There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say

Part memoir part monologue with a dash of startling honesty Theres Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say features biographies of legendary historical figures from which Paula Poundstone cant help digressing to tell her own story. Mining gold from the lives of Abraham Lincoln Helen Keller Joan of Arc and Beethoven among others the eccentric and utterly inimitable mind of Paula Poundstone dissects observes and comments on the successes and failures of her own life with surprising candor and spot-on comedic timing in this unique laugh-out-loud book.. If you like Paula Poundstones ironic and blindingly intelligent humor youll love this wryly observant funny and touching book.. Paula Poundstone on . . .. The sources of her self-esteem: A couple of years ago I was reunited with a guy I knew in the fifth grade. He said All the other fifth-grade guys liked the pretty girls but I liked you. Its hard to know if a guy is sincere when he lays it on that thick.. The battle between fatigue and informed citizenship: I play a videotape of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer every night but sometimes I only get as far as the theme song (da da-da-da da-ah) before I fall asleep. Sometimes as soon as Margaret Warner says whether or not Jim Lehrer is on vacation I drift right off. Somehow just knowing hes well comforts me.. The occult: I need to know exactly what day Im gonna die so that I dont bother putting away leftovers the night before.. TVs misplaced priorities: Someday in the midst of the State of the Union address theyll break in with We interrupt this program to bring you a little clip from Bewitched.. Travel: In London I went to the queens house. I went as a touristshe didnt invite me so she could pick my brain: What do you think of my face on the pound? Too serious?. Air-conditioning in Florida: If it were as cold outside in the winter as they make it inside in the summer theyd put the heat on. It makes no sense.. The scandal: The judge said I was the best probationer he ever had. Talk about proud.. With a foreword by Mary Tyler Moore