The Potty Mouth at the Table

New York Times bestselling humorist Notaro returns with her eighth collection of essays featuring amusing anecdotes, clever insights, and charming neuroses. Notaro sounds off on Antiques Roadshow, a rude fedora-clad poet at a writing panel, and the creepiest things one encounters on Facebook. She also shares cringe-worthy stories of a day-long train trip taken while suffering from food poisoning and an encounter with Harry Potter erotic fan fiction. Some of her best work revolves around food, about which she has passionate opinions. She bemoans cooking a Thanksgiving meal for friends with dietary restrictions, complaining: "I had to buy something with the word %E2%80%98namaste' on it," dismisses "foodies" for inventing their own language "like twins...or a feral Jodie Foster living secretly in the woods," and lays out the "six signs that Pinterest food pins are destroying the world." Notaro's friends and family provide excellent material, including her sister's fainting after consuming a warm soda too quickly and her husband's wry refusal to allow her to buy "the Great Gatsby of chairs" because of her hoarding tendencies. She can also get poignant, closing with an account of a close friend's battle with a terminal brain tumor. Notaro is sharp, relatable, and pithy; a dynamic combination. (May)