Helen Plum Library

Stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who's best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald's, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children

A compendium of literary humor from the pages of "The New Yorker" features essays and articles by S.J. Perelman, Dorothy Parker, Calvin Trillin, Garrison Keillor, Steve Martin, David Sedaris, and Ian Frazier

"Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask--or not--was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes." -- from the publisher

Personal essays share the author's adventures after buying a vacation house on the Carolina coast and his reflections on middle age and mortality

In Cheerfulness, veteran radio host and author Garrison Keillor reflects on a simple virtue that can help us in this stressful and sometimes gloomy era. Drawing on personal anecdotes from his young adulthood into his eighties, Keillor sheds light on the immense good that can come from a deliberate work ethic and a buoyant demeanor. "Adopting cheerfulness as a strategy does not mean closing your eyes to evil," he tells us; "it means resisting our drift...

"Calvin Trillin can write just about anything--and has. He covered the Civil Rights movement in the South for Time, chronicled stories from small towns and cities for The New Yorker, and wrote comic poetry for The Nation. He has been called "perhaps the finest reporter in America" (The Miami Herald), "our funniest food writer" (The New Yorker), and "one of the most brilliant humorists of our time" (Charleston Post and Courier). But one of his favorite...

A humorous collection of personal essays discusses the author's career in journalism, divorce, a long-anticipated inheritance with unanticipated results, and the evolution of her relationship with her e-mail in-box

In this new collection of original essays, the #1 bestselling author of "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" delivers one laugh-out-loud moment after another as she sets her sights on the ridiculous side of childhood, adulthood, and daughterhood

The four-time Emmy-nominated comic satirist of Rescue Me presents irreverent cultural observations about how society is taking itself too seriously, in an account that shares anecdotes from his Irish-Catholic upbringing, high-pressure family life, and work as a performing artist

In President Me, Carolla shares his vision for a different, better America free from big issues like big government down to small problems like hotel alarm clock placement. Running on an anti narcissism platform, President Carolla calls for a return to the values of an earlier time when stew and casserole were on every dinner table and there were no "service dogs" on airplanes. President Me hits right at the heart of what makes our country really...