Pinocchio

Like Twain - or more contemporary humorists Dave Barry and Garrison Keillor - McManus shares the belief that life's eternal verities exist primarily to be overturned. In McManus's world, all steaks should be chicken-fried, strong coffee is drunk by the light of a campfire, and fishing trips consist of men acting like boys and boys behaving like the small animals we've always assumed they were. And like Twain, Barry, and Keillor, McManus writes extremely funny stories of adventure and its consequences. Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing is the tenth hilarious collection of his adventures, wry observations, and curmudgeonly calls for bigger and bigger fish stories (don't even think about calling them lies). This time around, the renowned columnist takes on everything from an Idaho crime wave to his friend Dolph's atomic-powered huckleberry picker to the uncertain joys of standing waist-deep in icy water, watching the fish go by.