The Reading Challenge Group discussion

The genres for May are comedy or tragedy.

Ha! I missed this thread!

Comedy or tragedy are not my usual genres, but I always find something, thanks to this thread. Here are the books this month that may fit this category:

Comedy:
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Calypso
Jerry the Squirrel: Volume One

Tragedy:
The Silent Patient (I know this is a mystery/thriller, but man, I thought it was totally tragic.)
Macbeth

I somehow posted the June thread first. Being cooped up has really messed with my sense of time.

Those look like good choices, Eileen.

I'm going to be reading some Charlie Brown and Archie comics for comedy(on Hoopla). Both are compilations.

For tragedy I am going to read a play by Christopher Marlowe.

Macbeth is a good choice, Eileen.

For May, I am going to read Uncle Dynamite by P. G. Wodehouse. He is my favorite comedy author, but it is a bit difficult to get a hold of his books these days. This one is on Kindle.

I am a big P.G. Wodehouse fan. I read two of his books last month, Leave it to Psmith and Summer Lightning. Our library system has a number of his books on Overdrive/Libby.

I don't think I've ever read P.G. Wodehouse. I may have to check him out at some point. Off to check and see if any of his books are in my library digital system! If I read one of his books this month, which would you recommend?

Okay there's a 2 week wait for Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves and a 4 week wait for Joy in the Morning. So we'll see!

Hi....I’m new to the group. Looking at doing the monthly challenge, love that its by genre so you chose your own book. I can see some suggestions already on this thread. Pritchett would always be my go to for comedy, read them all so now thinking I may enjoy picking up an old favourite and re-reading. I do like to re-read books I particularly love. I’ve read Woodhouse and enjoyed , some new Woodhouse has been mentioned so that’s an option too. I’ll keep an eye on the thread it will be interesting to see if anyone can recommend something different good written comedy is hard to find.

Should have paid more attention to my typing, that should have read Pratchett as in Terry Pratchett .

Welcome to the group, Karen,

Karen wrote: "Should have paid more attention to my typing, that should have read Pratchett as in Terry Pratchett ."

LOL, I figured that! I haven't read too many (some of it goes above my head), but I love the Wee Free Men books. I listened to the audiobooks for that series and I was rolling on the floor laughing. Hmm...maybe I should do a reread of those! Stephen Briggs is brilliant as the narrator.

If you like Wee Free Men try the Tiffany Aching series...... very very good that’s the order in which I introduced my daughter to Pratchett.

Karen wrote: "If you like Wee Free Men try the Tiffany Aching series...... very very good that’s the order in which I introduced my daughter to Pratchett."

I ended up reading at least the next 3 books. I don't remember if I ever got to the last one. But if I read it soon, I'll probably reread the rest of the series to get myself back into the world.

I just finished reading The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot for the tragedy theme. I read it 3 years ago but enjoyed it much more this time.

I just finished The Complete "Peanuts" Volume 2: 1953 to 1954 by Charles M. Schulz for Comedy. It was very entertaining.

Okay, I decided to read the Terry Pratchett YA series, starting with The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, which I haven't read before. It was quite entertaining, and also read by Stephen Briggs. I am now listening to The Wee Free Men, which is a reread, but it's been quite a while. So far it's very funny and a good balance for Macbeth, which is read by Alan Cumming, who is perfect for the moors of Iverness!

Rosemarie, that Peanuts book sounds like fun! I don't know if we have that one. I was just thinking I might try one of the Jeeves books. Do you have any favorites you might recommend? I'll see if I can find it at my library. I think they have a dozen or so of them.

Eileen,I recently discovered the Blandings books by Wodehouse and think they're even funnier than Jeeves and Wooster.
I recently read Summer Lightning and it had me laughing out loud. Something Fresh, also titled Something New, is the first book in the Blandings series.
I read the Jeeves books more than 20 years ago and they were funny, but repetitive at times.

I read the Peanuts book on Hoopla.

Okay, cool, I just found Summer Lightning available at one of my libraries! I also found Something Fresh. Do his books need to be read in any particular order? In any case, I'll start with Something Fresh. Thanks for the recs!

I read a couple out of order, but it's probably better to read them in order. I hope you enjoy them.

Okay, I'll start with Something Fresh and see where that takes me. Thanks! Looks like I can easily get the first 4 from Blandings Castle. :)

I'm finally giving Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch a try. Really looking forward to this one.

I love the title, Brenda.

I read that book a couple months ago. Totally silly but it's more entertaining if you read it from the point of view of not taking yourself seriously. The title alone is hilarious.

Eileen wrote: "I read that book a couple months ago. Totally silly but it's more entertaining if you read it from the point of view of not taking yourself seriously. The title alone is hilarious."

Completely agree!

For a tragedy I read The Massacre At Paris: With The Death Of The Duke Of Guise by Christopher Marlowe. It was written in 1593. The play is more focussed on plot than Shakespeare and I really enjoyed it.

For another comedy I read The Best of Archie Comics, Book 1. This had comics from each decade starting with the 1940s. It was interesting to see how each cartoonist depicted the characters slightly differently.

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is a slow-burning romance, but I found myself laughing a lot throughout. It was a lot better than I was expecting!

Okay, I think this is supposed to be a mix of contemporary and historical fiction, but 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is both full of tragedy and beauty. I both had a hard time reading this and a hard time putting it down. Highly recommended, but if you're already depressed, you should probably save it for another day.

Finished Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster - it took a while to get through this but it was good. If you lived through this or merely heard about it, you owe it to yourself to understand what happened here. A tragic chapter in world history.

Cindy wrote: "Finished Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster - it took a while to get through this but it was good. If you lived through this or merely ..."
I remember this incident very well....sounds like a book I'd enjoy.

I read The Provincial Lady in Russia by E.M. Delafield for comedy. It was ok but not particularly funny. I thought other books in the series were better.

Finished The Assistants for comedy - it did have a lot of humorous aspects...kind of a 9 to 5 for the modern age.

Finished I Owe You One - another for comedy. I love Sophie Kinsella! This one is so much fun. I was really rooting for Fixie (yes, that was her nickname) and Seb.

I don't know if it is technically considered tragedy but I have been wanting to read The Bell Jarby Sylvia Plath. I started it the other day and am surprised that it is not as depressing as I thought.

I read The Bell Jar a couple of years ago and felt the same way, after a rough start.
I'd say it works for the category since the author had a tragic life.

I read A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark, which is in the Guardian list for comedy. It was mainly a series of pointless fictional anecdotes, which I didn’t think were funny at all.

I've only read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by that author and wasn't impressed. Thanks for sharing your review of A Far Cry from Kensington, Trisha.

Rosemarie, I felt the same about The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. So it sounds like I probably wouldn't like A Far Cry. Thanks for the review, Trisha.

I thought this one was even less funny than The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie! Everyone has a different sense of humour, but usually I can see why someone might find things funny that I don’t. In this book, I had no idea what was supposed to be funny. I also thought it was badly written, in that it’s told in the first person & after reading more than half of the book, I discovered the narrator was supposed to be 29. Until then I thought she was in her fifties or sixties.

Yeah, I think I'll pass on that book. Clearly I just don't get her style of writing.

Finished Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence - a nonfiction book with a decidedly humorous bent...so I'm counting as comedy.

I seem to be leaning towards comedy this month and am finding it hard to find the heart to read anything too depressing / tragic.

That sounds really funny, ha! For some reason I've read a lot of sad books (but not tragedies) this month. The War that Saved My Life and The War that I Finally Won were both sad and uplifting. They both ended up on my list of favorite books, especially the second one.

Now I'm reading Towers Falling and that's making me cry too. But I am reading it because my middle school student wanted to read the book this summer, so I decided to read all three books she chose. She chose The War That Saved My Life, Towers Falling, and Out of My Mind. She likes sad, realistic fiction, lol. Just like my own middle school daughter. :P

Those books that you're reading look great - I may have to read them in the future. I like uplifting and usually sad doesn't bother me but I think that I need the comedy more right now.

I totally get it! I had some funny books this month, but overall, I feel like my brain can't laugh right now. So instead, I'm reading sad books that leave me with hope.

Eileen, I loved The War that Saved My Life and its sequel. I hope that author writes a lot more books!

I need more comedy this month too. I just started Girl Logic: The Genius and the Absurdity. The tone so far is similar to her stand up.

Rosemarie wrote: "Eileen, I loved The War that Saved My Life and its sequel. I hope that author writes a lot more books!"

Me too! Now I'm reading Ninth Ward about Katrina hitting New Orleans. I suspect this will fall in my category of sad but uplifting (I hope). I enjoyed the Towers Falling enough that I want to check out another one of her books. I love discovering new authors!

I finished Uncle Dynamite by P. G. Wodehouse. This was a very good one with all the elements you would expect from a Wodehouse novel. This is one of the books featuring Uncle Fred (Lord Ickenham) who is one of my favorite Wodehouse characters. Makes me want to read all the Uncle Fred books now!

I haven't read any Uncle Fred books yet. I am a big Wodehouse fan. His books make me laugh.