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Welcome to the Virgin Bookclub. Here we’ll recommended a selection of our bestselling books for you to read and review. Use our Virgin Bookclub Facebook page to dicuss the books with other Bookclub members.
Awkward Situations for Men by Danny Wallace
June 2010
And a man is a very tricky thing to be these days.
A toe-curling moment, a embarrassing faux-pas or a bewildering social situation is always just round the corner.
Danny, for example, says the wrong thing about a friend’s baby; accidentally follows a woman down a dark street; has his party gate-crashed by a minor celebrity; and even discovers the pleasures of wearing pyjamas (exciting isn’t it!). He breaks all the rules; hides a pastry; accidentally spits on someone; tricks Su Pollard; and (we’ve all been there) avoids his old hairdresser. And then there are the times when he has an argument with a bishop; experiences stage fright in the men’s room; gets his wife a treat; and (eventually) helps a lady who has accidentally got her skirt all hitched up.
As we follow a year in his life – and it becomes obvious to the attentive reader that here is a man who finds it a challenge to even look after himself properly – an even greater responsibility looms on the horizon…
Once you have read this book you will see Awkward Situations everywhere you go and life will never be the same again. And, it’s very, very funny.
Danny Wallace Danny Wallace Danny Wallace is a writer and television presenter, who wears glasses and used to have a cat. His first solo book, Join Me, was described as a 'word-of-mouth phenomenon' by The Bookseller and 'one of the funniest stories you will ever read' by the Daily Mail. His second book, Yes Man - in which he decided to say 'Yes' to everything has been made into a film starring Jim Carrey. It was described as 'hilarious' by more than four national newspapers, and Richard Madeley. Both books were Sunday Times bestsellers. Find out more about Danny at www.dannywallace.com. This is their story. It is also, in a small way, my own.
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Monday 14th June
According to Torchwood the 21st Century is when everything changes, however that has already happened for men. Even if stereotypical roles in society were wrong at least we all knew where we stood. However in the last 50 years those roles have changed and some men are left stranded not quite knowing what to do and feeling socially awkward. It is some of these areas, and other areas of life, that Danny Wallace is looking to offer comments on as well as stories from his own experiences. Topics include how to walk behind a woman at night, what to do when your wife/partner leaves the last little bit of food on a plate, and what to do when you and a friend say goodbye and turn to walk in the same direction!
Danny Wallace has managed to identify some situations that all men will have encountered at some point, others are relationship specific, but are still also very common. This is where Danny's cleverness comes in, identifying those things that other men will identify with. He doesn't get everything right, but many of these situations will feel familiar.
I like this kind of book. In the past Danny's books have been trying to meet various challenges that he has set himself, but this one is a little different. He's not trying to meet some goal or some self-appointed target, or even trying to better himself, instead he's simply trying to navigate through life as a man!
However I always find something odd in these books. Clearly Danny Wallace is fairly intelligent to be able to put these books together, so why does he seem to become incredibly naive in his stories? This is what annoyed me so much about "Yes Man" when he was talking about getting an e-mail requesting his assistance in a money transfer for which he would be rewarded handsomely. I know it's an image that he is trying to project to make the story funnier, but to me it just makes the whole thing unbelievable and quite preposterous! These situations crop up in just about every story in this book and it's annoying, just be yourself, tell us how you really reacted instead of making up rather daft ideas. Other people who write in this genre don't seem to have this problem. I don't get the impression for one second that Dave Gorman is anything less that an intelligent man, and yet his observations are still funny, so why does Danny feel this is necessary?
If you can ignore this apparently naivety then you will probably enjoy this book, at least if you are a bloke. Whether you ignore that style choice or not you will recognise and empathise with the situations that Danny finds himself in, especially if you are a bloke. It's not the best book of this type that I've ever read, but it's certainly not the worst!