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Heeeeee’s back! I don’t know about you, but I used to love reading Dave Barry’s weekly column in my local paper, back in the day when we got the paper. I discovered his books, collections of his columns, and avidly read those too. But in recent years, we’ve drifted apart. I don’t know if he hasn’t been writing as much or if it’s the lack of a paper in my life, but although every New Year’s I google his “Year in Review,” other than that I haven’t read much new stuff in about 10 years.
So I was thrilled to see he’s back, nattering on about parenting and other topics he knows very little about, in as fine a form as ever.
This new collection is great. He takes his 13-year-old daughter to a Justin Bieber concert, he reads 50 Shades of Grey in order to find out what women really want, Mr. Language Person returns to explain grammar to us, Dave, his wife Michelle, and their daughter Sophia tour Israel, and so much more.
Dave’s gift is always to be a kind of clueless Everyman who ends each story with something unexpected. He explains that “It turns out that the noise teenage girls make to express rapturous happiness is the same noise they would make if their feet were being gnawed off by badgers.” (p 12) His take on 50 Shades of Grey (which, for the record, I have not read) is hysterical while confirming in my mind yet again the many reasons I don’t want to read it. “This is the kind of book where, instead of saying things, characters muse them, and they are somehow able to muse them matter-of-factly.” (p56)
Dave is 65 now (I know!) and contemplating his own mortality, mostly thanks to the mail he gets, and the commercials for Viagra that insist on coming on during family appropriate television. (Aside: I have been amazed at this myself) He makes a comparison chart for prescription drugs whose names sound like characters in The Lord of the Rings (p.86).
The title of You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About
comes by way of explanation: Sophie is not allowed to date boys til she’s 40. “This is the only rule I’ve laid down for her and I think it’s reasonable, based on the known scientific fact that boys–even intelligent, thoughtful, loving, sensitive and caring boys–are scum.” (p 87) And he plans to monitor her closely even after she commences dating–even if he’s dead. As he explains in the introduction, this book covers a variety of topics, but the publishers rejected many of Barry’s title suggestions such as Dave Barry: A Dave Barry Book, by Dave Barry or Dave Barry: You Probably Thought He Was Dead.
You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty explains how to be manly in various situations, how to become a best-selling author, and how to walk backwards off a cliff without sending anything unfortunate down onto the heads of those below. It explains how to avoid run-on sentences, which Barry shows are sentences that continue beyond where they should have stopped. While it may sound like a practical book, its best use is to provide hours of enjoyment to the whole family. Because I don’t know about your husband, but mine loves it when I snort, quietly to myself and in a lady-like fashion of course, and then insist on sharing with him a snippet of what I’m reading. But I can tell you that right now, next to me on the couch, my daughter is discovering Dave Barry for the first time and is snorting with laughter herself. And sharing snippets with me.
Hours of fun, this latest book shows that age hasn’t slowed Dave Barry down a bit! It’s a delightful read, highly recommended.
Win it
Best of all, one of you can win a free copy for yourself. Follow the instruction in the widget to enter. Start off by leaving a comment telling me how old you were when you had your first date.
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I was seventeen.
I was about 15 years old.
I was 14 when I had my first date!
I was 16 and he was 17. We went to the school dance together.
43, no, but too old to remember. Does getting fondled by your teacher count?
I was 14, and it was a double date.
I was 19 when I had my first date. It was awkward and weird. I am actually very happy that I waited as long as I did.
I was 12. đŸ™‚ And it was Titanic.
I was 16 when I went on my first date.
18 years old on my first date. i was a late bloomer. i am tony l smoaks on rafflecopter.
I was 16 years old
16, that was how old i was on my first date.
I had my first date when I was 13 years old đŸ™‚
I was 18 years old
I was nineteen when I had my first date.
I was age 16 on my first date.
I was 15 I believe, maybe 14
18 or 19 – late bloomer! đŸ™‚
don’t remember 15 or 16
16 I believe! Looking back I probably wasn’t ready, but “everybody else was doing it”
ummm 17 i believe
I was sixteen when I had my first date.
I was 15 or 16
I was 16 when I went on my first date.
I was eighteen đŸ™‚
I was 14 when I went on my first date.
I don’t want to read Fifty Shades of Grey either.
I was around 15 for my first date but my daughter will be 21.
I was 16 when I went on my first date,Thank you!
I went on my first date when I was 12 years old đŸ™‚
The first real date- I was 16. It was the best of times and the worst of times.
I was 14 when went on first date
I must have been 17…I went to prom đŸ™‚
Without my parents knowing, 15. With my parents knowing, 16.
I think I was 15.
I think I was 16 when I went on my first date
I was around 16
I think I was 15 or 16….
I was 16 when I had my first date
I was 15 an it was a double date,wasnt allowed to single date until I was16
I was 16 when I had my first date
I had my first date when I was 17, but with our daughters, 40 sounds about right.
I was 13 when I went on my first date. I watched Turner and Hooch at a movie theater with a boy. Thanks.
I was 15 when I first started dating…I was also a senior in high school at the time (skipped grades) and I felt like I was way behind everyone else!
I think I was about 16-17.
I wasn’t allowed to date until I turned 16. I was asked out for the first time at 15. Two weeks shy of my 16th birthday. I had to turn him down. I was told no.
The next time I was asked out I was 17. We went rollar skating.
I was about 15 on my first date and it really wasn’t a real date. I went with a friend and her cousin so she could date her boyfriend.
i love his book: dave barry does japan. my first date : 19. and it took me til 39 to get married.
I was 16 when I had my first date
I was a senior in high school I believe. On a date with my boyfriend to Friendlys for Fribbles and fries đŸ™‚
I was about 12. Someone drove us to the movies.
Sweet sixteen&it
was sweet.
hmm, maybe 18?
Would love a copy of Dave’s book!
Believe it or not, I was 35. Married her when I was 36. I’m now 65 and we are still in love.
I think I was fourteen. Maybe.
EEEEK!
I’m a big Dave Barry Fan! I even saw his band play loudly once!
I was about 15 when I first dated, but I’m not even sure we were totally alone then!
I was sixteen.
I was 17 when I had my first date.
*snork* at “…and other topics he knows very little about.”
I was 14 when I went on my first date.
Dave does a LOT of stuff throughout the year. I post whatever I can find out about on a Facebook page that I manage. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/145749861758/
I was 18 before I went on my first date. Late bloomer!
I went on my first date when I was 12 years old.
I was probably pretty old before my first date. I remember a lot of group dates with my parents and cousins in tow. So romantic, right?
I love Dave Barry! Would love a copy of this. Thanks!!
I was 17 when I had my first date.