The Grasshopper Trap

Author: Patrick F. McManus
Genre: Humor, Outdoors
Publisher: Owl Books
Pages: 214

What is there to say about a McManus book besides the all-too mundane terms like 'hilarious, hysterical, and side-splitting'?
I don't know if The Grasshoper Trap would rank as my all-time favorite McManus book (it's just really, really hard to beat A Fine and Pleasant Misery) but it's very close to the top, for sure.
This book is complete with the cast of characters any reader of McManus will know and love - Retch Sweeney, Crazy Eddie Muldoon, Rancid Crabtree, The Troll, and more - and the outrageous antics thereof, from the dangerous wilds of an eight-year-old's back yard to the Brazilian jungle, and from the horrors of incarceration in the fourth grade to the domestic challenges between hunter/fishermen and their wives.
I laughed myself silly reading this book, and even managed to read several chapters of it aloud to my family (it's very hard to read aloud when you can't even breathe from laughing so hard), which had them all rolling too. No complaints - another great humor book for anyone in need of a good laugh.

"They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?"

Author: Patrick F. McManus
Genre: Humor/Outdoor

When it comes to humor, Pat McManus is in a class all his own. In the spirit of Mark Twain, but with a rather dry and cynical twist, he manages to craft the most hilarious essays and short stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading, bar none.
Occasionally I come across a person who doesn't find McManus funny. I can only offer my sympathies to those people. I can't imagine what life must be like for them.
They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?, while not my favorite McManus book (A Fine and Pleasant Misery takes that prize) nonetheless provided hours of entertainment and laughter for both me and my family. The author's accounts of his outdoor adventures both as a boy and as an adult, and his advice to aspiring outdoors-people are just irresistible.
Since McManus is not a Christian writer, occasionally I come across a slightly off-color remark or reference in some of his work, but it is never anything terrible and only once in a while. My family reads McManus books aloud to each other all the time with no problem.
If you're looking for some light-hearted reading and side-splitting entertainment, or if you simply desire a well-rounded reading repertoire, anything written by Pat McManus is a must-read.