Vacationland

I sat on this book for a while. From what I heard from all the author's interviews, this was a personal recalling of his awkward youth. I haven't been in the mood to read semi-serious confessions about a weird family. Once I started reading it, I realized I looked at the book in the wrong light. Part of the book is stories about growing up in a unique family. And part of the stories are about the author's awkward youth. Turns out all the stories are hilarious

Mr. Hodgman is a particularly good writer and knows how to tell a good story. The book was a delight. I recommend it.

This is extremely John Hodgman, and I like John Hodgman.

There is a LOT of “I know this is a rich white person problem to have, but...” and I appreciate that he's self-aware and up front about it, and overall I enjoyed the book, but after awhile it was like I GET IT YOU HAVE TWO VACATION HOUSES AND THAT'S STRESSFUL IF NOT RELATABLE.

There's also some moving stuff about anxiety and grief and the loss of his mother. And of course, as you would expect, a lot of wryly persnicketty humor.

John Hodgman's Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches is what he refers to as his own brand of white privilege comedy wherein he talk about splitting his time between two summer homes in Maine and Western Massachusetts. Super relatable!

He shares personal anecdotes about dining with neighbour Black Francis of the Pixies, buying a wooden Jimmy Steele peapod (it's a boat) and getting high while speaking at colleges. Sounds like the insufferable musings of white male privilege gone slightly to seed - and you're not wrong ...except for the insufferable part.

Maybe he'll always be the nebbish PC to the smug Mac of commercial fame but it's hard to dislike Hodgman. He's a charming storyteller, altogether aware of how lucky he is without being disingenuously modest or humblebraggy. He's just bringing us along as he settles into middle age and wrestles with what that means. I'm here for that.

John Hodgman hosts one of my favorite podcasts, “Judge John Hodgman,” in which he adjudicates nerd fights with great hilarity. I also enjoyed the false-fact-purveying John Hodgman of his three earlier books, as well as the deranged millionaire John Hodgman on “The Daily Show.”

And now comes a set of humorous essays from a middle-aged John Hodgman. At each stage in his career, I've felt a kinship to Mr. Hodgman, who is only slightly older, but glories in nerddom with fake superiority in a more creative way than I do/have. Like Mr. Hodgman, I enter pensive periods, reflecting on the sheer ridiculousness or luck or sadness that has lighted upon me.

As we age, vacations become a precious commodity and offer more opportunities to reflect, especially as our parents age or pass away and our children grow up. There are poignant moments encased in Hodgman's hilarious style. Whether imagining the horrors of Dump Jail or neighboring vampires or presenting the realization that you're no longer young and semi-hip, Hodgman delights.

From time to time, Hodgman drifts off of his story and doesn't quite take you where he likely intended to take you (it at least where it seemed like he was heading), and that brought the book down a little. However, this is a very different style from his previous writings, so I expect he'll improve on his next foray into memoirland.