Pure Drivel [Paperback]

Steve Martin's talent has always defied definition: a seasoned actor, a razor-sharp screenwriter, an acclaimed playwright, and, of course, the ingenious comedian who turned King Tut into a national craze. In this widely praised collection of humourous riffs, Martin shows he is also a master of the written word. From a wildly imaginative meditation on who Lolita would be at age fifty to a send-up of the warning labels on medicine bottles, these pieces, many of which first appeared inThe New Yorker, hilariously and intelligently skewer the topic at hand.Pure Drivelwill have readers crying with laughter--and marveling that in addition to all of his many talents, Steve Martin is also a superb writer. Like the fuzzy little puff of marabou on the instep of a coquette's satin bedroom slipper . . . Martin's book of diminutive, often hilarious essays [is] . . . effortless and silly even as it's subtly erudite. Salon Martin is a gorgeous writer capable of being at once melancholy and tart, achingly innocent and astonishingly ironic. He is a master at revealing the surreal poetry in pure drivel. Elle