Rating: 
Summary: Side Splitting Laughter
Review: Mr. Ford has managed to pack laugh after laugh into this book! His sense of writing encapsules the gay lifestyle, or at least mine! Chapter after chapter he explains the "joys" of the lifestyle and how to deal with people, or at least his way. Diffently a must have for any literate gay man or lesbian for that matter.
Rating: 
Summary: A pleasurable easy read
Review: Mr. Ford writes the short essay form wonderfully, and wanders effortlessly across a wide range of topics. His stories are amusing, pleasurable, insightful, memorable, and smoothly easy to read, although not usually greatly hilarious. The personal stories are quite interesting, especially for those interested in the gay viewpoint and experiences. Will I ever forget the color purple and the evil Do-bee?
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: Not only did I buy this book, I also bought "That's Mr. Faggot To You." on the advice of these reviews. Looking for something light and entertaining, what I found were "whoa is me", predictable, ridiculous (why rag on poor Kim Bassinger; she got there first) stories that did not make me laugh. Fortunately, they were short. The author also is inconsistent, contradicting himself from story to story on everything from his love life to Christmas. If you haven't already done so, read the Unofficial Gay Guide by two lawyers out of DC. Now that was funny! I couldn't relate at all to Michael Thomas Ford and the very thought that he actually gets paid for this is very encouraging. If he can make money at it, so can I. I know I'm lots funnier! Back to the real literature for me...
Rating:
Summary: Straight Talk
Review: Perhaps I should preface this by stating that I've always considered myself to be someone who, if nothing else, is a man whose politics tend to lean definitely to the 'left'. On more than one occassion I've been accused of being ( gasp! ) Liberal so I now, throwing caution to the wind, wear the badge proudly....so to speak. It must be my Irish/Democrat upbringing! Nevertheless, although my sexual orientation may be considered 'straight' ( Gwynneth Paltrow please call me! ) I one day found myself in Lambda Rising, a gay bookstore here in Wash.D.C., browsing the racks ( and only the racks, thank-you! ). Being the odd man out has never truly bothered me.... plus where there are books, so there am I! Without going into detail of the experiences of a 'straight' man finding himself in a gay bookstore ( a book in itself! ) I spied Michael Ford's novel and finding the title so engaging, and with my curiosity piqued, I started to read....and I read and read, all the while laughing, so hard that I thought they were going to physically throw me out of the store for vagrancy! Well, I succumbed and purchased a copy ( with little self-respect intact after embarrasing myself to no end! ) of "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me...." and still after owning my copy for a little over a year I find myself still chuckling. I won't pretend to truly understand anyone's else's lifestyle ( alternative? ) other than my own ( and who really understand's the opposite sex? ) but I must say that Mr. Ford's book of essay's not only left a smile on my face but perhaps gave me a little more of an understanding into the life of the average ( average? ) Gay individual. Can straight people say Queer...I'm really not sure what is PC here. Just curious! Anyway, upon hearing that even in humour some truth's abound I find Michael's book a compelling read, and not just for other's of the same sexual proclivity, but for other so called 'straight' guys as well, if nothing else than to help us all better understand each other. Granted some of the book does seem rather like a cliche at times but that's a small point indeed. Michael makes some valid points about these little crisis that each of us face in our everday lives. Plus, I guess I was pleasantly surprised ( why I don't know ) to learn that after all is said and done that we all , to one degree or another, want basically the same thing.... love , security, a little happiness and secure in the knowledge that each of us, in some small way, is helping make the world perhaps just a little better than we found it. Fortunately, Michael finds humour in these everyday complexities and thank-goodness for that! Yes, I did laugh at Michael's book but I also found someone who was perhaps searching....and, like many of us, still is. So whether you're gay, straight or 'somewhere in between' (I'm not sure what THAT means! ) pick up a copy, call up a friend, hopefully one of a diffrent sexual orientation, and laugh and learn at the same time. It's a start. I'm certainly glad I did! Now if I could only get Gwynneth's phone number!
Rating:
Summary: out loud laughing
Review: So I was at Borders having a cafe mocha w/ whipped cream and then I started laughing...and laughing...and laughing. I was kind of embarrassed, watching all the others sitting there. This book is too cool, all those short stories are so funny. I think that gay men, or this gay man, are able to make me laugh more then straight people. His life gives me the giggles.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: That about sums this book up...average. I laughed at maybe one place, cracked a smile in two other places. All in all, if you want humorous short stories from a gay perspective, try David Sedaris.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and thoughtful essays
Review: This collection of essays made me smile, laugh, and think. Diverse topics range from the light (butching it up at Home Depot, competing with a straight girlfriend for the attention of a fireman) to the serious (putting kids with the "gay gene" on the short school bus, saving the heathen kids from hell). Ford's observations don't always lead to out-and-out belly laughs (although there are a handful of those), but they will inspire knowing grins and comfortable chuckles over and over again. Ford is a talented and polished writer whose prose seems easy, almost too easy, for the wise and thoughtful observations it contains. I especially liked his treatment of the difference between gay men and lesbians ("the girls are still waiting for the boys to catch up"), his look back at his odd Aunt Betty and her longtime "friend" Doreen, and his bust-a-gut funny romp through an online chatroom. Most appealing to gay men because so many of their experiences are similar, these essays will appeal to many others who can appreciate everyday experience written about with a gay sensibility.
Rating:
Summary: Very witty. Side-splitting humor
Review: This is a collection of short stories on the trials of being gay and the humor associated with it. Ford is amazing at bringing clarity to what gay people would love to say to their staright friends, family and..... on gay life...you know, the sister who has a son who LOVES show tunes at 10 and she just doesn't get it! The "Marthaholic" (Martha Stewart addict) had me crying-I was laughing so hard and so did "I hate Shopping" where that author and a female friend almost kill each other trying to get a Fireman to notice one of them. Good "Commute/Lunch time" reading.
Rating:
Summary: very very funny!
Review: This is a light read that made me laugh myself silly. Ford takes some of the elements of gay and lesbain living to absurd extremes without being bitchy or self-effacing. Some of his ideas are challenging and thought provoking, which is why it's one of the best "gay humour" books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: What Queer Life?
Review: To name this book '...Other Trials of My Queer Life' seems something of an oddity itself. Only two chapters in the entire book even mention the word 'homosexual,' but then do nothing much with that information. Even the title essay about Alec Baldwin's hairy chest reveals more about obsession than anything about being gay. Still, just reading the chapter on Ford's dinner with the Von Trapp's was worth the price of the book alone! Hilarious! You can't describe the chapter; you just have to read it yourself and be prepared to laugh for the rest of the day. Ford is a master of the short form, but the longer pieces just go on and on. I await his next book. It is tough to find truly funny books that are not David Sedaris rip-offs. Ford has a voice all his own.
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