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Summary: The Man with the Chipper Zipper
Review: Reading "What's Not to Love" is like travelling with Walter Middy to a sex shop or getting to know the secret life of Woody Allen. Jonathan's amazing talent for relating things with understated humor and matter-of-fact delivery that most people would be embarrassed to admit they've thought about is the unity in this wildly funny book. How many guys actually talk about their fears of getting gas when making love to a woman for the first time? There's nothing less romantic than a little flatulence. And who could relate with such humor things like colonics, penile warts, or cataloging the most curvaceous waitresses while on holiday? Not a book for prudes or those who think the spiritual is at war with physical, this is an endearing ride through quite personal, brilliantly related sexual insecurity. I could call Jonathan the man with the chipper zipper. Don't miss out on this extraordinary tail. :)
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Summary: Jonathan Ames is the funniest writer in America
Review: So says his editor. I search everywhere for truly funny, original, quality writing and you know what: There isn't much of it around. That said, Jonathan Ames combines all three. For those of us who have read and loved his New York Press column, this is no surprise. This wonderful book, I hope, will let the rest of America in on the genius of Jonathan Ames. And I don't use the term "genius" very often. What makes him so is that he is able to be funny, sweet, human, poignant, and honest in everything he writes. If you know him, you understand that he's like that in person. He's one of the few people around who has the gift to translate his human experience onto the page, and in the process to give underdogs a shot at glory. You probably have to read this book to understand what it is I'm saying--so do so. And while you're at it, read his second novel, THE EXTRA MAN. You could do worse things than get get turned onto Jonathan Ames. He's one of the best we have in America, and he's got a huge future ahead of him.
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Summary: Onanists, Manginas, and everything sexual under the sun
Review: The author's opening parables of the curses of a latent pubescence is just a portent of the almost unbelievable, but always amusing sexual misadventures throughout his life. I found the passages on the mangina particularly amusing, as he was able to address such a preposterous idea with a whimsical, yet serious tone in his use of words. As I was reading through each chapter, I was surprised at how easily I could relate to many of his situations, which I suppose is either a good or bad sign for the carnal path I am now traveling.
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Summary: Are You Sick and Tired of Boring Short stories?
Review: THEN READ THIS BOOK!!! For here you will not find tales of a misunderstood old man or unique black boy that some annoying liberal chic met doing volunteer work year's ago or any other typical fare you find in short story publications these days. Nope, Jonathan Ames writes to entertain not to score points with the creative writing departments at Midwestern grad schools. The stories in this book are mostly hysterical and very relatable even to those of us who are not polymorphously pervous sexually. Written in 1st person perspective, these stories give one an inside look at the "typical NYC jewish semi-obsessed with transexual" mind. I urge anyone who is looking for something, dare I say, ENJOYABLE to read, to pick up a copy for there is so much to love here, Mr. Ames mother should be proud!
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Summary: Ah, honesty...
Review: There's a lot of undue hostility toward John Ames and his book. I'm always baffled by it. His book is honest, hilarious, twisted and, above all else, a beautiful read.Lazy writing style? I would call it easygoing and effortless. We're stuck in a craze where we want authors to indulge in page after page of "pretty" prose. I praise a man, like Elmore Leonard, who writes so smoothly you're instantly swept away. Ames might not be for everyone -- but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be sought out for those with an open mind and a penchant for devastatingly funny, sometimes raunchy and truth-revealing humor. (And...I cannot even THINK about his South of France story without weeping because I laugh so hard.)
Rating:
Summary: Hysterical
Review: What a refreshing book! I have read all of his books and I think he is hilarious. Unlike any other book I have ever read!
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Summary: Spalding Gray for the Gen-X set
Review: What was always ingenious about Spalding Gray's raconteurism was his way of explaining in very rational terms the way he'd made a total mess out of his life. Ames does the same thing, albeit with his own twist. As Ames portrays himself in the essay collection, he's a man completely possessed by his own body ... and bodily urges. No matter how he tries to stop himself with intellect, his visceral desires take over, often getting him into a hilarious, bizarre kind of trouble. Only at the 11th hour is his brain able to swoop down and save him, and even then he doesn't completely get away clean. His voice is at once refreshingly candid yet self-loathing, a balance few authors are able to pull off this convincingly, or dare I say, endearingly.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll tell you what's not to love...
Review: Whine, whine, whine, snivel, snivel, snivel. Never have I read such a dreadfully forced attempt at humor, self-loathing and oh-gosh-look-down-at-my-shoes false modesty. This was the, and I mean, THE most annoying book I have read in ages. And I am not surprised in the least that it tanked. Mr. Ames just doesn't have the confidence to carry the wit. He lumbers along, clomp, clomp, clomp, dreaming of a beautiful woman beside him and ending up with some guy in a wig, again and again. I doubt he'll have any more books published.
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