“Zombies vs. Nazis; A Lost History of the Walking Dead” by Scott Kenemore

“Zombies vs. Nazis; A Lost History of the Walking Dead”
by Scott Kenemore
published by Skyhorse Publishing
259 pages

Sometimes you just have to read a zombie book for fun. I know, that’s kind of hard to do with zombies being the flesh-eating creatures wanting to eat brains, but if you ever pick up a zombie book by Scott Kenemore you’ll see what I mean by a fun zombie book. Scott is the same author that brought to the zombie literary world; “The Zen of Zombie,” “Z.E.O,” “The Art of Zombie Warfare,” and his novel “Zombie, Ohio.” He always takes the fun approach to zombies and sometimes applies them to possible practical uses.

Scott Kenemore is a fan of all things zombie and throws in as much of his knowledge as can fit into each book. This time around he breaks out some lost communications between the leaders of the Third Reich and some scientists sent to Haiti to find the secret to making zombies so that the Fatherland could send armies of zombies to trample the allied forces and lead to the Rise of the Third Reich as THE world power.

The book is written as if they are communications from three scientists sent to Haiti to find the secrets of zombie making. The communications are reports from each member 2 of which are under the guise of lepidopterists, in search of the Haitian Monarch Butterfly and a third disguised as a member of the clergy. One of the scientists begins his excursion falling from the heat and complaining non-stop even threatening the “Obergruppenfuhrer” with punishment from his influential family to get him back to the Fatherland. This scientist is Franz Baedecker, and his communiques are some of the funniest in the book.

Baedecker soon changes his tune and goes native. Baedecker even sends messages to not tell the other two where he is and that he is seeking further information by entrenching himself with the voodoo practitioners to learn more.

Gunter Knecht, under the guise of a clergy, places himself among the other clergy sent to convert the heathens to Christianity, Judaism or Muslim by the other clergy on the island. Knecht is taken in by Father Gill (a drunken Irish priest) and shown a zombie making ceremony, but before the ceremony begins, is abducted and tied in a cave in a compromising position as a warning.

The three eventually find zombies, battle zombies and even make zombies, but problems and in-fighting prevents the three from bringing the secrets back to Hitler, thus allowing the Allies to win the war.

“Zombies vs. Nazis” is a hilarious book that will keep you giggling at the exploits of what seems to be the Nazi equivalent of the Three Stooges.

BBC Comedy Greats: Monty Python’s Flying Circus & Fawlty Towers

BBC Comedy Greats: Monty Python’s Flying Circus & Fawlty Towers
Multi-cast Performance
Published by AudioGo, Inc. (2012)
3 Hours

When I had the chance to listen to this audiobook, I jumped at it. I’ve always been a huge Monty Python fan, my brother can recite “The Holy Grail” word for word, thanks to me forcing him to watch it over and over. The kings of skit comedy and cross dressing were my favorites growing up, besides, once in a while on PBS (where I got my dose of Python in the 70s) they would have painted nudes in their cartoon art skits. Hey, I was in my early teens, and pre-teens, so I had to improvise.

All that aside, the skit comedy from Monty Python’s Flying Circus was groundbreaking and led to many knockoffs from Saturday Night Live to The Kids in the Hall. The Python’s will always be king in my book. This collection from AudioGo is a nice grouping of an old LP that was originally released in 1970. (It even includes the “end of side one” commentary and references to people being on side one when on what would be side two.) The second part of this is that it also includes 4 episodes of “Fawlty Towers.” The John Cleese series that carried on a lot of the same comedy on BBC.

I have to stop right here and shamefaced admit that I never watched “Fawlty Towers.” I’m not sure why, maybe because only one Python alum was in it and I never thought it would be good. I don’t know but after listening to this collection I find I was hugely mistaken. The episodes included here are a laugh-riot. The three hours I spent listening went by so fast that I have started it over. Is it wrong for my son and I to be singing “the Lumberjack Song,” while driving down the interstate?

What makes these perfect is that they are made for or fine tuned to be the perfect group of audio comedy. The Monty Python section of this 3 disc set is disc one and is one hour of some classic Python skits, such as; “The Lumberjack Song,” “The Dead Parrot Sketch,” “The Visitors,” “Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink,” “The Mattress Sketch,” and much more.

The four episodes of “Fawlty Towers” have been fine tuned to make them audiobook perfect by adding in commentary from John Cleese about how each episode came to be and where narration is needed , it is done by Andrew Sachs as the character of Manuel. The episodes in this collection include: “Mrs. Richards,” “The Rat,” and “The Hotel Inspectors.”

So pick up this audio collection and get ready to laugh until your spleen bursts.

“Lunatics” by Dave Barry & Alan Zweibel

“Lunatics”
by Dave Barry & Alan Zweibel
Read by the authors
published by Penguin Audio (2012)
Approx. 7 hours

OH MY GAWD!! I have never laughed out loud for so long in such a long time.  This book is non-stop hilarity, in fact there was one time on my commute home from work, I had to pull the car over, and stop the audio, so I could catch my breath and clear the tears out of my eyes.  All I can say is be warned, this book is so funny it hurts.

Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel team up to write this story and each one plays a character in the book.  I think the authors were about the only ones that could adequately have presented this book which is full of misunderstandings and misfortunes.  So, as far as the narration of the book these guys knocked it out of the ball park.  Barry and Zweibel are no strangers to comedy.  Dave Barry wrote a weekly humor column from 1983 to 2004 and a few books.  Alan Zweibel is an original Saturday Night Live writer and has won lots of Emmy Awards in television for his repertoire which includes; “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” “Monk,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”  Putting these guys together makes for one awesome dirty bomb of comedy.

The book focuses on a foul-mouthed jerk and forensic plumber, yeah forensic plumber, Jeffrey Peckerman and the mild-mannered pet store owner, Phillip Horkman as their lives meet and clash and then create world peace, not without a few bumps along the way.  I really am having a hard time trying to summarize this book because I don’t want to give too much away, It’s the surprises that add oomph to each comedic episode, but in order to do the book justice I will have to give you the gist of the story.  So be warned there are some spoilers but the trip along the way in the listening to this awesome audiobook is just as funny if not funnier than the final outcomes.

The story starts out with Phillip Horkman refereeing a soccer game in which Jeffrey Peckerman’s daughter is playing.  Horkman call’s Peckerman’s daughter offsides and the foul-mouth brute, Peckerman, makes sure he let’s everyone know his daughter was not offsides.  Anyone who has attended a child’s sporting event, ever, has witnessed, at least once, one of these overzealous parents.   We now jump a few days later and Peckerman’s wife calls and tells him her Oprah book club is meeting and asks him to pick up some wine.  Peckerman sees a shop called “The Wine Store” and pulls in.

Phillip Horkman is the proud owner of a petshop which he established with a loan from his in-laws.  They insisted he name the shop after them since they loaned him the money, so now Horkman is running a pet shop called “The Wine Store.”  Once Peckerman realizes there is no liquor in the place he begins screaming obscenities about who would ever mis-name a store.  Horkman, who is in the back room attending to a sick canary, hears the voice, and recognizes the foul-mouthed creature behind it.  He comes up front and eventually takes all the abuse he can and chases Peckerman out of the store with a baseball bat.  Peckerman picks up a cage with a rare lemur in it to protect himself and runs away (keeping the lemur).  This then starts a chain of events that lead to the New York Police department thinking Horkman and Peckerman are terrorists and are threatening to blow up the George Washington bridge with an insulin pump.  Which then leads to them hijacking a cruise liner which is loaded with nudists, and take it to Cuba, and manage to lead rebels on to overthrow the Castro regime, they then are captured by Coast Guard Salamanders, much like Navy Seals, but the Salamanders don’t exist.  On the Salamander sub, Peckerman suffers from explosive diarrhea which causes emergency evacuation.

The two terrorists/revolutionaries sneak onto a ship headed to Somalia where they manage to stop pirates and land the ship full of bananas and stopping the police run government from keeping the food from the starving.  Then the two are whisked away to Yemen where they cause peace between the Arabs and the Jews (peace in the Middle-East) then on to China and create a system of Democracy for the Chinese and then land in the Republican National Convention (back in the U.S.) where Donald Trump offers them a million dollars a piece if they can convince the Republicans to nominate Trump as their presidential candidate.

The fun in this whole adventure is the fact that it is non-stop and yet the two, Horkman and Peckerman never know what they have done, only that the New York Police want them for shooting a police helicopter pilot in the scrotum.  Non-stop hilarity that is brilliant in its delivery as well, in that it is told from both men’s point of view through and each one has a different opinion as to how to handle themselves.  Trust me this is one audiobook that is worth any investment it takes to get your hands on.

“Old Jews Telling Jokes – The Joke-Off” Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman, Editors

“Old Jews Telling Jokes – The Joke-Off”
Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman, Editors
Multiple performers
Produced by HighBridge Audio.
TRT: 1 hour

Looking for an hour of just pure laughs (and a few groans)?  Check this out: HighBridge Audio has compiled a bunch of jokes from Old Jews Telling Jokes (http://www.oldjewstellingjokes.com) into a one hour audio collection.  The audio is set up like a wrestling/match between the comedians with bells between rounds and an announcer introducing the contenders with some interesting nicknames all telling jokes trying to top each other or in some cases where a joke will remind another comedian of another joke and they snowball from there.

This collection reminded me of some of my old family get-togethers where all the men were sitting around telling jokes and just having a fun time.  Each time the jokes would be funny or you would groan and all would laugh and share good times.  That’s pretty much how this comes off, just a bunch of old men having fun telling jokes.  I will warn you some of the material is explicit but not enough to make you stop listening, just be careful as to who else may be listening in, it may not be appropriate for a younger audience, although some of these jokes were ones we told on the 5th grade playground and we would giggle madly then but may groan now in our older wiser years.

The collection also includes jokes that have been phoned in from various sources that seem to be fans of the website oldjewstellingjokes.com.  A couple of these left me wondering where the punchline was, but they were fun nonetheless.

The topics of the jokes range from the old traveling salesmen jokes, plastic surgery jokes, marriage jokes, blonde jokes and lots of golf jokes.  The whole audio collection kicks off with each comedian telling the first joke they can remember and from there the “Joke-Off” is off and running.  This collection could be fun in one straight sitting or spread out when you need a quick chuckle.  Definitely one to have around just for the fun of it.

“Z E O: A Zombie’s Guide to Getting A(Head) in Business” by Scott Kenemore

“Z E O: A Zombie’s Guide to Getting A(Head) in Business”
by Scott Kenemore
Published bySkyhorse Publishing Inc. (2009)
254 pages

I have for some reason been on a zombie kick with most of my reading,  I love the movies and now the books are becoming quite fun to read.  The books I’ve found conatain anything from horror to comedy to a mix of both.  When it comes to the humorous side of zombies, Scott Kenemore has become my favorite writer, so far.  Scott knows his zombie encyclopedia inside and out and in every book he makes reference to nearly every zombie movie made, including some of the ones I thought I was the only one who saw them.

This time around I read one of Scott’s earlier writings (earlier by only a couple of years but he has been busy in his short career.  He is the author of the horror novel Zombie, Ohio (2011) and several zombie-themed satires, including: “The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead” (2007), “The Art of Zombie Warfare” (2010), “The Code of the Zombie Pirate” and “Zombies vs. Nazis” (2011).  In this book “Z.E.O…” Scott tells how you can take the path of a zombie and become successful in business.  Let me tell you you may be surprised this book actually has some good ideas, except for the eating brains part, but Scott writes how brains can be loosely translated to destroying the competition, rewards for a job well done and more.

It’s funny, Scott Kenemore mentions that everyone from sports stars to military commanders have written books about how to become successful in the business world and professionals actually heed their advice, so why not zombies?  So a military commander can wipe out bases with missles how does this make him able to run a business?  So Tiger Woods and C.E.O.s make a lot of money, but the similarities stop there. Tiger Woods can be stopped by knee surgery, lightning on the course and, occasionally, Vijay Singh.  But a zombie is stopped only by a gunshot straight to the head or decapitation.  Makes sense.

But seriously,  this book is full of fun comparisons to the ways of the zombie and how business should work, but it also offers up some pretty sound advice, such as:  Do it your way.  A zombie’s pace is slow and steady but every time it gets the job done.  Slow and steady and done right the first time every time.  Zombie time management, don’t get distracted by gossip at the water cooler, or knick-knacks in your cubicle, when someone tries to distract you just moan and shamble on to your task.  There are a lot more of these great ideas all intermingled with very funny anecdotes as to how they are all traits of zombies.

The book is divided into two parts with the first part of how to become a zombie power in the work force and the second part a one year plan to become a C…er um I mean… Z.E.O.  Humor and common sense all rolled into one with this very interesting and entertaining book by Scott Kenemore.

“The Graduate” Stage adaptation by Terry Johnson based on the novel by Charles Webb and the Screenplay by Calder willingham and Buck Henry

“The Graduate”
Stage adaptation by Terry Johnson
based on the novel by Charles Webb and the Screenplay by Calder willingham and Buck Henry
Release Date September 2011
Full cast recording featuring: Kathleen Turner, Matthew Rhys, Linda Purl & Bruce Davison
Produced by L.A. Theatre Works
107 minutes (includes an interview w/ Kathleen Turner)

L.A. Theatre works is bringing the joys of the theatre to homes of audiobook lovers everywhere.  The latest installation from LATW is the stage production of “The Graduate.”  Terry Johnson has adapted the screenplay and the book and conglomerated them to make this version to be performed on stage and with an excellent cast featuring Kathleen Turner as the legendary Mrs. Robinson.

The best thing about these audio releases from LATW is that they put you right in the audience.  You don’t have to worry about bad angles viewing the proscenium, bad acoustics in the back  of the auditorium because you got your tickets too late or trying to find a parking space.   This production not only has great casting but the audio recording is perfect in that all characters are heard clearly and all sound effects are perfect.  The unzipping of Mrs. Robinson’s dress by Benjamin Braddock is heard clearly but subtle enough that it is part of the scene and not distracting.

One of the things I liked about the movie version of “The Graduate” was the music by Simon & Garfunkel.  In this production LATW provides music between scenes and acts that reflects the sound and feel of a Simon & Garfunkel tune, without being a bad copy of the music.  LATW has thought of everything in this production.

The cast in this production provided that fresh feel to the play and all roles were on spot.  I listened to this performance on my commutes to and from work and laughed so much that while listening to this story my workdays went by with less stress.  Start the workday out with a laugh and the rest of the day goes smoothly.  Maybe the stress relief market would be a good venture for these audio performances.

The story behind “The Graduate” is a dip into the life of any youth asking, “What’s it all about?”  Benjamin Braddock comes home after graduating college but not sure what to do next.  He has a fellowship grant to return to school for his masters so he can go on to be a teacher, but he’s disillusioned by life.   Wandering aimlessly, Ben gets seduced by Mrs. Robinson and soon they are meeting discreetly in a hotel to have an affair.  With Mrs. Robinson (and Mr. Robinson) being friends with his parents Ben never feels comfortable and when Mr. Robinson and Ben’s dad set him up for a date with Elain Robinson,  Mrs. Robinson forbids him to date her.

Ben initially meets Elaine at a seedy bar where strippers perform in the idea to get rid of her quick.  But after hurting her feelings he feels remorse and wants to make it up to her.  After some time spent together Ben falls in love with Elaine.  Elaine then goes off to finish college and Ben follows.

Ben has finally found out “What it’s all about,” but by sleeping with Elaine’s mother may have ruined that possible future for himself.   A funny romp through love and philosophy, this production of “The Graduate” will have you laughing and thinking.  Bravo, LATW.

“The Art of Zombie Warfare; How to Kick Ass Like the Walking Dead” by Scott Kenemore Illustrations by Adam Wallenta

“The Art of Zombie Warfare; How to Kick Ass Like the Walking Dead”
by Scott Kenemore
Illustrations by Adam Wallenta
published 2010 by Skyhorse Publising, Inc.
266 pgs.

It all started out as a great promotion on the radio station I work for (WAKO radio in Illinois), I would interview some authors and have a pre-Halloween party.  I found Scott Kenemore’s series of Zombie books and thought, next to George Romero, here may be an authority on zombies.  After several LOLs and needing stitches for my side I decided not only does Scott Kenemore know his zombies but he knows some history as well.

“The Art of Zombie Warfare” is a funny book about how you can not only fight like a zombie but how to raise your own zombie army and become a zombie general.  So at this point you may be asking,  why fight like a zombie?  I think this section of the book best explains why.

If cut off from communications with HQ:
–Conventional soldiers will hold position and attempt to reestablish lines of communication
–Zombie soldiers will hunt and kill the enemy.

If caused to encounter unforseen obstacles, natural disasters, or confusing signs from the enemy:
–Conventional soldiers will wait for word from senior command on how they ought to proceed in light of this new development.
–Zombie soldiers will hunt and kill the enemy.

If faced with an overwhelming foe they cannot possibly hope to defeat themselves:
–Conventional soldiers will call for reinforcements, request an air strike, or just run away.
–Zombie soldiers will hunt and kill the enemy.

See a pattern here?

Scott goes further to explain how throughout all history ,mainly through movies and books, that zombies are the best fighting machine ever.  He does this with the best tongue in cheek humor that while it may appear from the cover you are reading a horror book, but in reality you will find yourself laughing out loud several times while reading.  Not only are there some funny parts throughout the book but Scott also makes references to all zombie movies ever made, from Dawn of the Dead to Return of the Living Dead to Army of Darkness and all the ones in between.

The first half of the book fully explains how to fight like a zombie and the virtues of fighting like a zombie while the second half describes how to become a zombie general.  This is an important part, because, well basically because zombies can’t be led.  So how do you lead the unleadable? Scott explains that it’s not leading because you may get in the way, but that you are there to take credit and rule the world.  Whether it’s storming a castle, encroaching on visiting early 19th century missionaries ona small island off the Haitian coast, or taking over the local shopping mall, the zombies will win.

Scott Kenemore even discusses historical figures that fought like zombies. People such as Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, 2nd Century Chinese zombie commander Sima Yi, and the Nazis.

So if you are looking for a fun romp through Zombie land, check out Scott Kenemore’s “The Art of Zombie Warfare,” the most fun you’ll ever have with the undead.

Your Chance to win: “The Art of Zombie Warfare – How to Kick Ass Like the Walking Dead” by Scott Kenemore

Your Chance to win:
“The Art of Zombie Warfare – How to Kick Ass Like the Walking Dead”
by Scott Kenemore
Skyhorse Publishing
2010
266 pgs.

I’ve got a Halloween treat for you.  This time I’m teaming up with Skyhorse Publishing http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com to give you a chance to win a copy of the book, “The Art of Zombie Warfare – How to Kick Ass Like the Walking Dead” by Scott Kenemore.  All you have to do is comment below and on Halloween I’ll draw the winner’s name and you’ll receive your own copy.  Comment and make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.  If you don’t feel comfortable leaving your email address then email me gil (at) gilwilson (dot) com and let me know you commented.  Drawing to be held Sunday, October 31, 2010.

Do you dream of becoming a soldier who fights with the efficacy and skill of a zombie?  Are you a general commander seeking to imbue your troops with the ruthless, soulless killing efficiency of an animated corpse?  Are you a voodoo priest or wizard desiring to raise an actual army of zombies to help you conquer the land and install yourself as ruler? Then this is the book for you!  With “The Art of Zombie Warfare” you will learn how to fight without weapons, communicate wordlessly, and enjoy the multifarious battlefield strategy benefits that come with always just walking straight at the enemy.

5 tips for adopting the zombie combat style in this book:
Withstand massive amounts of damage.
Dish it out like a zombie.
Don’t follow treaties or rules of any kind
Fight like you’re already dead.
Be quiet.

Written by the author of “Zen of Zombie” and “Z.E.O,”  “The Art of Zombie Warfare” is the most authoritative tome available today on the subject of zombie combat.

Available @ Amazon and http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com

comment below to win.  Drawing to be held Sunday October 31, 2010.

“Buffalo Unbound, A Celebration” by Laura Pedersen a book review and how to win a copy of the book

“Buffalo Unbound, A Celebration”
by Laura Pedersen
Published by Fulcrum Books
2010
216 pages

At the end of this review I’ll tell you how you can win a copy of this book and and Laura Pedersen’s memoirs of growing up in Buffalo, “Buffalo Gal.”

Laura Pedersen columnist, trader, humorist and author loves her native city of Buffalo, New York.  In her memoirs of growing up in Buffalo, “Buffalo Gal” she told humorous stories of growing up during a time in Buffalo when times were tough.  In 2009 “Forbes” magazine ranked Buffalo as one of the top ten most miserable cities in which to live and then had the gall to repeat the insult in 2010.  Pedersen didn’t stand for this and has written a humorous and at times heartfelt book to retaliate and portray Buffalo, NY as a top-tier city and “The City of Good Neighbors.”

Pedersen takes the reader on a wonderful journey through the history of Buffalo from the times when the Iroquois Indians ruled the land to now where the city is thriving with locally made candies, food festivals, multicultural events, theatre and stunning architecture drive away the reminders of great blizzards past.

Each chapter/essay in this book covers something about Buffalo that I found fascinating, whether it was the history or descriptions of the beautiful and even some strange sights.  Buffalo is always changing with the times.  Laura Pedersen could always throw in some comment that leaves you smiling.  Her humor really makes this book one that cannot be put down.

The Buffalo Chamber of Commerce had better have a thank you basket handy for Laura, because every section had me wanting to move to Buffalo and set down roots.  My only reservation, was the snow and cold.  Pedersen even covers the “Blizzard of ’77″ and a few other tragedies such as the “Cleveland Hill Fire,” when an elementary school burned down killing many children, but the bright side, if there can be one in such a tragedy, is that this New York tragedy created the need for schools nation wide to organize fire drills.

If you like architecture then you already know of Frank Lloyd Wright, but did you know of the many Buffalo area buildings he designed?  Architecture is covered as well as sculpture, and other arts, so it seems Buffalo has a bit of something for everyone.

This book is a fun read that not only teaches a little history, but entertains with the not quite dry wit of Laura Pedersen and creates the urge to shuffle off to Buffalo. But there’s still that snow thing…maybe if a radio station in the Buffalo area needs an employee and will pay to move me there, for that I would love to see the sights written about in this book, maybe I’ll have to plan a vacation to Buffalo, after all Niagara Falls is close by.

Now let’s talk about how you can win a copy of this book.  All you have to do is comment on this posting and you’ll be entered in a random drawing to win not only this book, “Buffalo Unbound,” but also Pedersen’s memoirs, “Buffalo Gal.”  Comment and make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.  If you don’t feel comfortable leaving your email address then email me gil (at) gilwilson (dot) com and let me know you commented.  Drawing to be held Friday, October 22, 2010.

Also check out Laura Pedersen’s website for more information about her and her other books.
http://www.laurapedersenbooks.com

“Best Bet” – a novel by Laura Pedersen

“Best Bet” – a novel
by Laura Pedersen
Published 2009
by iUniverse Books

I wasn’t really sure what I was in for when I received this book.  From the looks of the cover, I was thinking it was some sort of chick book leaning heavy on the romance.  But we all know that you don’t judge a book by the cover.  I’m glad I didn’t, judge, that is.  I read Laura Pedersen’s memoir book “Buffalo Gal,” so I knew that she was fun to read.  Ms. Pederson has a great sense of humor that is carried into this novel perfectly.  In fact that’s what kept me going throughout the book, every time something heavy would happen one of the Characters (I’ll explain the capital “C” in a bit.) would blurt out something and I would be thankful I wasn’t drinking milk else it come out my nose.  The humor was very funny and at times unexpected.

The reason I capitalized characters is because these characters were Characters. Maybe that still doesn’t explain.  As I run throught the summary I think you’ll get my drift.

The main character is Hallie, she is about to graduate from a midwestern college and move in with her boyfriend Craig.  Hallie is getting her degree in graphic design and Craig quit school to start his now successful pond building business.  Their plans are foiled when Hallie finds out that the absent-minded advisor advised her wrong and she is 4 credits shy of graduating.  The school knows it is there problem and offer she take the 4 credit sociology class no charge.  Hallie was planning on moving and another option is that she could take the class at a community college and transfer the credits, but she would have to pay for the course, or she could just not get her degree.  As she is leaving her advisor’s office she runs into an ex-”boyfriend” and is presented with a 4th option.

This 4th option, to me sounds like a dream opportunity and I would not hesitate, but then I’m not Hallie, she has a job waiting for and a boyfriend that is ready for her to move in with him.  The 4th option is an independent study type of sociology class.  The professor has created a study in which she will travel around the world dropping wallets with $20 in cash in them and record the rates of return of the wallets and compare to the sociological standings of the various countries.  This would require Hallie to answer within a couple of days whether she could drop everything and travel the world.

Here’s where the characters come in.  Hallie comes from a large family and during her college years has taken up residence with some friends.  These friends are of the parental generation for Hallie but not quite.  First are 2 gay men, Gil and Bernard (right here I have to say any book with my name in it is worth reading )  Gil runs a local performing arts theater, and Bernard is always cooking some exotic recipe.  The two live together and have adopted two Japanese girls.  Bernard has taken on the training of the girls’ girl scout troop.  This troop being the first to know how to mix cocktails and what are the appropriate cocktails and snacks to prepare for any given social occasion.  Bernard’s mother, Olivia live with them and is constantly protesting or planning a protest for many political agendas.

Bernard overly frets about the safety of Hallie leaving her hometown and only offers up statistics of deaths in other countries.  Olivia, says traveling the world is the best way for a young person to know their world and their place in it.  Hallie’s boyfriend, Craig, does not want her to go and gives her the ultimatum.  Marry and stay or go and never see him again.  All this time Hallie and her siblings are shocked at finding out that their fairly recently widowed mother is marrying the church pastor.

To keep things short Hallie goes on the trip and throughout the many experiences around the world with the honesty sociology experiment learns to be honest with herself.  The return home Hallie is a changed person, yet still the same ole Hallie.  In other words there is so much going on in this book that with all the fun you have reading the various events good, bad and downright funny, you learn Hallie was not honest with herself and where she wants to be in the world.