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One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Humor (2014)From an actor, writer, and director of the hit TV comedy The Office (US version): a story collection that was "workshopped" at comedy clubs and bookstores on both coasts.
B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction.
Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak's assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.
In One More Thing, a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover that claiming the winnings may unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A school principal unveils a bold plan to permanently abolish arithmetic. An acclaimed ambulance driver seeks the courage to follow his heart and throw it all away to be a singer-songwriter. Author John Grisham contemplates a monumental typo. A new arrival in heaven, overwhelmed by infinite options, procrastinates over his long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We meet a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who debate how to stage an intervention in the era of Facebook. We learn why wearing a red t-shirt every day is the key to finding love; how February got its name; and why the stock market is sometimes just... down.
Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, from the deeply familiar to the intoxicatingly imaginative, One More Thing finds its heart in the most human of phenomena: love, fear, family, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might make a person complete. The stories in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader.
B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction.
Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak's assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.
In One More Thing, a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover that claiming the winnings may unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A school principal unveils a bold plan to permanently abolish arithmetic. An acclaimed ambulance driver seeks the courage to follow his heart and throw it all away to be a singer-songwriter. Author John Grisham contemplates a monumental typo. A new arrival in heaven, overwhelmed by infinite options, procrastinates over his long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We meet a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who debate how to stage an intervention in the era of Facebook. We learn why wearing a red t-shirt every day is the key to finding love; how February got its name; and why the stock market is sometimes just... down.
Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, from the deeply familiar to the intoxicatingly imaginative, One More Thing finds its heart in the most human of phenomena: love, fear, family, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might make a person complete. The stories in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 4, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,758 reviews
August 3, 2016
Nutty and Naughty. I Love the Way This Guy's Mind Works.
I'm hesitant to give any specifics because B.J. Novak relies on the element of surprise to carry these pieces. The fun of reading the book is in being unaware of what new ways he will catch you off guard from one story to the next. Many of these pieces are not stories, but more like scenarios. I envy Novak's ability to say "What if ____________", and then come up with a bizarre way of filling in the blank with something we all wish we'd thought of.
Some of the pieces are just a line or two. They appear to be things B.J. Novak said to his friends off the top of his head and then recorded in a notebook for possible future use. For example: "I was sad that summer was over. But I was happy that it was over for my enemies too." The title for that one, The Walk To School On the Day After Labor Day, is almost as long as the piece it introduces.
Short story collections rarely get five stars from me because each story varies so much in quality and subject. Did I love everything in this book? No. There were some that fell flat for me, and some I just didn't get. But I was always eager to read the next one, and the next and the next, just to see where else Novak's nutty mind would take me. I laughed and I gasped and I found myself inspired to think more creatively. And THAT is worth five stars.
I'm hesitant to give any specifics because B.J. Novak relies on the element of surprise to carry these pieces. The fun of reading the book is in being unaware of what new ways he will catch you off guard from one story to the next. Many of these pieces are not stories, but more like scenarios. I envy Novak's ability to say "What if ____________", and then come up with a bizarre way of filling in the blank with something we all wish we'd thought of.
Some of the pieces are just a line or two. They appear to be things B.J. Novak said to his friends off the top of his head and then recorded in a notebook for possible future use. For example: "I was sad that summer was over. But I was happy that it was over for my enemies too." The title for that one, The Walk To School On the Day After Labor Day, is almost as long as the piece it introduces.
Short story collections rarely get five stars from me because each story varies so much in quality and subject. Did I love everything in this book? No. There were some that fell flat for me, and some I just didn't get. But I was always eager to read the next one, and the next and the next, just to see where else Novak's nutty mind would take me. I laughed and I gasped and I found myself inspired to think more creatively. And THAT is worth five stars.
December 10, 2020
So many stories packed into one book!
Normally, I try to write a little blurb or two about each short story in a collection but I have to draw the line somewhere. There's like 50 of them in here and I need to hold onto whatever sanity I have left.
Here are the most memorable ones:
The rematch -- Everyone knows the story of the tortoise and the hare, but not everyone knows about the aftermath. The hare was mocked relentlessly but swore that one day, there would be a rematch...
Dark matter -- An extremely distracted Millennial goes to a planetarium on the weekend. He discovers the truth behind Dark Matter but the explanation is so boring that he ends up tuning out.
No one goes to heaven to see Dan Fogelberg -- Well, everyone is finally dead and it's time to visit Grandma in heaven...only Grandma doesn't have time for the family anymore.
Romance, chapter one -- Incredibly short yet infinitely amusing. Here it is in full:
Julie and the warlord -- Hilarious. Julie goes on a blind date with a warlord. She just wants suss out his personality, he just wants to win a few battles.
The Something by John Grisham -- John Grisham, incredibly famous author, publishes his newest novel...only to realize that the incompetent intern forgot to wait for the title before sending it to the public. And what's worse? Everyone loves it.
The girl who gave great advice -- hilarious and read by Katy Perry. This girl gives the absolute best advice.
All you have to do -- One guy in a red shirt has really figured out the dating game.
The ambulance driver -- Torn between civic duty and a whimsical dream, one ambulance driver has a great and terrible decision.
The impatient billionaire and the mirror for Earth -- Self explanatory from the title. Amusing and ridiculous.
Missed connection: grocery spill at 21st and 6th 2:30 pm on Wednesday -- The return of the Red Shirt Guy. Love how this circles back to an earlier story.
Sophia -- A sex robot falls in love. Don't worry, it's definitely not going the way you think it will.
The Comedy Central roast of Nelson Mandela -- The transcription of the a comedy central roast. Surprisingly interesting - comedians poke fun at Mandela and he fires back a few zingers of his own.
They kept driving faster and outran the rain -- Title says it all.
The man who invented the calendar -- An extremely comical take on a false history. Every quirk about the calendar was thoroughly explained.
The beautiful girl in the bookstore -- short. sweet. adorable. Mildly stalkerish.
Kellogg's (or: the last wholesome fantasy of the middle-school boy) -- A poor kid learns he's adopted in the most hilarious way. I love how the name-brand vs off-brand played out!
The man who posted pictures of everything he ate -- Another extremely accurately titled essay.
Closure -- Narrated by Mindy Kaling and she channels her inner Kelly for this one. She wants closure but cannot stop thinking about a very, very permanent way of doing this.
Being young was her thing -- Slightly sad but still rather good.
The vague restaurant critic -- This one was pretty good. It poked (mostly) good-natured fun at all those YELP reviews that never actually make a point.
Wikipedia Brown and the case of the missing bicycle -- Encyclopedia Brown in the modern era
Chris Hansen at the Justin Bieber concert -- HA! Chris Hansen (TV personality known for finding pedophiles) finds himself being absolutely begged by his daughter to attend a Justin Bieber concert. He does his best to get out of it...
Great writers steal -- A couple of writes-turned-thieves in a pretty good misadventure.
The best thing in the world awards -- An award show that revealed that the best thing in the world...was nothing? Is that even allowed??
The literalist's love poem -- LOL. Yes. I need this.
J. C. Audetat, translator of Don Quixote -- This one was pretty good too. A translator amasses fame and fortune - only it's not what everyone thinks.
Audiobook Commetns
Hearing Jenna, Rainn and Mindy's voices delighted me throughout the book. There was such a variety in the short stories - some were funny and sweet, some were over in less than five minutes and some didn't seem quite right (like the heaven one). Stories like that prevented me from wanting to buy my own copy.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
Normally, I try to write a little blurb or two about each short story in a collection but I have to draw the line somewhere. There's like 50 of them in here and I need to hold onto whatever sanity I have left.
Here are the most memorable ones:
The rematch -- Everyone knows the story of the tortoise and the hare, but not everyone knows about the aftermath. The hare was mocked relentlessly but swore that one day, there would be a rematch...
Dark matter -- An extremely distracted Millennial goes to a planetarium on the weekend. He discovers the truth behind Dark Matter but the explanation is so boring that he ends up tuning out.
No one goes to heaven to see Dan Fogelberg -- Well, everyone is finally dead and it's time to visit Grandma in heaven...only Grandma doesn't have time for the family anymore.
Romance, chapter one -- Incredibly short yet infinitely amusing. Here it is in full:
“The cute one?”
“No, the other cute one.”
“Oh, she’s cute too.”
Julie and the warlord -- Hilarious. Julie goes on a blind date with a warlord. She just wants suss out his personality, he just wants to win a few battles.
The Something by John Grisham -- John Grisham, incredibly famous author, publishes his newest novel...only to realize that the incompetent intern forgot to wait for the title before sending it to the public. And what's worse? Everyone loves it.
The girl who gave great advice -- hilarious and read by Katy Perry. This girl gives the absolute best advice.
All you have to do -- One guy in a red shirt has really figured out the dating game.
The ambulance driver -- Torn between civic duty and a whimsical dream, one ambulance driver has a great and terrible decision.
The impatient billionaire and the mirror for Earth -- Self explanatory from the title. Amusing and ridiculous.
Missed connection: grocery spill at 21st and 6th 2:30 pm on Wednesday -- The return of the Red Shirt Guy. Love how this circles back to an earlier story.
Sophia -- A sex robot falls in love. Don't worry, it's definitely not going the way you think it will.
The Comedy Central roast of Nelson Mandela -- The transcription of the a comedy central roast. Surprisingly interesting - comedians poke fun at Mandela and he fires back a few zingers of his own.
They kept driving faster and outran the rain -- Title says it all.
The man who invented the calendar -- An extremely comical take on a false history. Every quirk about the calendar was thoroughly explained.
The beautiful girl in the bookstore -- short. sweet. adorable. Mildly stalkerish.
Kellogg's (or: the last wholesome fantasy of the middle-school boy) -- A poor kid learns he's adopted in the most hilarious way. I love how the name-brand vs off-brand played out!
The man who posted pictures of everything he ate -- Another extremely accurately titled essay.
Closure -- Narrated by Mindy Kaling and she channels her inner Kelly for this one. She wants closure but cannot stop thinking about a very, very permanent way of doing this.
Being young was her thing -- Slightly sad but still rather good.
The vague restaurant critic -- This one was pretty good. It poked (mostly) good-natured fun at all those YELP reviews that never actually make a point.
Wikipedia Brown and the case of the missing bicycle -- Encyclopedia Brown in the modern era
Chris Hansen at the Justin Bieber concert -- HA! Chris Hansen (TV personality known for finding pedophiles) finds himself being absolutely begged by his daughter to attend a Justin Bieber concert. He does his best to get out of it...
Great writers steal -- A couple of writes-turned-thieves in a pretty good misadventure.
The best thing in the world awards -- An award show that revealed that the best thing in the world...was nothing? Is that even allowed??
The literalist's love poem -- LOL. Yes. I need this.
J. C. Audetat, translator of Don Quixote -- This one was pretty good too. A translator amasses fame and fortune - only it's not what everyone thinks.
Audiobook Commetns
Hearing Jenna, Rainn and Mindy's voices delighted me throughout the book. There was such a variety in the short stories - some were funny and sweet, some were over in less than five minutes and some didn't seem quite right (like the heaven one). Stories like that prevented me from wanting to buy my own copy.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
March 1, 2016
The first piece of legitimate literature for the ADD generation.
A fine piece of trickery: Novak makes us think it's a celebration of and homage to hedonism. A quick, light, funny read that's soon to be forgotten.
But it's not. There's depth and substance here. High-brow, artsy, pretentious humor wrapped in the ephemeral humor of ADD.
There's a poignancy and intelligence and, and, and... weirdness... in these stories that I haven't found anywhere else - and it's not dark humor. It's pensive humor - which seems antithetical to the original premise of this review, but it's nonetheless true.
Had you told me that I was about to be deeply moved by a story about a sex robot, I'd have told you... Heck... I don't know what I would have told you. I probably would have walked away from the conversation, blushing awkwardly. Because, I don't know you well enough to be talking to you about such things. Weirdo.
Every non sequitur was brilliant. The inter-connectedness of the stories: brilliant. The juxtaposing of two opposing sides to end a story - both of which make sense: brilliant. And the fact that in almost every bizzaro-world situation, I find myself relating to the entire cast of characters: again, at the risk of sounding redundant: brilliant. (Some risks are worth taking.)
When people type "lol" these days, I can rarely picture people laughing out loud. Especially about what they post. Really? That picture of a cat is making you laugh out loud? UNFRIENDED! "Laugh out loud funny" has become a cliche, which sucks... because I was literally laughing out loud through a lot of this book. (And I'm using "literally" literally here - not in its figurative sense, as in "It literally makes me want to throw myself in front of a passing train when people use literally incorrectly" - which I suppose may be true for some people.)
Get it. Read it. Laugh.
Kid friends/easily-offended-friends, it's got some swears. This book isn't for you unless your parents read it first.
*I originally reviewed this 2/8/14 - The review has remained the same, I'm only adding this link: Wait But Why - Weeks. Either they just read One More Thing, or one of the authors is secretly B.J. Novak. Take these quotes, for instance,
A fine piece of trickery: Novak makes us think it's a celebration of and homage to hedonism. A quick, light, funny read that's soon to be forgotten.
But it's not. There's depth and substance here. High-brow, artsy, pretentious humor wrapped in the ephemeral humor of ADD.
There's a poignancy and intelligence and, and, and... weirdness... in these stories that I haven't found anywhere else - and it's not dark humor. It's pensive humor - which seems antithetical to the original premise of this review, but it's nonetheless true.
Had you told me that I was about to be deeply moved by a story about a sex robot, I'd have told you... Heck... I don't know what I would have told you. I probably would have walked away from the conversation, blushing awkwardly. Because, I don't know you well enough to be talking to you about such things. Weirdo.
Every non sequitur was brilliant. The inter-connectedness of the stories: brilliant. The juxtaposing of two opposing sides to end a story - both of which make sense: brilliant. And the fact that in almost every bizzaro-world situation, I find myself relating to the entire cast of characters: again, at the risk of sounding redundant: brilliant. (Some risks are worth taking.)
When people type "lol" these days, I can rarely picture people laughing out loud. Especially about what they post. Really? That picture of a cat is making you laugh out loud? UNFRIENDED! "Laugh out loud funny" has become a cliche, which sucks... because I was literally laughing out loud through a lot of this book. (And I'm using "literally" literally here - not in its figurative sense, as in "It literally makes me want to throw myself in front of a passing train when people use literally incorrectly" - which I suppose may be true for some people.)
Get it. Read it. Laugh.
Kid friends/easily-offended-friends, it's got some swears. This book isn't for you unless your parents read it first.
*I originally reviewed this 2/8/14 - The review has remained the same, I'm only adding this link: Wait But Why - Weeks. Either they just read One More Thing, or one of the authors is secretly B.J. Novak. Take these quotes, for instance,
May 14, 2014
Oh, BJ. I don't know what I was expecting with this collection, but this sure as hell wasn't it. Just about everything about this book bothered me. The stories were snarky, tongue-in-cheek, sardonic, sarcastic, biting. Yup, I think that about sums it up.
Every story was like a clever boy's "oh, wouldn't this be witty? oh, what if we did this- pushed this platitude as far as it can go?" (Really, the 'if I had a nickel for every time I spilled a cup of coffee' story was absolute crap). Some of these stories read like the response to a bad creative writing prompt. I get that part of humor writing is twisting the knife, giving stories an unexpected turn right at the end, something surprising and unpredictable. Great. The twist shouldn't be "X is dead," "Y doesn't love you," or "Z doesn't matter," which is all these stories were. How can you write or speak when your tongue is so stuck in your cheek?
Many people are praising BJ for his original thought and unique style. I'd read a celebrity-centric anecdotal collection of short stories (see Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?) any day over this pretentious, pseudo-intellectual drivel.
Of the 64 stories included in this volume, I think I liked a whopping two of them. The one about the man who invented the most famous math problem and the one about the translator. But that's inherently the problem! Each of these are "the one about the [insert unusual idea]." It's a problem because his stories aren't stories, they're concepts. Some of them ones that never needed to be fleshed out in prose.
Every story was like a clever boy's "oh, wouldn't this be witty? oh, what if we did this- pushed this platitude as far as it can go?" (Really, the 'if I had a nickel for every time I spilled a cup of coffee' story was absolute crap). Some of these stories read like the response to a bad creative writing prompt. I get that part of humor writing is twisting the knife, giving stories an unexpected turn right at the end, something surprising and unpredictable. Great. The twist shouldn't be "X is dead," "Y doesn't love you," or "Z doesn't matter," which is all these stories were. How can you write or speak when your tongue is so stuck in your cheek?
Many people are praising BJ for his original thought and unique style. I'd read a celebrity-centric anecdotal collection of short stories (see Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?) any day over this pretentious, pseudo-intellectual drivel.
Of the 64 stories included in this volume, I think I liked a whopping two of them. The one about the man who invented the most famous math problem and the one about the translator. But that's inherently the problem! Each of these are "the one about the [insert unusual idea]." It's a problem because his stories aren't stories, they're concepts. Some of them ones that never needed to be fleshed out in prose.
February 23, 2014
If I could give this book zero stars I would. Obviously I'm missing what a lot of other people are getting with this. Somebody, please tell me what's funny here?? I get that he sees himself as a more elevated "intellectual" humorist, and while a few if his ideas do have potential for hilarious insight, he never got past the idea, for me. At a certain point I was saying to myself, "Come on, there are so many funny places to go with this." But he didn't. And I didn't laugh once, out loud or otherwise.
October 28, 2014
"The Walk to School on the Day After Labor Day
I was sad that summer was over.
But I was happy that it was over for my enemies, too."
Take a minute and examine your reaction to that quote, one of the shortest pieces (I can't in good conscience call it a story) in BJ Novak's collection of short stories. I imagine that your reaction was similar to mine when I first read it - you probably smiled a little, maybe did one of those almost-laughs where you just blow air out your nose, and thought, "Oh, that's clever" and then immediately forgot about it.
That's the experience I had reading this book, repeated for several dozen stories. There's nothing particularly bad about any of the stories, and I giggled a couple of times while reading, but that's about it. The collection isn't awful, but it's nothing special. It's funny, but a pretentious kind of funny, and it's clever, but mostly for the sake of cleverness. And most of the stories are not stories so much as they're half-baked ideas that needed more love and attention. Some of the stories were fun in an absurdist way, like the one about Johnny Depp deciding to crash his motorcycle in front of a Hollywood tour bus, and many of them read like first drafts of a stand-up routine - like "Chris Hansen at the Justin Bieber Concert," where Hansen explains to his teenage daughter the numerous reasons he can't go to the concert with her. Others are more like little snippets of larger stories, like "Julie and the Warlord," where a woman goes on a date with an African warlord and debates ethics with him. This story is a lot more fun if you mentally cast Mindy Kaling as Julie - in fact, I'm ashamed to admit that I spent a lot of the book searching for evidence that proves my long-standing theory that Novak and Kaling are soulmates and need to get married yesterday (in response to the question of whether it's creepy to ship real people: yes, yes it is).
Mostly though, I spent my reading time thinking about how much better these ideas would be in the hands of another writer. "Sophia," a story about a man who returns a sex robot after it falls in love with him, could have been masterful in Stephen Millhauser's hands. Sometimes they just fall flat: "One of These Days, We Have to Do Something About Willie" ended with an emotional gut-punch that didn't feel earned. And sometimes they feel like they've been recycled from somewhere else. "Kellog's (Or the Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle-School Boy)" reads like a script for The Office that got rejected for being too dark.
He's not great at forming full stories, but Novak excels at sharp humor and realistic portrayals of modern life - at its best, his writing resembles Dorothy Parker and her acidic one-liners, like here:
"The casino looked like a straight person's attempt to replicate what he thought a gay kid he bullied in high school would have designed."
and here:
"'Do you have any regrets, Grandpa?' asked the ten-year-old, solemnly, as if he imagined himself wearing a tie."
Did you do the blow-air-out-your-nose laugh again? Like I said - that's about the best you can hope for with this book. Reading it wasn't a waste of an afternoon, but I'm glad I got it from the library instead of buying it.
As an added bonus, please watch this trailer for One More Thing (because apparently book trailers is a thing now?) featuring BJ Novak and Mindy Kaling and tell me they aren't totally in love.
I was sad that summer was over.
But I was happy that it was over for my enemies, too."
Take a minute and examine your reaction to that quote, one of the shortest pieces (I can't in good conscience call it a story) in BJ Novak's collection of short stories. I imagine that your reaction was similar to mine when I first read it - you probably smiled a little, maybe did one of those almost-laughs where you just blow air out your nose, and thought, "Oh, that's clever" and then immediately forgot about it.
That's the experience I had reading this book, repeated for several dozen stories. There's nothing particularly bad about any of the stories, and I giggled a couple of times while reading, but that's about it. The collection isn't awful, but it's nothing special. It's funny, but a pretentious kind of funny, and it's clever, but mostly for the sake of cleverness. And most of the stories are not stories so much as they're half-baked ideas that needed more love and attention. Some of the stories were fun in an absurdist way, like the one about Johnny Depp deciding to crash his motorcycle in front of a Hollywood tour bus, and many of them read like first drafts of a stand-up routine - like "Chris Hansen at the Justin Bieber Concert," where Hansen explains to his teenage daughter the numerous reasons he can't go to the concert with her. Others are more like little snippets of larger stories, like "Julie and the Warlord," where a woman goes on a date with an African warlord and debates ethics with him. This story is a lot more fun if you mentally cast Mindy Kaling as Julie - in fact, I'm ashamed to admit that I spent a lot of the book searching for evidence that proves my long-standing theory that Novak and Kaling are soulmates and need to get married yesterday (in response to the question of whether it's creepy to ship real people: yes, yes it is).
Mostly though, I spent my reading time thinking about how much better these ideas would be in the hands of another writer. "Sophia," a story about a man who returns a sex robot after it falls in love with him, could have been masterful in Stephen Millhauser's hands. Sometimes they just fall flat: "One of These Days, We Have to Do Something About Willie" ended with an emotional gut-punch that didn't feel earned. And sometimes they feel like they've been recycled from somewhere else. "Kellog's (Or the Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle-School Boy)" reads like a script for The Office that got rejected for being too dark.
He's not great at forming full stories, but Novak excels at sharp humor and realistic portrayals of modern life - at its best, his writing resembles Dorothy Parker and her acidic one-liners, like here:
"The casino looked like a straight person's attempt to replicate what he thought a gay kid he bullied in high school would have designed."
and here:
"'Do you have any regrets, Grandpa?' asked the ten-year-old, solemnly, as if he imagined himself wearing a tie."
Did you do the blow-air-out-your-nose laugh again? Like I said - that's about the best you can hope for with this book. Reading it wasn't a waste of an afternoon, but I'm glad I got it from the library instead of buying it.
As an added bonus, please watch this trailer for One More Thing (because apparently book trailers is a thing now?) featuring BJ Novak and Mindy Kaling and tell me they aren't totally in love.
March 13, 2022
3.5 stars
B.J. Novak, the author of this collection of short stories, anecdotes, and random thoughts is probably best known for playing Ryan Howard on the popular TV series "The Office." He was also a writer and executive producer on the show and has appeared in a number of Hollywood movies.
Author B.J. Novak
Most of the stories in the collection are humorous and some are thought-provoking. One story that made me smile is called "The Something by John Grisham."
John Grisham
In this tale John Grisham sends his new editor a manuscript that he provisionally calls 'The Something' because he hasn't decided on a title. Next thing Grisham knows his book, named 'The Something', is #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, courtesy of the inexperienced editor. Mortifying for the perfectionist author.
The story "The Comedy Central Roast of Nelson Mandela" is clever and fun.
Nelson Mandela
Comedians Jeff Ross, Lisa Lampenelli, Sarah Silverman and others poke gentle fun at the iconic anti-apartheid activist and President of South Africa - with a few embarrassing missteps along the way. Afterwards Mandela shows some humor chops of his own.
Jeff Ross
Lisa Lampenelli
Sarah Silverman
In "No One Goes to Heaven to See Dan Fogelberg", a deceased couple in Heaven can hardly decide on a concert to attend since famous dead musicians give free concerts every night. After a Frank Sinatra concert, the duo finally get to see hubby's elusive Grandma - who has better things to do in Heaven than visit with relatives.
Frank Sinatra
In the story "Kellogg's", a young boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of sugary name-brand cereal that's forbidden in his home. When the lad's parents refuse to claim the prize he sneaks off to Kellogg's headquarters to get his winnings. There he meets an executive who tells the boy he can't have the prize because he's related to a Kellogg's employee. Turns out the executive is the kid's real dad! 😲 Lots of food for thought in this story.
In "Sophia", a man orders a sex robot, then returns her when she falls in love with him. He's soon being kidded by anyone and everyone - on late night TV, the news, and social media. This part is very funny. Later, the robot tries to change the man's mind and he tries to explain that she'll get over him. 😭
Some anecdotes have oblique follow-ups later in the book. In a story called "All You Have To Do" a young man wears a bright red t-shirt every day.
He hopes that some gal might like the look of him and try to locate him via social media. So far, he's had no luck at all. In a later story titled "Missed Connection...." a girl who had a romantic night with a stranger is heartbroken because he never came back. As it happens, the fellow was wearing a red shirt.
The book contains many more entries, some a few pages long, some composed only of a sentence or two. B.J. Novak has an offbeat sense of humor that won't appeal to everyone. I liked some parts of the book better than others, but overall I found the stories entertaining. I wouldn't buy the book (for one thing a lot of the stories are available online)....but it's certainly worth getting from the library.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
July 24, 2017
i love how random and unusual, weirdly funny his ideas are. this collection fun to read. Dark matter was my favorite, i think some of the stories had really deep meaning and hidden messages, and the rest were just random and silly.
“Do you think Johnny Depp should have driven his motorcycle off the mountain highway to his death? Why or why not?”
“If you love something, let it go.
If you don't love something, definitely let it go.
Basically, just drop everything, who cares.”
“why do u always post pics of ur food!?
He did it because it made him feel like he was eating his meals with more people.”
very entertaining. i highly recommend.
“Do you think Johnny Depp should have driven his motorcycle off the mountain highway to his death? Why or why not?”
“If you love something, let it go.
If you don't love something, definitely let it go.
Basically, just drop everything, who cares.”
“why do u always post pics of ur food!?
He did it because it made him feel like he was eating his meals with more people.”
very entertaining. i highly recommend.
March 9, 2018
3.5
I had like 20 pages of this left and decided to just finish it because I know restore me is about to take over my life lol.
I went into this thinking it would be a memoir, but it's actually a collection of short/satirical/witty/clever short stories. A lot of them interconnected, surprisingly. I enjoyed the majority of them, but there were some longer ones that just seemed to go on too long. I tried listening to this on audio, but the jokes were lost on me when I tried it that way, so I wouldn't recommend it. But I do love how creative this entire thing is!
I had like 20 pages of this left and decided to just finish it because I know restore me is about to take over my life lol.
I went into this thinking it would be a memoir, but it's actually a collection of short/satirical/witty/clever short stories. A lot of them interconnected, surprisingly. I enjoyed the majority of them, but there were some longer ones that just seemed to go on too long. I tried listening to this on audio, but the jokes were lost on me when I tried it that way, so I wouldn't recommend it. But I do love how creative this entire thing is!
Read
February 15, 2014One More Thing about this book...
I'll cut right to the chase. One More Thing simply isn't very good. The weird thing is that it's not because B.J. Novak is (what some people may think inherently) a bad writer. It's his apparent love for vignettes that scream 'laugh at me' when there's nothing funny in there. No one would hold it against you if you only laughed out loud less than a dozen times while reading Novak's debut. That isn't to say that it is wholly unlikable because there are stories that I loved. They usually are the most substantial ones like Sophia or Kellogs. The main problem is that this book has far too much padding that brings down the whole. It's roughly 300 pages and would be a lot better at a little over 100. It starts out great, but quickly becomes tiresome as you constantly try to tell yourself that it could be worse. Which it could be, but it could be a hell of a lot better too.
I'll cut right to the chase. One More Thing simply isn't very good. The weird thing is that it's not because B.J. Novak is (what some people may think inherently) a bad writer. It's his apparent love for vignettes that scream 'laugh at me' when there's nothing funny in there. No one would hold it against you if you only laughed out loud less than a dozen times while reading Novak's debut. That isn't to say that it is wholly unlikable because there are stories that I loved. They usually are the most substantial ones like Sophia or Kellogs. The main problem is that this book has far too much padding that brings down the whole. It's roughly 300 pages and would be a lot better at a little over 100. It starts out great, but quickly becomes tiresome as you constantly try to tell yourself that it could be worse. Which it could be, but it could be a hell of a lot better too.
August 13, 2016
I was attracted to this First-Reads giveaway because of my longstanding interest in English-language humor. I’ve edited five humor anthologies and several humor collections and humorous novels, and once wrote a volume of literary parodies. I take humor seriously.
What Novak does best is to find the sadness in humor. Too many younger writers think that humor is just about laughs. No, that’s jokes. In fact, the great American humor tradition isn’t really about laughs, although there are some. Smiles and thought are more what humor is after.
What Novak does worst is language. Most of his prose and dialogue are like the average American realistic novel: flat, workmanlike, lacking imagination or character.
It’s not that Novak himself lacks an imagination. His ideas are very imaginative. But once he has an idea, he imagines like a lawyer (as a former lawyer, I mean that descriptively, not disparagingly). He runs with his idea in an intelligent way, thinking of the possibilities inherent in the idea, choosing one or two, and then writing his humor piece or story (I don’t mean that he does this consciously).
Many “idea humorists,” as I call them, take an idea exactly where I would take it if I thought about it for a minute or less. Novak is much more imaginative, creative, and thoughtful than that. But, most of the time, his ideas are still better than his execution. What’s missing, for me, is a playfulness of language, a freedom of thought, and a strong base in parody and satire.
I’m not the right audience for Novak, at least at this point in his career. He’s best as a dialogue-based storyteller, where there is no overriding idea. But as a literary fiction reader, I’m not pulled in by his flat prose, nor do I go for his sentimentality. And yet I was taken with the title story (for some reason entitled “Sophia”). I am put off by celebrity-based humor, but Novak did manage to do an excellent job with his Elvis piece.
In short, Novak is writing for a younger audience (I’m 59) and has offered a varied, intelligent, pretty consistent, sometimes moving collection of stories and humor pieces. It’s a good first effort.
On a different note, I’d like to respond to the book’s final piece, a satire about a fraudulent literary translator. The implication seems to be that literary translation is itself something of a fraud, that there really isn’t a reason to keep translating the classics for new eras and with fresh approaches. There’s nothing in the piece that suggests otherwise.
Novak includes excerpts from classics done in the past and then by Audetat, Novak’s fraud. They aren’t very different, which seems to be the point: it's just hype. At the micro level, translations are usually similar, and the differences can seem ridiculously minor or baffling: phrases switched around; one word instead of another, but meaning the same thing; or something inserted or taken out (which is “right”?). The important differences between translations are at the macro level.
Novak also suggests that literary translation is a linguistic act, that a fraudulent American translator is fraudulent with respect to his knowledge of foreign languages, and therefore might do to an English-language classic what he’s done to foreign-language classics. It’s easy to make fun of this. But it’s worth noting that when I studied literary translation many years ago, we started out translating classics from languages no one knew. There were two reasons: (1) everyone could start out translating the same thing, and (2) it taught us that literary translation is more a literary exercise than a linguistic exercise. With a few public domain translations in front of you, it’s amazing what you can do, without worrying about linguistic accuracy.
As a sad success story, this piece is instructive. But with respect to literary translation, it’s not. It simply supports typical misunderstandings.
What Novak does best is to find the sadness in humor. Too many younger writers think that humor is just about laughs. No, that’s jokes. In fact, the great American humor tradition isn’t really about laughs, although there are some. Smiles and thought are more what humor is after.
What Novak does worst is language. Most of his prose and dialogue are like the average American realistic novel: flat, workmanlike, lacking imagination or character.
It’s not that Novak himself lacks an imagination. His ideas are very imaginative. But once he has an idea, he imagines like a lawyer (as a former lawyer, I mean that descriptively, not disparagingly). He runs with his idea in an intelligent way, thinking of the possibilities inherent in the idea, choosing one or two, and then writing his humor piece or story (I don’t mean that he does this consciously).
Many “idea humorists,” as I call them, take an idea exactly where I would take it if I thought about it for a minute or less. Novak is much more imaginative, creative, and thoughtful than that. But, most of the time, his ideas are still better than his execution. What’s missing, for me, is a playfulness of language, a freedom of thought, and a strong base in parody and satire.
I’m not the right audience for Novak, at least at this point in his career. He’s best as a dialogue-based storyteller, where there is no overriding idea. But as a literary fiction reader, I’m not pulled in by his flat prose, nor do I go for his sentimentality. And yet I was taken with the title story (for some reason entitled “Sophia”). I am put off by celebrity-based humor, but Novak did manage to do an excellent job with his Elvis piece.
In short, Novak is writing for a younger audience (I’m 59) and has offered a varied, intelligent, pretty consistent, sometimes moving collection of stories and humor pieces. It’s a good first effort.
On a different note, I’d like to respond to the book’s final piece, a satire about a fraudulent literary translator. The implication seems to be that literary translation is itself something of a fraud, that there really isn’t a reason to keep translating the classics for new eras and with fresh approaches. There’s nothing in the piece that suggests otherwise.
Novak includes excerpts from classics done in the past and then by Audetat, Novak’s fraud. They aren’t very different, which seems to be the point: it's just hype. At the micro level, translations are usually similar, and the differences can seem ridiculously minor or baffling: phrases switched around; one word instead of another, but meaning the same thing; or something inserted or taken out (which is “right”?). The important differences between translations are at the macro level.
Novak also suggests that literary translation is a linguistic act, that a fraudulent American translator is fraudulent with respect to his knowledge of foreign languages, and therefore might do to an English-language classic what he’s done to foreign-language classics. It’s easy to make fun of this. But it’s worth noting that when I studied literary translation many years ago, we started out translating classics from languages no one knew. There were two reasons: (1) everyone could start out translating the same thing, and (2) it taught us that literary translation is more a literary exercise than a linguistic exercise. With a few public domain translations in front of you, it’s amazing what you can do, without worrying about linguistic accuracy.
As a sad success story, this piece is instructive. But with respect to literary translation, it’s not. It simply supports typical misunderstandings.
March 23, 2014
Either I am not smart enough to see how great this book is or it was not good. I'm leaning towards "not good", but that sounds smug. This book pissed me off while I was reading it and it has pissed me off more after I finished because I can't stop wondering why people love it.
August 12, 2015
My book club chose BJ Novak’s book, “One More Thing”. I wasn’t able to attend the meeting where the books were chosen, but my guess is it was chosen because Novak was an actor in the American “The Office”, a pretty funny show (at least the episodes I’ve caught).
However…
There was a big problem as I…as I was reading…listening…
ERM! I was listening to this on audiobook, as story after story went by. The Planetarium. The…The…The heaven story. The Calendar story. The…the…
SNORF! Well, what was I saying? Yeah, okay, the stories. They were being relayed, and well, I don’t recall all but a couple. The Tortoise and the Hare. The One where Everyone Hates Math. Another about a woman giving great advice, a guy who stands out with a red shirt and the two of them meeting up. And really…hmmmmm…really…
*YAWNS*
Anyway, the only things I could really think were: "Wow, Novak is a pretentious guy who thinks he is oh, so smart and clever and witty and intelligent with this smart-aleck humor" and "Maybe this is the proof I really am a robot". Oh, and I wonder how good of a pillow my keyboard would make.
Excuse me, I need a nap.
Discussion Question Answer:
No, I did not think the book was funny. The book was dry, boring, humorless, pretentious, and weird. The stories were mundane and simplistic, the writing was dull and insipid, and there were only two scenarios that made me even partially crack a smile.
Discussion Question for the Author:
What do you think adding discussion questions at the end of your “humorous” anecdotes says about you as an author and a “humorist”?
A) You are clever and witty, seeing something no one else could ever see because you are a super special snowflake. You know because your mother told you so.
B) You are pushing for a non-traditional (AKA totally mainstream now) type of comedy. That’s how you roll after all – being counter-cultural (AKA totally mainstream). Excuse you for trying to buck the mold – that’s why you wear only Urban Outfitters, bike everywhere you go, imbibe in organic, gluten-free products at Whole Foods and compost.
C) It’s a desperate ploy to make people think you are funny, when you are definitely NOT FUNNY.
Extra Credit: Check out some real humorists, such as George Carlin and Robin Williams. Discuss how they employed humor.
However…
There was a big problem as I…as I was reading…listening…
ERM! I was listening to this on audiobook, as story after story went by. The Planetarium. The…The…The heaven story. The Calendar story. The…the…
SNORF! Well, what was I saying? Yeah, okay, the stories. They were being relayed, and well, I don’t recall all but a couple. The Tortoise and the Hare. The One where Everyone Hates Math. Another about a woman giving great advice, a guy who stands out with a red shirt and the two of them meeting up. And really…hmmmmm…really…
*YAWNS*
Anyway, the only things I could really think were: "Wow, Novak is a pretentious guy who thinks he is oh, so smart and clever and witty and intelligent with this smart-aleck humor" and "Maybe this is the proof I really am a robot". Oh, and I wonder how good of a pillow my keyboard would make.
Excuse me, I need a nap.
Discussion Question Answer:
No, I did not think the book was funny. The book was dry, boring, humorless, pretentious, and weird. The stories were mundane and simplistic, the writing was dull and insipid, and there were only two scenarios that made me even partially crack a smile.
Discussion Question for the Author:
What do you think adding discussion questions at the end of your “humorous” anecdotes says about you as an author and a “humorist”?
A) You are clever and witty, seeing something no one else could ever see because you are a super special snowflake. You know because your mother told you so.
B) You are pushing for a non-traditional (AKA totally mainstream now) type of comedy. That’s how you roll after all – being counter-cultural (AKA totally mainstream). Excuse you for trying to buck the mold – that’s why you wear only Urban Outfitters, bike everywhere you go, imbibe in organic, gluten-free products at Whole Foods and compost.
C) It’s a desperate ploy to make people think you are funny, when you are definitely NOT FUNNY.
Extra Credit: Check out some real humorists, such as George Carlin and Robin Williams. Discuss how they employed humor.
July 19, 2014
I'm always leery of short stories. I'm not certain if this is because I often don't get what the author is trying to say or if they are not meaty enough, often leaving me hanging and thinking, "What?". I needn't have worried with this collection.
Irreverent, inane, frequently laugh out loud funny, yet often so true they are sad, these stories are superior. Sometimes long commentaries and others, just one sentence says it all. My favorites of the bunch
The Rematch
The Something by John Grisham
The Man Who Invented the Calendar
Kellogg's (Or, The Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle-School Boy)
To summarize these might spoil some of the pleasure of discovering the creativity in these pages. Each reader will probably find their own special pick.
Many of you may be familiar with B.J. Novak from his stint on The Office. I've never watched it but if it has half the inventiveness of One More Thing I might truly be missing something.
One story that pays tribute to a singer you'll all recognize rang true with my feelings about the cost of celebrity and touched me with its outcome. Closure is quiet gem.
One More Thing takes the ordinary things in life and spins them into something quite extraordinary. 4.5 stars
Audiobook download with a multi-cast narration only enhanced my enjoyment I'm certain.
Irreverent, inane, frequently laugh out loud funny, yet often so true they are sad, these stories are superior. Sometimes long commentaries and others, just one sentence says it all. My favorites of the bunch
The Rematch
The Something by John Grisham
The Man Who Invented the Calendar
Kellogg's (Or, The Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle-School Boy)
To summarize these might spoil some of the pleasure of discovering the creativity in these pages. Each reader will probably find their own special pick.
Many of you may be familiar with B.J. Novak from his stint on The Office. I've never watched it but if it has half the inventiveness of One More Thing I might truly be missing something.
One story that pays tribute to a singer you'll all recognize rang true with my feelings about the cost of celebrity and touched me with its outcome. Closure is quiet gem.
One More Thing takes the ordinary things in life and spins them into something quite extraordinary. 4.5 stars
Audiobook download with a multi-cast narration only enhanced my enjoyment I'm certain.
May 16, 2022
as far as short story collections by supporting actors on hit comedy tv series go - not bad!
not that good though.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago
not that good though.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago
September 1, 2016
Weird as hell... and not necessarily in a good way.
I have no idea what to make of this one. B.J. Novak tried very hard to be creative and funny, with creative, um, certainly being the key word. Some stories were amusing in a way, but most were just odd.
I didn't laugh, not once, and I think I was supposed to laugh. Maybe?
If you are interested in a collection of random thoughts in short story form, narrated by a series of "The Office" alums, then give it a shot. Just keep your expectations to a minimum.
November 13, 2013
Not at all what you expect given the "I am a funny famous person I guess I'll write a book of stories that are pretty much all about me" trend right now.
People are going to disagree about this a lot, I think. I had no idea Novak was capable of such good writing but when he chooses to ditch the traditional and speak directly to the Twitter generation it's really going to piss off purists. I think it's much more interesting how palatable he makes reading so many bits and stories that point out your own hypocrisy, first world privilege and mortality.
People are going to disagree about this a lot, I think. I had no idea Novak was capable of such good writing but when he chooses to ditch the traditional and speak directly to the Twitter generation it's really going to piss off purists. I think it's much more interesting how palatable he makes reading so many bits and stories that point out your own hypocrisy, first world privilege and mortality.
December 26, 2014
I was skeptical of trying this book but I kept reminding myself that B.J. Novak started as a WRITER not as an actor trying to be a writer. Right? Well that's how I talked myself into it. I'm so glad I did! There are sixty-ish stories in this book, varying greatly in tone, subject matter, and length.
My favorites include:
Julie and the Warlord
Sophia (the sex robot who falls in love)
The Beautiful Girl in the Bookstore (one of the shortest stories, with my favorite line - "She loved him, but she never quite got over the suspicion that she was just his favorite thing in the bookstore.")
Closure
I can't recommend the audio highly enough. Stories are read by the author, Rainn Wilson, Lena Dunham, Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, and a handful of others. They bring the stories to life, especially Lena's performance in Julie and the Warlord. Ha. The audio added an entire star to my rating, and 4 stars was going to be pretty great.
I recently read a review of Portlandia that described Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein as "deadpan." I think B.J. Novak can be that way sometimes. One story had this line near the beginning, and it isn't just the writing of it but the delivery that had me giggling as I folded laundry:
"I was sad that summer was over, but I was happy that it was over for my enemies too."
This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 03.
My favorites include:
Julie and the Warlord
Sophia (the sex robot who falls in love)
The Beautiful Girl in the Bookstore (one of the shortest stories, with my favorite line - "She loved him, but she never quite got over the suspicion that she was just his favorite thing in the bookstore.")
Closure
I can't recommend the audio highly enough. Stories are read by the author, Rainn Wilson, Lena Dunham, Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, and a handful of others. They bring the stories to life, especially Lena's performance in Julie and the Warlord. Ha. The audio added an entire star to my rating, and 4 stars was going to be pretty great.
I recently read a review of Portlandia that described Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein as "deadpan." I think B.J. Novak can be that way sometimes. One story had this line near the beginning, and it isn't just the writing of it but the delivery that had me giggling as I folded laundry:
"I was sad that summer was over, but I was happy that it was over for my enemies too."
This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 03.
November 28, 2013
I’m calling it: best book of short stories, 2014. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 2036. Homework assignments for kids everywhere, 2078. BJ Novak Day is a nationally recognized holiday (and the day kids look forward to because they don’t have to go to school and can stay home and read One More Thing), 2095. But enough about how great kids are going to have it in 60+ years from now. This book is seriously the best I’ve read this year. It comes out in February, so I can’t tell you to go buy it and read it all tonight, but as soon as you can, you should.
(Full review here: http://onthedl.ca/blog/default/view/52/)
(Full review here: http://onthedl.ca/blog/default/view/52/)
February 8, 2014
One of the most irritating books I've read in a while. In part this is because the author is clearly an intelligent, think-outside-the-box fellow with a lot of good ideas. I just found the majority of these stories unstructured and smarmy, with lots of punchlines but very little payoff. What DOES excite my admiration is his use of dialogue, which is very natural. So: a better screenwriter than a story-scribbler, perhaps; I confess I've never seen an episode of "The Office."
January 20, 2022
Novak is a very good writer and there is some brilliant stuff in this collection. I laughed hard enough to snort at the Comedy Central roast of Nelson Mandela. But a couple of things bugged me. The first was the feeling that much of the material was included to make weight. I can hear the editor chasing behind "Just 18 more pages BJ! You can do it!" There are all manner of bits and bobs here which are the germs of good ideas, but do not stand on their own as short stories or as microfiction. My other issue is the pretension. This coming from someone who reads and likes both The New York Review of Books and McSweeney's, so you know I have a high level of comfort with a range of iterations of intellectual snobbery. A lot of this, particularly at the start, had a kind of New Yorker cartoon humor. The type of "jokes" which infinitesimally raise one corner of your lips for a split second and remind you that you are well educated and appreciate a certain brand of clever that is not for everyone. That might be great for some, but it's not my jam. I listened to this and recommend the audio if you are going to give it a go. Novak is a good reader, and there are fun cameos from lots of your favorite people.
January 2, 2017
This book was entertaining! It was full of short stories that had nothing to do with each other. Some of the stories I really enjoyed, others I didn't. The first couple stories weren't good, so it took me a while to get into this book.
I chose to read this book because the author was in the TV show The Office and I really enjoyed him :)
I chose to read this book because the author was in the TV show The Office and I really enjoyed him :)
September 4, 2017
DNF. Too wordy
February 21, 2020
I really enjoyed probably 80% of the stories in this collection, but the 20% I didn't like, I REALLY didn't like. And, for the most part, those were the short one-liners that read like creative writing workshop students trying to be pithy and intellectual. While I understood the idea and impulse behind many of them, they're the kinds of thoughts that should just remain thoughts, because when you write them down and subsequently publish them, you kind of just sound like a pretentious asshole, y'know?
I would like to request more audiobooks that feature Rainn Wilson, though.
I would like to request more audiobooks that feature Rainn Wilson, though.
May 7, 2015
You may not know who BJ Novak is. Good: more for me! In case you are curious though, Novak is an actor (the US version of “The Office”, “Inglourious Basterds”, and “Saving Mr. Banks”), comedian, writer, and producer. I also dare to add incredibly cute, sexy, intelligent… Okay, sorry. Back to the matter at hand. Novak demonstrates his writing chops in a unique way with a collection of stories in, “One More Time: Stories and Other Stories”.
“One More Thing” begins on a strong note combining humor, wit, creativity, and intelligence, wrapped in symbolism which lays the foundation for the rest of the stories. Varying in length and composition style; each story has a strong individualistic narrative voice as Novak is able distinguish each character and story but yet maintain a smooth and cohesive strand. Naturally, some stories are more appealing than others but overall, “One More Thing” is inevitably strong.
Novak is a master at meshing laugh-out-loud moments with deeper philosophy. The stories make the reader think and contemplate layers of topics while also entertaining on the simplest level. Admittedly, “One More Thing” isn’t a masterpiece on the short story shelves but Novak’s text is rich, well-written, and best described as a creative voice for a younger generation.
Some of the stories in “One More Thing” feel too forced, striving too hard to be funny; while others are abrupt. There are a few instances when the reader feels the story is just beginning to propel but it instead ends quickly as though Novak wanted to continue but was reminded that this isn’t a full-length novel. Some readers may also be disappointed with some of the 1-2 page stories which are more like antidotes or thoughts in a narrative form versus a story with a strong skeleton. On the other hand, even these small musings are interesting and have depth beyond the superficial top coat.
One of the ‘cute’ characteristics of “One More Thing” is when Novak connects a former story with a latter one by either an event or character. This results in the stories feeling more novella-esque and results in a unique appeal to the text. Also striking is that each story is different (versus one main theme which can cause boredom in a short story collection); and yet “One More Thing” is not disjointed. For those readers who enjoy a dose of surrealism in short stories, Novak delivers with whimsy but not to the point where the narrative feels ‘fake’ or unnatural. Each story retains believability and is accessible.
A little over half-way through, “One More Thing” takes a bizarre turn leaving one to think, “You’re losing me, Novak!”. Perhaps the more odd stories should have been spread out versus clumped together. Also at this point, some readers may feel alienated by Novak’s jokes which are references my fellow LA residents and I understand but may be lost on others.
Unfortunately, “One More Thing” concludes poorly with one of the Novak’s weaker stories making for a conclusion which softens the impact of the work, overall. However, this blow is lessened with a particularly humorous “Discussion Questions” section and “Acknowledgments”. Make sure to read these!
“One More Thing” may not be the world’s best collection of short stories but is a fresh and unique voice which is relatable and yet thought-provoking. Novak proves he has writing skills beyond stand-up comedy and television. Clearly, Novak would prove quite well to pen a full-length fiction novel (do it, Novak!). “One More Thing” is 100% recommended for Novak fans and also for those readers who enjoy short stories appealing to a modern generation. “One More Thing” is definitely a notable debut from a skilled writer.
“One More Thing” begins on a strong note combining humor, wit, creativity, and intelligence, wrapped in symbolism which lays the foundation for the rest of the stories. Varying in length and composition style; each story has a strong individualistic narrative voice as Novak is able distinguish each character and story but yet maintain a smooth and cohesive strand. Naturally, some stories are more appealing than others but overall, “One More Thing” is inevitably strong.
Novak is a master at meshing laugh-out-loud moments with deeper philosophy. The stories make the reader think and contemplate layers of topics while also entertaining on the simplest level. Admittedly, “One More Thing” isn’t a masterpiece on the short story shelves but Novak’s text is rich, well-written, and best described as a creative voice for a younger generation.
Some of the stories in “One More Thing” feel too forced, striving too hard to be funny; while others are abrupt. There are a few instances when the reader feels the story is just beginning to propel but it instead ends quickly as though Novak wanted to continue but was reminded that this isn’t a full-length novel. Some readers may also be disappointed with some of the 1-2 page stories which are more like antidotes or thoughts in a narrative form versus a story with a strong skeleton. On the other hand, even these small musings are interesting and have depth beyond the superficial top coat.
One of the ‘cute’ characteristics of “One More Thing” is when Novak connects a former story with a latter one by either an event or character. This results in the stories feeling more novella-esque and results in a unique appeal to the text. Also striking is that each story is different (versus one main theme which can cause boredom in a short story collection); and yet “One More Thing” is not disjointed. For those readers who enjoy a dose of surrealism in short stories, Novak delivers with whimsy but not to the point where the narrative feels ‘fake’ or unnatural. Each story retains believability and is accessible.
A little over half-way through, “One More Thing” takes a bizarre turn leaving one to think, “You’re losing me, Novak!”. Perhaps the more odd stories should have been spread out versus clumped together. Also at this point, some readers may feel alienated by Novak’s jokes which are references my fellow LA residents and I understand but may be lost on others.
Unfortunately, “One More Thing” concludes poorly with one of the Novak’s weaker stories making for a conclusion which softens the impact of the work, overall. However, this blow is lessened with a particularly humorous “Discussion Questions” section and “Acknowledgments”. Make sure to read these!
“One More Thing” may not be the world’s best collection of short stories but is a fresh and unique voice which is relatable and yet thought-provoking. Novak proves he has writing skills beyond stand-up comedy and television. Clearly, Novak would prove quite well to pen a full-length fiction novel (do it, Novak!). “One More Thing” is 100% recommended for Novak fans and also for those readers who enjoy short stories appealing to a modern generation. “One More Thing” is definitely a notable debut from a skilled writer.
February 27, 2014
I love BJ Novak and the shows he has starred in or been a writer for. So of course I thought I would love this book. It's really well-written. But I found it a little boring. I didn't find it very funny or entertaining. I can't figure out what I'm missing that everyone else seemed to love. I think maybe I'm just not a fan of short stories.
March 8, 2019
Ashamedly, I am always stunned when a seemingly innocent actor/actress turns out to be quite the impressive individual with a stellar curriculum vitea. BJ Novak is one such actor. In my defense, the character I know him best as, The Office's gullible, awkward Ryan Howard, must have been played so well that I was, naturally, so easily led to believe otherwise. Other than his iconic character, he also wrote, directed, and produced for the show. He played roles in several wife-release films, the one most interesting to me being Inglorious Basterds alongside Brad Pitt. Notably, Novak is a Harvard alumni, having studied English and Spanish literature. Great trivia: http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/...
Back to the material at hand! He is funny. No doubt about it. Add his intellect, apparent in his writing, reflected in his wittiness, and you have some damn good stories. I love intelligent humor above any other. Novak has it.
Not to say he is anywhere near perfect. Out near the breasts like Steve Martin and Ellen DeGeneres, even Demetri Martin (personal favorites). Some of his stories did not have me laughing at all, even smiling. Maybe a share of them referenced things I did not understand. But others still simply were not funny, though I could see where he was going with it.
My personal favorite were: The Rematch (The Tortoise & The Rabbit), The Man Who Invented The Calendar, & The Girl That Gave Great Advice (She only nods, provides options, then whichever the recurve of said advice hold onto, she had the right words to further encourage it, has specific head tilted/angles, etcetera).
Interesting ideas, concepts, stories that were not necessarily humorous: Wikipedia Brown & The Case of The Missing Bicycle, The Thing by John Grisham (Quitr accurate, referencing how all his titles are the same), A Great Problem To Have (Regarding the story behind the creator of the grade school arithmetic ? that discusses two trains meeting, traveling @ the same speed), Sophia (An A.I. Lover the protagonist returns for having feelings).
Another favorite, although not quite one of the stories, is the discussion questions. Awesomely amusing!
Back to the material at hand! He is funny. No doubt about it. Add his intellect, apparent in his writing, reflected in his wittiness, and you have some damn good stories. I love intelligent humor above any other. Novak has it.
Not to say he is anywhere near perfect. Out near the breasts like Steve Martin and Ellen DeGeneres, even Demetri Martin (personal favorites). Some of his stories did not have me laughing at all, even smiling. Maybe a share of them referenced things I did not understand. But others still simply were not funny, though I could see where he was going with it.
My personal favorite were: The Rematch (The Tortoise & The Rabbit), The Man Who Invented The Calendar, & The Girl That Gave Great Advice (She only nods, provides options, then whichever the recurve of said advice hold onto, she had the right words to further encourage it, has specific head tilted/angles, etcetera).
Interesting ideas, concepts, stories that were not necessarily humorous: Wikipedia Brown & The Case of The Missing Bicycle, The Thing by John Grisham (Quitr accurate, referencing how all his titles are the same), A Great Problem To Have (Regarding the story behind the creator of the grade school arithmetic ? that discusses two trains meeting, traveling @ the same speed), Sophia (An A.I. Lover the protagonist returns for having feelings).
Another favorite, although not quite one of the stories, is the discussion questions. Awesomely amusing!
July 29, 2015
You guys.
This. Book.
I loved BJ Novak on The Office and Inglorious Bastards, have loved him in all miscellaneous roles, loved him in all of his interviews. It wasn’t the kind of love that prompted me to learn more about him (therefore it wasn’t true, alas), I was just wandering around in a “OH YEAH BJ Novak I love him he’s great super funny and seems cool” state.
Then, I bought this book.
One More Thing is a collection of stories, and a blend of “traditional” short stories, micro fiction, and hint fiction, which is my favorite way for a story collection to be.
Before I began reading I cracked the book and read the rear inner flap, which prompted amazement and wonder when I learned that he is a writer (beyond the collection I was holding, obviously), executive producer, and double majored in literature at Harvard. This sent me down the Google and Wikipedia trail until I emerged again into the light, victorious, clasping a more thorough knowledge of Novak’s accomplishments and background.
I flipped to the first story, ready to be wowed, and was not disappointed for a moment. (PSA: this description is going to get a bit messy, but if you read it you’ll come back and say YES ALL THE THINGS ARE TRUE.)
Novak’s collection seems random and disjointed, but effortlessly flows and carries along connective threads and phrases from a story at the beginning to a few words at the end that will leave you feeling whole when you close the cover. I laughed and cried in the same sentence, felt love, shame, curiosity, confusion, frustration, and glee in the span of five page story. It was everything and nothing, it touched a nerve in my core fundamental ideas while dissolving into nonsense a few pages later.
His intelligence, depth of feeling, and quirky weirdness radiates from each page, and I want to be his best friend. One of the best books I’ve read in the past few years. Seriously.
Link to the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FxhTn...
This. Book.
I loved BJ Novak on The Office and Inglorious Bastards, have loved him in all miscellaneous roles, loved him in all of his interviews. It wasn’t the kind of love that prompted me to learn more about him (therefore it wasn’t true, alas), I was just wandering around in a “OH YEAH BJ Novak I love him he’s great super funny and seems cool” state.
Then, I bought this book.
One More Thing is a collection of stories, and a blend of “traditional” short stories, micro fiction, and hint fiction, which is my favorite way for a story collection to be.
Before I began reading I cracked the book and read the rear inner flap, which prompted amazement and wonder when I learned that he is a writer (beyond the collection I was holding, obviously), executive producer, and double majored in literature at Harvard. This sent me down the Google and Wikipedia trail until I emerged again into the light, victorious, clasping a more thorough knowledge of Novak’s accomplishments and background.
I flipped to the first story, ready to be wowed, and was not disappointed for a moment. (PSA: this description is going to get a bit messy, but if you read it you’ll come back and say YES ALL THE THINGS ARE TRUE.)
Novak’s collection seems random and disjointed, but effortlessly flows and carries along connective threads and phrases from a story at the beginning to a few words at the end that will leave you feeling whole when you close the cover. I laughed and cried in the same sentence, felt love, shame, curiosity, confusion, frustration, and glee in the span of five page story. It was everything and nothing, it touched a nerve in my core fundamental ideas while dissolving into nonsense a few pages later.
His intelligence, depth of feeling, and quirky weirdness radiates from each page, and I want to be his best friend. One of the best books I’ve read in the past few years. Seriously.
Link to the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FxhTn...
May 28, 2015
I was disappointed by these stories...I wanted to like them more than I did. Some of the premises were really fun and fantastic, so full of promise, but they tended to lose momentum and peter out by the end. They often felt incomplete and pointless. The endings were often super gimmicky (don't get me started on the "discussion questions" at the end of a few). Some of the stories just felt like comedy bits--like jokes with punchlines. Overall, not my cup of tea.
June 1, 2014
OK, I give up. Am about half way through this collection of short stories, and I simply do not care enough to continue. Some interesting ideas, but overall not a compelling read. The audiobook is narrated by various people you might know, but rather than add, in my humble opinion, they are actually a distraction. I know many loved this collection, but it so did not work for me.
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