“Party Like it’s 2044: Finding the Funny in Life and Death” by Joni B. Cole.
Reviewed by Tracy Wood
Here’s to another great collection from a gifted story teller!
Joni Cole’s essays are a cross between David Sedaris and Kelly Corrigan. Whether she’s sharing tales of coffee mishaps on airplanes or weird encounters in public restrooms, Joni captures the humor and humanity in everyday adventures.
Joni’s stories offer a break from the daily news headlines that compete for doomiest and gloomiest. Funny but never trite, her deeply personal narratives reveal universal emotions: embarrassment, nostalgia, misunderstanding, and even love of cute animals. Many chapters had me laughing out loud, and they all offered some tidbit worth remembering! I will return to these essays like I would a favorite pair of shoes.
Tracy often suggests Joni’s books on writing to her students.
Tracy Wood is a former Marine and retired secondary English teacher. She currently teaches writing workshop classes near her home in Newbury, New Hampshire where she writes a weekly newsletter “My Mother’s Piano: from stuff to stories.”
You can read Tracy’s writing at Substack, “My Mother’s Piano.”
