Rating: 
Summary: wow. he can write, too...
Review: Steve Martin may be known for his acting and comedy, but he should not be discounted for his writing. He translates well from one role to the next. I was a bit hesitant at first, but his success as a screenwriter/playwright convinced me to try his fiction. I was not disappointed. Although the story is short, its characters are so fresh and real that you wish the book had more pages. Martin's portrayal of obsessive-compulsive behavior was so hilarious and dead-on that I wondered if he had been studying me.
You can read this book in one sitting, and you will enjoy the story and Martin's intelligent writing.
rdnewman.com
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: Read this book! It's fun and quirky lead, Daniel, is plagued with neurosis both hilarious and disconcerting...A short read, but well worth the money...It will bring a smile to your face...
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Summary: A pecaned slice of life.
Review: Being named after a nut or "human error" dulling his Mensa score are part of the typical day for Daniel Pecan Cambridge, but his story is not your typical read. It's a knotted twist on what defines "normal" and maneuvering the curbs along the way. Daniel lives life mainly in his head, entertaining himself (and the reader) with wonders of minutia. In less talented hands than writer/actor Martin, Daniel might come across menacing; the "elixirs" served to the starlet in his building somehow taste like a kindness, an ear listening, an eye seeing some inner magestic...just like Daniel would like to be seen. He's awarded with "Most Average American" - not bad for someone who knows that acoustical ceiling tiles contain 64 sound-absorbing holes; a bright fellow who's apartment's total light wattage must be exactly 1125. Judge only if you don't care how your towels are folded OR if your remote control doesn't have it's "spot" to rest. This story, Martin's second novel, shines a ray on one idea clearly: No matter how secular, aloof or protected someone designs their path to be, life has a way of serpentining in and wrapping around "the quiet heart." "One half of my face was shut like a salted snail, while the other half was held open in an attempt to see." With THAT eye, introduce yourself to The Pleasure Of My Company. --Laurel825
Rating:
Summary: A Jewel
Review: I love this book. Steve Martin continually amazes me with his ability to describe people through all their little pecadillos. When you read Martin's descriptions of people you inevitably say "I know someone just like that...I just didn't know how to describe them!" For anyone that has read Pure Drivel or seen LA Story you know that much of Martin's work centers around popular culture and LA. These characters could not exist without the social/ geographic/psychological landscape of LA. Steve Martin has always had a love/hate relationship with the city and he plays it out here. In a world where someone like Daniel would never be considered a winner, this little book proves those views wrong. I like that this book is able to have depth without stooping to "sappiness". It embraces the inherit funniness of doing silly, pathetic things and by doing so Martin gives his characters a depth, a warmth, a humanity that is often lacking in books today where both the narrator/author and the characters they describe are so blissfully ignorant of their own state in the universe that you can have no love or empathy for them. You will not find that kind of hyperbole here. This is territory he covered in Shopgirl, another gem. Some stories imprint themselves upon you and remind you to look at your own life and the lives around you more carefully, to pick up all those little cues to character and dare I say moral fiber that often go unnoticed in a world where louder is seemingly always better; to form a story from these descriptions, step back and realize something profound about relationships. Steve Martin has not forgotten to look.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is an excellent book that I hated to see end! Steve Martin fully captured the humanity of his lead character Daniel and in a poignant, yet at times, witty way. I would highly recomment this book!
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Show of Martin's Talents
Review: I absolutely hated Shopgirl and am amazed that some reviewers are mentioning these two books in the same sentence. To me, The Pleasure of My Company is Martin near his finest, while Shopgirl is Martin near his worst (see my review there). I think in this book Martin lets us know his characters through their actions (or, in Daniel's case, his inaction), rather than long, blatant descriptions of motivations (Shopgirl -- yuk). I found the book paced well for its subject, and the connection of other characters to Daniel necessary as well as unique. The only criticism I have for it is that Martin now seems to rush the ending of his books, but, given the routine bizarre happenings in Daniel's life, here it was at least made believable, and I think cleverly so. Overall, Martin has delivered on a book that I found to be poignant, with touches of his wonderful sense of humor. It is solidly crafted and worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Peculiar, heart-felt (and sometime laugh out loud funny)
Review: Steve Martin's "Shopgirl" was a thoughtful, deliberate, and surprisingly tender novella. His second, "The Pleasure of My Company", is lighter and joyfully funnier, with an indefatiguable sweetness that spans the entirety of the novel. If you liked "Shopgirl", you'll love "PoMC". If you tried "Shopgirl" but wished for more of Martin's legendary sense of humor, try "PoMC" and you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: "Pleasure of My Company" is a great book that detours from Steve Martin's previous territory but is still very witty. I found it fun and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful novella by Steve Martin...
Review: Steve Martin is perhaps my all-time favorite comedian, and he has been for quite some time. He stole that personal rank after I watched his best film, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," a film that also solidified my love for John Candy, and the first comedy of the 80s starring two comedians (not exactly known for great films) that proved to me that sometimes you shouldn't judge a film by its cover. What makes me prefer Steve Martin to someone like Jim Carrey or Chris Farley (who I despise), is that he actually relies on pure humor and old-fashioned comedic talent. But he ALSO does slapstick physical humor very well -- watch him run in "Planes..." and you'll laugh yourself silly! Yes, Martin is also very smart in real life, quite shy and an adamant collector of rare arts. There's a lot of quality and beauty lurking within his soul, and it is all unleashed in "The Pleasure of My Company," which isn't as laugh-out-loud hilarious as it is touching and uplifting. Daniel Pecan Cambridge is 29, 31, 33, or 35, depending on how he feels on a given day. (His real age is revealed at the closing of the book.) Daniel has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and this novel -- told through a first person narrative -- is essentially Daniel's journal and memoirs, beautifully written by Steve Martin in a simple, elegant, fast, and amazingly smart fashion. (I also noticed that the paragraphs had a space in between them, something not usually done in novels.) Because I missed out on Martin's first novella, "Shopgirl," I saw "The Pleasure of My Company" at my local commissary and was eager to read it soon. The book is only 162 pages long (not counting the acknowledgements and so on), and so I read it in about a day -- but it's a very good book. Not quite as rude or laugh-out-loud as one might expect, this is truly a beautiful book that Martin has written. And although he nails obsessive-compulsive disorder perfectly, with the character coming off a bit like Nic Cage's in "Matchstick Men," he doesn't poke fun -- it's the story of a restrained, lonely man who learns to open up to the world. Beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Great Insight into OCD
Review: In 2001, Wired Magazine published an article entitled, "The Geek Syndrome" about a surge in the number of Silicon Valley kids diagnosed with autism in the late 1990s. Steve Martin's "The Pleasure of My Company" is a wonderful little book where the main character suffers from a another kind of brain disease along the same disorder spectrum called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The book is much more than that though. It is also about the meaning of friendship and family; how a true friend is a friend regardless of the accompanying troubles associated with the relationship and how family can exhibit examples of both extraordinary kindness and heart-stopping hatefulness. Although the topic is serious, Martin injects enough humor and happiness into the story to make it a light-hearted read and along the way, you learn a lot about what an OCD sufferer must go through.
OCD is easy to define but it manifests in an infinite number of ways. An obsession is a thought, idea, impulse, or image that
seems intrusive or senseless to the patient. A compulsion is a repetitive behavior designed to reduce or stop the obsession
or the anxiety caused by the obsession. People with OCD are aware of the bizarre nature of their Obsessions and Compulsions. Trying to stop them though causes extreme anxiety and prevents them from doing so. Martin tells the story through the viewpoint of Dan Cambridge, an intelligent man who is unemployable because of his OCD. Dan lives alone in a one room apartment in Santa Monica, California. Dan's OCD has caused an "escalating self-imposed narrow
corridor of behavioral possibilities" in his life. The chief inhibitor in Dan's life is his problem negotiating curbs.
Because of this he can barely get himself to the local Rite-Aid to buy necessities and he spends many hours alone dealing
with his obsessions and compulsions. Much of the first part of the book comes from the intersection of Dan's strange life and the lives of his fellow neighbors. Martin never moves into the heads of the neighbors. When Dan does something that is
obviously strange, Martin lets it sit there like an elephant in the living room. The reader is left to imagine the thoughts
of the other characters as they react to Dan's behavior. My son has struggled with OCD for years and in my opinion Martin nails the symptoms and the struggles that people with OCD
encounter. He must have some experience with the disorder because he accurately describes how OCD can debilitate a person to the point of not being able to function. He shows that the OCD sufferer, although hampered by this illness, is not crazy and often has a unique sense of humor about the strangeness of it all. One of the more fascinating compulsions for Dan is his
penchant for constructing elaborate magic squares; those matrices of rows and columns filled with numbers that sum to the same number at the end of each row and column. Dan's one lifeline is his Grandmother from Texas who seems to understand Dan's plight at the raw emotional level. Her death
and Dan's subsequent trip to his Grandmother's house, closes a chapter in Dan's life and opens up new possibilities for the
future. I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows a person afflicted with OCD. This is not a depressing book. It is funny. It is also sad but it is encouraging and has a happy ending. It will give you insight into how that person suffers daily. It has been difficult explaining my son's odd behaviors to friends and family. From now on, I will just hand them a copy of Mr. Martin's book.
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