I Didn't Ask to Be Born

June 20, 2011
Dealing with a defiant teen who refused to clean her room, claiming, "I didn't ask to be born," the 73-year-old Cosby replied, "Neither did I." In his first humor book since Cosbyology (2002) and his dietary digressions in I Am What I Ate (2003), Cosby's observational humor goes into high gear with clever commentaries on everything from erectile dysfunction and social networking to the Bible and bird feeders. He introduces new characters, Peanut Armhouse and Old Mother Harold, and he describes "the strangest flying thing I had ever seen": a blue jay, irritated by a squirrel on a bird feeder, gave it "a giant goosing." and the two went "airborne, with the blue jay's head and shoulders inside the orifice of the squirrel." A lengthy comical centerpiece about the Bible's missing pages is the book's best: "If I went to any of the seven networks and handed them Genesis and said, âThis guy has written a spec outline for a new show,' they'd want to know where the characters are going to be in episode 89 and then pass on the whole project." Along with such topics as Native Americans, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and his love for the Universal horror films of the 1930s, he recalls events from his childhood and teen years, including his first date at age 15. George Booth's funny cartoon illustrations make a fine fit with these amusing essays, all written with the amiable and accessible lightweight lilt Cosby's eager readers expect.

August 15, 2011

The Cos again waxes funny on the commonplace happenings of life as we may know it.

With his patented good humor, Cosby (I Am What I Ate... and I'm Frightened!!!: And Other Digressions from the Doctor of Comedy, 2003, etc.) grouses, like many of his contemporaries, about kids today. As in previous collections, the memoir covers his own Golden Age, that long-gone middle of the 20th century in the projects of the City of Brotherly Love. He remembers the daring exploration peculiar to childhood, recalling the monkey bars in the outfield of his sandlot softball games, riding the trolley, the movie house and other local haunts—and of course, the girls. It's part memoir, part shtick and mostly sly. Bible scholar Cosby offers his exegesis on Genesis, and he reworks his exasperation about the supremely ugly Cabbage Patch Dolls. His standup timing, still one of the best in the business, works in the single-pagers, but is more measured in the short stories as they search for vagrant punch lines. If there are fewer rim shots than in the past, Cosby is still quite entertaining, and the great George Booth provides apt illustrations.

For fans, a small Philly cheesesteak, nonchalant as youth itself, by a comic master.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from October 1, 2011

A better subtitle for this book would be But I Digress. Written in the same fashion as Cosby's highly successful Cosbyology, his latest is a welcome collection of irresistibly funny observations and reminiscences. He writes the way he performs his stand-up comedy--he rambles on but keeps you interested to see whether he eventually returns to his original topic (he does, with his usual finesse). Cosby's storytelling covers his experiences parenting as well as his own childhood memories growing up in Philadelphia in the 1940s; a tirade about the once-popular Cabbage Patch dolls; and his hilarious thoughts on what it must have been like in the Old West (circling the wagons in under eight seconds takes practice!). In the delightful tongue-in-cheek tradition of Mark Twain, Cosby gives his view of what Adam and Eve must have experienced as the world's first husband and wife. VERDICT This is a book with which everyone can identify on some level; it is humor at its best. Highly recommended.--Richard A. Dickey, Washington, DC

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2011
At this point, Cosby may be as famous for his controversial social criticism as for his comedy. In this book, he returns to humor with a focus on the foibles of life and aging, parenting and family life, and recollections of youth. In remembrances of growing up in the projects of Philadelphia, he recalls the rough-and-tumble of the playground and sports, offering up characters as memorable as those from his Fat Albert cartoon series. His adolescent remembrances, including pretending to have a Miles Davis collection and dousing himself with cologne to impress a girl, recall his years on The Cosby Show. His observations on missing pages of the Bible with details of the Creation and how the whole project wouldn't have passed muster with television producers recalls his famous one-man dialogue between Noah and God. Cosby's observations are as quirky as ever, and very whimsical drawings add to the pleasures of this collection for fans of Cosby the comic. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Beloved funnyman Bill Cosby is back with his first humor book since the best-selling Cosbyology (2001).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)