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The Little Book of Neuroses
"These are modern, urban tales you will want to share with friends, reading passages over the phone and drawing comparisons with characters recognizable in just about everybody's life. A fresh voice... revealing new truths, reminding us of folks we know and making nearly everything just a little funnier"- Rain Taxi "Acute, acerbic and endearingly grumpy... Unlike some humorists - think David Letterman and David Sedaris- Ford isn't afraid to forgo quick punch lines when he comments on more serious topics" - Publisher's Weekly The multi award winning humorist is back with an in depth, on target, and of course, very, very funny guide to all things queer. Why are lesbians fascinated by acoustic guitars? Why are gay men compelled to buy Madonna CD's and face care products. Does Tiger Beat make boys gay? What happens if the Boyfriend Within is sleeping around? No one satirizes and celebrates gay life in twenty-first century America with the unerring accuracy and zeal of Michael Thomas Ford. With the same unerring eye for what makes queer life so deliriously weird and worth living that has earned him legions of fans among critics and book buyers alike, Ford examines gay archetypes, attitudes, fashion and gossip; you know… the good stuff! Marketing
Advance reader copies.
Media Politically Incorrect, Entertainment Weekly, The Advocate, Out, Genre, Instinct, XY, Hero. Michael Thomas Ford is a two time Lambda Literary Award winner for the best selling "My Queer Life" collections Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and That's Mr. Faggot to You. A longtime resident of Boston, Massachusetts, he recently located to Los Angeles to make it big in the movies.
Advance reader copies.
Media Politically Incorrect, Entertainment Weekly, The Advocate, Out, Genre, Instinct, XY, Hero. Michael Thomas Ford is a two time Lambda Literary Award winner for the best selling "My Queer Life" collections Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and That's Mr. Faggot to You. A longtime resident of Boston, Massachusetts, he recently located to Los Angeles to make it big in the movies.
248 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2001
1 person is currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Michael Thomas Ford
61 books805 followersMichael Thomas Ford is the author of more than 75 books in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. His work for adult readers includes the best-selling novels What We Remember, The Road Home, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It and Last Summer, and his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. His novel Lily was a Tiptree Award Longlist title and a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. He is also the author of the Sickening Adventures series of books featuring popular contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race.
As a writer for young adults he is the author of the novels Suicide Notes, Z, and Love & Other Curses, and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular "Circle of Three" series. His work has been nominated for 14 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book, twice for Best Romance Novel, and once for Best Mystery. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot).
As a writer for young adults he is the author of the novels Suicide Notes, Z, and Love & Other Curses, and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular "Circle of Three" series. His work has been nominated for 14 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book, twice for Best Romance Novel, and once for Best Mystery. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot).
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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August 17, 2023Found out I have potential to be a drag queen and am a certified slut. Thanks Mike.
July 22, 2021
I have never read this author before and never will again, no matter how many gay books he has put out (and it looks like it's a lot). He's simply obnoxious. Not a good writer at all, merely snarky. About everything. And, as the title says, a world-class neurotic. He's what I'd call typical gay guy that I've hung out with in the sense that he seems unhappy about everything, extremely insecure and anxious, yet has confident opinions about everything he doesn't know anything about. It's a frustrating read.
Ford is supposedly "Christian" but it's that liberal/progressive spirituality that filters everything through a very narrow, simplistic theology and that condemns anyone they don't agree with. He doesn't at all understand the Bible, the Catholic Church, evangelicals, or anything Jesus said. For example, his slam on the Pope and the Catholics concludes that the Church should "go back to what it was when it was founded, a group of poor people helping other poor people." He must have missed Math. 26:11 or Judas mistakenly thinking the same thing. It was and is about Christ saving people so that they will have eternal life. Yes, there was some food sharing back in the beginning but that certainly wasn't what Christianity was founded on. To only emphasize the social gospel (which is a small part of the New Testament) means he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Virtually every tiny chapter in this small book is like that, where an uninformed lop-sided propagandist spouts nonsense. When I finished each chapter I said, "Who cares what this jerk thinks?" He represents the worst of gay culture. And that's too bad because he actually stumbled into a couple of satirical conclusions that were close to the truth, then messed them up with more verbal garbage and the fear of needing to be politically correct before the community came down on him.
No honest intellectualism here or even an attempt to truly do anything good for the world; just another guy that slams anything that seems anti-gay, which makes him hypocritically the very intolerant people-basher that he bashes.
Ford is supposedly "Christian" but it's that liberal/progressive spirituality that filters everything through a very narrow, simplistic theology and that condemns anyone they don't agree with. He doesn't at all understand the Bible, the Catholic Church, evangelicals, or anything Jesus said. For example, his slam on the Pope and the Catholics concludes that the Church should "go back to what it was when it was founded, a group of poor people helping other poor people." He must have missed Math. 26:11 or Judas mistakenly thinking the same thing. It was and is about Christ saving people so that they will have eternal life. Yes, there was some food sharing back in the beginning but that certainly wasn't what Christianity was founded on. To only emphasize the social gospel (which is a small part of the New Testament) means he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Virtually every tiny chapter in this small book is like that, where an uninformed lop-sided propagandist spouts nonsense. When I finished each chapter I said, "Who cares what this jerk thinks?" He represents the worst of gay culture. And that's too bad because he actually stumbled into a couple of satirical conclusions that were close to the truth, then messed them up with more verbal garbage and the fear of needing to be politically correct before the community came down on him.
No honest intellectualism here or even an attempt to truly do anything good for the world; just another guy that slams anything that seems anti-gay, which makes him hypocritically the very intolerant people-basher that he bashes.
April 20, 2009
From what I can tell, this is the final collection of essays the Michael Thomas has produced to date. More recently he has been focusing on producing fiction. Ford once again uses his critical and satirical look at life, particularly in relation to gay men and lesbians, in this funny set of articles. Topics range from covering when gay men realize they are gay and what made them that way to quizzes about whether you are this or that.
It is interesting to see how he is changing over the years as his books come out. For example, he still questions whether he would want to get married, but he has adjusted his view of same-sex marriage since an earlier book. It is clear that he thinks the right should be available even if he doesn't think he would ever want to take advantage of the right.
It is also fun getting to see as he settles down into his relationship with Patrick even further. He touches on their first anniversary, how so many people seem surprised at the idea that they are monogamous, and even how they treat their exes is different. (A lot of gay men tend to end up being life-long friends with a lot of their exes).
Some of the essays in this collection are wonderful. As with earlier books I found myself laughing out loud at times. There were a few of the essays that just seemed off. He is well-known for his harsh and honest reactions to various things, and that definitely comes across in this book. I am a bit of a softie so I had a harder time connecting with those essays even though they were well done so it is more a reflection of me than the writing.
I was able to read this in just two sittings so I definitely couldn't put it aside.
It is interesting to see how he is changing over the years as his books come out. For example, he still questions whether he would want to get married, but he has adjusted his view of same-sex marriage since an earlier book. It is clear that he thinks the right should be available even if he doesn't think he would ever want to take advantage of the right.
It is also fun getting to see as he settles down into his relationship with Patrick even further. He touches on their first anniversary, how so many people seem surprised at the idea that they are monogamous, and even how they treat their exes is different. (A lot of gay men tend to end up being life-long friends with a lot of their exes).
Some of the essays in this collection are wonderful. As with earlier books I found myself laughing out loud at times. There were a few of the essays that just seemed off. He is well-known for his harsh and honest reactions to various things, and that definitely comes across in this book. I am a bit of a softie so I had a harder time connecting with those essays even though they were well done so it is more a reflection of me than the writing.
I was able to read this in just two sittings so I definitely couldn't put it aside.
August 28, 2015
Two-time Lambda Literary Award winner Ford's fourth collection of essays offers the adorably cranky humorist the opportunity to rant on how Tiger Beat magazine made him gay, offer relationship tips for the neurotically inclined and muse on how eBay allows us to relive our childhood by buying back our past. He also offers amusing quizzes on becoming leathermen, porn stars, drag queens, sluts and gym rats. Whether he's bemoaning the lack of romance in gay cinema ("A stripper nicknamed 'Beer Can' [in Trick] is no match for Cary Grant"), spoofing interviews with straight celebrities in gay magazines ("Do you know anyone who knows Cher?"), presenting a pseudo paper on therapy that can cure heterosexuality, or proposing a new TV show called Who Wants to Be a Homosexual? (straight contestants get rewards for every step toward queer life), Ford is a delightfully inventive wit. The surprise of this collection is not his reliably funny ruminations but the periodic somber, thought-provoking pieces in which Ford forgoes his usual levity and speaks from the heart. These pieces—including one on the Church's shameful treatment of priests dying of AIDS and another that serves as an ode to the demise of two gay-lesbian bookstores—won't come as a surprise to those who have read Ford's recent Paths of Faith: Conversations About Religion and Spirituality. Their inclusion enhances the collection and deepens Ford's voice and broadens his appeal.
June 13, 2007
As posted in [http://www.amazon.com]:
I realized after reading Augusten Burrough's "Magical Thinking" and Ford's "The Little Book of Neuroses" and the like that I'm not really a fan of collections of witty/humorous essays and personal stories. I guess because I expect all the essays to crack me up. So far, I've yet to read a book that has made me laugh from front to back (...yet).
"Neuroses" was an entertaining read. Some were hilarious, some serious and some thought-provoking. I found myself laughing at some parts. I also found myself nodding in agreement as if Ford read my mind, such as gays in monogamous relationships.
It's worth a read and perhaps you'll laugh more than I did.
I realized after reading Augusten Burrough's "Magical Thinking" and Ford's "The Little Book of Neuroses" and the like that I'm not really a fan of collections of witty/humorous essays and personal stories. I guess because I expect all the essays to crack me up. So far, I've yet to read a book that has made me laugh from front to back (...yet).
"Neuroses" was an entertaining read. Some were hilarious, some serious and some thought-provoking. I found myself laughing at some parts. I also found myself nodding in agreement as if Ford read my mind, such as gays in monogamous relationships.
It's worth a read and perhaps you'll laugh more than I did.
July 21, 2008
These essays were thoughtful, funny and a bit sad. I was looking for another David Sedaris, but this wasn't laugh-out-loud funny. He's a good writer and seems like a fairly anti-social person, which I appreciate. His perspective as a gay man who is just trying to live his life without carrying a flag is refreshing. I will definitely read the other collection I got from the library. I also want to read "That's Mr. Faggot to You" and "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me" for the titles alone.
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January 6, 2008I am not a big fan of this book, which I checked out from the fabulous lending library at Wingspan in Tucson. The humor wasn't very original in my opinion. Just an all around no thanks.
April 22, 2011
A mixed bag, this one.
April 17, 2012
Somewhat dated but still good. Palm Pilots ? Am I really that old?
December 28, 2016
funny but genuine
January 13, 2017
While I liked some of his essay pieces, I couldn't get into the "funny" ones or the quizzes he peppered throughout the collection. They detracted from the messaging in the more serious ones.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews