America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't by Stephen Colbert

Summary:
Book store nation, in the history of mankind there has never been a greater country than America. You could say we're the #1 nation at being the best at greatness.

But as perfect as America is in every single way, America is broken! And we can't exchange it because we're 236 years past the 30-day return window. Look around--we don't make anything anymore, we've mortgaged our future to China, and the Apologist-in-Chief goes on world tours just to bow before foreign leaders. Worse, the L.A. Four Seasons Hotel doesn't even have a dedicated phone button for the Spa. You have to dial an extension! Where did we lose our way?!

It's high time we restored America to the greatness it never lost!

Luckily, AMERICA AGAIN will singlebookedly pull this country back from the brink. It features everything from chapters, to page numbers, to fonts. Covering subject's ranging from healthcare ("I shudder to think where we'd be without the wide variety of prescription drugs to treat our maladies, such as think-shuddering") to the economy ("Life is giving us lemons, and we're shipping them to the Chinese to make our lemon-flavored leadonade") to food ("Feel free to deep fry this book-it's a rich source of fiber"), Stephen gives America the dose of truth it needs to get back on track. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I'm in love with Stephen Colbert. I watch his show all the time and even got to see a live taping of The Colbert Report last summer. I think he's hilarious and so smart. Obviously I had to read his latest book! America Again was like his show in book form; he still uses satire and irony to make his point. Any fans of Colbert will love this book!

There isn't a whole lot to say since there aren't any characters or plot in this book. It's mostly Stephen speaking as his character about different topics, such as health care, the economy and taxes. The book provides 3D glasses for the pictures in the beginning of each chapter. There are fun footnotes and little extras by "other people" (aka Stephen Colbert pretending to be someone else).

I enjoyed this book a lot and it gave me a lot to think about! If you like his show, I would definitely recommend America Again! Or you might like it if you're interested in humor and politics!

Rating: 9 out of 10.
FTC: Christmas gift.

2012/Grand Central Publishing/240 pages.

I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert

Summary:
Congratulations -- just by opening the cover of this book you became 25% more patriotic.

From Stephen Colbert, the host of television's highest-rated punditry show The Colbert Report, comes the book to fill the other 23 hours of your day. I Am America (and So Can You!) contains all of the opinions that Stephen doesn't have time to shoehorn into his nightly broadcast.

Dictated directly into a microcassette recorder over a three-day weekend, this book contains Stephen's most deeply held knee-jerk beliefs on The American Family, Race, Religion, Sex, Sports, and many more topics, conveniently arranged in chapter form.

Always controversial and outspoken, Stephen addresses why Hollywood is destroying America by inches, why evolution is a fraud, and why the elderly should be harnessed to millstones.

You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you'll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.

I Am America (and So Can You!) showcases Stephen Colbert at his most eloquent and impassioned. He is an unrelenting fighter for the soul of America, and in this book he fights the good fight for the traditional values that have served this country so well for so long. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I love Stephen Colbert and his show The Colbert Report. Like, I'm seriously in love. I even got to see a taping of his show a month ago and it was awesome!!! So it was a no-brainer that I would adore his first novel, which I did.

Everything Stephen says and does is satirical, which makes his comedy that much smarter and funnier. It can be hard to get his jokes sometimes, but overall I think he's hilarious. What I liked so much about I Am America is that I could hear Stephen talking (no, I wasn't listening to the audiobook). This book is written just as Stephen talks on his show every night, so that was pretty cool.

Like the summary suggests, I Am America is just full of Stephen's opinions on important things in American culture: religion, science, education, etc. It even includes a full transcript of Stephen's (yes, we're on a first name basis) 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner speech. If you've never seen that, watch it online - it's so funny.

Overall, I really enjoyed I Am America and I think fans of the show will love it too!

Rating: 9 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from library (but I wish I had my own copy)

2007/Grand Central Publishing/230 pages.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Summary:

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned - a razor-edged fairy tale against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible. When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell's masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh. (from back cover)

Review:

I loved George Orwell's other famous novel, 1984, as it is one of the most revered dystopias. Animal Farm is a little different in that it is a satire of Communist Russia, so any history buff will enjoy all the parallels.

The story starts out on Manor Farm, where the animals are mistreated by their owner Mr. Jones. When an elderly pig named Old Major suggests that the animals overthrow Mr. Jones and rule the farm in harmony, the animals agree and succeed in running Mr. Jones from the farm. Immediately, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, become leaders and establish Seven Commandments and the rules for the farm. As a mirror to the Soviet Union, Snowball is supposed to be Leon Trotsky and Napolean is Joseph Stalin. What is cool is that everything that happens in Animal Farm can be attributed to a real event in history. Even the characters of Snowball and Napoleon share personality traits with their likenesses.

Even though the animals call for equality, it is obvious, as in any society, that classes will emerge. Since the pigs are smarter than all the other animals, they take it upon themselves to be the leaders. And in leading, the pigs get a lot of perks like more food, no labor, and residency in the farm house. I liked watching the plot develop and to see the similarities between this regime and the one in Communist Russia. George Orwell has definitely mastered the art of satire.

Even if you know nothing about Russia and the Soviet Union, Animal Farm is vague enough that the events and characters can be likened to any totalitarian regime in history. Even without reading the novella, the line "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" is sure to strike a chord with anyone, like it did with me when I first read it.

A short, simple book, Animal Farm is perfect for book clubs or literature classes as it provides plenty of discussion and symbolism. And even if you read it for fun, like I did, I'm sure you will enjoy its message.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

FTC: borrowed from a friend.

1945/Signet Classics/138 pages.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Tender Branson - last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult - is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child and humble domestic servant to an ultra-buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah.

Unpredictable and unforgettable, Survivor is Chuck Palahniuk at his deadpan peak: a mesmerizing, unnerving, and hilarious satire on the wage of fame and the bedrock lunacy of the modern world.

My friend read Survivor for summer reading one year, and she recommended it to me. If you've never heard of the author Chuck Palahniuk before (like me), you should be familiar with his other work: Fight Club. I haven't read the book or seen the movie, but the name reassured me that the book would be somewhat good. I mean, come on, Fight Club is pretty famous. But I don't think Survivor was as good as Fight Club, because it was only okay, and not amazing. I think the one problem I had with Survivor was that it was a satire. Not that satires are bad, but I feel like a lot of the irony and humor just goes right over my head. There were parts that were funny in the book, but I could tell the author was trying to write a social commentary on society's obsession with fame, and that just didn't interest me a lot. You also can't just jump into Survivor (at least I couldn't). At first, it was hard to read, but once you get into a rhythm and get used to the writing, the story gets better. But Survivor wasn't all bad. The plot was interesting and didn't stall or get boring. I never knew what was going to happen next and the book kept me on my toes. I would recommend Survivor for fans of satire and irony.

6 out of 10.

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

Howard J. Campbell, Jr. was a war propagandist in Nazi Germany during World War II. Now he's being charged with war crimes and is held prisoner in Israel. But is he really guilty? The novel is written like a memoir in which Kurt Vonnegut twists our views of right and wrong.

This was my choice summer reading book, and now that I've read it, I wish I didn't choose it. The book is a memoir of a fictional character, so the story isn't linear and jumps around a lot. This makes the plot confusing. I also felt like I was missing out on some of the irony, because I didn't live through WWII. I was frustrated that I wasn't getting the entire meaning of the book and that's bad since this was a summer reading book. I wouldn't suggest this book, but I would recomment reading God Bless You, Dr. Krevorkian, which was very good.

4 out of 10