Gimme 15 Inches: Rants, Raves and Deadline-Driven Observations

Humor columnist Molter attempts to showcase his wit from nearly three decades of his Washington, Pa., Observer-Reporter columns in this lackluster collection of his favorite entries. His column employs a style of observational humor that’s somewhat reminiscent of Andy Rooney and Erma Bombeck, with musings on a variety of mundane, inconsequential topics, such as the “socialist threat” posed by compact fluorescent light bulbs and the lack of vampire movies in 1993. Unfortunately the collection is ridden with predictable puns and other lamentable dad jokes, as when Molter employs the phrase “a right wings conspiracy” in a story about a stickup at a chicken-wing joint. Molter fares better when he’s not trying so hard to win laughs. His best entries are on more serious topics such as the evolution of manhood in the 21st century or the armed militants who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. Unfortunately, the majority of this collection falls short of funny. [em](BookLife) [/em]

Correction: An earlier version of this review included a sentence incorrectly stating that the author refers to himself in the third person in the introduction to each chapter; these introductions were written by his editor. It also incorrectly stated the author was a reporter and humor columnist; he is a former reporter.