I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

So after the success of John McNamee's other book: Goldilocks and the Infinite Bears: A Pie Comics Collection, I was highly excited to try out this collection.

However... it was a disappointment. Whereas last time I had so many comics I loved, that made me laugh or snicker, this one was more miss than hit. Especially the first half of the book was just mostly boring and not that funny. The latter half though brought more and more comics that I loved and that made me laugh. Still not as much as the previous book which was an all around laugh-a-ton.

Like the previous time I Whatsapped my fiance with comics I loved and I knew he would love as well. And he was very happy with them, and he had quite a laugh.

The book is divided into various themes, which I quite liked. It was fun to see the comics that fit in that theme.

I had a laugh at the "And now, a brief summary" which summed up how the Earth started, animals started living, how wars were fought, and ending with a microwave taking wayyyyy tooo long. :P

That certificate at the ending? Fantastic. I would so print that out and use it.

So a weak beginning/first half, a stronger second half, and a funny ending with a great certificate. 2.5 stars it is. :) Will I read the next comic collection? Yes. Despite this one being a disappointment, the comics that I did enjoy were hilarious and funny and I want more of them.

This is the first book I’ve encountered which ‘gives’ out certificate upon completion; “Certificate of Knowingyness”. And no, that’s no a typo.

When I requested this book from Netgalley, I did it assuming it would be a book full of bookish comics.

Instead, I found sets of comics on things that had nothing to do with books. Most of the comics did not make me laugh. A few may have made me crack a smile, but most of them were not funny at all.

The art itself didn't appeal to me much either. It was pretty simple.

I was not familiar with pie comics, and I didn't enjoy this one much either.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This set of comics had me laughing out loud for the most part. Covering all of the basics of book learnin’ I may never need to open another text book again! The section on “the arts” was a bit more obscure than I anticipated from John McNamee, but everything else had me rolling. My husband was peaking over my shoulder while I read most of this because he can’t resist McNamee’s webcomics.

This is a super cute and super entertaining read. I highly recommend it for book lovers. It is filled with whimsical illustrations and fantastic observations.

This was a quick and overall enjoyable reading experience. Humor will always be subjective and what one person finds funny another won’t. There were a handful of comics in this bind up that I thought were well done, hilarious and really enjoyed them - They are the ones I most likely would have instantly shared on social media. However, for me, the majority of them were just okay with no lasting impression.

I was not aware of Pie Comics before reading this comic. Therefore, I was expecting a lot of original work. However, it all seems a bit overplayed or redundant.

My favourite was the very first strip, and then it went a bit downhill. I liked one here and there, but nothing really stuck out or seemed that great.

I'm sorry to say that I believe that there are much better comic-strip books out there. This needs a lot of work; I believe there are certain strips that should be redone or even pulled out of the book. I worry a bit how this comic will hold up against the million comic-strip books that are out there.

I love this kind of comics books; however, the humour in this one was not my cup of tea, but I can imagine that some people may like it.
The best thing about this book is the cover which is better done than the art inside which is a pity.

2,5/5⭐

Not what I was expecting. A little too "YA" for me. Would not recommend to others. The illustrations were a little too cheesy.

Super cute, relatable short little comic-strip book. I wasn't familiar with the work before today but I did enjoy it. Short and sweet and humorous, I'd recommend to anyone who's a fan of the genre.

Like most comics collections I read, I was not really familiar with Pie Comics yet. The title and the cover however suggested that it had to do with books, so I just had to read it.

It was not what I expected. I'm not sure what I did expect, but it was more than I got. Sure, some of the comics were quite funny, but many were mwah and they were not about books unfortunately. While it wasn't for me, I'm sure fans of the comic will appreciate it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

There were a couple frames that made me smile or I found clever. Other than those ones though, this one seemed a bit disheveled and an attempt to get them cohesively together. Some of the frames also just didn’t read that clearly or the punch was lacking for me. Maybe someone else’s cup of tea!

Thanks to Netgalley and the pu pusher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I'd really love to say I liked this book, but the truth is that it didn't leave a huge impression. It was a very quick read (even while being terribly tired) and there were many comics that had a deeper meaning (e.g. about society issues), and the arrangement of the comics worked fine. The style of the drawings matched the style of the text/humor. These are on the plus side. What lacked in this book was the humor side (for me, at least). I'm all for sarcasm (really, that's a language I'm fluent in) - though maybe that was my problem. Most of the jokes weren't strong enough for me. I didn't have to laugh and I didn't feel the need to share what I saw. I'm sure some people would love this little comic book, and I'd try others from the same author, because I see there is a potential here. But this one was not a book for me.

I came across Pie Comics for the first time with this book. What took my attention about the book is the title though the comics are not about "reading" or "passion for books". The comics are categorised with subjects.

It was an okay read. I can't say I laughed a lot. Some comics were really smart. ( I quite like the last page. I sensed one good quality sarcasm.) On the other hand, some just made me stare awkwardly to the screen. Good for spending some time and exploring new illustrators.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
Book Learnin’ was a quick read. Not entirely my sense of humor, and since humor is objective there are going to be plenty of people who will find enjoyment in this collection. The collection is split like it’s a classroom setting so covers topics and not books like I thought when I saw the cover. The art is simplistic and easy. It’s actually a fun art style, a lot you can do with it, just the humor wasn’t exactly for me.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. I really enjoyed it. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

I was looking forward to reading this for a little dose of humor but honestly I feel kind of meh about it. The comics were at best mildly amusing and the mildly amusing moments were infrequent. There are definitely better collections to spend your time and money on.

A very interesting story that was able to sustain my attention for the totality of the narrative. An admirable attempt.

I wasn't familiar with the author before picking this one up. After reading this, he's got a fan in me. This was a unique spin on things to know in various aspects of life. Divided by school subjects, this comic reflects on different topics with a unique and humorous angle. The joy of these comes in their simplicity and wit.

I think I would have enjoyed this collection of comics about how weird the world is, if only there hadn't been so much profanity and excessive use of the word "pimp." Some of the punchlines are crass, and I prefer clean humor. Some of the comics are wholesome and good, but a significant amount are not.

I liked the simple art style, and the clarity of each panel.

I'm not sure why this collection is entitled "Book Learnin'". I thought it was comics about books, with reading as the main subject material for the jokes, but it's not. There isn't a single joke about reading or books.

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

(pictures can be viewed in either linked review)

I read and enjoyed the author’s previous collection, Goldilocks and the Infinite Bears, so I was excited to see that a new collection was coming soon. Unfortunately, this one was a lot less successful for me.

While the previous collection dealt with fairy tellings, fables, and other books, this one has the comics arranged as a sort of school with five subjects: The Arts, Social Sciences, Zoology, Science & Technology, and Business. At the end, there’s a “brief summary” of the history of the universe (my favorite comic, actually) and a “certificate” for successfully reading one book. While the format is amusing, it didn’t really work for me. Arranging them like this meant that similar comics were often arranged back-to-back, and honestly, when there’s three cops-and-robbers comics in a row, all with basically the same punchline, it’s hard to find any of them funny.

The art style still works well for me – very minimalistic with simplistic, slightly more sketched in stick figures – and for the content. I thought the colors were particularly well done, drawing your attention to the key part of each panel with little fanfare. Most of the comics are 4-6 panels on a single page, though a few span multiple pages. For the most part (excepting the last one) the longer comics didn’t work for me, as I think the snarky, sarcastic humor works best short and punchy.

Zoology had the largest selection of funny comics for me – I mean, animals are pretty funny to begin with, yes? The most successful ones were the ones that reflected what I loved about the last collection – a mix of biting social commentary and utter absurdity. And while I’ve definitely thought about the “lizard on your shoulder” comic a few times, none of them were quite funny enough to want to show someone else immediately. And that’s the problem with this collection – most of the comics are just not that funny. Some of it was the repetitiveness. Like the aforementioned cops-and-robbers theme, while I mildly liked the first “robots are better!” comic, the third or fourth one was just… annoying. I can certainly see that it might be a popular theme for the author to return to, but in a collection, whatever humor it might have had is taken away by the fact that we just saw the same punchline on the previous page. Others seemed to miss the mark completely, and there were a few that left me scratching my head trying to figure out what was supposed to be funny about it.

And this last comic encapsulates how I feel about the whole collection. Where it’s good, it’s really really good, but unfortunately, I didn’t find the majority of it funny. It’s telling that, while I normally have to sort through a lot of panels to pick my favorites for my review, for this book I struggled to find enough. Overall, I didn’t find this particularly amusing, and would instead highly recommend Mr. McNamee’s previous collection instead, which still remains one of my favorites.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.