Stand Up Sit Down Book Club: COOL, CALM & CONTENTIOUS

~post by Steve(n) W.

“When the Stand Up Sit Down Book Club approached me to write an introduction for their blog to promote the September meeting of their regional book group, I thought to myself, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that,’ and then I spent the rest of the day like I spend most of my days – idly googling myself and drinking sloe gin until the sun set, at which point I switched to yahoo and fast gin. What I discovered over the internet on that fateful day, though, was really quite remarkable. Did you know that Mark Twain isn’t actually my name at all? Did you know that Elijah Wood was once in an adaptation of one of my novels? I never did get around to figuring out what the Stand Up Sit Down Book Club was. I bet I would hate them.” – Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemens,
Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume III

Someone once wrote, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” As a proud dog owner and relentless humorist, Merrill Markoe certainly lives by this axiom. Cool, Calm & Contentious: Essays is a testament to her creative passion and combative disregard for the status quo. This meandering autobiography documents her stumbling ascent to comedic success as her furious ambition leads her through the frustrations of childhood, decades of tumultuous affairs, the pitfalls of a life in the entertainment industry, and the eventual discovery of her secret identity. As a chaperone through her artistic journey, she is an inspiration to us all, though admittedly, at times, as more of a cautionary tale.

Merrill Markoe is best known as the co-creator of Late Night with David Letterman and the New York Times- bestselling author of a series of books about talking dogs. Cool, Calm & Contentious is her debut work of nonfiction. Join the Stand Up Sit Down Book Club on Monday September 29th at 7:00 p.m. in BookPeople’s cafe, the boarding kennel for stray comedy enthusiasts, to discuss these essays and reminisce over your own mixed-up voyage to becoming whoever it is you are.

The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club meets on the last Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. in the cafe at BookPeople to trade jokes and laugh at life, all under the questionable pretense of reading comedic literature and edifying our minds and selves. Jump into the mental moon bounce with us this Monday September 29th to hop around conversation spring-boarded by Cool, Calm & Contentious by the ebullient Merrill Markoe.