Desperately Seeking Humour

[rhythmaning]

I was in a quandry this evening. I was very close to finishing the book I have been reading for the past day or so - the very brilliant Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I think it is a work of genius - truly - a very powerful, affecting book, that has had me laughing and crying.

But it is also - well, kind of traumatic. I shall write more about it later, but take it from me, brilliant though it might be, it is isn't light.

And here I was close to finishing it, knowing that I would have a whole lot more reading time this evening in between concerts and on the tube and stuff, and I was wondering how to fill it.

So I went into Foyles on the South Bank, since that was where I happened to be. I wanted somethnig fun, light - frothy even. A quick kind of throwaway book, something to make me smile, not too deep.

I looked for the humour section. There wasn't one. I looked for the table of three-for-two offers - usually full of that kind of stuff. Not a sign.

I trawled the fiction section - and could see nothing that grabbed. Many non-funny, serious, even suicidal volumes; these were jumping out at me, but no! Not for me, not tonight.

f4f3 and white_hart have both been raving about the Princess Bride, in both celluloid and print versions; I asked at the desk, but they didn't have it. (And the woman behind the desk raved about it, too.)

Someone was going on about Terry Pratchett - but they didn't Small Gods, which seems to be the usual recommendation. I even looked at the Neil Gaiman, but again, none of the books they had were ones people had tried to get me to read.

I settled on a book about Italy by Tim Parks - and so far it is just what I wanted.

All this took me a lot longer than I had expected; such that the time I was looking to fill had been filled, and I had to go to my concert. So I needn't have bought a book anyway...

Comments

[white_hart]

In terms of Pratchett, I wouldn't actually recommend Small Gods to start with. I would say either Mort, Wyrd Sisters, or Moving Pictures. Good Omens is a good introduction to both Pratchett and Gaiman at one fell swoop.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

This is going to be an unpopular comment, but you just need to read the one Pratchett, because they're pretty much all the same in terms of what's funny. Mort, Wyrd Sisters or Small Gods will do fine.

[unblinkered.livejournal.com]

Guards Guards! is the one that got me hooked, but that's entirely to blame on the giggling fit I had after reading the Watch's motto: Fabricati diem, puncus.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Have you read any of Christopher Brookmyres' output? Don't be put off by the "Tartan Noir" strapline, they are very, very funny - two favourites are "Not the End Of The World" and "One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night". Perfect for plane flights.

I was also laughing out loud re-reading Cryptonomicon, but that might just be my sense of humour.