TC Tidbit: Once a Week, These Talented Cartoonists Illustrate A Book Review

There names are Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes, and their comic strip is called Unshelved, featuring hilarious scenarios about the staff and patrons of a public library.  This week happens to feature two related books:

The accepted image of the Average American man as created by Oprah, Dr. Phil, network sitcoms, and a slew of other mass media outlets is one of an oafish retard happy to swallow down gallons of his significant other's crap in the hopes of being allowed to have sex with her once a week or at least watch some football.

The unnamed narrator of AVERAGE AMERICAN MALE is in his late twenties, has an unimportant job, plays video games, and hangs out with his friends and his girlfriend. But that's not all. He unabashedly reveals every thought that goes through his head, from his sexual fantasies involving his annoying girlfriend and other women he encounters, his masturbation sessions while watching porn, and his disgust with his annoying girlfriend and a majority of the people he comes across.

In the course of this hilariously honest book, our narrator suffers through a relationship with his fat-assed girlfriend until he finds the perfect girl. But when he moves into the new relationship, he slowly learns that all women are pretty much the same, that man's true desires will never be fulfilled, and the decision between living life alone or biting the marriage bullet must be made.

TV writer Hilary Winston offers up a witty collection of autobiographical tales about her misadventures in dating.

Just when Hilary feels like her life is finally in order, she gets a sucker-punch to the gut: Her ex has written a novel based on their relationship in which he refers to her throughout as the “fat-assed girlfriend.” Her response to this affront is just one of the many hilarious stories in My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me-a laugh-out-loud, tell-all in which Hilary sets the record straight for all her exes.