Short Review: "The Dean's Diaries"

I'm always a sucker for a good academic satire, and this one is spectacular. Sometimes satire gets too heavy or cloying. Not here. The eponymous Dean (the narrator) is funny from beginning to end, and even the forward is hilarious. We begin with a description of the college's resident pets, including a squid "with suckers the size of soup plates," a chimpanzee with a disputed soul, and banned dog that is allowed to stay by re-classifying it as a cat. We continue with a chapter on how a bus was dragged into the college by an unshielded Tesla magnetic field, collecting up the staff canteen cutlery on its way to the women's restroom, and followed by a garbage truck and an ATM machine, leading to charges of armed robbery from the ATM's bank owner.

The whole book goes on like this in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, never flagging. Highly recommended.

I received a copy of the Kindle version of this book in return for a review. The image above links to the book's hardcover Amazon page.

Snapshot: "Out on the Wire"

It's always interesting when someone mashes up disparate elements to make something new. Jessica Abel does just that in Out on the Wire, a non-fiction book on radio storytelling that is illustrated like a comic book. It should be helpful to anyone who creates stories, whether filmed, printed, or spoken. Ideas, characters, voice, structure, sound, and editing are the six main parts. 

Recommended.

I obtained a free copy of this book in exchange for a review on Netgalley.com.