Rating: 
Summary: Steve Martin writes a mean sentence
Review: Daniel Pecan Cambridge is beset by a collection of neuroses that have rendered him jobless and lonely--and the subject of study of a psychiatry student who stops by his compulsively cleaned apartment twice weekly. Some of Daniel's peculiarities merely make his life difficult, such as his need for the aggregate wattage of lit lightbulbs in his apartment to equal precisely 1125 at all times. But others virtually preclude normal conduct. Most awkward, perhaps, is Daniel's inability to step over curbs: he can only cross a street when two scooped-out driveways lie directly opposite one another. This requirement makes an adventure of Daniel's frequent trips to the local Rite Aid, and it complicates his attempts to woo the real estate agent showing apartments across the street from his own.Steve Martin's chronicle of Daniel's self-imprisonment, narrated by Daniel himself, is a sweet story filled with often gorgeous prose. Martin's writing is both delightfully precise ("Let me tell you about my mailbox. It is one of twelve eroded brassy slots at the front entrance of my building.") and quietly funny: "I never have interfered with a relationship, out of respect for the guy as much as for myself, but Brian is a dope and Philipa is a sylph and I am a man, even if that description of myself is qualified by my failure to be able to cross the street at the curb." The Pleasure of My Company is a quick read--163 pages and chapterless, with an ending that is perhaps too abrupt--and it is well worth a look. You'll leave the book appreciating, quite possibly madly envious of, its Renaissance-man author's highly re-readable prose style.
Rating: 
Summary: Not A 5-Star Book At All! Just Really Good.
Review: funny, funny, funny read! short piece ideal for, say, a round-trip flight cross country or something quick to throw in to your book club members tired of the last guy's request to read "war and peace." there really is nothing great about this book, its just super-fun and beautifully character-driven. gotta tell you though...i thought the ending was lousy. the main character has obsessive compulsive disorder and i'm sure, a host of other antisocial problems. lucky for me that these are two topics i love to see on paper or on television (monk) or in the theatres (as good as it gets.) i find OCD a fascinating case to study in all its forms and martin never deviates from real life situational hazards and how the..."patient" deals with them. basically, the main character's story is about him trying to get through life without anyone disturbing his routine. nothing really happens aside from his having crushes on every cute girl in town, but can't bring himself to talk to any of them. he doesn't even have a job because, as he's managed to screw up other aspects of everyday life, he's screwed that up too. so he sits at home, unemploed, gazing out the window at various objects of his affection. nothing else happens until his grandmother dies and he has to go to her funeral. mentioning anything more about what happens after that gives away the story. now, for the bad parts.... there are points in the story where martin mentions things that literally never happen until pages or chapters later. there is a character named lauren, whom we didn't meet, yet she's mentioned to us several pages ahead of time as if we know her well. also, in one of the worst examples of editing and continuity i've ever seen on paper, martin makes it evident to us that this man doesn't have a telephone - no celphone, nothing. but when he gets up the nerve to talk a cute realtor who barely knows he exists, he calls her up on the phone. when she tells him she will come over in ten minutes, he quickly hangs up the phone and jumps in the shower. at no point does it say, "he runs home from the payphone at the rite aid and jumps in the shower" nor does it say "he quickly returns brian's celphone downstairs, runs back up and takes a shower." nothing like that. all of a sudden, he has a phone when it is explicity againsts what he is all about to have one. ugly. my problem with the ending is the same i have been noticing from many other writers i've read lately, like doug rushkoff's "ecstacy club." it seemed rushed and seemingly far-fetched, as we are led to expect one thing and we get another and its over. ah, whatever...not the worst thing in the world. other than that, i really liked the book and i hope you enjoy the read!
Rating:
Summary: Martin just gets better.
Review: Martin's career fascinates me because I see him enter a new field at a certain level and then improve on subsequent outings. He's always been good enough from the get-go to earn the indulgence of fans and financers, which of course buys him time. People will take a chance on Steve Martin. Pure Drivel, his collection of short, humorous essays, bettered his first effort, Cruel Shoes (much of which reworked his standup routines). Roxanne, his sharp adaptation of Cyrano, seemed to come from nowhere, if we consider his previous screenplays -- The Jerk, The Man with Two Brains, and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. L. A. Story (one of my favorite films) revealed a screenwriting talent of the highest caliber. Likewise, after Shopgirl, a rather self-conscious, too-careful effort, Martin comes up with The Pleasure of My Company. Martin has always used words sparely and elegantly. Here, however, he manages to give the impression of having loosened up a bit, of taking artistic risks with his characters. The characters of Shopgirl were a little too easy and too familiar to readers of New Yorker fiction. One always sensed Martin's controlling hand in their actions, and the best parts of the book seemed to be the by-the-way observations of Southern California culture. In Pleasure, one actually cares what happens to the hero -- a self-absorbed neurotic so inside his own head that he has, essentially, withdrawn to the rooms of his small apartment. Among the many ironies, he enters (twice!) an essay contest on why he is the Most Typical American. As in L. A. Story, Martin's somewhat surreal view of life (in this case, explored through a character suffering from world-class obsessive-compulsive disorder) turns out to be, not really nightmarish, but a sense of wonder toward the ordinary world.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow! What a Pleasure ...
Review: ... THE PLEASURE OF MY COMPANY is! Steve Martin's novella about peculiar Daniel Pecan Cambridge (who struck me as more autistic than obsessive-compulsive; but plenty eccentric nonetheless) is sweet and insightful. It is also funny, and Daniel's odd perceptions of reality are terrifically imaginative. What began in me as a cautious wariness about him, finished 163 pages later with a smile and a tear and a cheer. Buy it or borrow it, but treat yourself to reading this little gem.
Rating:
Summary: a very funny book-great read
Review: Steve Martin's The Pleasure of My Company is the story of 31 year old Santa Monica resident Daniel Pecan Cambridge. He has very severe obsessive compulsive disorder (though he doesn't recognize it as such), which dictates everything in his life. It takes him 40 minutes to get top a drugstore that is only a few blocks away because he will only cross the street on driveways that dip down a certain way and are parallel to each other (he's afraid of curbs), and he creates mental grids of his ceiling to count irregularities. He is also obsessed with a realtor whom he has met only briefly under the guise of a potential renter, his (student) physiatrist (Clarissa),and his pharmacist (Zandy). Eventually he conquers his problems and moves on to a new life. This book was really funny as well as insightful. There were some parts where I had to struggle not to burst out laughing, which is why I gave it a 5 out of 5.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable
Review: I found this story to be light-hearted and witty. The Pleasure of My Company was a pleasure to read.
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Summary: Steve Martin can write!
Review: Most of us are familiar with Steve Martin the comedic actor and not Steve Martin the author. Well, it's about time we all took a closer look at Martin the author because the guy CAN write. Not only is The Pleasure of My Company well-written, but it's also thoughtfully constructed. For people who are expecting this novel to be the literary equivalent to Martin's cinematic slapstick physical comedy will either be pleasantly surprised or sorely disappointed. TPOMC has a Zen-like quality to it, which originates from the character's constant and often witty introspection. This calmness is in direct opposition with the character's numerous disruptive habits stemming from his OCD and the problems that arise from this conflict, along with the character's steady transformation, makes for a delightful and entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: It is a bad version of "The Jerk"
Review: This literary version of "The Jerk" never gets going for me. It starts off as a monologue and since I know Steve Martin wrote it the image I got in my head is of Steve on stage telling me this story. Once a few characters are introduced they have no depth or real life. As the books goes on the story never progresses. The main character has no conflicts to change is character. He has a few obsessive compulsive issues to deal with but they mysterously dissolve by the end of the book. I found the ending to be particularly bad. The main character's problems are solved and he finds true love in a terrible final 10 pages. This was a story about a wierd guy who has some mildly humurous episodes and then gets better. Who cares?
Rating:
Summary: I Think I Liked It
Review: The jury is still out for me on Steve Martin as a writer. I really enjoyed "Shop Girl." "Pleasure of My Company" had some great moments and fresh and unique ideas, but didn't capture me in the same way. I found more similarities to "Shop Girl" with Augusten Burroughs' "Sellevision" or Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life" then I necessarily found with "Pleasure of My Company". It is a unique and interesting book, not bad at all. It's just different than what I expected and not filled with that same quick wit I found in "Shop Girl" and with Burroughs and Travolta. I'm not counting Martin out. I liked this novel I think, I'm just not as sure as in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Tender, Touching and Triumphant!
Review: This is a wonderfully written book with depth, charm and humor! Kudos to Steve Martin! Thank you!
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