one more thing. b.j. novak.

if you are a frequenter of this blog, you know that i am a tad obsessed with mindy kaling.  and of course, one can not be obsessed with mindy kaling without being obsessed with b.j. novak.  (quick random share, if you haven't read this buzzfeed article about their friendship, you should.  get ready to fall in love with the both of them!)  though i have to admit that novak first (or rather finally) caught my eye when ryan started wearing those glasses on the office and i rediscovered him via my love for mindy.  any hoot, regardless, i am a fan of novak and was super excited for his collection of short stories!

so excited that i preordered a hardcover and a digital copy!  i spent the weeks leading up to its release (which was last tuesday) googling to see if novak planned on a book tour.  i don't know if a full tour is planned but discovered he is stopping in LA!  and yes i got tickets!!!  i preordered the book to guarantee tickets but sadly since the bookstore is in pasadena and i had no way of getting the book before his talk, i decided to order it for my kindle so i could be prepared for the talk.  and what was even more amazing was the fact that being on the west coast, i got it at 10 pm, monday night! woo woo!

and with all this effort and excitement over this book, i hate to admit this but it was not worth all of my hoopla.  

i think initially i wanted one more thing to be is everyone hanging out without me? or bossypants, so  i had to remind myself that it was a collection of short stories.  and secondly, novak's book had a bad spot on my reading list.  january unofficially became the month of short stories, and every collection i read was amazing so i mean novak had some tough acts to follow.

i mean all of one more thing's stories weren't bad, it was just that ones that were made me wonder why were they included.  i think the problem with this collection is lack of editing.  too many bad stories were included that should have been cut out. 

also the opening story about the tortoise and the hare definitely did not have any wow power and the only tone it set was a disappointing one.  i have to admit that i was even disappointed by the kellogg story which people kept on mentioning in reviews.  there was an interesting twist in that stoey but nothing incredible that deserved a mentioning.

the stories i wish were edited out were:

"the rematch", "dark matter", "the ambulance driver", "walking on eggshells (or: when i loved tony robbins)", "they kept driving faster and outran the rain", "closure", and "kate moss".  the absence of those stories would have made for a better book.  

i know this sounds like a harsh review but i expected more from novak. also i have to say not every story was bad, there were a handful of gems.

my favorite was "sophia" . it is also the story from which the book gets its title.  sophia is about a sex robot that falls in love with a human.  of course, i thought of spike jonze's her and just like her, through something absurd we discover truths about relationship and human behavior.  i love how sophia explained to the narrator how everything feels infinite but it is finite and we do not commit because we assume there is one more thing out there that is better but there really isn't, it's just that love ironically gives us that feeling.  very deep for a sex robot.

i also enjoyed the nelson mandela roast. when i first read the title, i was like ekkk.  since he past away last year, i wondered if there was a debate about whether or not to include it,  but i am glad they did.  it was very well-written and read just like an actual roast!

i of course loved the missed connection stories because i of course enjoy missed connections.

i also thought the wikipedia brown story was adorable.  i didn't grow up reading encyclopedia brown as a kid.  my friend danny is a fan so it has to be a good series.  i loved how sally was always trying to stop wikipedia brown from distracting them because i always lose hours of my life randomly "researching" on wikipedia.

i also enjoyed "no one goes to heaven to see sam fogelberg" because i love the idea of heaven being non stop concerts!  i can't wait to die if that is the case!!

"chris hansen at the justin bieber concert" was very clever too because people would be suspicious of they saw hansen (from to catch a predator) at a justin bieber concert!

i also enjoyed the "shorter" stories:

(even though i love carrot cake!)

(seriously best love advice.)

(muahahahahahah)

i also enjoyed the new hitler because we do need a new positive one! and that "constructive criticism" kid was a great architect!  

i also enjoyed how punny (funny via puns) novak was in stories like "the market was down", "monster:  the roller coaster", and "the best thing in the world awards".

actually i enjoyed most of the stories but the bad ones just left the bigger impression on me.  and even though one more thing didn't completely knock my socks off, i am still recommending it.  i have to admit that i was disappointed with myself for not finding in funnier.  i mean if mindy and i should bffs, shouldn't i find b.j. hilarious?!?!?  but i mean they aren't always in sync.  oh and i have to admit that this dedication is enough reason to check out the book:

(seriously could they be any cuter?!?!?!?)

but a decent first book.  a nice try but really novak should look into a better editor for his next book.