Published by Hachette Audio, Reagan Arthur Books on January 2013
Genres: Adult, Humor
Pages: 224
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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Goodreads
In "Center of the Universe," God struggles to balance the demands of his career with the needs of his long-term girlfriend. In "Magical Mr. Goat," a young girl's imaginary friend yearns to become "more than friends." In "Unprotected," an unused prophylactic recalls his years spent trapped inside a teen boy's wallet. The stories in Simon Rich's new book are bizarre, funny, and yet...relatable. Rich explores love's many complications-losing it, finding it, breaking it, and making it-and turns the ordinary into the absurd. With razor-sharp humor and illustrations, and just in time for Valentine's Day, Rich takes readers for an exhilarating, hilarious ride on the rollercoaster of love.
My Thoughts:
I’d listened to Simon Rich’s previous release, What In God’s Name, and I knew that the author can do quirky, smart, heartfelt humor right. His latest work is The Last Girlfriend On Earth: And Other Love Stories, a collection of humorous short stories focusing on relationships that have a wide variety in scope and genre. The book is divided into three sections: Boy Meets Girls, Boy Gets Girl, and Boy Loses Girl.
The stories start off strong in “Unprotected” with the journey of a young man as he goes from teenager to adulthood through college, ultimately meeting the “one”, written exclusively from the point of view of a condom that is present in the guys’ wallet for most of the story. The tone of the story is clipped and to the point, the scope is limited since the main point of view character’s is small since he isn’t mobile on his own–and everything really works, making for a really enjoyable story following the evolving story as the boy grows into a man.
Another story that I really enjoyed was the Magical Mystical Goat. The writing style is completely different and old timey, and the story involves a girl who is left home with a Governess when her parents go on vacation for three months. She makes friends with a talking, proper, suited, and walks upright goat who appears through a magic mirror in her country home, and the goat’s definition of “friends” is very different from her own.
Is it possible to write funny stories about what happens if your mom has an affair with Santa Claus? I can now say that yes, it can be both awkward and definitely funny. Or what if your friends set you up with a girl that is an actual troll?
I also really enjoyed the Dog Missed Connections, featuring Craigslist ads written by dogs. They were straight up hilarious. The ads written by humans were really hilarious too.
I give this one a five out of five. Simon Rich mixes a great blend of science fiction, fantasy, and humor into this collection of short stories laced with his slightly sarcastic and jaded perspective on relationships. There’s a little bit of something for everyone in this book, and the stories are extremely imaginative and entertaining. A great cross section of genres and time frames, all wrapped up with witty and creative story telling.
I listened to the audiobook provided by Hachette Audio
Get your own Audiobooks at Audible: The Last Girlfriend On Earth: And Other Love Stories.
I knew what to expect from author/narrator Simon Rich going into this one since I’d previously listened to and thoroughly enjoyed his previous book, What In God’s Name, and this collection of short stories was just as enjoyable if not more fun to listen to. While this book didn’t take all that long to listen to–just three hours and thirty-four minutes–I enjoyed every minute of his smooth, evenly paced voice while not being overly theatrical in his reading.
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LOL–if nothing else, the titles of the stories made me giggle! I love a humorous short story (so hard to pack a punch in so few pages) and these sound right up my alley.
On a side note, can you imagine how much it would suck to be the last girl on the planet? All that attention is NOT as good as one would think!
Mary @ BookSwarm recently posted..Be Very Afraid: THE 5th WAVE by Rick Yancy
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The Last Girlfriend On Earth short story was pretty funny and she was the typical girlfriend–even though she had to be studied since she was supposedly the only female left. But when some younger, hotter competition shows up? That’s when the story gets real!
I think you’d like this collection, Mary. Simon Rich is hilarious!
Heather recently posted..The Last Girlfriend On Earth by Simon Rich
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I do love to read funny books! Especially with all the heavier books I have been reading. This one sounds great!
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This one was hilarious and it would be a fast read since the thirty stories are so short. There’s a wide variety, and most of them are laugh out loud funny. I didn’t want to spoil too much of them, but I highly recommend this collection. Simon Rich is definitely on my short list of authors that I will read no matter what they put out.
Heather recently posted..The Last Girlfriend On Earth by Simon Rich
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Okay, this book sounds like so much fun! I really, really want to read the story about the goat! (I love goats!) And thanks to you, I might just listen to this one on audio. Although I really do love that cover, so having the physical book in my hands would be nice too.
Kelley (Another Novel Read) recently posted..Waiting on Wednesday – Ink by Amanda Sun
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The goat story is so sweet and written just like a book from the earlier twentieth century, so it’s even funnier when a talking goat starts making advances towards a girl that’s all “Let’s just be friends” and it gets really awkward. But the Craigslist Dog Missed Connections made me laugh crazily at my work, so yeah, I’d say don’t hesitate to get this one.
Heather recently posted..The Last Girlfriend On Earth by Simon Rich
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it sounds like a nice thing to read, adding to my to-read list
Mac Brosco recently posted..diament
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Looks really original, really want to read it 🙂 It reminds me a little of Adverbs by Daniel Handler.
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