Like Ian Frazier, Harry Shearer, or Bruce Cameron, Veronica Geng had a smooth and easy way of taking on the most insane voices of the 1980s. "Satire" seems too small a word for the wealth of literate and gut-busting funny pieces in this book, which gathers up the bulk of her magazine writing. She perfected the art of topical New Yorker-style humor pieces, usually based on news clippings, and used her huge library of artistic and literary references to great effect. This book belongs on the shelf of everyone who likes to see the great and good get their balloons popped with style and verve. Hilarious stuff.

Veronica Geng's prose is one of the 20th Century's greatest pleasures. If you've never read Miss Geng's work before, this collection will serve as your birthday present to yourself for the next 10 years. It is an utter delight.