Holy Hullabaloos, The Blog

News Flash: HH Not Named as one of Publishers Weekly's Top 100 Books of 2009

Well, Publishers Weekly's annual top 100 books of the year list is now out, and shockingly Holy Hullabaloos is not, I repeat not on the list.  I know because I've read over the list five times, and HH is not on it.  That's how I know.  So, of course you're wondering whether HH deserves to be on the list, and on that question, all I can say is that I've read exactly two books on the list (Cullen's book on Columbine, and Jon Crackauer's (yes, that's how I spell it, because his writing is as addictive as smoking crack, which I hear is in fact quite addictive) book on Pat Tillman), and I can say that those two books are indeed better than my book.  So if those books are any indication of the general quality of books on the list, then yes, HH did not deserve to be on there.

Reading Video Now Online

For what it's worth (maybe four cents?), BU has put its video of my reading at the Barnes & Noble a little while back online.  You can check it out right here.

Review of HH at Lowering the Bar

The always hilarious Kevin Underhill has kindly posted a nice review of HH over at his very funny blog that you should visit often called Lowering the Bar, which is a very funny blog about law that you should visit often, have I said that already?

Here's the review.

I apologize for being blog-lame lately.  I am confident that in the next few days I will respond to popular demand and write not only an entry on the Salazar v. Buono oral argument, in which Justice Scalia said some really stupid stuff, but also a new Memoir Monday about how once, when working as a bank teller, I cashed a check stub by a classmate who is now the Attorney General of New Hampshire.

Last Night's Reading

Thank you to everyone who came out for my reading at Barnes & Noble last night.  The BU Daily Free Press has a very nice piece on it.  Thank you, BU Daily Free Press, you are nice.

Two More (pretty) Good Reviews of HH from the Blogosophere

It's very fun coming across reviews of HH on the blogosphere.  Even if they're negative, like the one I posted about yesterday, it's still nice to know that people are reading the book, and constructive criticism is helpful as I think about the book I'm writing now on the odd clauses of the Constitution.  Anyway, I came across two more reviews that are mostly positive.  There's this one from the Weekly Sift (kind of about 1/2 way down the page).  What I like most about this one is how the writer says that even if you don't agree with my political views (my jokes about Scalia), it doesn't matter because I make jokes about myself as well.  My favorite line: "If you don't agree, he's just a funny guy with funny ideas."

Then there's this review, in which the blogger totally hated all my jokes and stories but still "pretty much loved reading" the book and "learned a lot" and thought it was "fascinating."  My favorite part of this review is when she was faced with a woman who was planning a non-ironic trip to the Creation Museum and was trying to think of something to say.  She writes:  "'What would Jay Wexler say?' I thought frantically. It probably would have been something super corny."

She's right!  I would have said: "Uhhh, ehh, isn't it funny how Kansas City is in both Kansas and Missouri?  Isn't that weird?  I think it's weird."

"as socially perceptive as the Forty Year Old Virgin"

Here is a guy who really did not like Holy Hullabaloos!

I Love Ketchikan, Alaska!

Hi there.  Do you know what "WorldCat" is?  It's a website where you can go and enter the name of a book and immediately find out what libraries all over the United States have the book.  This is great fun if you've published a book.  What's even better is that the libraries are listed in geographical order, from the library that is closest to the place you're searching from to the farthest.  Well, it turns out that the library farthest away from Boston that has Holy Hullabaloos is the Ketchikan Public Library in Ketchikan, Alaska, a town of about 7,000 in southeastern Alaska that is known as the "salmon capital of the world."  I first found this WorldCat thing a couple of weeks ago, and of course Ketchikan quickly became my favorite city in Alaska.  I don't know why they chose to buy Holy Hullabaloos, but I'm glad they did--it's so nice to think that my little book is all the way out there in a state where I've never even been.  Thanks, Ketchikan!

But that's not all.  The other day, while doing my obsessive "Holy Hullabaloos" googling, I came across a review of the book in the Ketchikan Daily News!  That's right, the two newspapers that have reviewed my book are the Boston Globe and the Ketchikan Daily News.  And, the review is really nice.  Here's the main paragraph:

Holy Hullabaloos is informative without being boring, and the author inflects a lot of humor in it as well.  Every once in a while there is even a "pop quiz" to see whether we've been paying attention and know which laws might result in a lawsuit, and which would stand the test of time. . . . I found this book to be very entertaining.

I love Ketchikan, Alaska!

Ten Reasons Why Holy Hullabaloos Should Be Your Book Club's Next Selection

So are you and your book club sick of reading 450 page novels set in war-torn Europe?  Sick of books that you have to pretend to read because they're so boring?  Sick of books that tear at your heartstrings and make you cry when the protagonist dies of some horrible disease?  Fear not, because Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars is the perfect choice for your book club's next selection.  Here are ten good reasons to choose it:

1.  It's cheap!  Only $13.85 from Amazon.

2.  It's light!  According to the Amazon website, it weighs only 3.2 ounces, so no more lugging giant tomes to the beach and throwing out your back.  HH is available only in paperback (and Kindle, as of last week).

3.  It has its own theme song, which you can play before and after your book club discusses the book, as well as during bathroom and snack breaks.  How many other books have their own theme song?  (answer: four)

4.  It's "laugh out loud funny," according to Publisher's Weekly's starred review.

5.  There's tons of hot juicy sex in it!

6.  OK, so there isn't any hot juicy sex in it (I do briefly mention the sexual intercourse preferences of Cleveland Jews, but other than that, not much that can be described as sexy, unless you think Jesus and Uncle Sam driving in a convertible together is sexy, in which case, yikes!) but you will learn a lot about the separation of church and state, which is a pretty important thing in our country, right?  Just think of how much you and your group will have to discuss/argue about.

7.  Speaking of church and state issues, the Supreme Court is set to hear a big case involving a cross on public property on October 7.  If you read the book now, you'll totally understand what's going on when Katie Couric starts talking about it.

8.  Be unique!  I mean, everyone's reading Richard Russo's new book That Old Cape Magic, and much as I love Richard Russo, don't you want to do something a little different from every other book club in the world?  Plus, since I'm now going to tell you that the protagonist dies of a horrible disease, you already know how it ends.

9.  OK, so the protagonist doesn't die of a horrible disease, but still, wouldn't it be great to read a book which the critics are calling "stunning," "entertaining," "probing," "enlightening," and "zanily irreverent"?

10.  Finally, if you want, I'd be delighted to give your book group a call and chat with you for a while about the book, about writing generally, about the Supreme Court, church-state relations, that incredibly sad new Richard Russo book, or really anything you'd like.  It will be fun!

Pics From Malaprop's Event

Here are some great pictures of my reading in Asheville, taken by my cousin's husband, who is a phenomenal photographer (click for bigger images):

 

Breaking Non-News: NYT Does Not Review Holy Hullabaloos Again!!

So, another Sunday morning Times has come and gone with no mention of Holy Hullabaloos. That makes two million Sundays in a row in which the Paper of Record has failed to review my book.  Oh well, there's always next Sunday.

In better news, the group Americans for Religious Liberty did review HH in their recent newsletter Voice of Reason.  In the review, Ed Doerr calls HH "brisk," "entertaining," and a "fun ride."  Yay, Voice of Reason.  Boo New York Times.