I really wanted to like this book from the moment that my friend Rebecca grabbed it off of a shelf at the venerable City Lights (that's right, I dropped that name) and said, "This is the book that Bored to Death was based on!" (Bored to Death, for the uninitiated, is a mystery-comedy series that used to run on HBO that has now been cancelled. The main character is a fictionalized Jonathan Ames. I think it is the second-funniest show ever after, of course, the ne plus ultra that is Arrested Devel...

Let's be honest: it's not like there was a chance I wasn't going to like this book. Jonathan Ames is the best best best, though of course extremely polarizing – you either want to hear about transexuals and suckling and bizarre sexual escapades and shitting oneself, or you don't. And I guess if you asked me that question not in the context of a Jonathan Ames book, I probably wouldn't be so enthusiastic about all those subjects. But there is something so sweet and simple about the way he writes a...

This review is for Jonathan Ames, so if you're not Jonathan Ames you can read it but you might not get that much out of it. Oh, Jonathan Ames, this is a half-assed book. I enjoyed it, and blew through it- semifictional and confessional accounts of sexual inadequacy, New York City, New Jersey Jewishness and Lenny Kravitz are the book equivalent of nachos- but I don't feel like I'm walking away with much. You're obsessed with transsexual women and objectifying them in a way that reads like you're

Basically a collection of loose ends by one of the most enjoyable living american authors right now. Reading Ames is sort of like putting butter on a really hot piece of toast. You know it is going to taste great, and this gentlman never fails me.What we have here are introductions, short stories and some journalistic pieces. His interview with Marilyn Manson is great. The book will be coming out shortly.

Jonathan Ames is a writer whose work is very up and down in terms of quality – on the one hand you’ve got fine, fun fiction like Bored to Death and on the other you have an overlong, uninteresting comic like The Alcoholic. The Double Life is very representative of Ames’ work with the essays and short stories collected here proving this dichotomy. The opening selection, Bored to Death, is really good. A bored novelist called Jonathan Ames posts an ad on Craigslist pretending to be an amateur, unl...

I like Jonathan Ames. I like his style. I share a lot of the same, mildly perverted, interests as he does. However, "The Double Life" suffers from double dipping on content. Some of the pieces are great fun, and none are bad. But almost all are repeated, essentially the same, throughout the book. The "Department of Redundancy Department" called, flustered about the frequent allusions to transexuals and semi-poverty.By the time I'd read the fourth story that based itself, marginally, around the t...

I laughed out loud. I was perplexed as to what was fiction and what wasn't because, could this really be his life?It's great. You should read it. Especially you, Kayleigh Shaw--it's coming your way.

Hard-boiled, but still not quite cooked all the way through. To be a bon vivant these days, you've got to take some shots I guess, or just osmotically absorb some of the lifestyles of the rich and famous by interviewing them. The odd blend of the self-deprecating with the self-assured didn't quite provide the mood lighting for me that apparently is does for many fine libidinous young people. Is that an offshoot of Lenny Kravitz' commitment to celibacy.Overall an easier read than it wants to be.

This is the first book that I’ve read by Ames. I was inspired to read it because I’ve loved two TV series that he’s written - Bored to Death and Blunt Talk. I just really enjoy his twisted sense of humor. This book is a collection of fiction, essays, and short stories (most of which are non-fiction). There are plenty of laughs and I think that the Portland Oregonian’s description of him as “an edgier David Sedalia” is very apt. It’s not often that I find a writer who can regularly make me laugh

Feels good to get this off my Kindle. I started reading it probably over a year ago. I loved the TV show Bored to Death, but it turns out I'm not a huge fan of Ames writing, at least his non fiction. Honestly, it's been so long since I started this collection, I don't really remember the fiction. I'm asexual, so I'm not particularly interested in his sexual conquests, which he writes about A LOT! It's not bragging though, and his self deprivation keeps it from being obnoxious, but still...

A writer that writes about writing I bought this wanting to read about the origins of the show “Bored to Death” and I got way more than what I was looking for. In fact, the show seems to just use this collection of essays for a lot of the ideas for episodes. Johnathan Ames does a good job of captivating his readers and this collection of essays and stories is certainly very selected to give you an idea about how Johnathan Ames pretends to live

Engaging essays by the creator of perhaps my favourite series (HBO's Bored To Death). Minus one star only because the fiction is not as adroitly written as the essays. A quick, absorbing, hilarious read. Occasionally dark. Soulful throughout. A winner. I will be thinking about these writings for a long time.

Thoroughly enjoyed The Double Life... and recommend it to folks who enjoy Sedaris, Palahniuk, & Waters. Funny & well-paced...nothing gruesome, but a fair share sexual encounters. Will definitely explore his other work.

Eh. He's a good storyteller but it's a little tiring to just read about all of the sex and one night stands he has. The man is clearly derived of creature comfort. I dunno. The non sex stories are good. Give it a shot, I guess, since we're all going to be trapped inside for the next month anyways.

As usual, I don't like to rate books which include memoirs or personal essays, and the work in this book is deeply personal. I enjoyed all of it, and I *really* enjoyed some of it. Some heavy stuff and some big laughs, all in one little collection. Definitely engrossing.

The piece "Bored to Death" that is the basis for the HBO show is REALLY good. The rest just kind of cobbled together. It has some great moments.

Such a wonderful collection of Ames stories. Always thrilling with plenty of underground education into his wild life!

This boring book was twice as dull.

http://panoplyofbooks.wordpress.com/2...I only read the first story, Bored to Death and started watching the show on the behest of my boyfriend; I laughed. Hard. So I was definitely intrigued by the short story, finding it at an exceptionally local book/music/movie, etc. trade store. Whilst Jonathan Ames describes his alcoholism, it reminded me of someone close to me. After reading the page in the introduction of the show, I figured I'd enjoy the story as well. Ames is likable and straightforwar...

This is not the Jonathan Ames I thought I knew from HBO's BORED TO DEATH (which is a short story in this collection, and, man, is it hardcore, and not light and funny like the show. Very disturbing, actually). Ames is in his forties, and this work is a collection of short stories, personal essays, and old columns from various magazines and newspapers.On the one hand, I found Ames contemptuous, in his language and in the way he admits to his failings. He's obsessed with sex: it's featured (often