15 Funniest Literature For Fun, Fools, and Frivolity
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm
April is the perfect time to curl up and laugh yourself sick
with a funny book. So I compiled a list of 15 books guaranteed to bring out the fool in any reader or at least put a smile at on their faces.
This list consists mostly of novels but also a short story,
an autobiography, plays, an anthology, and two collections of writings by known
humorists.
I have also included the best quotes and moments that explain why these books are
funny. While I am aware that humor is subjective, and maybe some of these
quotes might be dark or even outdated but in my mind they represent the best of
these books and their authors.
If you know of any books that make you laugh that I haven't included, please let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page.
If you know of any books that make you laugh that I haven't included, please let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page.
15. Diary of a
Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney-The school-age misadventures of Greg Heffley and
his friends and family including his bullying older brother, Rodrick have been
loved by kids and adults alike. Kids completely relate to Greg’s inability to
control situations that often get progressively worse and funnier as the story
goes along. Adults probably remember their own awkward youth and the mishaps
that encountered.
The series is a very hilarious almost sitcom-like look as
Greg recounts through writing and drawing his latest foibles to his exasperation
and the reader’s delight.
Funniest Moments:
The Jeff Kinney illustrations are the best parts of the books in their
simplicity and visual humor. The characters are drawn as stick figures and
compliment and sometimes run counter to Greg’s writing as if to reveal Greg’s
thought process or the real events that occurred.
14. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by John Thurber
Thurber’s short story is a simple one about a milquetoast
unhappily married man dragged around the town by his nagging wife only to
daydream of adventures and heroism. “Walter Mitty” has all of Thurber’s usual
writing tropes some of which may be outdated to modern readers, such as the
nasty wife/wimpy husband stock characters that were so popular in writings in
the ‘20’s and ‘30’s. However it is the dream sequences that truly make the
story unique and funny.
In each of his fantasy scenarios, Mitty is a too-good-to-be-true
hero who walks in and saves the day to the amazement and awe of his fellow
surgeons/pilots/attorneys/soldiers whatever. The dream sequences seem one part Boy’s Own Adventure and one part
Hollywood film as Mitty’s fantasies allow him to become the hero that he can’t
be in his real life. The dreamers inside all of us can relate.
Funniest Quote: Most of the dream sequences are hilarious in
their over-dramatic dialogue, fictitious jargon, and melodramatic situations.
Here is an example:
“‘It’s the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan,’ said
the pretty nurse. ‘Yes,’ said Walter Mitty removing his gloves slowly. ‘Who has
the case?’ ‘Dr. Renshaw and Dr. Benbow, but there are two specialists here, Dr.
Remington from New York and Dr. Pritchard-Milford from London. He flew over.’ A
door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out. He looked
distraught and haggard. ‘Hello Mitty,’ he said. ‘We’re having the devil’s own
time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of
Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you’d take a look at
him.’ Glad to,’ said Mitty.
In the operating room there were whispered instructions:
‘Dr. Remington, Dr. Mitty. Dr. Pritchard-Mitford, Dr. Mitty.’ ‘I’ve read your
book on strepthothricosis,’ said Pritchard-Mitford shaking hands. ‘A brilliant
performance, sir.’ ‘Thank you’’ said Mitty. ‘Didn’t know you were in the
States, Mitty,’ grumbled Remington. ‘Coals to Newcastle, bringing Mitford and
me up here for a tertiary.’ ‘You are very kind,’ said Mitty.
A huge complicated machine connected to the operating table,
with many tubes and wires and began at this moment to go
pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. ‘The new anesthetizer is giving way!’ shouted an
intern. ‘There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it!’
‘Quiet Man,” said Mitty in a low cool voice. He sprang to
the machine, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-queep. He began
fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. ‘Give me a fountain pen!’ he
snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen. He pulled a faulty piston out of
the machine and inserted the pen in its place. ‘That will hold for ten
minutes,’ he said. ‘Get on with the operation.’ A nurse hurried over and
whispered to Renshaw and Mitty saw the man turn pale. ‘Coreopsis has set in,’
said Renshaw nervously. ‘If you would take over Mitty?’ Mitty looked at him and
at the craven figure of Benbow, who drank, and at the grave, uncertain faces of
the two great specialist. ‘If you wish,’ he said. They slipped a white gown on
him; he adjusted a mask and drew on thin gloves; nurses handed him shining…..
13. The Princess Bride
by William Goldman-While the film deservedly is a classic in parodying the
fairy tale/adventure genre, the book is equally as humorous. Of course there is
the story of Westley AKA the Dread Pirate Roberts and his true love, Buttercup.
All of the familiar characters like the vengeance seeking
Inigo Montoya, the cowardly Prince Humperdinck, and the supposed genius Vizzini
are there as well as the situations like the encounters with the ROUS, the
history of the Dread Pirate Roberts, and the clever storming of the castle by
three men, a holocaust cloak, and a wheelbarrow.
However, what sets the book apart from the movie is
Goldman’s fictitious backstory to how he encountered the “original book” by S.
Morgenstern from his father and how the
version that we are reading is simply “the good parts” version with all of
Morgenstern’s original satire edited out.
The book is filled with humorous asides as Goldman explains
what he had removed and the reasons behind it, such as a 30 page section on
packing, and Buttercup’s royal training. (He limits this section to one line
“One thing and another three years pass.”) This meta-fiction writing makes the
book stand out as more than a stand-alone adventure novel and becomes a clever
send-up of writing in general. In fact Goldman’s back story fooled readers so
much that there are still people convinced that the original “text” by S.
Morgenstern really exists.
Funniest Quote Narration (Very dark but very true at times):
Look (Grown-ups skip this part): I’m not about to tell you this book has a
tragic ending. I already said in the very first line how it is my favorite in
all the world. But there’s a lot of bad stuff coming up, torture you’ve already
been prepared for, but there’s worse. There’s death coming up and you better
understand this: Some of the wrong people die. Be ready for it. This isn’t Curious George Uses the Potty. Nobody
warned me and it was my own fault (you’ll see what I mean in a little) and that
was my mistake so I’m not letting it happen to you. The wrong people die, some
of them, and the reason is this: life is not fair. Forget all the garbage your
parents put out.”
12. Then We Came To
the End by Joshua Ferris-Anyone who has worked in an office setting will
completely understand Ferris’ story about advertising agency employees worried
about upcoming lay-offs during the early 2000’s dot com bubble burst.
Many scenes are almost unbelievable such as a fired employee
who returns dressed as a clown to attack his former colleagues or a duo of
office pranksters who pull an elaborate joke on a co-worker when they steal a
Native American figure from his desk. The characters and situations are all
sharply written and so broad and farcical but at the same time understandable.
They become almost relatable in their elaborate schemes to beat the tedium and
office politics and their anxieties when their time at work may be coming to an
end. The reader will enjoy the ride even if they might sniffle a little at the
end.
Funniest Quote: Narration: “Using a wide variety of media,
we could demonstrate for our fellow Americans their anxieties, desires,
insufficiencies, and frustrations-and how to assuage them all. We informed you
in six seconds that you needed something you didn’t know you lacked. We made
you want anything that anyone willing to pay us wanted you to want. We here
hired guns of the human soul. We pulled the strings on the people across the
land and by god they got to their feet and they danced for us.”
11. The Essential
Groucho Writings by, for, and about Groucho Marx-The Marx Brothers are still
some of the most well-known and beloved comedians of all time and part of their
success lies in the character of Groucho. Known for his one-liners, his large
mustache, his trademark cigar, and his eyebrows that seemed to have a life of
their own, Groucho stood out as one of the most memorable of the brothers.
This book is a collection of many of Marx’s best works
including the scripts from the movies, his columns, his period hosting the game
show, You Bet Your Life, and
reminisces and articles written by people who knew him best. It is a great,
hilarious, and sometimes touching tribute to one of the funniest performers in
the Golden Age of Hollywood
Funniest Quote(s):
From the films: From Duck
Soup
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Teasdale: “Oh your excellency. We’ve
been expecting you. As chairwoman of the reception committee, I extend the
wishes of every man, woman, and child of Freedonia.
Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly, President of Freedonia: Never
mind that stuff. Take a card.
M.D.: Card? What will I do with the card?
G.M.: You can keep it. I’ve got fifty-one left.
M.D.: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I welcome
you with open arms.
G.M. Is that so? How late do you stay open?
M.D. I’ve sponsored your appointment because I feel you are
the most able statesman in all of Freedonia
G.M.: Well that covers a lot of ground. Say! You cover a lot
of ground yourself. You’d better beat it! I hear they’re gonna tear you down
and put up an office building right where you’re standing. You can leave in a
taxi. If you can’t get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that’s too soon, you
can leave in a minute and a huff. You know you haven’t stopped talking since
I’ve been here. You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle.”
From his writing: Marx (After Warner Brothers sent the
brothers a telegram protesting their use of the title A Night in Casablanca, he sent this letter to the film company’s
legal department): “You claim that you own Casablanca
and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about
‘Warner Brothers?’ Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the
name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers
long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when
Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye and even before there had
been other brothers-the Smith Brothers, the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers,
an outfielder with Detroit, and ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?’ (This was
originally ‘Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?’ but this was spreading a dime
pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other
one, and whittled it down to ‘Brother Can You Spare a Dime?’)”
10. The Odd Couple/The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon-These
two plays stand out as the best of Simon’s works, both portraying two bickering
men forced to live and work together. Even the title, The Odd Couple, is instantly identifiable as well as the story of
two polar opposites, a slob and a neat-freak living together. The situation has
almost become a staple in modern day sitcoms and buddy films.
The Sunshine Boys
is not as well-known but I like it better than The Odd Couple. The plot
concerns vaudeville duo, Lewis and Clark, based on real-life duo Smith and Dale
(with a lot of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’ acrimonious relationship thrown
in). Lewis and Clark got along well on-stage but bickered off, but are forced
out of retirement and back together for one show. This trope is also familiar
to modern audiences as many shows and movies portray seniors who don’t get
along but are forced to live or work together.
What stands out from the stock situations is Simon’s gift
for writing the characters. Whether it’s Odd
Couple’s Felix and Oscar or Sunshine
Boy’s Lewis and Clark, Simon gives them great one-liners against each other
making their encounters hilarious and causes them to stand out from their many
imitators.
Funniest Moment(s):
From The Odd Couple:
Oscar: I can’t take it anymore, Felix, I’m cracking up.
Everything you do irritates me. And when you’re not here, the things I know
you’re gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my
pillow. Told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. ‘We’re all
out of cornflakes. F.U.’ Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix
Unger.
From The Sunshine Boys:
“Willy Clark: What’s wrong with saying ‘enter’ instead of
‘come in?’
Al Lewis: Because it’s different. Do you know why we did
this sketch for 43 years, Willy because it’s good.
Willy Clark: And do you know why we’re not doing it anymore?
Because we’ve been doing it for 43 years.
A.L.: If we’re not doing it anymore why are we changing it?
W.C.: You know what’s wrong with you, Lewis? You’ve been
sitting on a New Jersey porch for too long. You’re out of touch. From my window
here, I see everything that’s going on in the world. Look! I see old people,
young people, nice people, bad people. I see hold-ups! I see drug addicts!
Ambulances! Car crashes! Jumpers from buildings! I see everything! You see…a
lawn mower…and the milkman.
A.L.: That’s why you want to say ‘enter’ instead of ‘come
in?’ “
9. Bridget Jones’
Diary by Helen Fielding-Bridget
Jones’ is a humorously self-aware story about a woman who spends a year
trying to lose weight, maintain a relationship with a responsible adult, and
develop “inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance,
complete without boyfriend, as the best way to obtain boyfriend.” Her diary
entries are great reading as she recounts her irritation with her smug married
friends, her affair with her lecherous boss, Daniel Cleaver, her relationship
with Mark Darcy, her parent’s friends’ son, and her mother’s late-life crisis
and much younger boyfriend. Throughout the book, Bridget recounts her search
for love and satisfaction with writing that is witty, dry and at times hopeful
and optimistic. She is the character that many single men and women can
completely understand and maybe are.
Funniest Quote: Bridget (on seeing Mark Darcy for the first
time at her parents’ friends’ Turkey Curry Buffet): “It struck me as pretty
ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a
party. It’s like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening
in the gardens shouting ‘Cathy’ and banging your head against a tree.”
8. A Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams-While one would think a book about the
destruction of earth would be too dark for a comedy, Adams made a Sci-Fi comedy
classic.
It is filled with humorous situations such as when
protagonists, Arthur Dent, the last surviving Earthling and Ford Prefect, an
alien from Betelgeuse (not Guildford as he claimed) are trapped by a race of
aliens who torture then by reciting bad poetry. Then there’s the simple fact
that the Earth is destroyed so the aliens can make a new interplanetary
highway.
The main characters make for a winning comedy team as Dent,
Ford, Zaphod Beeblebrox, the idiotic President of the Galaxy, Trillian
MacMillan, a beauty who speaks in probabilities, and Marvin, a mopey android, navigate
the universe. Many lines are quite memorable such as “so long and thanks for
the fish” and “the secret to life, the universe, and everything.” (Both of
which ended up as book titles to the later installments to the series). It is
to science-fiction, what Princess Bride
is to fantasy: a great send-up of the genre and a legend in its own right.
Funniest Quote: Narration: “One of the things Ford Prefect
had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually
stating and repeating the very, very obvious, as in ‘It’s a nice day,’ or
‘You’re very tall,’ or ‘Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty foot
well, are you all right?’ At first Ford formed a theory to account for his
strange behavior. If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought,
their mouths probably seize up. After a few months’ consideration and
observation he abandoned this theory in favor of the new one. If they don’t
keep on exercising their lips, he thought their brains start working.”
7. A Liar’s
Autobiography Vol. VI by Graham Chapman-No one would expect an
autobiography from one of the members of Monty
Python to be a dry dreary sob-fest and it isn’t. Chapman’s book movingly
discusses such topics as his struggle with alcoholism, his homosexuality
including his relationship with his life partner, David Sherlock and adopted son,
John Tomiczek (The book ends before Chapman’s discovery of inoperable throat
cancer and subsequent death in 1989). However in true Python fashion, Chapman
never let the book get too dark or depressing. Throughout the book, Chapman’s
writing is filled with funny asides and description that almost turn his life
into a Python script in its own right.
Funniest Quote: Chapman (after he suffered from D.T.’s):
“My personal physician and hard-drinking companion, his
Efficaciousness, A.R. Baily, the Practical, M.R.C.P., brought along a remarkably
sane psychiatrist whose name for the purpose of this book, I shall give in the
form of a Times crossword clue:
Across
1. Familiar French horseman on the tip of one’s tongue ruins
musical pedigree (7,8)
Dr. One Across, having known me since medical school gave
analytical flummery the elbow and said, ‘Graham, you’re an alcoholic.’
I said, ‘Yes.’
He said, ‘Do you want not to be?’
I said, ‘Yes.’”
6. The Eyre Affair by
Jasper Fforde-Any book lover would dream about visiting the world of Fforde’s
Thursday Next series at least once. It is a world where literary characters
such as Cheshire Cat or Miss Havisham come out daily to chat with real
characters. Where Shakespeare machines stand on street corners and quote lines
form the play for a small price. Where people take their literature so
seriously that there are gangs that fight over whether Shakespeare did or did
not write his plays (The Oxfordians and the Baconians are particularly
vicious). Where people travel by airship instead of train or airplane and the
Crimean War lasted for over 100 years.
Fforde writes of an intriguing alternate universe which
plays out the humor in meta-situations that allow the real and the fictional
world meld into each other. He also provides memorable characters to inhabit
it, both his and other writers’, Thursday Next, the series’ main protagonist is
a clever and memorable lead. She takes the world’s bizarreness with a
detachment and wryness that accepts the goings-on.
Funniest Quotes: Many of them come from the epitaphs at the
beginning of each chapter, which provide the reader with some much needed
exposition, all without dropping it unnecessarily into the action. A couple of
them:
Acheron Hades (resident antagonist and all around nasty
guy): “The best reason for commuting loathsome and detestable acts and let’s
face it, I am considered something of an expert in this field-is purely for their
own sake. Monetary gain is all very well, but it dilutes the wickedness to a
lower level that is obtainable by anyone with an overdeveloped sense of
avarice. True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good-and we all know
how rare that is.”
Thursday (describing her odd family particularly her
time-traveling father): “I was born on a Thursday, hence the name. My brother was born on a Monday and they
called him Anton-go figure. My mother was called Wednesday but was born on a
Sunday-I don’t know why-and my father had no name at all-his identity and
existence had been scrubbed by the ChronoGuard after he went rogue. To all
intents and purposes he didn’t exist at all. It didn’t matter. He was always
Dad to me.”
5. Good Omens by
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman-Like Hitchhiker,
Good Omens takes the end of the world in a new and funny direction. This is
more of a send-up of religion and Biblical prophecies as the Antichrist is born
but given to the wrong parents and Crowley, a car-phone owning demon and
Aziraphale, a bookstore owning angel, like Earth so much that they want to stop
the inevitable Apocalypse.
Many of the Apocalyptic prophecies and writings are cleverly
parodied such as the Bugger Alle Thise Bible (which has a few extra verses
transcribed a clearly irritated copyist) and the Four Horseman, uh, Bikers of
the Apocalypse (along with new members, Really Cool People and Things That Do
Not Work Properly After You Give Them a Good Thumping). The stand-out
characters are Crowley and Aziraphale. The angel and demon make a memorable duo
with Crowley’s cynical barbs match up with Aziraphale’s idealistic naïve quips.
Their scenes together make them more like a comedy team and less like sworn
enemies on the battle between God and Satan.
Funniest Quotes:
Crowley There’s this big mountain, see a mile high, at the
end of the universe and once every thousand years there’s this bird-
Aziraphale: The same bird every thousand years?
Crowley: The same bird
Aziraphale: Bloody ancient bird
C: Okay and every thousand years this bird flies-
A: -limps
C: -Flies all the way back to the mountain to sharpen its
beak
A: Hold on you can’t do that. Between here and there there’s
loads of-buggerall dear boy,
C: But it ges there anyway
A: How
C: It doesn’t matter.
A: It could use a spaceship.
C: Yeah if you like. So this bird-
A: Only it is the end of the universe we’re talking about, it
would be one of those spaceships where the descendants who get out at the other
end. You have to tell your descendants ‘When you get to the Mountain, you have
to-‘You have to-What do they have to do?:
C:-Sharpen its beak to fly on the mountain and then it flies
back-
A:-in the spaceship?”
C:And after a thousand years it goes and does it again
A: Seems like a lot of effort just to sharpen a beak.
C: Listen when the point is when the bird has worn down to
nothing right then…then you still won’t
have finished watching the Sound of
Music!!”
4. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar
Wilde-Wilde’s comedy of manners is a terrific witty play filled with mistaken
identity and silly situations. Jack Worthing, a young English-man-about town
creates a separate identity, Ernest to propose to Gwendolyn Fairfax. Things get
more complicated when Jack’s friend, Algernon Moncrief also adopts the Ernest
persona to propose to Jack’s niece, Cecily Cardew. The situations and dialogue
make this play one of the funniest of all time.
Funniest Quotes:
Algernon: What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite
right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced
Bunburyist I know.
Jack: What on earth do you mean?
Algernon: You have invented a very useful young brother
called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you
like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order
that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is
perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for
instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with, you at Willis’ tonight, for I have
been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.
J: I haven’t asked you to dine with me anywhere tonight.
A: I know. You are absurdly careless about sending out
invitations. It is very foolish of you. Nothing annoys people so much as not
receiving invitations.
3. A Midsummer Night’s
Dream by William Shakespeare-Shakespeare was known just as much for his
comedies as his tragedies and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream is the best of them. Through fairies, four silly lovers, and
an even sillier group of actors, Shakespeare sent up love stories in which
couples are separated by parental circumstances.
The playwright used the lovers’ fickle nature as the boys
are easily swayed to fall in love with different girls, as well as the actors’
production of Pyramus and Thisbe to parody such stories including his own Romeo and Juliet. The highlight is Puck,
King Oberon’s jester who controls the events and mocks them by providing
commentary to the audience.
Funniest Quotes:
Puck has some very well-known
monologues. His two best ones are
Puck (describes mortals most accurately):
Captain of our fairy
band
Helena is here at
hand
And the youth mistook
by me
Pleading for a
lover’s fee
Shall we their fond
pageants see?
Lord what fools these
mortals be!
Puck (one of the best apologies for a thin plot)
If we shadows have offended
Think but this and all is mended
That you have but slumbre’d here
While these visions did appear
And this weak and idle theme
No more yielding but a dream
Gentles, do not reprimand
If you pardon we will mend
And, as I’m an honest Puck
If we have unearned luck
Now to scrape the serpent’s tongue
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all
Give me your hands, if we be friends.
And Robin shall restore amends."
And Robin shall restore amends."
2. The Portable Dorothy Parker-Parker was considered the Queen of the Vicious Circle AKA The Algonquin Round Table, a group of actors, writers, columnists, and wits that tried to outdo each other with barbs and pranks. Parker was undoubtedly one of the funniest women of all time.
Her poems and short stories including, “Big Blonde” are dark, but filled
with lines that mock romance and reason with a clever wit that finds humor in
dark situations. Many of her characters are surrounded by conflicts like broken hearts, attempted suicide, racism, class distinction, and infidelity. However, there is a cynical humor and situational irony in Parker's stories such as "Too Bad" or "The Bolt Behind the Blue" in which other characters observe the protagonist in a seemingly perfect enviable moment after the protagonist just bore their souls in an uncomfortable way in private. Parker's characters laugh so they don't cry.
Parker was also known for her reviews and literary
criticisms. She often had a clever line to describe a book or a performance
that she didn’t like such as writing "Theodore Dreiser ought to write nicer",or her description of A.A. Milne’s House at Pooh Corner: “Tonstant Weader Fwowed Up.” Parker said out
loud, what many reviewers probably wanted to say but often said it more
memorable and made it more original.
Favorite Quotes From her poems:
“My own dear love, he is strong and true
And he cares not what comes after.
His words ring sweet as a chime of gold.
And his eyes are lit with laughter
He is jubilant as a
flag unfurled-
Oh a girl, she’d not forget him
My own dear love, he
is all my world-
And I wish I’d never met him
My, he’s mad and my love, he’s fleet
And a wild young wood-thing bore him
The ways are fair to his roaming feet,
And the skies are sunlit for him.
As sharply sweet to my hear he seems
As the fragrance of acacia
My own dear love, he is all my dreams-
And I wish he were in Asia
My love runs like a day in June,
And he makes no friends of sorrows.
He’ll tread his galloping rigadoon
In the pathway of the morrows,
He’ll live his days where the sunbeams start,
Nor could storm or wind uproot him.
My own dear love he is all my heart-
And I wish somebody’d shoot him.”
From her reviews (on The Glass Key by Dashielll Hammett.) "It is true that had the literary lads got past those names and cracked the pages, they would have found the plots to be so many nuisances; confusion into madness as in The Red Harvest; fanciful to nausea as in The Maltese Falcon; or as in the case of the newly published The Glass Key, so tired that even this reviewer, who infancy was let drop by a nurse with the result that she has ever since then been fascinated by amateur coin tricks, was able to guess the identity of the murderer by the middle of the book."
1.The World of Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse-I always say that Wodehouse’s anthology is
the cure for what ails you. Every page is filled with
hilarious situations usually involving upper-class twit, Bertie Wooster and his
love-lorn friends all soliciting the help of Bertie’s valet, Jeeves. The plots
are clever filled with madcap situations such as when Bertie finds himself
unwittingly engaged to a horrible domineering woman. (The only way out is to convince
her psychiatrist father that Bertie is mad).
Wodehouse’s writing and Bertie’s narration stands out.
Bertie constantly waffles in his description, misquotes or forgets literary
quotes, and makes a fool of himself when he tries to command Jeeves but often acquiesces
in the end (usually involving Bertie’s fashion faux pas or Jeeves’ desire to
travel). Many of the passages are laugh-out-loud hilarious even after multiple
readings and are perfect for a beautiful spring day or a not-so-beautiful
stressful winter day or any day that isn’t so beautiful or not-so-beautiful.
Favorite Quotes: From the original story, “Jeeves Takes
Charge,” Bertie (after Jeeves tells him that he doesn’t approve of a checked
suit that Bertie has selected): “Again there was that kind of rummy something
in his manner. It was the way he said it, don’t you know. He didn’t like the
suit. I pulled myself together to assert myself. Something seemed to tell me
that, unless I was jolly careful and nipped this lad in the bud, he would be
starting to boss me. He had the aspect of a distinctly resolute blighter.
Well, I wasn’t going to have any of that sort of thing, by
Jove! I’d seen many cases of fellows who had become perfect slaves to their
valets. I remember poor old Aubrey Fothergill telling me with absolute tears in
his eyes-poor chap!-one night at the club, that he had been compelled to give
up a pair of brown shoes simply because Meekyn, his man, disapproved of them.
You have to keep these fellows in their place, don’t you know. You have to work
the good old iron-hand-in-the-velvet glove wheeze. If you give them a
what’s-its-name., they take a thingummy.”
Bertie (later after Jeeves has helped him out of an
obstacle): “Oh Jeeves, about that checked suit.
Jeeves: Yes sir?
Bertie: Is it really frost?
J: A trifle too bizarre in my opinion.
B: But lots of fellow asked me who my tailor is.
J: Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.
B: He’s supposed to be one of the best men in London!
J: I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.
B: All right Jeeves, you know. Give the bally thing away to
somebody.
J: Thank you, sir. I gave it to the under-gardener last
night. A little more tea, sir?”
“The End of Little Nell “by Robert Barnard Original tale:
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles
Dickens-This is the exception to the rule in this list of telling the story
from the original protagonist’s point of view. Many may know of the tragic ingénue
of Dickens’ book The Old Curiosity Shop
whose death caused many a reader to cry or they may sympathize with Oscar Wilde
that “One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without
laughing.” Barnard’s version of the Dickens heroine would agree with Wilde’s assessment.
Marley’s Ghost
by Mark Hazard Osmun-Original tale: A
Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens-Ebenezer Scrooge’s late partner, Jacob
Marley takes center stage in this moving surrealistic variation of Dickens
famous Christmas story. Marley recounts his childhood, his life of business,
his death, and his after-life.