When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People by Jeannie Gaffigan

Title:  When Life Gives You Pears:  The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People

Author: Jeannie Gaffigan

Read by:  Jeannie Gaffigan, Liz Noth, and a forward by Jim Gaffigan

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 1 minute

Source: Overdrive through the Kewaunee Public Library 

I somehow missed that this book came out, but luckily my friend Pam recommended it on Facebook.  I really enjoy Jim Gaffigan’s humor.  My husband and I have been to two of his stand up shows in Green Bay, I’ve read all of his books, and have listened to his albums.  Indeed, I started listening to them again at the start of this troubling COVID time as laughter is the best medicine.

Laughter is the best medicine is the theme of When Life Gives You Pears. Jeannie is one half of the comedy duo, helping her husband write and put on shows and taking care of their five children.  She is so busy taking care of them that it’s a shock one day when at a routine doctor appointment for her kids, she admits that she hasn’t been able to hear out of her ear for a while, which leads to her own doctor appointment, and a fast track to a brain tumor diagnosis.  The tumor is the size of a pear.  It’s a shocking diagnosis that she lives through with humor, faith, and love. 

I loved this memoir.  Jeannie had a great mix of humor with faith in her dire circumstances.  It really makes you reevaluate what is important in life and it made me think about my life, children, and what is important as well.  I loved how having read Jim’s novels, this is a look from the other side.  I really loved learning how they met, started a relationship, and got married.  I also really loved the perspective that as a strong artistic woman, Jeannie realized she would have to give up her dreams of fame on her own to be with Jim and that it would be a different life as his fame was already higher than hers at that point.  I love that they were able to work together as a team on everything career, kids, and her health.  As a Catholic, I also loved how she explored her faith in her journey as well.

The audiobook was very enjoyable.  Jim Gaffigan wrote an introduction and narrated it himself.  Liz Noth narrated the book until the point in the story after Jeannie’s surgery when her vocal cords were affected, and she didn’t speak the same anymore.  Jeannie narrated the story from then on out.  I really liked the effect that this had on the listening experience.

Overall, When Life Gives You Pears is a memoir that is a great mix of humor, faith, and family as the title lets you know.  I really enjoyed it and would love to read more of Jeannie’s work in the future.  I related to her as a woman and a mother.  Her story was sad, but ultimately triumphant on how she was able to pull through with her family and community supporting her along the way.

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan

Title: Food:  A Love Story
Author: Jim Gaffigan

Read by: Jim Gaffigan

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 17 minutes
Source: Overdrive Audio through the Kewaunee Public Library – Thank-you!

“What are my qualifications for writing this book?  None Really.  So why should you read it?  Here’s why:  I’m a little fat.  If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I’d highly recommend not reading his book.”

Jim Gaffigan is a very funny comic.  His humor tends to be about being fat, his love of food, and being the father of five children.  With the stress of the start of a new semester, I was looking for an audiobook to listen to that would make me laugh and put me at ease.  Food:  A Love Story fit the bill.  I’ve previously read and enjoyed Fat Dad by Gaffigan and in August my husband and I saw him perform live in Green Bay.  It was a fun date night!

Food:  A Love Story is true to its name.  The entire book is Gaffigan’s love of food and he manages to bring humor his singular obsession with food.  He discusses types of food (bacon, pizza, cheese, kale, etc.), places to find different foods (airports, different cities around the world).  He also discusses holidays and how they are really all about eating – so true.  I loved the titles of some of these sections such as “Bacon – The Candy of Meat” and “Hot Pockets – A Blessing and a Curse.”  As a fan of food, I loved all of these selections and Gaffigan’s humorous takes on all types of foods.  I often found myself laughing out loud on my daily commute.  That isn’t weird is it?

As Gaffigan’s wife, Jeannie, is from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, the book had an entire section devoted to Wisconsin and Wisconsin foods are mentioned throughout the book. “It’s hard enough to eat healthy normally.  It’s impossible in Wisconsin.”  Wisconsin foods such as brats, fried cheese curds, kringles, butter burgers, etc. were lovingly discussed in this book.  But where was the talk during the cheese section?  Gaffigan discusses how American cheese is what America has provided to the world of cheese . . . I want Jim Gaffigan to do a tour of Wisconsin tasting all of the cheese.  Colby cheese and Colby Jack cheese were created in Wisconsin and are a family favorite. 

I was offended that pie is referred to as a secondary dessert compared to cake by Gaffigan.  That is sacrilegious in my pie-loving family.  Although on second thought, I do love cake.  As my old weight watchers group leader told me, “Always eat the cake.”

Gaffigan is a great narrator of this audiobook– his tone of voice in situations such as when he says “Hot Pocket” or when he criticizes his own performance by a  nameless person outraged at what he has to say makes the joke.  It wouldn’t work if he wasn’t the narrator!

I appreciate that Gaffigan is a clean comic.  It seems like so many comics relay on foul language or extreme racy talk on sex to find humor.  I find it to be a cheap kind of humor that is trying to use shock value to illicit laughs.

I loved the ending of the book where the talked about what his last final meal would be. I especially loved when he talked about how your last meal should correlate with your death.  I laughed out loud at if you die from choking, it should be on bacon.  That wouldn’t be a bad way to go.

I’m currently watching Gaffigan’s comedy specials on Netflix.  There are similar jokes to the book, but the book had a lot of other jokes as well and had the specialty of being devoted entirely to food.

Overall, Food:  A Love Story is a hilarious accounting of the hits and misses of food around the United States and world as only can be told through the unique humor of Jim Gaffigan.  I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a laugh or just an honest look at the food we eat.

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

Dad is Fat is the story of every parent. Jim Gaffigan is a comedian with five children ages eight to zero living in a two bedroom walk-up (five stories up) in New York City. He tells small, but hilarious vignettes of his life from a man in love (with his now wife) wondering at the strange behavior of his friends with kids, to his understanding of the chaos, hilarity, and love that is parenthood.


I loved how this book made me laugh out loud a lot. I read various bits out loud to my husband and he was amused as well. I also love that a book can make me laugh this much and it is not vulgar. So much “humor” these days is just crass and I do not find it funny at all. It’s nice to find a comedian that I can truly enjoy.

Some of my favorite quotes:

About home birth: “At times, it seems we elected to have our babies at home mostly to make other people feel uncomfortable. I quickly learned that people don’t want to hear about home births. Their first reaction seems to be, ‘Oh, you had your baby at home. Yeah, we were going to do that, too, but we wanted our baby to live.’”

About newborn love: “The good news is when your baby is born, something happens. I can’t explain it. You just love your baby. Unconditionally. Even if you didn’t get the baby thing before, when you experience your own, you immediately fall in love and fell like you could kill or die for that baby. I was born with a heart that was two sizes too small, but when I saw my baby, it was like the Grinch discovering the true meaning of Christmas.”

About taking kids to Church: “Anyone who has ever taken their babies and kids to a church, a temple, a mosque, a wedding, funeral or any other place of reverence understands the true meaning of torture. Obviously I am against torture, yet I still take my kids to church. The question remains, who am I really torturing? Am I torturing myself, because it’s virtually impossible to get a young child to sit still and listen to some old guy go on and on about metaphors they don’t understand? Am I torturing my children, because church is the opposite of a video game? Am I torturing the innocent churchgoers sitting around me trying to listen and being distracted by my kids climbing on the pews or playing peek-a-boo with them? The answer is ‘All of the above.’”

The last quote pretty much sums up my church going experience with the kids. I found myself nodding profusely while reading this book, which is embarrassing when you are reading it in public. Gaffigan has captured what it is to be a parent of young kids, and it was nice to know that someone else is in the safe boat. It was also wonderful to find the humor in it all.

Overall, this is a must read for parents.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library