Hoboken Fish and Chicago Whistle

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Summary: Hoboken Fish and Chicago Whistle
Review: Hoboken Fish and Chicago Whistle is one of eighty excellent books by Daniel Pinkwater. He is a regular commentator on public radio and this is a diverse collection of his radio commentaries and essays. This is an excellent book with loads of humor. Pinkwater is a comic genius and a superb writer. Pinkwater's essays have topics ranging from the humor impaired, to his life in Hoboken, New Jersey, to dog training. Pinkwater recommends all his books for intelligent young adults and up who have their sense of humor intact, and I agree.

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Summary: the lone nitpicker
Review: I enjoyed these witty essays, but had trouble ignoring a few things. One, the author seems to have a compulsive need to remind the reader that he's fat. OK, if we haven't picked it up from the cover, we get it. Sometimes it was relevant to the piece and sometimes it wasn't.

Secondly, I detected the oh-too-familiar complaint of many writers - that they are unsung geniuses and anyone who criticizes their work doesn't know squat. (I noticed this with Stephen King's and Rita Mae Brown's books on writing.) Some critics don't know what they're doing, but some do. If most people who work in publishing are ignoramuses, how did your books manage to get published? Writers who can make a living doing what they love should ease up on the whining.

I've read other Pinkwater books. Some are great, some are so-so, and some are in dire need of editing.... In any case, whether or not he's a genius (yes, he actually discusses this) will only tell with time.

And, while I'm really on a roll, why this pathological reluctance to mention his alma mater? I went there. It's a decent school. Lots of flaky artists, but certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

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Summary: Dream Come True
Review: When I was smaller I read, nay, devoured _Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars_, _The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death_ and _Lizard Music_. When I was but small I discovered Mr. Pinkwater's first collection of NPR commentaries, and I learned to eat pizza...one handed...while holding a drink...and running for the bus. Then I discovered the second collection. Since then I have worn out three copies of each. To have them togehter in one HARDBOUND volume is literally a dream come true. You cannot afford to miss this book.