Rating: 
Summary: Anyone who loves language used well will enjoy this book.
Review: A collection of quotes from a smorgasbord of irascible writers, critics, philosophers, and celebrities, this book is organized alphabetically, inviting you to thumb to a topic that rankles, finding just the right words (albeit someone else's) to express your cynicism, contempt, or outrage.At a time when public discourse seems largely derived from the banalities of reality TV, it's reassuring to have at hand hundreds of sharp and sensible observations from curmudgeons, both classic and contemporary. And Jon Winokur's catalogue of curmudgeons also reminds us that the best curmudgeonly commentary is purposeful: its aim is to puncture pretense, to expose hypocrisy. Winokur provides illuminating profiles of some of the "greats" -- including two of my favorites, H.L. Mencken and Dorothy Parker -- letting us see the context that helped create their curmudgeonliness. The book is also sprinkled with brief but revealing interviews with successor curmudgeons, like John Simon and Calvin Trillin. In teaching writing, I've found the quotes collected here invaluable for introducing students to such alien concepts as wit, irony, and the artful use of metaphor. If you haven't yet become acquainted with this classic volume -- and with the eloquently testy people you meet on every page -- you're in for a treat.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty funny
Review: Definitely tickles the funny bone, but also can be useful to show off your vocabulary!
Rating:
Summary: Quotes from the Cranky
Review: I love this book! It is chock full of witty, sarcastic and just plain funny quotes from people famous for their sharp observations of human nature, not to mention their sharp tongues. If you'r tired of the saccharin and sappy, browsing the quotes compiled in this book will be a refreshing view of life as seen through the eyes of the professionally grouchy. What a hoot!
Rating:
Summary: Quotes from the Cranky
Review: I love this book! It is chock full of witty, sarcastic and just plain funny quotes from people famous for their sharp observations of human nature, not to mention their sharp tongues. If you'r tired of the saccharin and sappy, browsing the quotes compiled in this book will be a refreshing view of life as seen through the eyes of the professionally grouchy. What a hoot!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent & best of its kind; could've used an index
Review: I wanted to get right to this review because the one posted below mine is so stupid and has had topsies for some eleven months, which is disturbing. Indeed, all of the reviews of this book here at Amazon are pretty pollyannaish, which is even more disturbing, considering the subject matter. Maybe the notorious lack of Amazon reviewers' intelligence is just another example of (Theodore) Sturgeon's Law - "95% of everything is crud." Accordingly now, 95% of the Amazon customer reviews for this book are crud, too. Viva le 5%.
I give it 5 stars because it's one of the best of its kind. Compare, for example, a few pages to "The Curmudgeon Woman" and if you're I.Q. is above 100, you'll see what I mean. The latter book resembles a rather large chunk of bull patty, in terms of quotes that would please me, or TV's Becker for that matter. It hasn't even any intelligent epigrams that I could find, let alone caustic ones. On the other hand, it must take a certain degree of perseverance to weed out the blandest of quotes from the otherwise fine writers that Ms. Henley has researched. But the key to quality curmudgeon thinking is intelligence, if that isn't redundant, which it is. Sorry. Anyway, Winokur's "Return of the Portable Curmudgeon" is also welcome.
Don't listen to that Pablo guy from Australia, who panned it below. He's full of crud. On the contrary, Winokur's interviews and commentary, the latter of which is minimal, are engaging. Apparently he's something of a purist crank himself, and this apparent personality is making me want to find out at which restaurant he dines and drive over the hill from my home in the San Fernando Valley in order to hunt him down and meet him face to face.
Seriously though, Winokur's an interesting read here, particularly his catch on the most brilliant of the dead intelligentsia in the Algonquin generation: Parker, Mencken, Fields. He's a brilliant and witty interviewer as well: he asks the right questions and doesn't underestimate, indeed fully understands the intelligent nuances of his interviewees. The Liebowitz interview, for instance, is a classic, and the bios of Fields, Kaufman and the beloved hypochondriac Oscar Levant are actually rather touching, balancing out the cold detachment necessary in creating a book of this type. If I'm gushing, I apologize, particularly in this setting, but I believe Winokur nailed this one.
On the down side, the book was created, published in 1987, so it can be, at times a bit dated, such as in the interviews, but this is minimal. The arrangement of the quotes is alphabetical according to various topics which, for some reason, never seems to help me. I find myself searching too long to find a quote that I remember is somewhere in there, only what damn topic was it under, you know? An index would have been helpful, but then I guess that would have extended it and threatened its portableness. Consequently, I tend to enjoy it more as a browser, even though my copy is full of dog eared pages and ink circles surround some of my favorite epigrams, meaning I use it for reference at times when I'm writing.
The small size proved invaluable to me, making it easy to hide in my bed robe pocket on certain evenings as I get into bed with my wife. I would do this sneak routine, then whip it out before she could groan me out of the room, and of course start quoting out loud. Other helpful bedroom usage includes its perfect size and weight for tapping my wife on the head when she's fallen bored and asleep and begins to snore too loud. It's therefore also a great travel book, and toilet book, because it really is portable, not too heavy to hold and also fits in a coat pocket like a paperback, yet isn't a paperback, so it's fancier and makes a classy little gift. My wife gifted it to me around 1993 or so, and I've returned to it several times through the past decade.
My next Winokur purchase will be his "Je Ne Sais What?: A Guide to De Rigeur Frenglish for Readers, Writers, and Speakers," which I hope will help my writing and conversational voice and ear. For I prefer to learn from reading books as a result of my aversion to organized education.
Rating:
Summary: Great little book, tons of laughs per page
Review: I'm a little young to know many of the people who are quoted in this book, but the hilarity of the quotes made me look up and start reading authors like George Shaw and Oscar Wilde. Those two names should give you an indication of the type of quotes you'll be reading in this little gem. Most are wry, a bit sarcastic, pessimistic and critical. I have no idea what book the previous reviewer was reading when he talked about the author's interpretations of the quotes. I've had this book for years and went thru it tons of times; there are no interpretations. It is a bunch of quotes on topics arranged alphabetically with some selected biographies mixed in. It actually reads quite nicely. Buy this book unless you agree with Oscar Levant..."I have given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself". (pg 34)
Rating:
Summary: Great little book, tons of laughs per page
Review: I'm a little young to know many of the people who are quoted in this book, but the hilarity of the quotes made me look up and start reading authors like George Shaw and Oscar Wilde. Those two names should give you an indication of the type of quotes you'll be reading in this little gem. Most are wry, a bit sarcastic, pessimistic and critical. I have no idea what book the previous reviewer was reading when he talked about the author's interpretations of the quotes. I've had this book for years and went thru it tons of times; there are no interpretations. It is a bunch of quotes on topics arranged alphabetically with some selected biographies mixed in. It actually reads quite nicely. Buy this book unless you agree with Oscar Levant..."I have given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself". (pg 34)
Rating:
Summary: A must for everyone who appreciates good one-liners!
Review: I've had this book since they first printed it. It is definitely one of my favorite all time books. I sometimes have to go back like once a year and read it all over again. I drove my husband nuts with it, because he isn't as much of a reader as I am and so I would start reading some of the quotes from it. Since he is a humorist himself he enjoyed the smart alecky comments that many of these classical curmudgeons either wrote or said, and still managed to get away with it. What is so astounding is that many of the humorous sayings still make sense today, out of context. Winokur did some decent research on these people and provided some information into why these people had such acid tongues. But he doesn't overdo it, but rather leaves the quotations to speak for themselves. A good late night giggler of a book! Karen L. Sadler. Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, klsst23@pitt.edu
Rating: 
Summary: Jon Winokur dulls even the sharpest minds
Review: The online reviews were encouraging, and you really can't go wrong with a book of quotes (intended as a birthday present for a friend). Thus it arrived in the mail and, like all presents, I tested it first. Let's just say that I didn't end up giving the book to my friend. Instead of pure quotes (as you are led to believe by previewing the first few pages), Winokur has included his own 'analysis' of why he thinks each quote is humourous, or insightful. Sure, he knows the back story of many, but his conveying of said back story is unerringly long-winded and desperate in his attempt to be sycophantic to the celebrity. You want quotes? Look elsewhere. This guy's even managed to make Groucho Marx boring.
Rating:
Summary: Curmudgeons should like this one..
Review: The only quotation book I've seen that is limited to Curmudgeons and it stays fairly true to its theme.It shows what a mean spirited and miserable bunch most curmudgeons are.They are more to be laughed at than laughed with. Most seem to have a very negative existance and it would be hard to imagine spending much time with any of them.How could you find them likeable when they don't even like themselves;but that would suit them just fine.If you are looking for wit,humor and great observations on life in general,you'll find this book lacking;except possibly the quotes from Twain.However,if you like self-centered satire emanating from a deep seated bitterness and loneliness ,then this is for you.
Webster defines a curmudgeon as "a bad tempered,churlish man."
Many of the characters quoted don't fit that definition and certainly it doesn't fit females.Example.."one more drink and I'll be under the host."..Dorothy Parker.How is that a quip from a curmudgeon?
The interviews were a bit of a drag and a better effort would have been to give a short note on each quoted,especially the less known names;and an index by author.
I have rated this book on how well the compiler completed what he set out to do.
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