Patrick F. McManus: Funny Stuff

"Many people think that my reputation as a great outdoorsman is a product of inherent athletic ability." so begins this funny book of self-deprecating humor, philosophy and childlike innocence, as Patrick F. McManus weaves yarns about his outdoor experiences. Full of bravado he launches into tales of impossible situations that would make great fodder for TV sitcom.

If you fish, camp or hunt or intimately know people who do then this is the perfect humor book for yourself or as a gift. I first discovered McManus in the comedy section of the books on tape at the library and found his humorous accounts of fishing and hunting trips that had turned for the worst so funny I nearly crashed the car. Like the story of going hunting on his bicycle and gets the deer stuck on the pedals.

Or how about some of his definitions like:

Corn Flakes: A common camp food. Often eaten dry with salt and pepper since no one thought to bring milk.

Camping manuals: Books filled with ingenious camping tips which are forgotten the instant the camper sets foot in the field. "I read about a way to cook a chicken with a camera lens and a wire clothes hanger, but I can't remember how," he says. "Better just fry it."

Downwind: Whichever side of the campfire you happen to be on.

Or "When hell freezes over": An expression used by wives and mothers to indicate the next time you'll get them to go on another camping trip.

Or when he explains the finer points of fishing etiquette:

"Climbing up the cliff behind your partner and throwing a large rock in the hole is considered a breach of fishing etiquette. Furthermore, it will be difficult to convince the offended party that you threw the rock in the hole accidentally."

McManus's humor has an easy going innocence to it that is never mean spirited and is fine for the whole family and unlike Dave Barry, McManus doesn't slip into a formula to be repeated over and over like a assembly line. Once you give this author a try you'll be hooked!

Other titles by McManus include:

Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs
The Bear in the Attic
The Good Samaritan Strikes Again
Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing
The Deer on a Bicycle: Excursions into the Writing of Humor
They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?
A Fine and Pleasant Misery
The Grasshopper Trap
The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw
Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!