I guess I expected more from this, but with no real basis for that expectation. My favorite is Last Night at Long Wong's. That made the book worth it. She made me chuckle aloud a few times too.
Comme ci, comme ça. Worth an evening's read.

I Thought This Would Be Funnier: I Was So Wrong I Got A Cold Sore is the title of my next book, inspired by Ms. Notaro, of course.

Laurie Notaro thinks she is funny. Other people think Laurie Notaro is funny. Both Laurie Notaro and other people are incorrect.

No stars out of a hundred.

A self-proclaimed cranky lady, Notaro takes on Stupid Hair, book tours, and more in this collection of essays. I enjoyed many of her rants (who can't identify with those "idiot" moments, like leaving your wallet in a taxi or locking yourself outside?). But after 100 pages, I got tired. Very, very tired. While she has an acerbic wit she doesn't hesitate to turn on anyone (including herself), Notaro has no finesse. Everything is a baseball bat, even when a fly swatter would do. By the end of the book, I felt like I'd spent four hours stuck in an elevator with Sam Kennison. Maybe as Notaro matures, she'll learn that she really is funny -- she doesn't need a blowhorn to tell us so.

With so many good books I was reading it was very hard to enjoy this mediocre book with no plot line. It was just a bunch of random stories that attempted to make you laugh at the absurd. I am not a short story reader. Didn't capture my attention.

Notaro lived and had a weekly column in the local paper here in Phoenix before moving up to writing books. Good for her, because her writing was often the best to be found in the newspaper, but her work was buried in supplement pages. She's very funny and often moves into the outlandish in her essays. In this book she recounts events that might have occurred on his first book tour across America, taking an art class that employed a past-prime nude model and the problems with living across the street from the neighborhood Cat Lady.

It was entertaining, but I didn't really connect with the author like I have with other similar memoirs (notably Jen Lancaster's). The fact that each chapter was basically an independent story didn't really do it for me.

although at times mildly funny, it was also at times mildly offensive, mildly boring and mildly horrifying (omg that wasp in the ear part!)

The author makes herself seem fat and gross but I googled her and she lobbed normal. Size 14 is not fat and I get what she was trying to say, but I didn't like the way she said it.

I enjoyed hearing her talk about living in Az. I wanted more of that.

Mostly it just didn't hold up as any kind of humorous or well written book.

I am only still reading these cos they were a birthday present from a friend who's been harping for years that I would love Notaro.

Who thinks this shit is funny? The story about her squinky eye went on for at least 7 pages too long. Bluh.

I believe this is my favourite of Notaro's. Funny, yet sometimes touching she made me snort, giggle, whoop with laughter and unfortunately caused way too much rice to go straight up my nose. Now that is one of the most uncomfortable things ever. Defintely a future purchase, maybe even at full price!

A book of short stories that all ended with a sentence or two that tried way too hard to make the reader laugh. I think I may have enjoyed this book better if I didn't open it after finishing How did you get this number? This book just can't compare.

Maybe it was me or the time of the day I was reading (late at night), but this is one of the funniest books I've ever read. It's basically a series of essays about normal life. She's got an irreverent sense of humor & goes too far occasionally. I actually woke my husband up by trying to suppress my laughter.

I love Laurie Notaro! She has the funniest way of wording things that make me giggle out loud. I think this is her fourth collection of short stories (maybe fifth I don't remember). I can of all of her collections this was not my favorite. She got a even a little sillier than usual and some of the running jokes got just the teensiest bit old. Overall though, an enjoyable quick and hilarious read.