A review by sian_reads_books
James Acaster's Classic Scrapes by James Acaster

funny lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

I don't often read non-fiction, and I definitely don't read 'comedy' books in any form. 

In all honestly, I saw one review of this book in a book group I'm a part of, and saw that it was on a super cheap offer on Amazon and took a risk... Which paid off - I thoroughly enjoyed this book! 

I've seen James Acaster on Mock the Week and watched his four-part series on Netflix, and I love the way he tells stories - with dry wit and self-deprecating humour. And James Acaster's Classic Scrapes is no different! 

Acaster tells the tales of his Classic Scrapes in much the same way as he does in his stand-up routines. During some of the stories I could practically hear his voice in my head, reciting them to me! His Scrapes had me laughing out loud numerous times and snorting with mirth at practically every tale. 

Told from childhood, through adolescence to the present (at time of printing), James tells the stories of the situations he's managed to get himself into - from his very first Scrape (peeing in his own mouth as a newborn) to rebelling as a teen by stealing an extremely unimportant road sign (which even left his parents somewhat let down by this rather lacklustre form of teenage rebellion) to the many Scrapes he's endured whilst touring as a comedian (crashing a car and leaving a bongo against the central reservation on the A14!) 

If, like me, you're the sort of person who also feels somewhat unlucky, a bit Clutzy and exasperated about the fact that if there's something to drop, smash, walk into, trip over, etc you'll inevitably do it, reading Acaster's Scrapes will make you realise that, really, things could be a lot worse - you could have just written off your third car, slept in a bush in a red dress, or been stuck on a train, in the dark, for 5 hours after it derailed! 

Put like that, catching my belt loop on the door handle every single time I enter a room doesn't seem so bad!!