The first of the humorist's thematic collections, Acres and Pains is an anthology of pieces that, according to Perelman, were "the by-product of a dozen years of country living." Each of the twenty-one stories is set on Perelman's farm, which he called the Rising Gorge (in 1961 he published the volume entitled The Rising Gorge which was another collection of tales about life on his farm). All but one of the segments were initially printed in the Saturday Evening Post (the other appeared in The Country Book), and each details a particular aspect of country living. Perelman's topics range from interactions with his neighbors to experiences with architects and remodeling his farmhouse, from swimming pools to maids, from milk cows to country doctors, and from hoboes to dogs. His chapters on vegetable gardening and on the effect of solitude on the country dweller are the funniest and...