While I was excited to dive into this, the experience left me a bit underwhelmed. The writing felt like it could've come from anyone, missing that unique spark I was hoping for. Sure, the use of pop culture criticism gave it some grounding, but overall, the text felt bland and repetitive at times, like we'd already covered the ground we were revisiting. The voice came through in the occasional parenthetical or footnote, but I kept wishing for more of that personality throughout. I could see this working better as an audiobook, where the narration might bring more life to the words. There were moments of brilliance in each essay, things I could connect with, but in the end, it just didn’t live up to my expectations. Still, I think it might resonate more with others—it just wasn’t quite for me.

Continuing with my trend of not rating memoirs I didn't fully connect to... but please don't think that I didn't enjoy this.

The biggest issue I had was this felt like anyone could have written it? Sure, weaving in bits of pop culture criticism as a scaffolding to talk about your life did sort of ground it in why I was interested in this from Ira, but at the end of the day the actual text felt rather bland. The occasional parenthetical expression or the occasional footnote was really where the text felt that it had a voice and a point of few that I really found myself wanting from the rest of what I was reading. It certainly didn't help that at times the text felt repetitive. Not in a way that Ira was calling back to something, but almost as though the essay had already told us this and was acting as though this was new information never before shared. It was jarring in a way that often took me out of what I was reading.

It could be that this might pop more should Ira read the audiobook version, or maybe any narrator would be capable of finding the life within these words. As it stood the life described often felt like I wasn't being let in. The text being as lifeless as it read was in some ways a method to keep the reader from feeling as though they were really being let into the life of Ira Madison III; by being as impersonal as it was it could have been really easy to set this aside and not return to it.

It's not so much that this is bad. Mostly it didn't life up to expectations, but I did get something out of it. In each essay there is a moment of brilliance, something that I was able to connect to. I am happy that I managed to get all the way through this and I think that this might resonate more with other readers than it did for me. As someone that was really excited to get into this ultimately I left feeling a little let down moreso than I would like from this sort of storytelling.

As a long-time Keep It listener, I was thrilled to get an advanced copy of Pure Innocent Fun. It weaves Ira's life with pop culture in creative and relatable ways. The book, just like everything Ira touches, is a thought-provoking, endlessly entertaining ride.

A collection of sixteen essays by this critic, TV writer and podcast host (I did not know his name or podcast but may have come across him before) about pop culture and his own life. His personal bibles are/were “Entertainment Weekly” (I am never, ever getting over the loss of the print version of that great magazine, which I loved more than nearly everyone related to me) and Chuck Klosterman’s wonderful book SEX, DRUGS AND COCOA PUFFS so we definitely share the same heartbeat. I love him already.

Madison, who was born in the late 80s and is, therefore, younger than me, but could look on me as a wise, fun older sister type covers things like Newports, “Martin,” Coldplay, Tom Cruise (gag), Power Rangers, “Survivor,” “Passions,” Whoopi Goldberg and going to an all-boys, Jesuit high school, among other things. Oh, and he was never, ever cast in any role in any high school play. He’s still carrying a fair amount of bitterness about this and the longevity of this grudge? I AM HERE FOR THAT.

Reading this made for a fun couple of hours. Thanks, Ira!

I read this in one night! That shows you how much I loved it. I just really loved reading his take on major cultural events and how they shaped his life. Fans of Ira will not be disappointed with these essays!

I adored this lively collection of pop culture criticism. I have enjoyed the author’s podcasts and presence on Twitter, and this really captures his voice well. He is smart as well as clearly an enthusiastic fan of many of the subjects he writes about, a winning combination for me. I particularly enjoyed the essays that touched on fathers on TV and his relationship with Oprah.