Unnecessary - I didn't learn anything or grow in any way while reading this book. I dont read for the beautiful prose that I know a lot of people do - I read for the emotions the story allows me to feel that I wouldn't normally - or to teach me a new way of looking at something. This book did nothing for me.

A little disjointed, all over the map, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. Great for voyeurs, since he likes to expose himself. Because it's an eclectic collection of writings, it's easy enough to get back on track whenever you're lost.

Hilarious. He writes unabashedly about such incredibly personal things and bizarre neuroses. Entertaining and makes you feel slightly less weird.

pervy fun...who doesn't love that?

This is a very funny collection of essays, some 'fiction' and a diary from author, variety show host, raconteur and sometimes boxer,Jonathan Ames. I say 'fiction' because often Ames' fiction is very similar to his hilarious, sometimes touching, sometimes disturbing, but always funny and entertaining, real life experiences; just with the names changed.I've been a fan of Jonathan Ames for about five years, since I first discovered him as a guest on David Letterman. I've attended a few of his readi...

This was recommended to me upon saying I liked Sedaris (thanks Marissa)... it was very sexual and male, repulsive at times, a little self indulgent, and Jonathan Ames is a bonafide freak. His mind is incredibly dirty and there were lots of prostitutes. I was at first interested at how strange he was but now I’m looking forward to reading more books by women.

Completely depraved. Just as I like them. I really wish Ames would write more.

“My mind goes round and round trying to figure things out, but I always come back to the same two things: Loneliness and Death.” This collection of Jonathan’s NY Post columns, essays, and short fiction are a sequel of sorts to his earlier What’s Not to Love?, which collected his earlier columns. There are the expected funny antics and odd experiences Jonathan seems attracted to — losing a crazy boxing match, getting turned away from an orgy, taking a chaste walk with a prostitute. He quits his P...

Jonathan Ames can make anything that happens to him interesting, and his writing makes me think I could write about my life and accomplish the same, especially if I was willing to humiliate myself on every page.

I read this after I had read "Wake Up, Sir!" It is a compendium of previously published essays, some non-fiction accounts of the madcap adventures of the author, and some fiction or diary entries. It is often very, very funny. It mainly features a lot of private phobias and hangups that Ames has in the areas of self control and sexuality...still, there are many very heartfelt pieces about caring for loved ones, suicide attempts by dogs, a great piece on a literary hoax from a jealous admirer, et...

My second foray into Ames' unique brand of psychotherapy, the bookjacket entices/warns: "Do you often wonder what the hell you're doing with your life? Do you feel separate from most people, like you don't belong anywhere? Do you black out when you drink alcohol? Do you worry that no one will ever love you because you're a bit freakish?" The list goes on. In truth, Ames does confront all of these issues and more with his patented self-deprecating introspection. What results is something raw and

Way back when I was attending Columbia for fiction writing, I struggled with this exact topic. How do you write a hilarious biting memoir and make sure your parents and friends will still speak to you after it's been published? Where is the line between fact and fiction, and can you be sued for crossing the line? But Ames is so funny that I don't really care. I appreciate his admission, though, that slight fame caused a shift in his 'real' life. Sedaris and the other heavyweights never seem to a...

I love Ames writing. He marches to his own drummer and lives by his own rules. He should be received along side those who appreciate Seadaris and Borroughs. Only problem for me with these types of essay books is that after 150 pages it begins to sound like the party guest that just won't shut up. Nagging and monotone and non stop. It's a book that I will pick up and read from time to time but have trouble trying to digest as a whole.

I have never read and of Jonathan Ames previous work and I feel like if I had it may have helped. The book was a bit of a hodgepodge of stories/articles he had written, so most of the stuff has been seen before. I felt that some of the essays/articles I enjoyed, but some were a little dull and were difficult to get through. I do like short the most of the 'chapters' were and made it easy for short reading when I was on the train.

If you like reading another person's inner-most thoughts and desires and enjoy a writer who can make you laugh and like sex, then you're going to enjoy Jonathan Ames. I'm not even 100 pages in and I want to read more from him. Okay, I finished it, and it's very good. It's blogging before blogging became blogging. In other words, a diary. Very personal and insightful on the human condition.

Is there anything as terrible as racing through a truly hilarious book? With eyes and fingers on the metaphorical gas pedal, the only speed bumps are the tears of laughter and/or the arousal. So keep Kleenex handy and try to make it last as long as possible. Put that on your book jacket flaps, Ames!

Ames’ best and worst quality is his honesty. His absolute, brutal, not-afraid-to-embarrass-himself honesty. He vocalizes thoughts that most of us keep private, which probably should be kept private. While some may look at his many adventures with transvestites/transsexuals and his stories about pooping and nose picking and masturbation as being somewhat vulgar and unnecessary, at least you can say that he is not full of shit. He is far too open to be considered shady or dishonest. And for me, at...

Advised by a friend. And she was right. Read the whole book in one Sunday. The book consists of short stories in which Ames describes his life in painful, funny, freaky experiences. But he writes it tenderly; as one critic says: "... he renders the perverse sweet, the tormenting tender, and spins his most horrific escapades into pure, hysterical, weirdly uplifting comic gold..."

Hilarious. Not all of the essays are successful, but that's only because Ames is willing to gamble every time, going out on a comic/memoir limb that he then saws out from under him. Gosh, but I love this guy's stuff.

I enjoyed the memoir portion more than the short story portion. It seemed like all the short stories were thinly veiled true stories. Interesting guy, weird life, fun read... at least the first half.