1-800-Am-I-Nuts: And Other True Tales of the Nineties - Hardcover

Kaufman, Margo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679420045 ISBN 13: 9780679420040

Publisher: Random House, 1993

Synopsis

Margo Kaufman is just your normal married lady - husband, me, and pug makes three - trying to make sense out of a life where the 911 number at her local police station is answered by voice mail ("Press one, if you are being mugged"). As a longtime resident amid the steroid 'n' Rollerblade freak show of Venice, California, she's already observed the end of the world as we know it - and has lived to laugh about it.
Margo always wished there were a hotline to call whenever she stumbled upon one of life's little peculiarities and wondered, Is it Life or is it me? Some number like 1-800-AM-I-NUTS? But since Ma bell wouldn't cooperate, she had to reach out and do the next best thing: write a column.
1-800-AM-I-NUTS? is a wise, sassy laugh-out-loud collection of her spirited musings - both new and previously published in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Village Voice, and Cosmopolitan. Here, in one easy-to-use package, is a deluxe assortment of Margo Kaufman's "sanity checks."
As intimate as your best friend and as comforting as a nonsenile grandparent, Margo calls 'em as she sees 'em - from Nicorette-gum junkies to male-ego transplants, from beauty addicts to control freaks - and shows you how a true nineties woman can successfully juggle the essentials: know-it-alls, people without shame, sensitive men ... and, of course, the dog.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Why does Kaufman feel so at home in Venice, Calif.--which she labels "Lunatic Central" and finds akin to "living in the strainer in the kitchen sink"? The answer comes clear as she reveals her affinity with the odd and offbeat. This helps to explain her fascination with psychics, mediums and the like, who give her earth-shattering revelations such as "you're capable of being rational." But she can be realistic, too: even though her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times , she realizes that whenever she introduces herself as a freelance writer, people translate that into "failed real-estate agent." In this collection of new and previously published pieces, Kaufman cocks her unerring eye at human foibles and frailties in the '90s--at "Love Bytes," at "Dirty Linen Is Now Small Talk," at "The Theme Park Picnic." Lovers of sophisticated humor who haven't yet made Kaufman's acquaintance have a treat in store.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Kaufman, a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times Magazine , here compiles a series of original and previously published essays that deal with life's absurdities in a humorous manner. Having bemoaned the fact that when in a strange situation she had no hotline to dial for advice, she in turn created her own column. Writing here on subjects such as love, marriage, her home in California, pets, and travel, she injects humor into everyday and bizarre situations. The result is both lighthearted and insightful, making this an easy and relaxing selection for rounding out humor collections.
- Marguerite Mroz, Baltimore Cty. P.L.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0679420045
• ISBN 13: 9780679420040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312