10 best books of 2010

In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite books that were published in 2010:

Franzen, Jonathan. Freedom. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.

Quindlen, Anna. Every Last One: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010.

Richards, Keith, and James Fox. Life. New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2010.

Steinberg, Avi. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2010.

Cole, Henry. A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2010.

Waters, John. Role Models. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.

Dickens, Charles, Chuck Fischer, and Bruce Foster. A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Book. New York: Little Brown, 2010.

(Yes, I know that the original edition was published back in 1843.)

Schwartz, John. Short: Walking Tall When You're Not Tall at All. New York: Rb Flash Point, 2010.

Wood, Maryrose, and J. Klassen. The Mysterious Howling. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2010.

Thomas, Marlo. Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny. New York: Hyperion, 2010.

Have a very happy and healthy New Year's celebration.

Love,
Rebecca

New comedy from Vanessa Hollingshead

My friend Vanessa Hollingshead has a new comedy DVD called Because I'm a Lady. Here's a preview:


Here's an old post about Vanessa. We were roommates in Queens.

8 books for Hanukkah

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah! To celebrate, here are eight great children's books about the Jewish holiday:

Melmed, Laura Krauss, and David Slonim. Moishe's Miracle: A Hanukkah Story. [New York]: HarperCollins, 2000.

Poor Moishe the Milkman. His wife is mad at him for giving food to their neighbors, so she banishes him from the bedroom and sends him outside to sleep with the cows. Moishe's generosity is rewarded, though, when he discovers a magical frying pan that can make latkes out of nothing.

Yorinks, Arthur, William Steig, and Paul Colin. Arthur Yorinks's The Flying Latke. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1999.

The Flying Latke is an original slapstick holiday story by Caldecott Medalists, Arthur Yorinks and William Steig. Adults will probably appreciate the humor more than children.

Kimmel, Eric A., and Giora Carmi. The Chanukkah Guest. New York: Holiday House, 1990.

The delicious smell of fresh potato latkes awakens a bear from his long winter nap. He follows his nose to old lady Bubba Brayna's house where he is mistaken for the rabbi.

Snicket, Lemony, and Lisa Brown. The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story. San Francisco: McSweeny's Books, 2007.

I really like this review from Publisher's Weekly:
"Go ahead and cover this book in red, stamp it with gold foil and label it a Christmas story—Lemony Snicket fans won't be fooled. The miraculous birth here is of a potato pancake, which, unlike its less loquacious literary cousin the Gingerbread Man, begins screaming the moment it gets cooked."

Kimmel, Eric A., and Mordicai Gerstein. The Jar of Fools: Eight Hanukkah Stories from Chelm. New York: Holiday House, 2000.

Chelm, the "City of Fools" is a popular locale for many Jewish folktales. This book has eight funny stories--one for each night of Hanukkah.

Krensky, Stephen, and Greg Harlin. Hanukkah at Valley Forge. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2006.

A Jewish soldier from Poland tells General George Washington the story of Hanukkah. Surprisingly, this book is based on a true story.

Kimmel, Eric A., and Will Hillenbrand. Asher and the Capmakers: A Hanukkah Story. New York: Holiday House, 1993.

Asher gets lost in a blizzard and is rescued by fairies who take him on a magical journey to Jerusalem.

Baum, Maxie, and Julie Paschkis. I Have a Little Dreidel. New York: Scholastic, 2006.

Folksy illustrations make The Dreidel Song a little bit more interesting.

Lenny Bruce on Judaism

Bruce, Lenny. How to Talk Dirty and Influence People: An Autobiography. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1965.

" . . . if you live in New York or any other big city, you are Jewish. It doesn't matter even if you're Catholic; if you live in New York you are Jewish . . . Italians are all Jews."
--Lenny Bruce

Since I live in Boca Raton, and Boca Raton is known as The Sixth Borough, I guess you could say I'm Jewish. I'm also Italian-American and Catholic.

One time when I was waiting in line at Walgreens, I overheard the person behind me griping about how "the damn, cheap-ass Jews take over Boca every winter." I turned around and asked loudly, "What did you say?????" The person in front of me said, "Are you Jewish?" I boldly answered, "Yes." Someone else in line said, "Do you know where I can buy a yahrzeit candle around here?" I answered "Publix, aisle three near the gefilte fish."

And we all lived happily ever after.

Cheech and Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography

Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Biography is the rags to riches story of the beloved comedy duo, Cheech & Chong. Even if you are not a die-hard Cheech & Chong fan, you will like this book. I recommended it to my mom, and I will probably end up reading it a second time.

Shop Indie Bookstores
Tommy Chong has led a fascinating life. He started his career as a guitar player, and was a founding member of the Motown Records band, The Vancouvers. Chong wrote the popular song, Does Your Mama Know About Me which became a minor hit for Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers.



Tommy Chong also wrote the catchy rock/comedy song, Earache My Eye which has been covered by numerous bands including KORN and Soundgarden.


Since he and Cheech have had a couple of bad rifts, it's not surprising that Chong chooses to focus on himself in this book. What little bits we learn about Cheech Marin are that when he was a teenager he burned his draft card and moved to Canada where he honed his pottery, writing, music, and acting skills.

Johnson, Don, Cheech Marin, Jeff Perry, and Jaimé P. Gomez. Nash Bridges. The first season.
CBS DVD. Hollywood, Calif: Paramount Pictures, 2008.

These days, Marin prefers acting roles that don't promote drug usage, and this is a major reason for the disintegration of his friendship with Chong. He has also been devoting more time to his love of art collecting. In 2007, The Smithsonian Latino Center honored Cheech with a Legacy Award for his dedication to Chicano artists.

From the Chicano Collection website

ps. I haven't heard much about it, but Cheech & Chong are back together and on tour.


pps. I didn't mention Tommy Chong's first book, The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint. I found it to be a bit didactic. It did, however, make it onto the New York Times bestseller list.

Shop Indie Bookstores

Stand-up books

Stand-up comics make good authors. I think it's because most of them write their own material. They also like to jot down their observations throughout the day. My friend Vanessa the Comedian is kind of like Harriet the Spy in that she never leaves her apartment without a notebook in tow.

I like these comics' books:

Martin, Steve. Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. New York: Scribner, 2007.

"The writing is evocative, unflinching and cool. When Martin takes a scalpel to his life, what you feel is the precision of the surgeon more than the primal scream of the unanaesthetized patient...Born Standing Up is neither fanfare nor confession. It gives off a vibe of rigorous honesty. With lots of laughs." --Richard Corliss, Time Magazine

"Even for readers already familiar with Mr. Martin's solemn side, Born Standing Up is a surprising book: smart, serious, heartfelt and confessional without being maudlin." Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Handler, Chelsea. My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands. New York: Bloomsbury Pub, 2005.

"Offbeat and laugh-out-loud-funny essays... smart, funny, and quick read."
--Library Journal

"[Chelsea] just might be funnier than David Sedaris." --Dallas Observer

Rudner, Rita. Tickled Pink: A Comic Novel. New York: Pocket Books, 2001.

"A witty, droll foray into fiction for Rudner"
--Kirkus Reviews

DeGeneres, Ellen. My Point-- and I Do Have One. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

TV comic DeGeneres's book spent 24 weeks on Publisher Weekly's bestseller list.

Newhart, Bob. I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!: And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny. New York: Hyperion, 2006.

"More of a routine than a memoir, but full of the wry, understated self-deprecation that Newhart has perfected"
--Kirkus Reviews

Is there anybody out there?

Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Bradbury Press, 1970.

Handler, Chelsea. Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.
New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2008.

Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is one of the most frequently challenged books of all time. I read it about 10 times when I was a kid. It's a story about a young girl who is obsessed with getting her first period. She also worries a lot about religion because her father's side of the family is Jewish and her mother's a Christian. It's a really good book, but it was already a bit dated by the time I read it in 1975. I never really understood why they were always talking about belts. (I didn't really get Blume's Then Again, Maybe I Won't, either. I thought the kid was a little too old to be wetting the bed, and why the heck were his pants always getting tight?)

Chelsea Handler's latest book is way more risqué than anything Judy Blume ever wrote. These reviews of Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea really say it all:

"Chelsea Handler writes like Judy Blume, if Judy Blume were into vodka, Ecstasy, and sleeping with midgets and nineteen-year-olds."-- Jennifer Weiner, bestselling author of In Her Shoes


"Ms. Handler's style is a friendlier, more workaday version of the haughty self-abasement practiced by Sarah Silverman, leavened by the everywoman spirit of Kathy Griffin."--New York Times

ps. For more information about censorship and the freedom to read, please visit ala.org.

pps. I agree with the New York Times about Sarah Silverman--she comes across as being a bit snotty. It drives me nuts that my husband thinks she's so hot.

ppps. He also thinks Sarah Palin is hot.

pppps. I love him anyway.

Happy Birthday, Bob Newhart!

The Bob Newhart Show is one of my all-time favorite television programs. I love Newhart's standup comedy, too. To learn more about the early days of his career, check out his book, I Shouldn't Even be Doing This! And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny.

Newhart, Bob. I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!: And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny.
New York: Hyperion, 2006.

Girls' Night Out

If you are in the New York area, don't miss this exciting evening of comedy on June 19th. In addition to being one of my dearest friends, Vanessa is really, really, really funny.

One time Colette and I were in the studio audience for one of Vanessa's appearances on the stand-up comedy show, Girls' Night Out. The TV camera kept zooming in on us because (as always) we were laughing hysterically.

A few weeks later, the three of us were at our apartment watching a different episode of Girls' Night Out, when all of a sudden we saw our faces appear on the screen! Apparently, the comedian being taped wasn't getting enough of an audience reaction, so they edited in our laughing faces.

Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle

Shop Indie Bookstores

Mini Mia and her Darling Uncle by Pija Lindenbaum is the funniest picture book that I've seen in ages. It's a story about a young girl's friendship with her uncle, who happens to be gay.

Surrender the Pink

One of my all-time favorite books is Carrie Fisher's hilarious novel, Surrender the Pink.

Funny friends

Need a laugh? Check out my two favorite comedians, Vanessa Hollingshead
and John Fugelsang.

I was in a crabby mood today until I watched this clip of John getting a lesson on how to be a good sidekick:


For more funny stuff from John, visit www.myspace.com/johnfugelsang.

Vanessa Hollingshead is one of my dearest friends. Here is a clip from her first TV special. (Warning to Grandma and my nieces and nephews: If this show were a full-length movie, it would be rated PG-13.)
Comedy Central Special Clip


Need something good to watch this weekend? Visit VanessaHollingshead.com and buy her hilarious DVD, An American Anglomaniac. You will like it.

Short and funny

Here are a few read-aloud books that always get a laugh:

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer

The Daddy Book by Todd Parr


Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood