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My World and Welcome to It
James Thurber reported the world as he saw it. But what a world! Only Thurber could picture a seal peering nearsightedly over a headboard or a former husband crouched atop the armoire.
Titles in this selection, all vintage Thurber, hint at the range of his whimsy and include "Courtship Through the Ages," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "Interview with a Lemming" and "You Know How the French Are."
"Few writers have re-created daydreams and nightmares as Thurber re-creates them. He manages, somehow, to pin them while the nerve filaments are alive and wriggling...." (The New York Times)
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
16 people are currently reading
582 people want to read
About the author
James Thurber
355 books608 followersThurber was born in Columbus, Ohio to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes (Mame) Fisher Thurber. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. His father, a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor, is said to have been the inspiration for the small, timid protagonist typical of many of his stories. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedienne" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known." She was a practical joker, on one occasion pretending to be crippled and attending a faith healer revival, only to jump up and proclaim herself healed.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
February 26, 2014
A series of thoughtful and often slightly off-kilter vignettes. My favorite:
Interview with a Lemming
The weary scientist, tramping through the mountains of northern Europe in the winter weather dropped his knapsack and prepared to sit on a rock.
"Careful, brother," said a voice.
"Sorry," murmured the scientist, noting with some surprise that a lemming which he had been about to sit on had addressed him. "It is a source of considerable astonishment to me," said the scientist, sitting down beside the lemming, "that you are capable of speech."
"You human beings are always astonished," said the lemming, "when any other animal can do anything you can. Yet there are many things animals can do that you cannot, such as stridulate, or chirr, to name just one. To stridulate, or chirr, one of the minor achievements of the cricket, your species is dependent on the intestines of sheep and the hair of the horse."
"We are a dependent animal," admitted the scientist.
"You are an amazing animal," said the lemming.
"We have always considered you rather amazing, too," said the scientist. "You are perhaps the most mysterious of creatures."
"If we are going to indulge in adjectives beginning with 'm,' said the lemming sharply, "let me apply a few to your species--murderous, maladjusted, maleficent and muffle-headed."
"You find our behavior as difficult to understand as we do yours?"
"You, as you would say, said it," said the lemming. "You kill, you mangle, you torture, you imprison, you starve each other. You cover the nurturing earth with cement, you cut down elm trees to put up institutions for people driven insane by the cutting down of elm trees, you--"
"You could go on all night like that," said the scientist, "listing our sins and shames."
"I could go on all night and up to four o'clock tomorrow afternoon," said the lemming. "It just happens that I have made a lifelong study of the self-styled higher animal. Except for one thing, I know all there is to know about you, and a singularly dreary, dolorous and distasteful store of information it is, too, to use only adjectives that begin with 'd.'"
"You say you have made a lifelong study of my species--" began the scientist.
"Indeed I have," broke in the lemming. "I know that you are cruel, cunning and carnivorous, sly, sensual and selfish, greedy, gullible and guileful--"
"Pray don't wear yourself out," said the scientist, quietly. "It may interest you to know that I have made a lifelong study of lemmings, just as you have made a lifelong study of people. Like you I have found but one thing about my subject which I don't understand."
"And what is that?" asked the lemming.
"I don't understand," said the scientist, "why you lemmings all rush down to the sea and drown yourselves."
"How curious," said the lemming. "The one thing I don't understand is why you human beings don't."
Interview with a Lemming
The weary scientist, tramping through the mountains of northern Europe in the winter weather dropped his knapsack and prepared to sit on a rock.
"Careful, brother," said a voice.
"Sorry," murmured the scientist, noting with some surprise that a lemming which he had been about to sit on had addressed him. "It is a source of considerable astonishment to me," said the scientist, sitting down beside the lemming, "that you are capable of speech."
"You human beings are always astonished," said the lemming, "when any other animal can do anything you can. Yet there are many things animals can do that you cannot, such as stridulate, or chirr, to name just one. To stridulate, or chirr, one of the minor achievements of the cricket, your species is dependent on the intestines of sheep and the hair of the horse."
"We are a dependent animal," admitted the scientist.
"You are an amazing animal," said the lemming.
"We have always considered you rather amazing, too," said the scientist. "You are perhaps the most mysterious of creatures."
"If we are going to indulge in adjectives beginning with 'm,' said the lemming sharply, "let me apply a few to your species--murderous, maladjusted, maleficent and muffle-headed."
"You find our behavior as difficult to understand as we do yours?"
"You, as you would say, said it," said the lemming. "You kill, you mangle, you torture, you imprison, you starve each other. You cover the nurturing earth with cement, you cut down elm trees to put up institutions for people driven insane by the cutting down of elm trees, you--"
"You could go on all night like that," said the scientist, "listing our sins and shames."
"I could go on all night and up to four o'clock tomorrow afternoon," said the lemming. "It just happens that I have made a lifelong study of the self-styled higher animal. Except for one thing, I know all there is to know about you, and a singularly dreary, dolorous and distasteful store of information it is, too, to use only adjectives that begin with 'd.'"
"You say you have made a lifelong study of my species--" began the scientist.
"Indeed I have," broke in the lemming. "I know that you are cruel, cunning and carnivorous, sly, sensual and selfish, greedy, gullible and guileful--"
"Pray don't wear yourself out," said the scientist, quietly. "It may interest you to know that I have made a lifelong study of lemmings, just as you have made a lifelong study of people. Like you I have found but one thing about my subject which I don't understand."
"And what is that?" asked the lemming.
"I don't understand," said the scientist, "why you lemmings all rush down to the sea and drown yourselves."
"How curious," said the lemming. "The one thing I don't understand is why you human beings don't."
May 13, 2021
DNF. I have to knock it off with the audiobooks until I have a commute again. The only time I can sit still and focus on them is at bedtime, and I make it about 14 seconds before I fall asleep.
However, I did manage to absorb a bit of this while fully conscious, and while the narrator was fantastic, the humor just didn't delight me the way I remember it from reading Thurber when I was young. Maybe it didn't age well, maybe I wasn't in the right mood, but I won't be attempting to finish this.
However, I did manage to absorb a bit of this while fully conscious, and while the narrator was fantastic, the humor just didn't delight me the way I remember it from reading Thurber when I was young. Maybe it didn't age well, maybe I wasn't in the right mood, but I won't be attempting to finish this.
July 14, 2014
Thurber amuses me, in a quiet sort of way. Not doing-a-spit-take-with-my-own-spit sort of way. Just a little upturning on the lips on one side of the mouth.
May 6, 2018
3 and 1/2 ✨ Loved the short stories in Part 1, not so much in Part 2 where Thuber wrote while living in France.
May 9, 2019
I can't remember if this collection has the story "Greatest Man in the World" but that's the story of his that I really liked. There was a great film made of that story too. A one hour film that is still relevant today, about lies in the media and the government wanting to control what we know about the truth.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is, of course, his best story, but The Greatest Man in the World is a close second....
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is, of course, his best story, but The Greatest Man in the World is a close second....
December 15, 2013
I love James Thurber!!!!
January 19, 2018
A classic. I keep re-reading it. One of the funniest books ever written.
September 3, 2024
“My World, And Welcome To It” is, in my opinion, the best of Thurber’s collections, showing off all of his various talents. Most prominently, there’s Thurber the writer of short stories, and not necessarily funny short stories, either. This volume contains what is probably, by virtue of sharing a title with two movies, Thurber’s most famous short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. I hesitate to call either movie an adaptation, though: both share with the short story the very general premise that they are about a man who daydreams a lot, but that’s about it. The heroes of the movies are young men who daydream about implausible but not impossible scenarios, and are eventually led to try to make those scenarios reality, or at least to go out and live life rather than dreaming about it. Thurber’s Mitty, by contrast, is a middle-aged man who puts himself in completely impossible scenarios in which he is a great surgeon, or a Navy hydroplane captain, or a bomber pilot. It’s not a question of him needing to stop dreaming and start living: in order to be the Mitty of his daydreams, he would have to have adopted a completely different life many years ago. The contrast of these highly colored (if not entirely original) daydreams with his drab life is quite well done, but what really sells the story is the way that they serve to convert an ordinary, boringly defeated life into one that is glorious and heroic but still defeated. I don’t entirely blame Hollywood for not trying to make that movie, but why didn’t they find a new title? Also excellent stories in which Thurber plays it straight are “The Whip-poor-will” and “A Friend to Alexander”. But this collection also includes Thurber’s funniest short story, “You Could Look It Up”, a story that has a good argument for being the funniest short story every written, and also the best ever written about baseball (and is undoubtedly the funniest short story ever written about baseball).
There’s also Thurber the writer of short humorous pieces like “The Macbeth Murder Mystery”, in which Thurber treats Macbeth as though it were an English Golden Age murder mystery, where the killer is never the first person you think it is, or “The Story of Sailing”, which gives a brief but hilarious recap of the history, and dangers to the landlubber, of its titular pastime. There’s Thurber the parodist of literary fads, seen in “The Letters of James Thurber”, which, naturally, makes fun of collections of literary letters, and “Helpful Hints and the Hoveys”, which hilariously sends up the self-help listicles of the time. We get a glimpse at Thurber the family historian, in a short biography of his great-grandfather, “A Good Man”, and Thurber the journalist, in his retrospective story about the (now completely forgotten, as far as I can tell, but big news in the ‘20s) Hall-Mills murder case. Then there’s Thurber the curmudgeon, complaining about changes to phone numbers in “The Preoccupation of Mr. Peffifoss” and the procedures for renewing one’s driver’s license in Connecticut in “The Vengeance of 3902090”, and Thurber the curmudgeon with a social conscience, in “Interview with a Lemming” and “Footnote on the Future”. And there are, of course, a couple of oblique (and blessedly brief) appearances by Thurber the English language fanatic, in “What Do You Mean It ‘Was’ Brillig?” and “Here Lies Miss Groby”. Finally, “Memorial” finishes the first part of the book with a brief and touching obituary for a dog. The second part more or less combines all of Thurber’s various characteristics (except the fiction writer) in a series of wonderful travel pieces, none of which are what you would expect from that description, written in France (or in one case in Italy) in 1937 or '38. If you’ve never read any Thurber before, this collection is undoubtedly the place to start.
There’s also Thurber the writer of short humorous pieces like “The Macbeth Murder Mystery”, in which Thurber treats Macbeth as though it were an English Golden Age murder mystery, where the killer is never the first person you think it is, or “The Story of Sailing”, which gives a brief but hilarious recap of the history, and dangers to the landlubber, of its titular pastime. There’s Thurber the parodist of literary fads, seen in “The Letters of James Thurber”, which, naturally, makes fun of collections of literary letters, and “Helpful Hints and the Hoveys”, which hilariously sends up the self-help listicles of the time. We get a glimpse at Thurber the family historian, in a short biography of his great-grandfather, “A Good Man”, and Thurber the journalist, in his retrospective story about the (now completely forgotten, as far as I can tell, but big news in the ‘20s) Hall-Mills murder case. Then there’s Thurber the curmudgeon, complaining about changes to phone numbers in “The Preoccupation of Mr. Peffifoss” and the procedures for renewing one’s driver’s license in Connecticut in “The Vengeance of 3902090”, and Thurber the curmudgeon with a social conscience, in “Interview with a Lemming” and “Footnote on the Future”. And there are, of course, a couple of oblique (and blessedly brief) appearances by Thurber the English language fanatic, in “What Do You Mean It ‘Was’ Brillig?” and “Here Lies Miss Groby”. Finally, “Memorial” finishes the first part of the book with a brief and touching obituary for a dog. The second part more or less combines all of Thurber’s various characteristics (except the fiction writer) in a series of wonderful travel pieces, none of which are what you would expect from that description, written in France (or in one case in Italy) in 1937 or '38. If you’ve never read any Thurber before, this collection is undoubtedly the place to start.
January 18, 2023
Charming collection of sketches, essays, and short stories (including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). Thurber finds humor in just about everything. His take on sailboats: "As the years went on and the younger generations of Norsemen became, like all younger generations, less hardworking and more restless than their forebears, they began to think less about catching herring and more about monkeying with the sails of their ships... A Norsemen named Leif the Sailmaker added a second mast to his ship, just in front of the first one, and thus the foremast came into being and with it the fore mainsail and the fore topsail. A Turk named Skvar added a third mast and called it the mizzen. Not to be outdone, a Muscovite named Amir put up a third spar on each of his masts; Skvar put up a fourth; Amir replied with a fifth; Skvar came back with a sixth, and so it went, resulting in the topgallant foresail, the top-topgallant mizzen sail, the top-top-topgallant main topsail, and the tip-top-topgallant-gallant mainsail (pron. "twee twee twee twa twa").
January 12, 2026
I love James Thurber. But like any great love, you have to take the good with the bad, and with James Thurber, the bad is intermittent, casual racism and almost constant misogyny. (He claimed he wasn't a misogynist, and he may even have genuinely believed this, but all I can say is that if someone looks like a misogynist, walks like a misogynist and quacks like a misogynist, he's probably a misogynist.)
But I love him anyway because of the good, and the good is actually*great*, because dear Lord could the man write. Funny things, goofy things, serious things, touching things, creepy things, things that blend all this together. And you can find allllllll of it in My World and Welcome To It. It's worth reading for "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" alone, but there are lots more great pieces in there.
So was James Thurber a misogynist? Probably, and I can understand why some people might not be able to get passed this. I mean, I love him, but I wouldn't want him for a boss, for instance. But as a writer, I adore him, and it doesn't get much better than My World and Welcome To It.
But I love him anyway because of the good, and the good is actually*great*, because dear Lord could the man write. Funny things, goofy things, serious things, touching things, creepy things, things that blend all this together. And you can find allllllll of it in My World and Welcome To It. It's worth reading for "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" alone, but there are lots more great pieces in there.
So was James Thurber a misogynist? Probably, and I can understand why some people might not be able to get passed this. I mean, I love him, but I wouldn't want him for a boss, for instance. But as a writer, I adore him, and it doesn't get much better than My World and Welcome To It.
January 9, 2018
I think there is some disconnect between the humor of Thurber and the present day for me. I did not roll on the floor laughing at his clever turn of phrase because it was often predictable. I struggled through the second part of the book because it was mostly recollections of France and Europe. I read the Armed Services Edition which has no pictures that he was famous for. This may add to the reader experience, but I am not going to read another book of his to try it out. I struggled with this for a long time. I also watched an interview of him on Youtube which was characteristic of his humor so I didn't laugh.
February 19, 2018
After reading this I thought, man this guy was weird. Some of these stories were just off the wall. Some stories made me laugh. My favorite (not in this book) is The Last Flower. I read that in high school many moons ago and just loved it. I still think about it today. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about a mans imagination. Just one adventure after another while driving his wife into town for errands, only to be brought back into reality by his overbearing wife. Cute stout but not sure how that expanded into a film. I get the premise of the story now.
December 22, 2024
It is difficult to make humor that stays funny for even a few minutes after its creation. It is even harder to make something that is still funny after eighty increasingly dour years like the ones which followed this book's publication in 1942. Some of these stories were funny. A few were very very funny. Most of them amused me about as much as the Shouts and Murmurs section of the New Yorker, which is to say, very little. Nevertheless, and I may just be being optimistic again, I don't think I wasted my own time reading this book. Merry Christmas!
June 12, 2018
The problem with James Thurber is that he simply isn't versatile as a writer. When writing farce or humor he can provide some decent, pleasant entertainment, but his "serious" writing is limited, and I feel like I am reading variations on the same theme over and over again. The more Thurber I consume, the more I am convinced that he was a mediocre talent who caught lightning in a bottle with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
December 19, 2024
While still funny, this collection of essays by Thurber is somewhat dated and the language, at times, may offend current sensibilities. In reading the book, I was reminded of the short lived, but excellent, TV series "My World and Welcome To It" starring William Windom, an excellent character actor with a lengthy career. On the whole, I would recommend the TV series but that is a personal preference.
September 8, 2020
A mix of some fabulously written amd imaginative stuff and some downright passe.
My favourite - Interview with a Lemming. :)
Just for this one part, that I don't think I can ever forget
“I don’t understand,” said the scientist, “why you lemmings all rush down to the sea and drown yourselves.”
“How curious,” said the lemming. “The one thing I don’t understand is why you human beings don’t.”
My favourite - Interview with a Lemming. :)
Just for this one part, that I don't think I can ever forget
“I don’t understand,” said the scientist, “why you lemmings all rush down to the sea and drown yourselves.”
“How curious,” said the lemming. “The one thing I don’t understand is why you human beings don’t.”
August 26, 2018
This may be the best short story collection ever published. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "You Could Look It Up," and "A Sort of Genius" are classics. And "Memorial" and "The Man Who Hated Moonbaum" have stayed in my memory for over 45 years.
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April 3, 2020Made it half way and had to move on. I did thoroughly enjoy "The Whip-Poor-Will" and "The MacBeth Murder Mystery," and who doesn't love "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." I got bogged down after that, and found I just wasn't enjoying it,,so I set it aside. Maybe I'll get back to it someday.
July 1, 2018
A collection of short stories and magazine articles written in the late 1930s and early 1940s by James Thurber who wrote for The New Yorker magazine.
The first chapter is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a short story that has inspired 2 films! A story of a mild man who daydreams his way through life, imagining a more exciting one, in a way that perhaps too many of us can secretly identify with.
The collection also includes the even more whimsical (though sarcastic), 2 page, Interview with a Lemming. But the topics covered vary from the serious to a man being driven mad by a bird that no-one else can hear. There is an economy of words as Thurber mostly gets his ideas across in the minimum of text, and with a dry sense of humour. By halfway through I was beginning to form a mental picture of the slightly bewildered and put-upon Thurber man who navigates his way through a life where nothing is quite right.
I found that I wasn't quite familiar enough with American culture and history to fully appreciate many of the allusions. Some of that might also be related to the fact that these were written 75-80 years ago.
I would advise non-Thurber fans to read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Interview with a Lemming and The Macbeth Murder Mystery but the rest could be missed.
The first chapter is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a short story that has inspired 2 films! A story of a mild man who daydreams his way through life, imagining a more exciting one, in a way that perhaps too many of us can secretly identify with.
The collection also includes the even more whimsical (though sarcastic), 2 page, Interview with a Lemming. But the topics covered vary from the serious to a man being driven mad by a bird that no-one else can hear. There is an economy of words as Thurber mostly gets his ideas across in the minimum of text, and with a dry sense of humour. By halfway through I was beginning to form a mental picture of the slightly bewildered and put-upon Thurber man who navigates his way through a life where nothing is quite right.
I found that I wasn't quite familiar enough with American culture and history to fully appreciate many of the allusions. Some of that might also be related to the fact that these were written 75-80 years ago.
I would advise non-Thurber fans to read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Interview with a Lemming and The Macbeth Murder Mystery but the rest could be missed.
January 14, 2017
My World – And Welcome To It by James Thurber (Harvest/HBJ Book 1942) (817). This is a collection of Thurber's short stories. It contains the incomparable tale “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” How that ten page short story was turned into two full-length feature movies is beyond me. My rating: 7/10, finished 1/13/17.
January 11, 2014
Some of the tone and language will offend 21st century sensibilities and will underscore progress we have made and progress we have not made over the past 70 some years, but in each instance I think Thurber (sometimes subtly) contributes to that progress by announcing precisely how absurd any of us should seem to the other of us on the face of things.
A side from the sometimes disturbing experience of being removed from one's own time in a non-romantic fashion into the near and difficult past, riding with Thurber is generally an experience of dark and insightful merriment. A present day reader will at times feel quite lost in the popular culture and points of fact that are encountered in some of the stories written at a time when the civil war was located in the same near distant past in which the World Wars and Great Depression of the period of the stories' authorship are now located for us. I did not find any of these details particularly distracting from the core purposes of the narratives, though if you are one to obsess about knowing every single thing about every single off hand reference, you may be unsettled by the constraints of zeitgeist inherent in much of the work in this collection.
Read with a mind attentive to the time of the writing I feel the book provides a compelling insight into the period, the periods in near history upon which it occasionally reflects, as well as some glimpses at some truly timeless notions such as those offered by peering into the daydreams of Walter Mitty, entering into conversation with a Lemming, or mourning a beloved pet.
A side from the sometimes disturbing experience of being removed from one's own time in a non-romantic fashion into the near and difficult past, riding with Thurber is generally an experience of dark and insightful merriment. A present day reader will at times feel quite lost in the popular culture and points of fact that are encountered in some of the stories written at a time when the civil war was located in the same near distant past in which the World Wars and Great Depression of the period of the stories' authorship are now located for us. I did not find any of these details particularly distracting from the core purposes of the narratives, though if you are one to obsess about knowing every single thing about every single off hand reference, you may be unsettled by the constraints of zeitgeist inherent in much of the work in this collection.
Read with a mind attentive to the time of the writing I feel the book provides a compelling insight into the period, the periods in near history upon which it occasionally reflects, as well as some glimpses at some truly timeless notions such as those offered by peering into the daydreams of Walter Mitty, entering into conversation with a Lemming, or mourning a beloved pet.
February 5, 2016
It is hard not to relax, smile and then start laughing some time later, even completely uncontrollably, when one reads Thurber. His writings are all of a piece, generally giving you a window into his life - or so you come to feel, at home and in a rocker, feet up - and laughing uncontrollably. And it is difficult to remember which story is in which book.
I have a fair certainty that some of my early favourites are in this one, but am not sure which ones. It is worth discovering again though - no matter how many times one has read it.
For instance I think the Great Run, due to a mistaken rumour about a dam broken and the natural consequent flood scare, is part of this book. Only Thurber could make it that funny. And then there is the aunt that went about screwing light bulbs into empty sockets and very certain she was plugging up the leaking electricity. Perhaps this one also has the story of Roy informing his father that the engine had fallen out, using kitchen pots and pans and so on to create a frightening scare.
But even if they are all in another book by Thurber, what I am sure of is having read it and loved it.
I have a fair certainty that some of my early favourites are in this one, but am not sure which ones. It is worth discovering again though - no matter how many times one has read it.
For instance I think the Great Run, due to a mistaken rumour about a dam broken and the natural consequent flood scare, is part of this book. Only Thurber could make it that funny. And then there is the aunt that went about screwing light bulbs into empty sockets and very certain she was plugging up the leaking electricity. Perhaps this one also has the story of Roy informing his father that the engine had fallen out, using kitchen pots and pans and so on to create a frightening scare.
But even if they are all in another book by Thurber, what I am sure of is having read it and loved it.
August 18, 2015
Some aspects of Thurber's view of the world seem quite dated now and he was clearly an egocentric individual. Probably a man I wouldn't much like in person. But his quirky sense of humor can be amusing and his clever turn of phrase tends to stick in one's mind. I still recall one of my aunts referring to "things that go bump in the night"!
Diversionary stuff.
Diversionary stuff.
July 30, 2015
If you haven't read Thurber, go do it. He is amazing. Far and away, one of the most brilliant literary minds. His short stories are treasures and feel, to me, like burst of liquid sunlight. They are warm and vibrant and speak to you so simply, so honestly, and so filled with wit and humor.
April 9, 2010
short stories, essays, reflections... some funny, some scary, always reflective... definitey has a thing against women though.... what's really strange is that although written in 1935 these stories/morals/opinions are still with us today - ahead of his time and definitely a good writer.
December 30, 2014
from the mind that brought you walter mitty.. a delightful collection of witty little stories. if you enjoy clever writing and pop culture references that all date back to at least 60 years ago (which i do!) you'll probably like this one.
August 12, 2012
If you haven't read Thurber, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Another reviewer dinged it for being dated, but for me that is part of its charm. Wonderful short stories and essays with style and wit. Simply delightful.
May 26, 2014
Thoughtful, yet sometimes slow. Loved a few of the vignettes, slugged through a few. A lot of jumbled detail in the more political stories that I had trouble following, but loved the more plebeian stories about married life and English class.
March 5, 2016
'The Macbeth Murder Mystery' is one of the stories in this book. Need I say more? This is very funny and it has cartoons too! When you are feeling down, here's your remedy. There is nothing like a Thurber story to cheer you up.
August 21, 2007
Thurber's brilliant at being Thurber. I always want him to come out on top, and of course he never truly does. He's my favorite example of "hapless."
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