I got this book from Netgalley so I can read and review it before it’s published. I have read a few of his humor books and most of his novels, and have enjoyed his style. So, when I saw this memoir, I was immediately interested.
It was a quick read and cool to read how he got started in the newspaper business and how it evolved to writing a weekly humor column for the Miami Herald. Scattered throughout the book are snippets from some of his columns.
I did have a quite a few LOL moments as I read it and one of them was from an article he wrote about New York (after the New York Times wrote an article called “Can Miami Save Itself”).
At 3:14 a.m. I am awakened by a loud crashing sound, caused by workers from the city’s crack Department of Making Loud Crashing Sounds During the night, who are just outside my window, breaking in a new taxicab by dropping it repeatedly from a seventy-five-foot crane.
He talked about how he got started writing books, tv appearances (his first time on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson), and movies.
My favorite chapter was titled: My Readers. It was a huge kudos to them as well as stories about them, letters from them (both good and bad), and his assistant Judi who was hired in 1990 to help him with his fan mail!
Another chapter was titled: Politics. And, it was his humor that got him through it beginning in 1984 and ending in 2016 (he stopped because of COVID, he is older, and it’s not fun for him). There are quite a few cool stories of him and politicians. I had to look at a YouTube video of Barry marching as part of the World Famous Lawn Rangers during the Obama 2009 inauguration.
Overall, I enjoyed this book.
