★★★★★ ROFL, literally

Dave Barry Turns Forty

Dave Barry

I think I read Dave Barry Turns Forty not long after it came out in 1990. I am a long-time Dave Barry fan. (In fact, I have a postcard from him identifying me as a "certified alert reader, who should seek some sort of help immediately".) Dave Barry Turns Forty had me literally ROFL -- rolling on the floor laughing -- barely able to breathe because I was laughing so hard. I remember exactly which bit produced this reaction. It was Chapter 11 - Sports for the Over-40 Person, which begins with "Shrieking at Little Leaguers":

The object of the game is to activate your child if the ball goes near him, similar to the way you use levers to activate the little men in table-hockey games. Your child will be standing out in right field, picking his nose, staring into space, totally oblivious to the game, and the ball will come rolling his way, and your job is to leap violently up and down and shriek, “GET THE BALL! GET THE BALL!!” repeatedly for several minutes until your child finally is aroused from his reverie long enough to glance down and discover, to his amazement, the ball. The ball! Of all things! Right here in the middle of a Little League game!

He goes on in this vein for several pages. The whole book is funny, but for me this chapter was the high point.

Now, humor is intensely personal. I am not going to tell you that Dave Barry Turns Forty will also have you rolling on the floor laughing. But it's a possibility! It worked for me. How often do you read something that literally makes you laugh so hard that it's difficult to breathe? Don't you want to do the experiment?

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AnonymousApril 11, 2023 at 5:21 PM
Convinced me!!!
Love Avery's reviews!
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