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One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
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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 Ame ...more
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 Ame ...more
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Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
February 4th 2014
by Knopf
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Start your review of One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories

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 tho ...more
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 tho ...more

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 ...more
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 ...more

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 ...more
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 ...more

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 thes ...more
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 thes ...more

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 otherw
...more

"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, th ...more
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, th ...more

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 Gris ...more

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 p ...more
“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 p ...more

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' ...more
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' ...more

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. Smile ...more
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. Smile ...more

One 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 tha ...more
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 tha ...more

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.
...more

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 M ...more
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 M ...more

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 ...more
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 ...more

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 ...more
not that good though.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago ...more


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 m ...more

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 you ...more
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 you ...more

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 neve ...more
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 neve ...more

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 b
...more

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
...more

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."
...more

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'k
...more

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, ...more
“One More Thing” begins on a strong note combining humor, ...more

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.
...more

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 :) ...more
I chose to read this book because the author was in the TV show The Office and I really enjoyed him :) ...more

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 on
...more

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 ...more
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 ...more

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.
...more

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.

Feb 02, 2015
Gabrielle
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2015,
audiobook
The danger with short stories collections is that the ratio of hit/misses must be extremely high in order to avoid disappointment, or, in the case of my reaction to this book, a general lack of enthusiasm for it. "Meh" would be a good summary of my review.
The greatest strength of this audiobook is its use of its narration, both by Novak and by the guests/friends he invited to join him for the recording. The stories or characters that are attributed to them are a perfect fit, and Rainn Wilson's v ...more
The greatest strength of this audiobook is its use of its narration, both by Novak and by the guests/friends he invited to join him for the recording. The stories or characters that are attributed to them are a perfect fit, and Rainn Wilson's v ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bangin' Book Club: One More Thing!! | 1 | 5 | Dec 14, 2016 12:57PM | |
Play Book Tag: One More Thing by BJ Novak 4* | 5 | 23 | Dec 07, 2016 01:03PM | |
2017 Reading Chal...: One More Thing Stories and Other Stories | 1 | 18 | May 10, 2015 10:27AM | |
2015 Reading Chal...: One More Thing by B.J. Novak | 1 | 16 | Feb 05, 2015 11:11AM | |
Should I read this? | 7 | 58 | Oct 31, 2014 11:12AM |
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“If you love something, let it go.
If you don't love something, definitely let it go.
Basically, just drop everything, who cares.”
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