John Kenney

2 weeks ago | kansascity.com | John Kenney

Sometimes a book comes along at just the right moment in life, aligning with what's happening and offering eye-opening commentary. John Kenney's "I See You've Called in Dead" is that book. It's not a self-help guide, although it sometimes reads like one, or a "Hallmark card," as protagonist Bud Stanley says to his best friend Tim - a bit of a guru in a wheelchair - while they sit in a church after a funeral.

2 weeks ago | newyorker.com | John Kenney

It is the policy of the United States to end the use of Dijon mustard. Mustard is yellow and made in America and not in France. France is a stupid place. The Justice Department and components will identify and eliminate any mustard that isn’t yellow French’s Mustard, although henceforth the name “French’s” will be eliminated in favor of the word “Normal.” This policy enforces not only the use of yellow mustard but also the elimination of such condiments as chutney and piccalilli.

1 month ago | libraryjournal.com | John Kenney

. Apr. 2025. 272p. ISBN 9798989923014. $27.99. F COPY ISBN Bud Stanley is a 44-year-old obituary writer who accidentally posts his own obituary—written in a bout of drunken self-pity—to his employer’s website. Now he’s about to lose his job but is in professional limbo because of a catch-22 (the company can’t fire him until its software recognizes that he is, in fact, alive).

Jan 10, 2025 | washingtonpost.com | John Kenney

Any book can spur us toward self-improvement. So can a song, a poem or a movie scene.

Dec 12, 2024 | newyorker.com | John Kenney

Shouts & Murmurs by John Kenney: I vow to go without sex to prove that I am in support of what my wife is in support of, politically, and also in terms of not wanting to have sex with me that much.