6 Humorous Reading Recommendations
This week I have six humorous reading recommendations for you – five of which I’ve read and one that I have written. Click on the links to read my reviews.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Set in the 1990s, High Fidelity is a wryly humorous, music-themed novel that analyses man’s fixations and foibles.
My Review: Rob is a record shop owner from North London. The thirty-something has just split up with his girlfriend Laura and is now single. He had been …(more)
The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness by Craig Stone
The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness is a bizarre and humorous novel about the author’s time spent living homeless in a park.
My Review: The author Craig Stone is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the predictability and banality of his everyday existence. Deciding that it is better to live dreaming than …(more)
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Rant challenges our own traditions by demonstrating how we contort our recollection of events in accordance with our desires, motives and beliefs.
My Review: Rant is the oral history of Buster ‘Rant’ Casey, recounted by an array of people including his relations, friends, enemies and lovers. Rant’s childhood companions from the …(more)
Candide by Voltaire
Candide is an eighteenth-century satirical classic that evaluates optimism; the prevailing philosophical ideology of The Enlightenment.
My Review: Brought up in the household of a German baron, cheerful protagonist Candide has been instilled with the philosophy of Leibniz, notably – That all is for the best in this …(more)
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
Knockemstiff is a transgressive compilation of short stories. Topics include drugs, drinking, disease and sexual degeneracy.
My Review: These interlinked short stories are set in ‘The Holler’; an impoverished part of Knockemstiff, a real-life Ohioan backwater. ‘The Holler’s’ air is permanently imbued with …(more)
Tomorrow’s World: Darkly Humorous Tales by Guy Portman
This quick read’s subjects encompass manic capitalism, extreme celebrity worship, virtual reality and a grotesquely ageing population. (Free at all retailers – you can also download it through this link)
Daily Squib Review: There’s something about the future that scares the shit out of people a lot, maybe it’s simply the thought of the unknown that affects us with such fear. What possible delights await …(more)
