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Getting Started
To mark his 20th anniversary at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, David Allen goes back to the beginning to survey his first four years of columns, when the valley was new territory for him. After unpacking endlessly, he reports for jury duty in Chino, attends a Mexican wrestling match in Pomona and pays attention to movie dialogue about Rancho Cucamonga.
Not limiting himself to local news, he wonders what a Rolling Stones tour in the distant future might be like (sponsor: Depends), considers applying for a job in Swaziland as the town hangman and enters clothing stores alert for clues about which side is for men.
Even if you follow David Allen's current work in your daily newspaper, you probably never saw these columns, or if you did, forgot you read them or repressed the memory. Here they are again, with all the duds removed (we hope), and with a candid introduction by the author about trying to establish himself when he was just -- wait for it -- getting started.
Not limiting himself to local news, he wonders what a Rolling Stones tour in the distant future might be like (sponsor: Depends), considers applying for a job in Swaziland as the town hangman and enters clothing stores alert for clues about which side is for men.
Even if you follow David Allen's current work in your daily newspaper, you probably never saw these columns, or if you did, forgot you read them or repressed the memory. Here they are again, with all the duds removed (we hope), and with a candid introduction by the author about trying to establish himself when he was just -- wait for it -- getting started.
316 pages, Paperback
Published January 15, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 30, 2018
I really enjoyed this book of columns from the first four years of David's writing for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (where he is still writing up storm!) in the Los Angeles area. His humor is very dry and infectious (kind of sounds like a disease, doesn't it?!), and I love it! It was also fun for me to read since I know David and several times he made reference to his home town, where I still live :)
It was also interesting to read the articles since they were written in 1997-2000. The twenty year span, between the writing and reading it now, was fascinating -- seeing how some things had changed a lot, and some.... well, not at all ;)
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor - it's really fun!
It was also interesting to read the articles since they were written in 1997-2000. The twenty year span, between the writing and reading it now, was fascinating -- seeing how some things had changed a lot, and some.... well, not at all ;)
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor - it's really fun!
July 3, 2017
If you're local to the Southern CA region, you'll like these musings on the area. If you're someone who was of an age to remember the late-1990s, you'll enjoy a cruise down memory lane. If you like humor, you might even find some (I did).
February 28, 2017
A fine collection of 1990's humor essays from a local newspaper columnist.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews