“The Pleasure of My Company”
by Steve Martin
Published: September 2003
ISBN: 0786869216

(Updated April 21, 2004.)

This is the first book of Steve Martin’s I have read and, yes, I chose it for the humour I hoped to find.

I already knew that Mr. Martin’s humour varies depending on the venue — meaning he is “differently funny” in films, on stage, in interviews — and now I know that this is also true of him in books. Still dry. Still wry. Still intelligent. But, differently funny once again.

The humour and pleasure in this book lie in being charmed by a completely ordinary obsessive/compulsive guy. The main character is a fellow living in Los Angeles. He is out of work, always busily in love (at least in theory) and has this thing about the overall wattage of the lights in his apartment. He takes himself seriously but not always. This is the good part.

This was a quick and easy read. And makes my interminable counting quite unobjectionable :o)

“Couldn’t wait to get back to it” factor? 3 out of 5.