The Humour Club discussion

I would like there to be a on-going Discussion Topic devoted to recommending (or not) specific funny books and authors to the group. I am (and I'm blushing in a maidenly fashion as I write this) a chat room virgin, so if I am failing to follow Humour Club etiquette by introducing this topic on my own, please let me know so I can hang my head in shame.

NOTE: Please do NOT use this discussion topic to tout your own works. There is a place for such things, but this ain't it. No, I don't know where it is; Melki won't tell me.

Hi Pseudonymous,

Stop your blushin', we all had to have a first time! :-)

I'll start by recommending THE STUPIDEST ANGEL by Christopher Moore. It's hilarious. I read it last year, from the library, and recently ordered it so I'd have my own copy.
Bobbi Ann Chukran

I highly recommend the novels of Christopher Buckley, at least for American readers. He's a funny guy.

(FYI: Christopher Buckley is an American conservative pundit. But don't let that scare you. Pundits are just as afraid of you as you are of them. And they can make good pets once they have been fixed or spayed.)

While my politics are considerably to the left of Mr. Buckley's, I greatly admire his even-handed, approach to ripping Congress a new one. His novels are not partisan diatribes; they are satires on the American system of government that can be read with great enjoyment by both conservatives and liberals--with the possible exception of our new Corporate citizens, whom Buckley doesn't seem to like very much. Here are some of my favorites:

(Warning: These books may not be appropriate for people living in countries where national leaders are not chosen based how well they did in the Americas Got Morons TV talent contest.)

Supreme Courtship: In an act of extreme frustration after failing repeatedly to get to Senate to approve qualified nominee after qualified nominee for the Supreme Court, the President nominates a popular TV courtroom judge. Think Judge Judy. Hilarity ensues.

Thank You for Smoking: You like lobbyists; we've got lobbyists. We've got tobacco company lobbyists--the most loveable lobbyists of all. (The book is much better than the movie.)

Boomsday: Young people revolt because they don't want to pay my Social Security and Medicare. The Bastards.

They Eat Puppies, Don't They?: The military-industrial complex v. the Dali Lama. Who will win?

ADDENDUM:
Comment from Melki from previous posting.

"I'm also a Buckley fan. Florence of Arabia is one of my favs.

FULL DISCLOSURE
In my former job, the editor who had the the office next to mine was the son of a well-known intellectual who used to work for William F Buckley, and William F Buckley is Christopher Buckley's father. So, Chris Buckley and I are practically cousins.

A ****4 star**** recommendation for The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore

What fresh hell is this in which the scribbler Moore doth abduct the Moor Othello for his tome, doth purloin from the sepulchered Poe, and slice a pound of plot from the foully maligned Shylock. Yes, this Moore, this devil with a smiling cheek, doth quote Shakespeare for his purpose. Oh what ebon-hued humours flood this tale. Here lies torture and murder and bestiality, fuckeries most heinous, and jokes most vile and vexing. 'Tis a tale told by an idiot (in the Elizabethan tongue, or some semblance thereof; Degree in literature not included).

Have pity on us poor mortal Fools, thou motley-headed, goat-suckling Moore. If you tickle us, do we not laugh? I didst, most fully, though this book must surely cause Reverend Bowdler to tumble in his priggish grave.

****4 stars****

Give Anita Loos' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes a try.

According to Edith Warton, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes "is the great American novel” and its author “is a genius.”

This tale of the flapper/gold-digger Lorelei Lee and her friend Dorothy sold out the day it hit the bookstores in 1924. It is the book that created the legend of the ditzy blonde. Great fun, horrible spelling, bad grammar. What more could you want?

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Favorite Quotes:
“I mean champagne always makes me feel philosophical because it makes me realize that when a girl’s life is as full of fate as mine seems to be, there’s nothing else to do about it.”

“...I overheard Dorothy talking to Mr Montrose and she was telling Mr Montrose that she thought that I would be great in the movies if he would write me a part that only had three expressions, Joy, Sorrow, and Indigestion.”
_______________________________

The sequel to Blondes, But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, explores the darker side of the flapper lifestyle, and the prostitution, exploitation, gangs, and drugs kind of take the fun out of gold-digging. You may want to skip this follow up novel.

Dark comedy anyone? God is an alcoholic, man has evolved to teleport, prairie dogs are seizing control of humanity, and one man, burdened with a severe case of OCD must save the world.

Check out the book Shift! By Bill C. Castengera.
http://amzn.com/150088703X

Sounds like a Tom Waits song.

*****5 Stars*****

True Grit by Charles Portis is my favorite western. OK, I've read very few westerns, but if they were all as well written as True Grit, I'd read a lot more.

The dialog is crisp and fresh and appropriate for the era of the plot. It is funny without being jokey. You have probably not read a book that contains dialog quite like it. Brett Harte would approve. Mark Twain would approve. My mother doesn't approve, but she's just like that.

I don't mean to imply that True Grit is a comedy. It is a story of revenge. But the quirky characters and the clever writing style had me smiling throughout. (I'm still smiling. Maybe I should see a doctor.)

I had intended on inserting some quotes from the book here, but you probably wouldn't find them funny out of context--you have to absorb the book as a whole.

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Mr. Portis also wrote the book The Dog of the South which I greatly enjoyed. It is the tale of a guy whose wife runs away with her husband. I may have that wrong. It's been a while since I read it.
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*****5 stars*****

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

One of the funniest plays ever. I read this play every couple of years, and never grow tired of it. (Well, confession...sometimes I watch the movie.)

You can read it for free on Gutenberg at the following address. (This version contains a rather long preface by the author, but you can skip it if you like.)

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3825/3...

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Favorite Quote:

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. I'm sure I hope it won't turn cold. There's so much influenza about. It runs right through our whole family regularly every spring.

LIZA [darkly] My aunt died of influenza: so they said.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [clicks her tongue sympathetically]!!!

LIZA [in the same tragic tone] But it's my belief they done the old woman in.

MRS. HIGGINS [puzzled] Done her in?

LIZA. Y-e-e-e-es, Lord love you! Why should she die of influenza? She come through diphtheria right enough the year before. I saw her with my own eyes. Fairly blue with it, she was. They all thought she was dead; but my father he kept ladling gin down her throat til she came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [startled] Dear me!

LIZA [piling up the indictment] What call would a woman with that strength in her have to die of influenza? What become of her new straw hat that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it; and what I say is, them as pinched it done her in.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. What does doing her in mean?

HIGGINS [hastily] Oh, that's the new small talk. To do a person in means to kill them.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [to Eliza, horrified] You surely don't believe that your aunt was killed?

LIZA. Do I not! Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat-pin, let alone a hat.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. But it can't have been right for your father to pour spirits down her throat like that. It might have killed her.

LIZA. Not her. Gin was mother's milk to her. Besides, he'd poured so much down his own throat that he knew the good of it.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. Do you mean that he drank?

LIZA. Drank! My word! Something chronic.

____________________________

****4 stars****

I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales by Todd Snider

Unless you listen to Americana, Folk/Rock music, you may not have heard of Todd Snider. It’s OK. He probably has never heard of you either. He’s a singer/songwriter. You’ve probably never even heard him on the radio. He generally plays smaller venues, except when he’s opening for big stars like John Prine or Jimmy Buffet. But he’s hilarious; says so right in the book.

The book tells the story of how he learned his craft as a funny song writer (drugs), was inspired to write some of his songs, partied with famous people, blew chances at making it big time, and became friends with people named Moondawg and Trog, and why Jimmy Buffett threw fruit at him. If you like Todd Snider, you'll love the book.

OK, you don’t know if you'll like the book because you have never listened to Todd Snider and don't have any idea who John Prine or Kris Kristopherson is ? I have a deal for you. If you go to http://www.toddsnider.net and click on the video window that says Very important message from the author, and watch the message (about 30 seconds long), you will then come to another window that let’s you watch an entire Todd Snider concert if you want, and if you don’t wet your drawers laughing within the first 20 minutes of that concert, you don’t have to read the book. OK?

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Favorite Quotes,
"Leaving me was one thing, Carla, but why’d you have to leave so slow."

“A bad review is a good review. The worst review they can give you is no review at all, and that’s the one they give almost everybody.”
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John Ceepak Mysteries by Chris Grabenstein
A Witty, Light-Weight Series of Who-Done-Its
Recommended.

I greatly enjoyed the five of the six John Ceepak Mysteries that I have read so far. They are light, humorous mysteries with witty dialog. They are generally well-written, with a cast of interesting characters, and a fresh narrative form. Here's the list.

Tilt-a-Whirl (John Ceepak Mystery #1) ****4 stars****

Mad Mouse (John Ceepak Mystery #2) **2 stars**

Whack A Mole (John Ceepak Mystery #3) ****4 stars****

Hell Hole (John Ceepak Mystery #4) ****4 stars****

Mind Scrambler (John Ceepak Mystery #5) ****4 stars****

Rolling Thunder (John Ceepak Mystery #6) ****4 stars****

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A Word of Warning
Mad Mouse smells of fish. I greatly enjoyed Grabenstein’s other Ceepak novels, and chances are I would have enjoyed Mad Mouse just as much if it wasn’t for the smell of three-day-old fish that pervades the story. Now, I’m not talking about a solitary cod or haddock, you understand, but rather about an entire school of red herring that—I suppose, with newspapers becoming rare—had to be wrapped up the pages of this book for safe keeping.

Oh, yes, I know. Mad Mouse is a mystery, and ichthyofauna of the smoked variety have to be expected, but Grabenstien has been extremely careless with them. For instance, when the reader learns that the killer has some extremely specialized, and very rare, skills, an entire school of this atypical species are suddenly netted, forced to make some ominous croakings, and thrown back a few pages later. This is lazy writing and insulting to the reader. And it happens frequently in this story. That being said, I plan to read the 7th book in the series just as soon as my dog stops rolling around on Mad Mouse.
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Pseudonymous wrote: "*****5 stars***** Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

One of the funniest plays ever. I read this play every couple of years, and never grow tired of it. (Well, confession....."

You know, I've never read that. And I bet I'd like it even better than the movie, though of course it would lack the hats.

*****5 stars*****

The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp

>>>>More fun than a ferret full of bunnies.<<<<

A Disneyesque entertainment company is under attack. The guy playing their iconic character, Rambunctious Rabbit, at the Familyland California theme park is murdered. The squeaky clean actor who starred in the company’s recent hit movie is likewise dispatched. Then a random mother visiting the theme park is butchered in a manner most bloody. After that, things begin to get ugly—and funny.

Rabbit Factory is wonderful meld of murder, mania, misery, and marvelous wit. The detectives manage to be hilarious while remaining believable. The villain(s) is/are evil without being ludicrously Dr. No-ish. There is violence—it's not hyper-descriptive, gross out the reader mayhem, but it's not Tom and Jerry either; this ain’t no cozy—it's a good way to get your cardio-vascular exercise without leaving your recliner. There’s even pathos, real pathos; you can truly empathize with the main character—a rarity in a comic novel of any genre.

I don’t know how Karp managed to stuff a hilarious novel; an truly interesting mystery; and an actually thrilling thriller into one book, but he did it.

>>>>Grab your shotgun and bag yourself a wabbit.<<<<

I just finished The Amulet of Kings and had a number of chortle out loud moments, and a couple of snorts.

*****5 stars*****

>>>>>Read a play for grins.<<<<<

The Man Who Came to Dinner

I first saw the 1942 movie version of "The Man Who Came to Dinner" about 50 years ago, and it has been one of my favorite comic plays ever since. A few years ago I saw a stage production of the play at Chicago's Drury Lane Theater. The show was Standing Room Only. Well, my wife and I and 6 or 8 other people did get to sit--on folding chairs crammed into a make-shift, midget "box seat" area which was roped off from a set of spotlights and which could only be reached by traveling through various costume and prop storage rooms--and it was worth every bit of the inconvenience and discomfort. A great play.

As they say in Hollywood, this play was based on a real life incident. Moss Hart, one of the playwrights, was a friend of Alexander Woollcott, a celebrated theater critic and Algonquin Round Table member. Woollcott showed up unannounced and uninvited at Hart's house one day, moved in, took over the household, including the master bedroom, and terrorized everyone in the household with his demands and acerbic wit for several days, and then when he finally left, he wrote "The worst time I have ever had" in the Harts' guest book.

The title page of the published page has the following dedication: To Alexander Woollcott: For reasons that are nobody's business. Other characters in the play are also based on celebrity friends of the writers. The character Banjo is based on Harpo Marx, and Beverly Carlton is based on renowned wit Noël Coward.
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Favorite Quotes
The play is packed full of witty lines, but my favorite comes at the end. Throughout the play Whiteside, the character based on Woollcott, has been repeatedly fending off the small town doctor who has been treating Whitesides's injured back. The doctor desperately wants Whiteside to read and comment on the manuscript of the memoir the doctor has written and hopes to publish. As Whiteside prepares to leave town, Dr. Bradley catches him and makes one last attempt to get Whiteside to read his book.

DR. BRADLEY: Mr. Whiteside, are you very busy?
WHITESIDE: Ah, yes, Doctor. Very busy. But if you ever get to New York, Doctor, just try and find me.
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"The Man Who Came to Dinner" can be found in Three Plays: Once in a Lifetime / You Can't Take it With You / The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman OR in Broadway Comedies by George S. Kaufman

One of my favorite funny writers is D.C. Pierson. If you have a bit of a nerdy side, I really enjoyed The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To

A pirate adventure where almost everything goes wrong

****4 stars****

Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why by neuroscientist Scott Weems

>>>Common Sense Walks, but Humor Dances<<<

This is not a funny book; it is a book about funny. It is a psychological discussion of what makes people laugh and how people with a sense of humor think.

I have always enjoyed books by neuroscientists like The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks and Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V.S.Ramamamamachandran (I never know when to stop when writing his name). This thin volume is not quite up to works of those two authors, but is certainly a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to understand why people are laughing at you...(sorry, I meant 'laughing with you.')

_____________________
Dr. Weems Advice on How to Be Funny

Practice--practice--practice--practice--practice--practice.
_____________________

Rebecca wrote: "I just finished The Amulet of Kings and had a number of chortle out loud moments, and a couple of snorts."

*Polishes fingernails*

I'd recommend Flying Dutch If you haven't read any of the early Tom Holt, then you may well have a new discovery in your hands. he has a razor sharp wit, coupled with a rare warmth.

****4****

A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-Fiction by Terry Pratchett

If you are the kind of person who spent $299.99 for a used copy of Mr. Pratchett’s book, Once More* *with footnotes from Amazon.com, you have probably already read some of this material, and need not bother with A Slip of the Keyboard. If you haven’t read Once More, just send me $279.99 (cash only), and I’ll buy a copy and tell you all about it.

Este bookum est omnis divisa in partes tres.

Party i: On the all the business of becoming and being a professional writer.
Party ii: On school days, scabby knees, first job, and other off duty thoughts.
Party iii: On Alzheimer’s, Orangutans, and Assisted Dying

I believe the members of this group will most certainly enjoy part 1, and if they are Terry Pratchett fans they will probably enjoy the rest. If you are not a fan of Mr. Pratchett’s writing, you just don’t have a sense of humor. (I don’t mean to be harsh; I just thought somebody should tell you.)

__________________________
Pratchett’s Advice To Writers
Get a copy of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Terry says he got many of his ideas from reading that ancient tome. He says he has every edition that has ever existed of the book. I have one edition, which I have had for 40 years, and I am going to dust if off and see if stupid Pratchett has left any ideas for the rest of us.
__________________________
Favorite Quote
Ignorance is a wonderful thing—it’s the state you have to be in before you can really learn anything.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Nonfiction
__________________________

Be aware that A Slip of the Keyboard is an eclectic collection of Pratchett's short nonfiction written over thirty-something year period and that these works range from newspaper articles to speeches and book blurbs.

It is worth buying this book for his asides and comments on the Nuclear Power industry alone.

Edit: I have a signed copy of Once More and you will need a lot more than $279 to pry it from my cold, lifeless fingers.

Will wrote: "... I have a signed copy of Once More and you will need a lot more than $279 to pry it from my cold, lifeless fingers..."

Wow! I will not ask whose cold, lifeless fingers you pulled it from, but I assume they put up a struggle.

Yeah, Pseudo. I believe the medical term is "reader mortis".

Pseudonymous wrote: "Will wrote: "... I have a signed copy of Once More and you will need a lot more than $279 to pry it from my cold, lifeless fingers..."

Wow! I will not ask whose cold, lifeless fingers you pulled i..."

The Undead can be so unfeeling.

*****5*****

Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson

One of those tragi-comedy things.

If I'd had known what this book was about, I wouldn't have read it. I would have figured it was way too girly for a manly man such as myself. I mean, it's a book about Arlene Fleet, a female grad student in Chicago who never tells lies, doesn't have sex with her long-time boyfriend, and calls her family back home in Alabama every week but hasn't been back to visit them for ten years because of some incident in high school. OK, See? Half of the males who were reading this review have already nodded off or are desperately searching Amazon for books that involve spitting and/or explosions. I don't blame them. This stuff is fine for the ladies but . . . OK . . . I actually enjoyed it. I admit it. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is often funny, in a Reese Witherspoon way, and there's a mystery. It's not a mystery that Crais or Coben would have written; there's no tough-guy, wisecracking detective; there's no sleuths at all, either amateur or professional; Jackson simply provides clues that allows the reader to try to deduce whether Arlene is a victim or something else entirely. And while Gods in Alabama is billed as a comic novel, there are portions that will bring tears to your eyes...OK, big mistake. I shouldn't have mentioned tears. There go most of the rest of the guys. If there are any real men left out there, it's a good book, see. Really. And I'm not a wuss. I'm not. I don't care what my wife says.

______________________
Favorite Quote
“There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus.”
______________________

*****5*****

Mark Twain and the McWilliams

In 1880, or there abouts, Mark Twain wrote three short stories about the McWilliams family. They are, in my mind, among the funniest of Twain's tales.

Though much has changed between 1880 and 2015--e.g., we have descended so far as to allow women to vote now days--the 'conversations' between the McWilliams seems remarkably modern, and I think likely to sound very familiar to the average 21st century married couple.

The three stories can be read for FREE online at the following sites:

"Experience of The McWilliamses with the Membranous Croup"
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnL...

"Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning."
http://enrichmentfellowship.org/docum...

"The McWilliams and the Burglar Alarm"
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnL...

I have to admit that I don't much like those stories. Probably because they play so strongly into that "poor stupid females who can't understand anything" idea. Though admittedly Mr. McWilliams doesn't exactly shine like the brightest candle.

Rebecca wrote: "I have to admit that I don't much like those stories. Probably because they play so strongly into that "poor stupid females who can't understand anything" idea. Though admittedly Mr. McWilliams doe..."

While the stories were written at a time when women were certainly not treated as intellectual equals of men, Twain very much respected his own wife and highly valued her opinions. According to the Mark Twain House and Museum website, Twain wrote to his sister about his wife, saying: "I take as much pride in her brains as I do in her beauty.’ ” He consistently asked her to do a preliminary edit and review of his writings. He also had an older female friend in Ohio with whom he corresponded and whose council he often sought. So, I don't think Mrs. McWilliams was meant to be a caricature of “poor stupid females.” Twain's wife, Libby, was somewhat anxious at times, and he may have been satirizing some actual conversations in his real life, not mocking the fairer sex in general. This may not have been wise on his part--in fact, I have made this same blunder in some of my own writings. (This is something I regret, and thus my adventures with my “Libby” will not appear in the Humour Club’s Spousal Abuse page.) That being said, I think both men and women enjoy laughing about the foibles of the opposite sex; I know my wife does. These particular stories are written from a husband's point of view.

*****5*****

The Evolution Man: Or, How I Ate My Father by Roy Lewis

Here's what Terry Pratchett says about it in A Slip of the Keyboard.

"I got Corgi to republish Roy Lewis' The Evolution Man a few years ago... . It's honest, genuine sf... and one of my all-time favourite funny books."

Pratchett calls it science fiction, but maybe it is a mock memoir, or maybe a palentological allegory, or a stoneage Life with Father ...OK. I don't know what it is. But it is great fun.

The story is presented in the form of a memoir written by an ape man about how his family came to invent fire, cooking, and other modern necessities.
_________________________________
Favorite Quote
The father and his sons are walking in the African wilderness. The memoir writer asks Father a question.

"Where are we?" I asked.
"I am not sure," said Father. "I think about the middle of the Pleistocene."
_________________________________

Note: The Goodreads link above takes you to reviews written in Italian. I don't know why. Here's a link to the Amazon reviews in English if you care to read them.
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Man-H...

I've just finished Foxglove Summer

which I thoroughly enjoyed. Though i do think you need to have read the earlier books now for this to make sense.

next up is something about ice cream and death

So What! Stories or Whatever!

If you want an amusing read of something different! Looking for a genre... :-/

The Dortmunder Series of Comic Heist Novels by Donald E. Westlake

One of my great pleasures in life in recent times has been being able to read at least 2 or 3 Dortmunder books a year. Now I only have 2 or 3 left, and I'm feelin' low.

John Dormunder is a criminal mastermind...well, maybe not a mastermind, but definitely a crook. He devises plans for all sorts of nefarious crimes, oft with hilarious results.

“If he were any more crooked, you could open wine bottles with him.”



The Complete Series*

1. The Hot Rock ****4****
2. Bank Shot ****4****
3. Jimmy the Kid ****4****
4. Nobody's Perfect ****4****
5. Why Me *****5*****
6. Good Behavior ****4****
7. Drowned Hopes ****4****
8. Don't Ask ****4****
9. What's the Worst That Could Happen ****4****
10. Bad News *****5*****
11. The Road to Ruin ***3***
12. Thieves' Dozen
13. Watch Your Back
14. What's So Funny *****5*****
15. Get Real

*There are also some excellent audio book versions of the Dortmunder books.

Movies Based on Dortmunder Novels.

Note: In the some of the following movies, Dortmunder's name has been changed, but not to protect the innocent.

The Hot Rock (1972) starring Robert Redford as Dortmunder.
Bank Shot (1974) starring George C. Scott as Dortmunder.
Jimmy the Kid (1982) starring Gary Coleman as Jimmy, and Paul Le Mat as Dortmunder.
Why Me? (1990) starring Christopher Lambert as Dortmunder.
What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001) starring Martin Lawrence as Dortmunder.

I think I read the first couple way back in high school. I keep meaning to get back and read more, because clearly they are right up my absurd alley.

I've never tried any. The tbr list grows...

Oh, the TBR list is completely out of control--and I still haul books home from the library that aren't even on it.

Ditto on the Dortmund series Pseudo! It's been years and I've enjoyed all of the ones I've read. I'd started with Drowned Hopes and that underwater dive had me laughing harder than any book in recent memory. Bad News happens to be on my to-read list this month, and I may get a Parker thriller to experience a darker Westlake's Starkside.

Pest Control *****5***** and
The Exterminators ****4**** by Bill Fitzhugh

Bill Fitzhugh’s name can be found near the top of my list of favorite comic crime writers.

Pest Control reads like a really good Donald Westlake comic thriller. And how many novels out there combine professional killers, killer bees, assassin bugs, hissing cockroaches, and vicious New York City residents in one story? Not many, I'll bet.

Bob bills himself as The Exterminator. Well, the name fits, he exterminates bugs. But through a farcical series of coincidences and misunderstandings, he is mistaken for a professional assassin, and a gaggle of the best killers in the world are sent out to exterminate him.

Great Fun

The sequel, The Exterminators, is also fun, but not quite up to Pest Control standards. The story is an extension of Pest Control, so do not try to read The Exterminators first.
_____________________________
“According to NYPD figures, a contract killing can be had in Brooklyn for a mere $500. More often than not, though, people in New York are killed for free.”
_____________________________

Pest Control sounds promising but let's keep Westlake in the running. Please.

CartoonistAndre wrote: "Pest Control sounds promising but let's keep Westlake in the running. Please."

Don't worry, he's there, but I'm a stickler for starting at the beginning, so it will probably be The Hot Rock.

Thanks Melki. Hot Rock happens to be one on my trl.

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde *****5*****

Warning: May Contain Nuts

I have moved by comments on this book to a section that discusses the complete works of Jasper Fforde (Dated 2/23/15). See you there.

Sounds promising. Another consideration added to the list. I've yet to read any of Mr. Fforde's novels and wonder whether The Fourth Bear would be a good book to begin with.

I take it the final decision will be made on the 25th, once all votes are in.

CartoonistAndre wrote: "Sounds promising. Another consideration added to the list. I've yet to read any of Mr. Fforde's novels and wonder whether The Fourth Bear would be a good book to begin with...."

Cartoon: You are right. The Fourth Bear isn't a good way to enter to FForde's world. I will make it my project over the next few ?days? to provide a proper atlas to FForde.

Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene ***4***


_______________________________
First Line:
I met my Aunt Augusta for the first time in more than a half century at my mother's funeral.
_______________________________

It is, in a way, a coming of age novel, only the main character is in his 50s, and his transformation is, at least to me, a rather disturbing one.

While funny, in its own way, this is not a book for everyone. It reminds me of the episodic, picaresque novels of the 18th Century. I admired the writing, but didn't find the story all that compelling. In fact, I'm getting bored by my own review of it.

Pseudonymous wrote: "Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene ***4***


_______________________________
First Line:
I met my Aunt Augusta for the first time in more than a half century at my m..."

Ha Ha! You had me going for a while. I do remember the movie, which in itself is remarkable, as being a more cinematic adventure rather than a humorous romp.

CartoonistAndre wrote: "Sounds promising. Another consideration added to the list. I've yet to read any of Mr. Fforde's novels and wonder whether The Fourth Bear would be a good book to begin with.

I take it the final d..."

Actually, The Fourth Bear is the sequel to The Big Over Easy, which introduces Jack Spratt and Mary Mary of the Nursery Crimes Division. I would start with the first book, but that's just the way I'm wired.

Melki wrote: "CartoonistAndre wrote: "Sounds promising. Another consideration added to the list. I've yet to read any of Mr. Fforde's novels and wonder whether The Fourth Bear would be a good book to begin with...."

Thanks Melki. Another author found. I'd thought to begin with 'The Well of Lost Plots', it just has a 'ring' to it, scores well and also has a popular sequel- 'Something Rotten'. But I'll also wait for Pseudo's discerning 'proper atlas' before dipping in. Especially since he might actually be devoting the next few days to the project! I am appreciative.

Aaah! I don't mean to sound like Cliff Clavin here, but The Well of Lost Plots is the second sequel to The Eyre Affair. That's one series I would DEFINITELY read in order. It's somewhat hard to follow.

A slightly left-field suggestion, but for gentle humour mixed with a light thriller, Agatha Christie's 'Partners in Crime' is a very enjoyable read.