Yes Man

Book #8 of my 2006 reading list was Yes Man by Danny Wallace.

I really enjoyed Wallace's last book Join Me which detailed his exploits as an accidental cult founder, so when I accidently stumbled upon his new one in the self-help section of our local library I had to pick it up.

Speaking of Join Me (note the nice segue), I was pleased to see my copy being passed on via a friend (let's call her J-Ho) on Book Crossing. Looks like it's made its way down to Bend, Oregon, and may soon make its way out to Atlanta. Here's a comment from its current owner:

Thursday, March 02, 2006 Found the book outside the the Red Mill Burger on Phinney the weekend of Saturday, February 11th. Actually, I just like to think that I found it there, at the home of the best burgers in Seattle, but that's not factually true. Found it outside a god damn starbucks next door to the Red Mill Burger. Anyway, love the idea. Absolutely love it.

Anyways, back to Yes Man, the premise of the new book is that while in a bit of a funk Wallace meets a stranger on a bus who advises him to 'Say yes more'. Wallace decides to take this to the extreme, saying yes to everything anyone asks of him (with some clever exceptions to prevent his friends from taking advantage of him). This 'stupid boy project' ends up leading him on several fabulous adventures all documented hilariously in the book. I laughed pretty much the whole way through the book, though I think the morale of 'say yes more' is one that I'll try to apply to my own life as well.

The book has already been optioned by Warner Brothers and is supposedly in the works to be made into a movie starring Jack Black. Join Me is being made into a movie as well, so don't be surprised if you hear more about Wallace in the near future.