Happy New Year! May I offer my best hopes for a happy, prosperous and healthy 2015 to everyone. Speaking of healthy, I remember that the Readers Digest used to have a column called Laughter, the Best Medicine; when the little square magazine arrived at our house every month, that would be the first thing I turned to, as well as the other humor columns, Life In These United States and Humor in Uniform.
Today’s topic is the books that made me laugh. The “humor” category is one of my favorites, although, I find the book that actually makes you laugh out loud in public is exceedingly rare – smile, yes, chuckle, perhaps, but the gasp of surprise followed by guffaws is the white rhino of literature. Here are my personal white rhinos:
Lucky Jimby Kingsley Amis – an acerbic look at English academia through the eyes of medieval history lecturer Jim Dixon. Most amusing for me was counting the assortment of expression masques Jim deploys whenever he is hit by one of life’s slings or arrows, which is frequent, so frequent that Jim becomes a veritable porcupine of ill fate while inadvertently falling from one misadventure into another.
Read this book on a rainy day while sipping tea and eating a scone. See if you can make it through without spitting scone and snorting tea.
The next book that left me actually helpless with laughter was
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I remember reading it while working in a restaurant one summer at the New England shore. I kept it by the side of the register and read it during lulls from seating customers and ringing them out. I used to attempt to disguise my laughter, so I was often hunched over hugging myself and shaking from suppressed mirth. This would occasion some stares from the dining room, as diners would turn and stare at me and whisper to each other about whether I had some medical condition that should be addressed or else wonder if the hostess had possibly swallowed a mint and needed a Heimlich? I was oblivious to their consternation as I was completely immersed in the world of Arthur Dent and Marvin, the depressed robot. If Marvin doesn’t make you laugh, then frankly, I despair for you.
That same summer I tumbled upon The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 and 3/4 by Sue Townsend.
I never heard of either the book or Sue Townsend when I purchased it as the result of its being displayed on a "Staff Picks" shelf. I always wished I could thank the member of the bookstore staff who picked it. Adrian’s diary documenting his teenage angst was the next book to be snuggled by the register, causing the condition of the quivering hostess (me) to continue stoking the fires of concern from the dining room.
Another book that made me laugh in public, this time on a plane, was Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen. This was the first book I ever read by Hiaasen and I think I thought I was buying a run of the mill detective story or police procedural, so the humor took me completely unaware which was a pleasant surprise.
Basically Skin Tight is the saga of a criminally inept plastic surgeon who inadvertently kills a patient by a botched nose job and then has to deal with the ever spiraling consequences. Most notable in the book is the lacerating portrait of the obnoxious host of an “investigative” talk show “In Your Face”, Reynaldo Flemm who bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain Fox TV host. Then there is also the paid assassin with bad skin hired by the surgeon who trades cut-rate dermabrasion treatments for a contract killing. This is not a humor book per se, but more of a satiric parody of a crime novel.
Next on the list, but with an asterisk, is Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley which details the world of a pro-smoking tobacco marketing mad man (as in advertising) and lobbyist Nick Naylor, whose personal well-being and wealth hinge largely at how successful he is in defanging anti-smoking movements. The asterisk is because while this book is filled with laughs, they are uncomfortable laughs.
Thank You For Smoking, although humorous and satirical has an unrelenting dark side as it explores the motivations of those employed by MOD (merchants of death). Buckley has clothed the Grim Reaper in a harlequin jester’s outfit, but this book could spur some serious thought and discussion about where the boundaries between individual freedoms and the well-being of society at large lie.
Well that’s my list for today. What books have elicited chuckles, smiles, and/or guffaws from you?
Books In My Life is a weekly diary published every Friday morning about books that have had a particular resonance in ones life for some personal reason. If you would like to write a diary in this series please contact Phoebe Loosinhouse by Kosmail to schedule a date