Franken, Al

• Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot

  • Al's excuse for the title is that his book is supposed to be a parody of hateful talk radio. Too bad, because his unnecessarily juvenile humor detracts from some powerful observations. This book probably reads best if you are familiar with Al Franken's style and delivery, so that you can "visualize" him talking to you (same is true with most books by comedians, I've found, though you don't want to be too familiar with their work or you'll find nothing new in the book). I found some enormously funny passages in here as well as some commentary that made me furious (not at Al). Al is an unabashed liberal, if you define liberal as "supporter of Bill Clinton" (which I don't), so it is unlikely that any real dittohead will be able to enjoy this book. Most conservatives will probably hate it, too. I mean, it's funny, but the political commentary is too cutting to overlook unless you happen to agree with most of it. I say all this in an attempt to give you an objective view of whether you will like the book. I personally loved it. :)

• Why Not Me?

  • This is a hilarious "campaign diary" kept by Franken during his fictitious run for the presidency in 2000. Franken portrays himself as incredibly ignorant, overbearing and sexist as he comes up with a series of slapstick plots along the campaign trail to build up support. In fact, the sexist "cheat-on-my-wife, splurge-on-a-hooker, hire-the-girl-who-took-her-shirt-off" bit may wear a bit thin on you after a while, as with the frequent explicit profanity, but I personally thought it was funny as hell. Lots of absolutely biting satire about the primaries, campaign finance corruption, media spin, public relations, etc. If you've even seen Franken on C-Span speaking to the Press Club or some such, then you know what to expect here. I'm a big fan.

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