My Funny Valentine edited by Karla Telega and Linton Robinson

My Funny Valentine: America’s Most Hilarious Writers Take On Love, Romance, and Other Complications
edited by Karla Telega and Linton Robinson
Bauu Institute
Copyright © November 2011
ISBN: 978-1936955046
$9.95 Paperback
$2.99 Kindle
196 Pages

ABOUT:
Somebody once said, “To learn to love, learn to laugh.” Either way, you’ll find the love of laughter, or at least a couple of good laughs about love, in this book.

Here Valentine’s Day gets treated by some of the funniest writers in America: the people who win the humor contests, who write syndicated chuckle columns, who appear on comedy stages and write the jokes you hear on TV. A fun read, a new and different gift on “love day,” an open invitation to have a laugh at the comedy we know and celebrate as “Love.”

REVIEW:

The problem with themed books centered around holidays is that their selling window is very small, and Valentine’s Day is one the smallest.  While most people are out shopping for balloons, roses, and candy, the Valentine’s display in the bookstore is usually centered around humor, children’s picture books, or sarcasm.

My Funny Valentine has all of these key aspects, with humor being the least of the three.

“Complications” is the key word in the title.  The book is made up of over 40 short stories and three illustrations.  And almost every other story is made up of all the predictable sarcasm and clichés that have made up any stand-up comic’s routine about the holiday.

Cupid, greeting cards, candy, husbands, marriage, loyalty, devotion, couples, dates, women, jewelry, it’s all in there. And when it’s not a chicken soup moment, it’s a rolling of the eyes following by a “bada bing” snare and cymbal crash.

I’m not sure who chose the label “Most Hilarious Writers” for this collective either, but they were very wrong.  Most of them I’d never heard of.  If you check out their other publications by clicking on each author at the Amazon listing, you’ll discover most of them have no previous publications outside of this one.

And the rest are small press titles varying from nonfiction pieces, some actual chicken soup anthology inclusions, self-help books, and badly rated sci fi.

If you are single and hate this holiday, this book won’t provide you with any laughs. And as for sarcasm, just go sit at the bar at Applebee’s with every other sucker today and wait it out like everyone else.