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A review of Dave Barry's Greatest Hits

by Dave Barry

A compilation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist's best columns.

Reviewed by: Michael J. Griffin
About Michael J. Griffin

Dave Barry's Greatest Hits I discovered Dave Barry for the first time well over a decade ago. It was during one of my family's annual drives up to North Carolina from New York for Christmas. We'd stopped in Virginia for a night's layover, and I picked up a copy of the Washington Post and found Barry's column in the Op-Ed section.

I vividly remember the column. It involved his dogs Zippy and Earnest, who as he often remarked in his columns, were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. That day, both Zippy and Earnest were in his backyard in Florida. Zippy was a scrappy little dog who loved tormenting the dog next door by barking canine insults. The other dog, who was significantly larger than Zippy, could only get its snout under the fence, and Zippy, having no concept of size, was convinced he could kick this snout's butt.

Earnest, Barry's larger and more slow-thinking dog, had become fascinated with a squirrel, and as it ran along the fence, he would run alongside it. The squirrel would jump into a tree, and Earnest, still running full-speed, would run headfirst into the tree. Barry saw Earnest do that three times that morning.

As was (and still is) my wont, I began reading the column aloud to my parents while they were driving. The column was so funny that I began choking on laughter. I had difficulty finishing the column, and my parents had difficulty driving in a straight line, because they were laughing so hard. They should have a warning label on his columns that reading them while driving constitutes a road hazard.

I returned to college after Christmas vacation, and it turned out that one of the people on my floor had "Dave Barry's Greatest Hits" and I borrowed it. Immediately after finishing it, I went out and bought it for myself as well as three other Barry books.

Do not read this book in public. I'm serious, because it will reduce you to laughing like a lunatic while the people around you will cast worried glances and begin shuffling as far away from you, but at a slow speed so that you won't notice and become enraged.

With the exception of one story, which is a serious telling of his last time with his father before his father passed away, the book is 287 pages of near-nonstop hilarity. Stories like "Bite The Wax Tadpole" and "Shark Treatment" are only the tip of the iceberg. Barry also wonders "Can Anyone Save New York?" Bear in mind that this was written in the late-80s, while David Dinkins was mayor and New York was in what I call "The Dark Ages." I'm sure Barry would be able to mine a whole new vein of humor were he to visit New York today.

I heartily recommend this book with one caveat: don't read this book aloud while riding in a car with anyone.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Dave Barry's Greatest Hits

Copyright © by Michael J. Griffin, 2002

Reviewed by Michael J. Griffin:
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-- The Secret History - by Donna Tartt
-- Tuesdays with Morrie - by Mitch Albom
-- The Lovely Bones - by Alice Sebold
-- She's Come Undone - by Wally Lamb
-- Rules of Prey - by John Sandford
-- Once More Around The Park - by Roger Angell
-- On Writing - by Stephen King
-- Dave Barry's Greatest Hits - by Dave Barry
-- The Christmas Train - by David Baldacci
-- Artemis Fowl - by Eoin Colfer
-- Prey - by Michael Crichton
-- Shrink Rap - by Robert B. Parker
-- Tricky Business - by Dave Barry
-- Hit Man - by Lawrence Block
-- Without Fail - by Lee Child
-- A Drink Before the War - by Dennis Lehane
-- The Day After Tomorrow - by Allan Folsom
-- I.Asimov - by Isaac Asimov
-- The Blue Nowhere - by Jeffery Deaver
-- Cryptonomicon - by Neal Stephenson
-- The Millionaires - by Brad Meltzer









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