Jerri R.

Books that make fun of the inherent behaviors of human beings are popular for more reasons than one. Stand up comedians have been making a living for years making fun of themselves and others. It’s just one of those things, we do silly, sometimes stupid things and they just insist that you laugh at yourself lest you will be crying. Weirder Than Marshmallows is just one such book.

Nightfire Publications released this awesome book for the Kindle and honestly, you need nothing but time and a place to rest for some serious belly laughs. They say laughter is the best medicine and seriously, laughing at other people is a lot of fun, even if you won’t admit you partake of such fun. And, the sad thing is, you may find a story in the book that leaves you wondering if someone was spying on you. It really is that real. Again, leave room for lots of belly laughs.

Just as a side note, I don’t recommend reading this and trying to retell the stories as you read because the people listening (mainly my spouse) won’t be amused by all the laughing and moreover the laughing to the point of not being able to finish reading the story to him so he can laugh too. OOPS! OH Well, life’s tough that way.

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Mardesia C.

I recently was sent a copy of Weirder Than Marshmallows by Dan Fogg of NightFire Publications to read and review.

Before you break out the sticks and start the fires the Preface explains what the book is about: “But this book isn’t about marshmallows, despite the ramblings above. This book is about stories. Stories that are, like marshmallows, strange, mind boggling, but somehow appealing to the public at large. Hard to explain, impossible to ignore.”

From the moment I read the synopsis of this e-book, I knew that I had to read this book. There are people who are doing stupid and/or ignorant stuff and need to be ridiculed? Well then sign me up! My dear hubby has the nickname around our house of Sarcastro and I must admit that I could easily be Mrs. Sarcastro. What can I say, it’s my super power?

The Mr. Fogg definitely raises some interesting questions/observations in his 5 essays about the things that people do and the curious warnings found on product packaging. Many times I found myself smiling and nodding as I read his words.

http://www.keepingyourcents.com/

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Kathleen

I love reviewing books! So I couldn’t wait to print out Weirder Than Marshmallows make a cup of coffee and get lost in a book of what I thought would be about marshmallows. Boy was I wrong! The book is actually about everything but marshmallows except for the first page. Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. I found my self bursting out laughing at parts, which led to odd looks from others in the room. The book being only a short 28 pages printed front and back ended far to soon. I found myself relating to some of the chapters and thinking to myself are people really that stupid? Laughed again and said to myself yes just look at today’s television shows. This is a must read book for anyone who enjoys or needs a good laugh.

http://kathleensblogspot.com/2011/10/02/weirder-than-marshmallows-book-review/

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Leslie R.

Weirder than Marshmallows is a book of essays by Dan Fogg. It was really enjoyable and pokes a little bit of fun at everyone. It’s an easy read, which I like, and each essay is short. This is nice with a little one to chase around the house.
I like Fogg because he tackles serious ideas with humor and fun. Great read, and I was happy to receive a copy!!

http://oneyeartodisney.blogspot.com/2011/11/weirder-than-marshmallows-indeed.html

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Jonathan

The products keep piling up, here at The Daily Serge, so expect a lot of reviews in the next few days! Today’s is another book entitled Weirder than Marshmallows. As a compilation of short stories, Weirder than Marshmallows brings light the observations of Dan Fogg, who passed away in 2002 at 22 years old. What I enjoyed about reading these stories is that he speaks of the everyday truths we see all day. Heck, the first few chapters are about the idiocy of signs like ‘Do Not Park On Railroad Tracks’ or ‘Harmful if Swallowed’ while referring to gasoline…

There is pretty good humor sprinkled in, too. You wouldn’t feel like you’re reading a book, but rather listening to a friend while at Happy Hour after work. Each story is only a few paragraphs long, so he gets to the point, hits you with some humor, and leaves it open for your response…if this guy was at a party, everyone would want to sit near him to hear what he has to say next.

All around, I really enjoyed reading this. It is just long enough to be worth the read, but short enough so you’re never let down. It is like Seinfeld: Finishes on top….and not like The Office, which reuses ideas and should have ended four seasons ago……

Therefore, I feel compelled to give Weirder than Marshmallows 5 out of 5 Thumbs Up!

http://www.thedailyserge.com/2011/10/daily-review-weirder-than-marshmallows.html

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Leah S.

I was given the chance to review the book “Weirder than Marshmallows” by Dan Fogg. Put together with the help of Deborah Carney. The first thing that caught my eye about the book was the title!! Who doesn’t love marshmallows??? Each of the stories in this book are witty, sarcastic and true!!

Beyond the front cover and title there is nothing in this book regarding marshmallows. But inside you will find five essays that will make you laugh out loud and wonder how can people really be that stupid?? It is not the type of book that is leaving you hanging wondering what is coming next, but it is the type of book that will leave you wanting more!

This is perfect book for bathroom reading. A friend who is kind of down would get a laugh out of this book! And lets face it, who doesn’t love reading about someone else’s stupidity?

http://clairsfreebies.blogspot.com/

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Tiffany D.

Weirder Than Marshmallows is a collection of essays and observations based on the author’s life. Dan Fogg discusses everything from the stupid side of human nature to the very serious Columbine shooting.

What I liked most about this book is that it didn’t really feel like I was reading. It was more like Dan was sitting next to me and we were having a conversation about life and all the ridiculous things we come across. I loved that he brought up a lot of topics that I have thought about before and have even complained about. It took me only a little over an hour to finish although it felt like I breezed through it in minutes.

Since this is such a short book, it felt more like reading a magazine article or even a blog post. I think because I read this in e-format and online, it added to that feeling. I may have felt differently had I been reading a print version.

Even though I enjoyed the book, I did find a few topics repeating themselves. A topic would be discussed in the first part of the book, only to pop back up again later on to repeat the same observation. Perhaps if they were combined and edited, it would have made for a more engaging section. As it was, most chapters were only a page long. I really enjoyed the chapter about his father’s lack of common sense and found myself disappointed that it was so short.

Overall, I liked what I read. I’d recommend this to anyone who was looking for something quick and fun to read without having to invest too much time. I was very sad to see that Dan Fogg passed away before this was published. One can only wonder where he could have taken his writing had he had more time. However, I was happy to see that he has some fiction work that may eventually be published. I will definitely be looking forward to it.

http://bookcoverjustice.blogspot.com/

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Katie H.

I recently received the eBook Weirder Than Marshmallows by Dan Fogg from NightFire Publications to read and review. I really had no idea what to expect going in, but was pleasantly surprised at the well written and humorous take on things that Dan had.

The book itself is a compilation of essays and observations written by Dan Fogg that were compiled and edited by Deborah Carney. Dan’s life was tragically cut short in 2002, but his legacy lives on among his friends and family, and hopefully through the publishing of this book, society will also hear and read the words of a man who spent most of his life confined to a wheel chair, but observed the world around him with the eyes of a cynic and comedian.

Dan shows an obvious sense of humor and heart of a comedian in his take on life and random things around us. From his thoughts regarding the unusual warning signs on products and places in our lives, to the stupid actions of society in general at times, he looks at things with a cynics heart and what I consider to be a much more honest view than most of what we read and hear. His take on peoples disabilities and how there is a tendency for “groups” to stick together and make themselves stand out more rather than being diverse and incorporating into society really hit home. It was refreshing to see someone who himself suffered a disability be honest about how it is taken advantage of and exaggerated. Yet, on the same token, not discounting or overlooking the disability itself.

Overall, I was very impressed with this eBook. The quality of writing is excellent. Both Dan in his creativity and honesty and Deborah in her editing skills managed to pull together a great book of humor and well, weirdness that I truly appreciated. This book is long enough to read a few pages a day, or short enough to read in one sitting. My only complaint or drawback has to do with the use of foul language in a few places. Although I understood the placement and get the reasons behind it, I still felt it was unnecessary to get the point across in the book. This brought the book down to a 4 star for me.

Weirder than Marshmallows is definitely a great eBook to grab as a gift for the comedian in your family or just what I would call a “coffee table” book for yourself. Something light and fun to read when you want to unwind or could use a few laughs.

http://brewingdaily.blogspot.com/

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Deborah H.

When I received this book to review, I was very excited because the title totally caught my attention, I love books that leave me thinking about those oddities of human behavior, those things we all do, but few of us would actually admit to, and if we do, we’re just all the prouder because that is what makes us unique…

I laughed hysterically in the beginning. I found Mr. Fogg to be truly funny. He had a talent for writing up things, that were not just weird, they were genuinely kick me funny but not so much in a mean way.

As the book went on, I found less humor, and more of poignant side to Mr. Fogg’s writing. I was touched by some of the stories he had to tell. Particularly those of being helped in New York as disabled person, but then thoroughly confused a while later as he talks of being lost and alone in the same city.
Over all, I felt that some of the stories could have benefited from a bit of order adjustment, because there were times I was left scratching my head in wonder of what the author was talking about. But don’t let that deter you from buy this book because it is well written, and the author’s knack for painting a picture in his short essays, and drawing you into his mind is above and beyond just mere imagination.

This book is a quick read, and worth the time for sure.

I give it a definite thumbs up!

http://itsreallyonlymyopinion.blogspot.com/

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Kelly O.

This is the fifth book I have read as part of challenge no. 21 of my 52 things in 52 weeks challenge.

Bet you haven’t ever really thought about what goes into marshmallows, have you?

I’ve only just started to get into chemistry as part of my uni, and a few of our experiments involved the modification of a colour of an item using various other chemicals. Reading this introduction from Dan literally made me stop for a bit, and wonder why blue 1 would be needed. Seriously…anyone know? Did anyone else ever actually stop and look at ingredients for any food item in particular, only to wonder why a particular ingredient was actually necessary?

The rest of the book is a collection of stories ranging from the ponderings of other everyday occurrences that we never stop to really think about, or the bizarre moments in life (being certain you were in a specific place at a particular time, and someone else who was there at that exact same time not ever seeing you). There’s a lot in there that you’ll find that you think “oh yeah – why is that?”

This was the first time I’ve used an e-book in my 52 in 52 challenge, but when an offer was made for me to receive the book for free in exchange for my honest opinion, I definitely wasn’t going to turn that down! Reading an e-book was quite a different experience to be honest. I used my iPhone, and I definitely struggled as it came in a PDF format (on the iPhone you can’t change PDF font sizes using iBooks). However, if you had a dedicated e-book reader with a larger screen (iPad, kindle etc) you wouldn’t have the same problem. In addition, if it came in a format that was a bit more friendly to the iBooks app so that I could change the font size then it would be a lot better. There’s a kindle version so I would expect this problem would be resolved using the Kindle app.

Overall the book was quite enjoyable to read, and I found with the portability of the iPhone I was able to read little bits here and there. It’s not a book that will keep you gripped to your phone until you’ve finished it, but it’s still great for those moments when you want something light-hearted that will give you a laugh here and there. There was also one moment in the book where I finished the chapter, sat back and realised how lucky I am. I won’t give it all away, but the writer, Dan, lived his life in a wheelchair and shared a story of one of those moments where he completely relies on others for assistance. It truly made me feel blessed that I have every limb in my body, and my own problems seem greatly insignificant. Sometimes we all need a bit of a wakeup call so we can reevaluate our lives, and realise that most of our problems really are quite small in the grand scheme of things.

http://amyo.id.au/kelly/booksmovies-etc/52-in-52-weirder-than-marshmallows-by-dan-fogg-plus-win-a-free-copy

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