"Sh*t My Dad Says" by Justin Halpern

"Sh*t My Dad Says"
by Justin Halpern
read by Sean Schemmel
Published by Harper Audio (2010)
Approx 3 hours

I've been listening to some pretty heavy duty literature lately and decided I needed some light-hearted entertainment. Also I am taking part in the local library's Adult Summer Reading program and for every ten books read I get an entry into the drawing for some cool prizes, so I needed to find some shorter books. I have been a follower of Justin Halpern's twitter feed for "Sh*t My Dad Says" before the book and the TV series and and have found the musings to be hilarious at times. This book surprised me in that it not only has those funny quotes but also includes some short stories/essays on various events in Justin's upbringing. Some of them surprisingly poignant. Justin's Dad, Sam Halpern, who provides the colorful views of the world comes across a bit harsh at first but after listening to this book I was left with the overview of a worldly wise man that sincerely loves his family.

Sam Halpern, is a retired doctor (Nuclear Medicine) and former Navy man and can cuss better than anyone I know. In the book Justin says his favorite is "Bullsh*t," and can use the word to mean a variety of different things and all those things vary by his intonation. On top of that the reader, Sean Schemmel is able to portray Sam exactly the way I heard him when I read the tweets, and is able to discern the different intonations of "Bullsh*t." Sean does a superb job of voicing this fun book.

I will say that if foul language highly offends you, you may want to stay away...but they are only words in fact Sam Halpern says this, ""They're offended? F--k, s--t, a----le, s--tf--k; they're just words...Fine. S--tf--k isn't a word, but you get my point." I found the book extremely funny and for 3 days my commute to and from work was the best ever. I could list several quotes in this review but instead I'll just provide the link to the twitter feed so you can get a good idea of some of the quotes, but keep in mind many of the good parts of this audio book are the stories told. Many of the stories are in reference to a father providing help in the different phases of any kid growing up, at times I recognized myself in the stories and while Justin Halpern had a more colorfully described life, I could definitely relate.

When all is said and done this book is basically about a man that loves his family and will do anything for them, the rest of the world can go to hell.

Here's the link for the twitter feed: http://twitter.com/Shitmydadsays