Are You a Miserable Old Bastard?: Quips, Quotes, And Tales From The Eternally Pessimistic

by Andrew John

Are You a Miserable Old Bastard? is a very funny book for the "inner curmudgeon" in us all, a highly amusing and wonderfully entertaining celebration of the grouchiness in life, for everyone who feels like it's always raining, both outside and in!

Genres: Fiction, Comedy, Humor

172 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2006

Reviews

[Joseph F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes sometimes we must indulge the curmudgeon within most of us. Starting off each section with an enjoyable brief essay by the editors, this little book is mainly a collection of witty but crabby sayings by many famous, as well as not so famous, people in history. Topics that annoy us grouches include kids, animals, the battle of the sexes, various nations, and that newest bedbug of the old bastard: the internet!!!

[Donny Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are You a Miserable Old Bastard?: Quips, Quotes, And Tales From The Eternally Pessimistic by Andrew John, Stephen Blake is a highly recommended collection of quotes from a wide variety of well known personalities. The quotes are organized by very general topics and the quips, putdowns, grumps, and complaints are widely diverse. You can read quotes from P. J. O'Rourke, Dorothy Parker, Michael Moore, H. L. Mencken, Fran Lebowitz, Winston Churchill, Groucho Marx, and W. C. Fields and even quotes from literary and fictional characters, like A. A. Milne's character Eeyore.

All of the quotes are wonderfully grumpy and suitably irritable for the most cantankerous among us, as well as for those who just appreciate a good testy quote about a variety of topics that can annoy the best of us in everyday life. This is a perfect book to read in short snatches or to look through for a suitably petulant quote to fit any situation. First published in 2006, a new edition is being released in 2023 by Rowman & Littlefield and my review copy was courtesy of the publisher.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/0...

[Shorewalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those fun to pick up and read a page or two and then set down again. Full of very unique and not often seen quotes.

[TIMOTHY L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book for review.

A collection of sayings and short stories, some are funny. I think the book would have been better had there been a story format instead.

[Dan Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not for everyone. If you typically like your reading material to be uplifting and positive, complete with smiley faces and rainbows, this book is probably not for you. Are You a Miserable Old Bastard? is every bit as curmudgeonly as you might expect. But as the Jacket blurb states, "We've all … wallowed in pools of negativity just for the sake of it, but why not? It's a lot of fun!" The two authors, Andrew John and Stephen Blake, are pictured on the jacket scowl-frowning while standing in the rain. It is an adequate summary photograph of the book's contents. And Blake's facial expression is priceless.

It is fun to wade through this little book. It is a compilation of a few short sections on various aspects of grumpiness. These are interspersed with a generous measure of quotes from likely grumps such as Groucho Marx, W. C. Fields, Alfred Hitchcock, S. J. Perelman, and Fran Lebowitz. But it also includes many quotes from unexpected sources such as Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Bill Cosby, Gloria Steinem, and George Bernard Shaw. Woody Allen and Oscar Wilde are well represented with quotes.

The subject areas explored include "Quotable querulous quibbles" about pessimism, dogs and cats, technology, entertainment and the media, politics, kids, the sexes, special occasions, nationality, and life itself. Specific people are targeted in quotes that probably should not have been made, but were blurted out anyway and became funny in and of themselves. Targets include Queen Elizabeth I, James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, Steve McQueen, Barbara Streisand, and Diane Keaton, to name just a few.

I enjoyed the book, but I have to add that I have always enjoyed a personal streak of pessimism and sarcasm. A friend who was also my employer at the time once remarked that I might consider being a little less sarcastic at times. My reply was, "But it's what I am best at." So, perhaps my personality is simply more in tune than most people with a book titled Are You a Miserable Old Bastard? But if nothing else, the book is a great source for grumpy, insulting, and accusatory quotes by famous people who probably should have known better than to pen or voice them in most cases. At only 159 pages with a lot of white space, it is a fast read and an enjoyable one if your temperament is adjusted accordingly.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly funny collection of life's little irritations. I did eventually start to get grumpy reading it and just wanted to tell people to lighten up a bit!

[Vanessa Dargain · Rating 3 out of 5]

That dour looking bookjacket aptly implies the words of Saint Mathew :
"He sendeth the rain on the just and the unjust " as understood by a cynical old git . . . Come get a few chuckles reading anecdotes , quoted from a wide range of literary celebrities , about how the other guy perceives his rainy day . Pages 77-89 are my favorites . And only the well adjusted ego should read the tastefully done ethnic insults of almost everyone on pages 95-11 . Quite a few of the puns are real laugh out louds .
Helps me to be a good neighbor to my senior neighbors with laughter .
Always a read again : D

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting confection, with many quotable quotes from history's favorite cantakerous cranks.

Unfortunately padded with the authors' own grousing, which should have been ripped stillborn out of their manual Underwood typewriter and fed to them with garlic and tincture of deadly nightshade. Good riddance.

[Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

none of your damn business!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up in a discount store very funny I am however more a grumpy old man rather than miserable old git I've decided after reading this!