only so-so. I didn‘t think it was funny and it kind of annoyed me to hear about his two vacation homes. It‘s possible that I missed the humor because I listened to it at twice the normal speed.

Even if New York paid just a dime a dozen for dumb dreamers like me, the city would go bankrupt in twenty-five minutes.

This was recommended to me when I asked for audiobook recs on Tumblr. I was able to get it from the library so I checked it out and I am glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Love that the author narrated it himself.

Current audiobook.

Rainy Sunday and a bulldog on your lap makes for a great day

I‘ve really been able to up my book consumption this year with audiobooks. I read a lot of books I might not usually check out this way. And I can do other things while I read, like knit this baby blanket for my new niece!
It‘s also super convenient to get them on my phone through my library and Overdrive.
Do you listen to audiobooks? What do you like about them?

I really like Hodgman‘s humor. Even though he‘s known for fake facts (it is how I originally learned of him all those years ago), his truthy memoir is charming in Hodgman‘s way (and I only say “truthy” because there are a couple of faketoids — that he always immediately points out).

“If you are expecting to laugh at what you are about to hear, you are missing the point. You should look forward instead to a kind of low inner chuckling, so dry and so deep inside you that you may not realize it is happening.”

Hodgman‘s summation of Maine Humor is also this book in a nutshell.

TFW you‘re flirting with your spouse by putting three boxes of Cheerios down the garbage disposal but it creates a sludge and clogs your pipes and you have to call the plumber (a.k.a Pipe Daddy) to come fix them 😂😂

I read this for book club and it was just ok for me. Humor memoirs are so tough to write and I think I‘m not the reader for this. I did like the chapters about his mom and the one about the famous author who once lived in the town where Hodgman lives in Maine. But reading about a rich person with multiple homes wasn‘t my cup of tea.

“There are transitions in life whether we want them or not. You get older. You lose jobs and loves and people. The story of your life...”