Lifes Little Annoyances, Ian Urbina
Lifes Little Annoyances, Ian Urbina
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Life's Little Annoyances
True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore

Author: Ian Urbina

Narrator: Stanley Tucci

Abridged: 1 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/03/2005

Categories: Nonfiction, Humor


Synopsis

True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore.

What can you do when the world is pushing you over the edge? More than you think.

For some of us, it's the automated voice that answers the phone when we'd rather talk to a real person. For others, it's the fact that Starbucks insists on calling its smallest-sized coffee "tall." Or perhaps it's those pesky subscription cards that fall out of magazines. Whatever it is, each of us finds some aspect of everyday life to be particularly maddening, and we often long to lash out at these stubborn irritants of modern life.

In Life's Little Annoyances Ian Urbina chronicles the lengths to which some people will go when they have endured their pet peeves long enough. We meet the junk-mail recipient who returns unwanted "business reply" envelopes weighted down with sheet metal, so the mailers will have to pay the postage, and the woman, fed up with the colleague who kept helping himself to her lunch cookies, who replaces them with dog biscuits that look like biscotti. And we revel in the seemingly endless number of tactics people use to vent their anger at telemarketers, loud cellphone talkers, spammers, and others who impose themselves on us.

A compendium of human inventiveness, this audiobook will provide comfort and inspiration to anyone who has ever gritted his teeth and dreamed of sweet retribution against the slings and arrows of outrageous people.

About Ian Urbina

Ian Urbina is a reporter for The New York Times, based in the paper’s Washington bureau. He has degrees in history from Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and his writings, which range from domestic and foreign policy to commentary on everyday life, have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Harper’s, and elsewhere. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, son, stepdaughter, and a nuisance of a dog.

About Stanley Tucci

Stanley Tucci’s memorable roles include parts in the films Julie & Julia, The Hunger Games, The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones,The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and Lucky Number Slevin.  He also wrote, directed, and produced Big Night--winner of an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.  For his performance in the Broadway production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Stanley received a Tony Nomination.  He has also garnered two AudioFile Earphones Awards for his audiobook narration, which includes reading William Steig's Shrek!


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kirsti

Hmmmmm. A few of these were inspired, very funny, or even practical: * www.sweetchillisauce.com: Hilarious (and consistently entertaining!) scamming of would-be Nigerian scammers. * www.junkbusters.com: I have used tips from this site for a couple of years, and I have dramatically reduced the amount o......more

I really was prepared to love this book, and there were parts that I did get a kick out of. But I've worked as a clerk and a telemarketer back in the day, and I've been behind a direct mail campaign--and too many of the anecdotes were sticking it to the people who really didn't have the power to cha......more

Goodreads review by Gina

Some of these anecdotes made me chuckle, but a lot of them left a really bad taste in my mouth. I think the world might be a better place if people channeled their passive-aggressive energies into doing something that really mattered.......more


Awards

  • Audie Award Finalist