Cómo tener la casa como un cerdo

by P.J. O'Rourke

Este libro va dirigido a los solteros auténticos -esos que no se han casado ni quieren casarse- y a los maridos cuyas esposas han descubierto la carrera profesional, la autorrealización y la tarjeta de crédito. Tanto unos como otros habrán de enfrentarse, antes o después, a esa cuadra llamada "cocina", a la colada y a la limpieza doméstica.
Si te quedas sin ropa limpia, un simple desodorante en spray devolverá tus calcetines a la vida activa.
Quitarse la ropa antes de meterse en la ducha o en el baño es complicar innecesariamente el proceso de higiene personal.
¿Limpiar el techo? ¿Te has vuelto loco? La gravedad lo hará por ti.
El retrete es un buen sitio para bañar a los animales domésticos. Echa jabón líquido en la taza y mete al animal. Tira de la cadena una vez para gatos, hámsters y conejillos de indias y dos veces para los perros.
Una obra que te enseñará cómo llevar una casa a quienes no tienen ni idea de hacerlo... ni intención de aprender.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Comedy, Essays, Satire, Cultural, The United States Of America

167 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Patrick Jake "P. J." O'Rourke is an American political satirist, journalist, writer, and author. O'Rourke is the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute and is a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator, and The Weekly Standard, and frequent panelist on National Public Radio's game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Since 2011 O'Rourke has been a columnist at The Daily Beast. In the United Kingdom, he is known as the face of a long-running series of television advertisements for British Airways in the 1990s.

He is the author of 20 books, of which his latest, The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way (And It Wasn’t My Fault) (And I’ll Never Do It Again), was released January 2014. This was preceded on September 21, 2010, by Don't Vote! – It Just Encourages the Bastards, and on September 1, 2009, Driving Like Crazy with a reprint edition published on May 11, 2010. According to a 60 Minutes profile, he is also the most quoted living man in The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations.

Reviews

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is a quick read-on-the-toilet book. again, if you like PJ, you'll like the humor. but he must have needed scotch money, so he wrote this one in about a day and a half.

[Shyue Chou Chuang · Rating 1 out of 5]

This thin volume is sadly enough, thin on laughs, it tries hard to be funny but the effort comes across as contrived. Despite the writer having written numerous volumes in the humour category, this comes across as sophomoric.

The gags and jokes in here would fit well as memes in social media. I read this in the nineties after I read some of his other political humour pieces.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any guy who doesn't find this funny is still living at home and is not a prospect for dating, marriage and especially spawning.

[Schottsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

read decorating with alcochol and be preapred to pee your pants.

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why not live in a tree?"

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author distills the essentials of home life from the pretense of socially acceptable appearance and pomp to deliver an amusing, yet useful, guide to managing a home when one is not concerned with how visitors will perceive it. In the book, appearance is separated from utility. Want a delicious burger worthy of your favorite diner? It does not come from a spic and span kitchen with washed-until-sterile utensils and grill. Soup, sauce, and stew are the same thing. Clean does not have to be perfect. Outsource when needed.

Some suggestions contain a bit too much alcohol content (with mixed levels of amusement) and details tend to be on the laconic side, but the author blend the right amount of humor and practicality to make the book truly useful for the book title’s intended audience.

[Paco Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuando compré este libro en la mítica colección de El Papagayo no esperaba gran cosa. Lógico: no sabía que P.J. O'Rourke era uno de los escritores americanos de humor más agudos. Bajo una portada chorra y un contenido idiota se esconde un contenido chorra e idiota. Pero enormemente divertido. Es el libro que más veces he leído en la vida y cada vez me sigue pareciendo más divertido.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I expected more for PJ O’Rourke than a collection of discarded stand up bits. I’m not sure why this book was published much less reissued. There were a few laugh out loud moments throughout the book but they were (very) few and far between. Fortunately it is a very short read so the eye rolling could be kept to a minimum.

[Onni Lempiäinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable book while sitting in my tiny apartment surrounded by garbage, while some parts were fun and even relatable others not so much. The things I enjoyed the most were references to music and other authors which I've never heard of before also, the food tips were good. I'm going to drink Vodka and Hi-C for brunch to forget about the book and save some Cookies and water for later.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very funny at many moments, and retains all the brilliance of O'Rourke at his best, but you've got to get through one too many painfully juvenile moments (which I suppose was the whole point). If you've read his 'Modern Manners,' no need to read this one unless you're really in the mood.

[Susan Liston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't not love "Decorating with Alcohol".....

[Thersya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ni intentando tomártelo en serio como un monólogo del club de la comedia te ríes.
Lectura tonta para ratos muertos

[jaroiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Není to úplně můj šálek humoru, ale docela se to dá.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consiste en una estupidez tras otra, pero se lleva las 5 estrellas porque todas las páginas contienen algo que me ha hecho reir.

[Juliette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Admittedly, I did grin at some of the jokes, which are very 80s and require mounds of salt.

Much of it is filler and not developed enough to warrant the extra page.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a dated, but still great comic writing.

O'Rourke made his name writing political satire for "Rolling Stone" and "National Lampoon." He cleverly positioned himself as the "cool Republican." I like him best when he sticks to non-political topics, as he does in this book. Politics is depressing and anything you say may come back to haunt you.

This book was published in 1986, when the author was a 39-year-old bachelor. Certainly he could claim to have put in enough time to speak as an expert. When a new edition came out in 1993, he wrote an introduction to tell us how wonderful the 1980's were in comparison with the 1990's, which he wasn't enjoying at all. In other words, his 30's were now in the rear-view mirror and his 40's weren't nearly as much fun. A brief failed marriage hadn't improved his outlook on life. Most of us have had similar experiences.

In expressing his contempt for the 1990's he mentions (among other things) Hillary Clinton "riding her broomstick." Imagine his dismay if he had known that 23 years later he'd be hitting the campaign trail, trying frantically to get Mrs. Clinton elected president and failing. As I said, it's best to stay away from politics because anything you say will sound foolish eventually.

So I enjoyed this book, which isn't about politics, but the struggle of a single man to deal with taking care of himself. A boy grows up with his mother taking care of him and he assumes that some female will always take on the job. But what if that doesn't happen and the man has to feed himself, do laundry, tend to household repairs, throw the occasional party, and all the other tasks that are properly done by a wife? Some men are domestic by nature. The author isn't even house-broken.

There's a lot about food and cooking. Forget Hugh Hefner. I've never met a single man who wasn't more concerned with getting sustenance than getting sex. And as middle age looms large, this is more true than ever. The author offers some funny observations, hints, and even a few crude recipes. But the bottom line is that a bachelor can't afford to be a picky eater. If it doesn't get away from you, eat it!

It's broad humor, of course, but I'm not sure it's that far away from reality. One of my sisters married a bachelor who actually knew the purpose of flour. You sprinkle it on sticky floors. A niece married a bachelor who believed that everything worth eating could be prepared in a Fry Daddy. When she scraped all the accumulated grease off the outside of his Fry Daddy, it weighed half of what it did before. And remember, the author lived into his 70's on bachelor fare. If he did it, so can you.

O'Rourke is one of the most talented humor writers in America. I enjoyed this book thoroughly.

[Brian Cham · Rating 1 out of 5]

This boomer humour really does not work for me. However, it has historical value as a time capsule of the mindset of a 1980s American yuppie.

[Pulp · Rating 3 out of 5]

P.J. O'Rourke aborda con un gran sentido del humor la vida del soltero moderno (bueno, desde los ochenta) haciendo observaciones que estiran a la exageración sin que por ello rompan con un fondo con el que es fácil identificarse y está pleno de verdades. Un libro ligero, sin más, para pasar el rato con la aparición de una ocurrencia tras otra, a medio camino entre el estilo de Seinfeld y Groucho Marx.

Lo malo de la edición que leí fue la traducción: el encargado de hacerlo exageró en la adaptación hasta volver llenar el libro de localismos españoles que rozan el ridículo. ¿ P.J. O'Rourke mencionando a Sergio y Estíbaliz? Claro que sí, campeón.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are numerous phrases, gags and preposterous ideas here that will cause any proud bachelor to grin and laugh, but The Bachelor Home Companion is just a bit too silly for me to recommend it as anything other than a light, frivolous read.

Then again, this book is billed as a 'home companion', a reference book. So, when I find myself and my home in a state of filth and despair - and believe me, I will - then this little book, with its shameless relish for slobbery and charming aversion to all things practical, organised and sensible, may prove to be the spiritual rock that will see me through.

[Lightreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, yes, it's funny. Very much so, in places. But it's also one of those books that tries to be slick and hilarious by consciously making the most politically
incorrect jokes possible, with the result that it's by turns disgusting and actively repulsive. And, you know, I'll laugh at almost anything, as humor is one of the greatest forces of healing we have at our disposal. But the jokes here have a real bite to them, the face-saving retractions ring hollow, and I'm just not interested in wading through homophobia and sexism to get some whackily funny housekeeping tips.

[One Flew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being a huge fan of O'Rourke's other works like Eat the Rich, Holiday's in Hell and Parliment of Whores, this volume was pathetic. It might be mildly amusing, but it's like PJ tried to stretch a stand up comedian's sketch into an entire book. It falls ridiculously flat.

[angrykitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

my brother gave me this when i went away to college. it's forever held a special place in my heart ever since. even without that, it's still a great book.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of his best pieces.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

good, but I was younger then and maybe the empathy has lasted. Cannot say I have ever used many of the cooking tips

[Marylu Sanok · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seriously funny book from an author I truly like.

[J. Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

You'll learn how to make Egg Foo Breakfast and how to "do" dishes with unflavored gelatin!

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for every incoming college freshman of the guy persuasion. And apparently was, judging from my own college dorm back in the day, but that's a different story.... ;)

[Mark Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite a few reviews here on Goodreads ,who says men won't read direction or more specific a 'How to' book.

[Dawn Corley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outrageously funny - I've read many of O'Rourke's works in the past, but somehow I'd missed this one. I laughed all of the way through it and I even caught myself taking a few notes.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very very funny