Pure Innocent Fun: Essays by Ira Madison III is a collection of sixteen essays about a variety of pop-culture ideas. This was a fun, nostalgic read, and the author did a great job sharing what cultural moments had influence on him. His humor shone throughout his writing. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Hilarious, tender-hearted, honest: these are just a few of the words I’d use to describe PURE INNOCENT FUN. I’ve been a fan of Ira’s since his podcast, KEEP IT, started in 2018.

Every week, he and his co-host debate pop culture and this book of essays feels like a natural continuation of that, but with a more personal spin.

PURE INNOCENT FUN gives you everything you’d expect from Ira and more: come for the accents (😉), stay for the backstory on his love for Salt and Angelina Jolie (IYKYK).

Being the host and creator of his own podcast, Ira’s voice is perfect for the audiobook. As a fan, I loved hearing him telling his own stories.

I couldn’t wait to own a copy of this book, and to add it to my collection. I can’t recommend it (and KEEP IT) more.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

Pure Innocent Fun was a fun read but ultimately forgettable. I was excited to learn more about Ira and his insight on pop culture but walked away not learning new about either.

As a Keep It! fan, I was really excited to read "Pure Innocent Fun" and it did not disappoint! Excellent pop culture insight (as always) from Ira, presented in a hilarious and touching way. This brought back so many memories from my childhood (I long for the summer days I spent at movie theaters!!!) and the nostalgia factor was 10/10!

One of the more personal books on early 2000s culture and history. This will be very popular with folks interested in pop culture, nostalgia, and humorous cultural critiques.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. As an avid listener (since day 1!!) of the author's podcast, "Keep It", I was so so excited to get receive a copy of this book. Ira Madison's takes on all things pop culture are something I look forward to each and every week so the idea of a full book of them was thrilling. Unfortunately, I found myself liking but not loving this book.

I think using different pieces of popular media such as films and TV shows to talk about his experience growing up was a great idea. And most of the essays have portions of them that I really like or even love. However, I think a lot of them veer off into long tangents that ultimately take away from the meaning or the point that the author is trying to make. However, I am both a little younger than Ira so maybe some of the connections do not hit as well for me and I completely understand that we do not share many of the same demographics and so some references just may not be for me.

Even still, I enjoyed all of the both popular and more obscure pop culture references here. I think if you are someone who lives on Wikipedia trying to absorb every kernel of knowledge possible, you will likely enjoy this book. I definitely want to read Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs now too, so thank you for the recommendation!

Although I am not the intended audience for this book, I enjoyed reading Ira Madison III’s opinions about pop culture. This is a humorous book with an impactful message. His at times controversial remarks about TV shows of the 90’s-2000’s made me reconsider some of my prior opinions about what seemed so important at the time (i.e., in the pre-Cosby scandal days, when classic sit-com TV was perceived as culturally enlightening comedy gold). Many messages conveyed to us from must-see TV were not so brilliant after all. His observations remind me is good to recheck former attitudes. His personal struggles as a gay man, and his tentative approaches to sex, is as vulnerable and honest as any I have read prior. His love of his grandmother and the credit he gives her for being his safe haven is poignant. How wonderful to have had her love and support in those early days!
I appreciate Ira Madison III helping me to rethink so much about those days, and what constituted popular entertainment, through his uniquely personal point of view. It also made me reflect about what life must have been like for some of my closeted friends of the 80s. There were cracks everywhere. There was so much ignorance and lack of empathy about what it is to struggle as a sensitive human being. It made me a little ashamed to have shared reruns of some of these shows with my kids in the early 90s (again, pre-Cosby scandal days) without pointing out the hypocrisy of American life being depicted vs. lived experience. I appreciate the reminder of what was real. I appreciate his honesty. It was an enjoyable read.

I listen to Keep It every week, and I was so excited to hear Ira was writing a book. It doesn't disappoint! This was an informative and engaging read filled with pop culture commentary and personal reflections.

At times laugh out loud funny, this was an enjoyable foray into the author’s life, told through the lens of pop culture. I laughed. Often. I enjoyed Madison’s reflections on pop culture, the conclusions he drew, and the way he shared them. This was a charming and enjoyable memoir.

We need more pop culture memoirs like this one, centered on a delightful main character of an author and focused on joy, nostalgia, and reflection.

Technically this is an essay collection rather than a memoir, but it’s organized such that it reads more like the latter (don’t worry, Madison is both funny and interesting and a delight to spend time with in this regard).

To that end, I thought Madison did a lovely job of both personalizing the experience and capturing the collective experience. A lot of this centers on the early 2000s, but there’s some good content from a bit earlier and a bit later as well.

Madison tried to capture a lot of how pop culture helped shape his identity as well as how his identity shaped his taste in pop culture, and he was successful on both counts.

But in the end, he’s mostly a good hang and a thoughtful reminiscer who wrote a truly enjoyable collection of personal essays.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Thanks to Random House and the author for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are a lot of things here I can relate to, and several I obviously can't. I, oddly, did grow up watching almost the exact same shows as Madison (except for the soaps... never watched any soaps, except for the show of the same name, which is briefly mentioned and--rightfully--said by the author to be the superior show in relation to its spin off). Again, while there were some obvious things in regards to his high school experience that I couldn't relate to, I still felt the struggles with self-image were very universal. I really loved how he used his love of pop culture (particularly of the 90s) to showcase his different struggles and how he dealt with them. I can't say I agree with all his pop culture opinions, though. There was a moment where he said something to the effect of sitcoms having no jokes in them anymore, that they relied mostly on funny situations... and I'd like to point out that "sitcom" is a short-form combo word of "situational" and "comedy." Not that his point is lost on me. I think I got what he meant--less punchline type of jokes. He did also reference Ted Lasso in this point, and I do agree that the fact that this show being labeled as just a comedy doesn't do it justice. Dramedy would be much better (also a lover of that show).

I do feel the essays felt very contained to just this one short period of time: high school. I kind of wish they had expanded a bit beyond, maybe showing how he's grown a bit into the adult he is now. All in all, this is a very good read, and there were some really funny observations in here, regarding pop culture. Also, in a footnote, he compares a character from I believe was the OC to Xander Harris from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, saying something to the effect of realizing that they would were both more villainous than previously realized, and I would like to join him in shouting this completely true fact from the rooftops.

I liked this book, but to be honest, there were so many typos in the ARC that it actually made it difficult to read and fully decipher. I've never come across this before, so I don't really know what happened, but it was really disappointing. I hate to think that readers wouldn't hear about an upcoming release because anyone who read an ARC couldn't understand half of it. I'm giving he book 4 stars, but the ARC gets 1.

As an avid @keepitshow listener, I could not have been more excited to dig into @irathethird’s debut collection of essays, Pure Innocent Fun.

And what a time I had! As someone who loves pop culture and nostalgia, and grew up in the Milwaukee suburbs this hit all the right notes.

Ira is a fabulous storyteller and did an incredible job weaving in his life experiences through the lens of his favorite and most poignant pop culture memories. I both snorted so many times and was moved by the stories he shared. I loved knowing a lot of the specific Milwaukee -area landmarks he mentioned - though I also appreciated leaening all of the things I didn’t know growing up just a few towns over.

Everything feels pretty bleak right now, but I’m thankful for @irathethird, his wit and the stories he shares. His love of tv, music and movies shared this way is a gift for us readers . Big thanks to my friends at @netgalley and @randomhouse for this advanced copy!!

Pure Innocent Fun is out NOW!!

This was a fun millennial ride- even though I’m not a Millennial. But as a Gen-X/Xennial, I appreciated the commentary and references to several things I (mostly) remembered fondly from Madison’s adolescence in the ‘90s and early aughts. Like Black sitcoms, AIM, Ally McBeal, Oprah Winfrey, Sex and the City, TRL, Mariah Carey, Clueless and all of the Disney movies released between 1989 and 1999.

I think if someone is too far removed from his generation and taste, it will be harder to fully connect to these essays but that’s okay! (And I do think the point is to connect with readers, while also weaving in some personal, vulnerable recollections- not to teach.) Madison knows who his target audience is, and they will enjoy the nostalgia.

Quality of Writing 4/5
Value for Intended Audience 5/5
Pacing 4/5
Vulnerability 4/5
Overall Enjoyability 4/5

Ira, Ira, Ira. I tried to be objective but as a die hard Keep It fan, I knew that I was going to thoroughly enjoy myself and I did. Ira's voice is so clear in this book and the story of his life is wrapped up in pop culture nostalgia, humor, and a nice little dig (or two).

If having to approach this book critically, I do think the editing could have been stronger - I would imagine its a challenge to edit writing that flows so naturally in the author's voice, which can mean it flows all over the place, but there were times in the book where I did feel like the train of thought went slightly too rambling. Again, that doesn't hurt the book for me since I am a fan and very familiar with the book.

After reading the digital ARC, I also listened to the audiobook upon release and I think this series of essays is served well in that format because for the reader, it can really clarify Ira's stylings.

Overall, I think this was a great book of essays. I found myself laughing during a great deal of it, recalling millennial pop culture memories, and realizing the role someone like Ira's grandmother can have in someone's life. I recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In this essay collection, Ira Madison, III takes us all on a nostalgic, hilarious ride through some of the best and occasionally obscure pop culture of the best 30+ years. I flew threw this funny romp in a couple days time, and particularly enjoyed the references to forgotten pop and soap stars; Survivor; and The Traitors.

Madison is an engaging critic, making connections I never would have thought of between all different aspects of pop culture, I loved the variety of topics he covered, and the things he was saying - I could read 50 more of his essays. My only complaint is this felt underedited - it needed to be tightened up, and sometimes the editing made it feel more like a diary of loose thoughts rather than a collection of essays when he was trying to make those connections. Still, I loved it - and I bet the final copy fixed those issues up!

I've been a listener of the Keep It podcast for many years, so I was excited to read this. It's a fun, quick read, and I always appreciate a blend of pop culture and memoir. I also selfishly like books written by people close to my age range with similar cultural touchstones. Probably because I read a lot of books like this, I didn't get a lot of new insight from reading this. And I wish the author hadn't taken such pains to explain the premises or plots of a lot of things, like let the people who don't know them do their own research. But I hope that this isn't Ira's only book, I think he has more in him!

I wasn't aware of Ira Madison III until reading this book, but I was absolutely delighted by his writing and his stories of growing up Black and gay in Milwaukee (and in some very white spaces in Milwaukee). With almost my entire extended family living in Milwaukee, a lot of references and situations he talks about were familiar to me and I really enjoyed that, but I think that his storytelling would make this entertaining for readers anywhere. I loved the pop culture references and other millennials will find lots that they remember here too.