Paula Poundstone

One of my guilty reading pleasures is books written by stand-up comedians. Paula Poundstone joins a group of funny people from Fred Allen to Bill Cosby to Paul Reiser, who become funny authors. Her book is the aptly titled “There’s Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say”. According to Poundstone, it took nearly eight and a half years to complete, largely due to a personal legal issue that she discusses within the covers.

It is no secret that Poundstone was arrested and spent six months at a rehabilitation facility. It had to be a horrible time in her life. Still, she finds a way to look back with a jaundiced eye and comes up with a way of looking at her problems to make us laugh.

The book consists of seven lengthy chapters which give us capsule views of famous people in history as presented by someone with attention deficit syndrome. The truth is Poundstone does not have to repeat the story of Helen Keller. We know the story.

Poundstone’s versions do not change the facts like a Stan Freberg satire, nor does it add in odd sequences like a Dr. Floyd podcast. Poundstone simply tells the store of these famous people of history, but often gets sidetracked by telling you her own thoughts and experiences.

Sometimes she even gets sidetracked from the story where she was sidetracked. While explaining the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright, she mentions how Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian Institution. This gives her a chance to talk about her visit to the Smithsonian Institution, but before she can get to deep into her story, she begins to talk about museums in particular before waxing poetic about seeing Debbie Reynolds perform a Judy Garland tribute onstage.

The stream-of-consciousness writing style works well for Poundstone. She knows this is not going to be a reference book appearing on a sixth-grader’s biography report. The point of the book is to make us laugh and make us think.

She points out things that simply do not seem right in this world. She reminds us of how a Today show report on Somalia was interrupted with the news of Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s separation. She tells about her son’s elementary school classmates telling her what would happen during the rapture. “I guess it’s not important to decide whether (my son) should brown bag or have hot lunch next week then.”

Among the spare observations are autobiographical references. She talks frankly about why she is not married. She tells how she came to own so many animals. Most importantly, she talks about being a foster parent and her love for her adopted children.

The book is never going to replace “The Power of Positive Thinking” as a book of inspiration, nor will it make us forget the work of Mark Twain. What this book will do if find ways to make you laugh and realize that no matter how hard you have it, some people have it worse. Just ask Joan of Arc.

Thank you for reading. We’ll talk again soon.