This Time Together by Carol Burnett

I really didn't expect to like this book.  I sort of know who Carol Burnett is, I've seen a few movies and shows where she has a small role, but I never watched any of her series or older work.  But surprisingly, I really enjoyed this memoir.

Carol delves into the whole of her life in this book.  From the time she was a little girl living with her grandmother, to the present, it's all here.  She tells stories of the people she meets, the places she goes, acting she does, and her triumphs and failures.  Nothing seems to be left out.  She shares moments in time with her co-workers and there's even some pictures to boot!

I like the way Carol talks about her friends.  With the people she talks about it could appear as name dropping.  But somehow it's not.  It's like she tells you their names because she is proud to know them, not just because they are a celebrity.  That seems to come second to her.  And she always has nothing but good to say about people, which is refreshing.  And she doesn't boast about herself but she doesn't put herself down either, although she does share her goofs but is able to laugh at them.  Which since she's a comedian, that's good.

And this book is very funny.  I enjoyed the short stories of her life because they all could bring a smile or laugh.  There wasn't too many downers in the book.  And the stories were all pretty harmless too and I can't see anything really offending anybody in them.  Appropriate for all audiences is the best way to put it.  The short story format was a good choice too.  It made it so she didn't drone on and only shared information that was needed, so the pace of the book moved along perfectly.

Definitely worth a read and it will bring a smile to your face.  Carol seems to be a very talented lady.

This Time Together
Copyright 2010
266 pages

The 5 Greatest Spankings of All Time by Rob Wood

**This book was received as a free advanced Reviewer's Copy**

What an amusing short story. I call it a short story because this is not a novel length book, but rather just snippets in time of a family that seemed to be pretty wild. And humourous, despite the trouble that Rob Wood and his three brothers got into, this book was definitely laugh out loud funny.

Rob Wood and his brothers had a penchant for getting in trouble. And with that trouble usually came the "lickins" from their father. Today we know "lickins" as spankings, in which the book is aptly named. With a little preface chapter showing the types of different spankings that could be achieved and the different rules that when broken, would warrant a spanking, we are introduced to these brothers and shown how easily they were able to make mischief. From there we are taken to the five greatest spankings of all time, and what was done to deserve them. And oh my did they ever get themselves into trouble. From decimating a pig roast, to spooking a horse, to burning down the garage, these boys definitely earned their "lickins".

I like the way that Wood describes himself and his brothers. He doesn't even try to pretend that they were well behaved. In fact, he even sympathizes with his parents and the exhaustion they must have felt trying to raise the three. The three are pretty wild and what my mother would call "all boy." And his parents are pretty entertaining too. The father gets more time in the book since he is the giver of the spankings, but the mother is mentioned a little bit. I actually would have liked to see more of her and some more in depth description of her reactions to the mischief. A little time is even devoted to the grandparents, who despite being against spankings, had to deal with the behavior as well.

The book, as said before, is short, but I actually think it was the perfect length. Sure Wood could have made it the ten greatest spankings of all time, but I think that would have gotten redundant after awhile and he did best by choosing just five. And the five he chose, I have to say I laughed out loud on about all four of them. The only one I really didn't involved the horse and I just didn't see as much humor in that one. Although it did show the different styles between the grandparents "lickins" and the parents "lickins." There's a little bit of bad language in this book, but it's mostly censored out and I can't say that it would be the type to offend anyone. In fact, the only ones who may have trouble with this book are those people who hate spanking. Which to be honest, I'm against abuse, but never spankings as they are intended to be, a punishment that is strictly controlled. But others don't share the same opinions and they may not find the humor in this book.

Definitely a good little read. I'd recommend it for anyone nostalgic for the fifties, or those who miss hanging out with their siblings, or those who just enjoy a good laugh. Because of all things this book will do, it will definitely make you laugh.

The 5 Greatest Spankings of All Time
Copyright 2012
102 pages

The Risks of Sunbathing Topless edited by Kate Chynoweth

In a series full of not so great books (Whose Panties are These, Not so Funny When It Happened) this one actually wasn't half bad. It had some decent stories in it and for once they actually seemed to involve travel and were interesting. After being disappointed by so many others, it was kind of nice to finally get this one.

The Risks of Sunbathing Topless is a collection of short stories (although these were longer short stories than usual, if that makes sense) that involve travel and humor, and in this case, were written by women. They range from the Greek Islands, to Mexico, to even the United States and incorporate all sorts of different travel methods from plane, train to automobile. Some of the stories involved a mom and her teenage daughters living it up on parties during their cruise, another smuggling champagne into a dry country. One of my favorites was actually a dictionary of sorts of things people need to know when traveling. Unfortunately this was tempered by the less interesting story of someone having a one night stand in Mexico. I just really couldn't get into that one.

I'd never heard of any of the authors before so no one really stood out. The writing styles were all surprisingly the same too so it makes me wonder if the editor just didn't have a certain taste in writing and stuck to that. Most were well written though and while they may not all have been humorous, they at least kept my attention. With the exception of a few that is. Just because something bad or lewd happens, doesn't necessarily make the story funny. Something that this book just didn't seem to figure out with before mentioned one night stand story and a few others. But honestly, even the lewd wasn't that terrible and it was a pretty tame book considering it dealt with underwear and sex and other unfortunate happenstances.

The best of the series, although that doesn't say much. This one I actually would probably recommend for some light travel reading.

The Risks of Sunbathing Topless
Copyright 2005
280 pages