Humour Books > D Humour Books > less than 5 GBP

Advantages: Funny and quite interesting really
Disadvantages: A tad unbelievable in places

...would be a review of Dave Gorman's debut novel. But, like just about everyone who works from home, the comic was just too easily distracted to actually get down to the work for which he'd been handsomely paid. Unlike the rest of us, though, Gorman's displacement activities went a bit further than cleaning the oven or cataloguing his CD collection. Instead, he embarked on an adventure that took him several times around the globe, running up a five-figure ...
...that first novel written. As anyone who saw any of his sell-out stage shows knows, Gorman's imagination was sparked by the online diversion of googlewhacking - a usually harmless game in which you try to find combinations of two legitimate words that throw up just one unique webpage from the three billion or so online. And so he is challenged to meet an unbroken chain of ten people responsible such 'whacks. This book chronicles the result. While ... Read review

Advantages: Strange and funny.
Disadvantages: Maybe too strange for some.

...reading from this particular book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and after that I “ran” to my favourite online bookstore to place an order. David Sedaris (born 1956 in Binghampton, NY) is a talented humorist and for inspiration he often uses his family, his Greek heritage, his homosexuality and the problems that come with moving to another country as he now lives in France with his partner Hugh. However, he is also a radio commentator ...
...I soon will. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Demin is a collection of autobiographical stories from his past and even though the “characters”, i.e. his family members, are the same throughout, they are separate stories instead of one long one. Growing up in a family with four sisters and only one brother, and being gay at that, is a good basis for many stories that might seem mundane on the surface, but told with the dry sense of humour that David ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting, unusual style and content
Disadvantages: A one-off type of book, when really you could do with a series of 2 or 3 to enjoy.

...just the style that made me think of this point though – when I was at school I would have been admonished (in the days before I knew that 3 syllable words existed) for flitting between 1st and 3rd person, and from past to present to future tenses, all within one story. Sedaris, though, gets away with this all in the name of “art” and to be honest, the result isn’t as horrifying as it could be. I saw this book in the British Bookshop on Vienna’s ...
...took me until 7 months later to get a copy of it because I was holding out for the mainstream paperback edition to be released. When it was, it didn't appear in highstreet bookshops for quite a few days showing that despite the famous author, it's not quite a Bridget Jones / Harry Potter release. Once it was within my grasp, it was read from cover to cover in 3 nights, with every morsel being savoured and enjoyed. Think Bill Bryson without quite ... Read review

Advantages: Hilarious!...a book to cheer you up.
Disadvantages: Cant put it down.

...few of the laughs. They are such opposite characters but they get on so well despite a few fallouts along the way. The level of obsession is ridiculus but its lots and lots of fun to read and to know it all actually happened is really quite ridiculus, i hope to god many people dont follow in Dave Gormans footsteps. Just for the matter that what would be the point no two flat mates could do what they have done and make it such a funny and heart-warming ... Read review

Advantages: Funny and entertaining
Disadvantages: None

...you get the opportunity to join a cult that does not require you to hand over all of your money but that is what Danny Wallace is offering people and in fact all you actually have to do is agree to do a good deed for someone every Friday, once a member, Friday becomes Good Friday as it is the day that you will carry out your deed. There is no great long initiation process and no need to learn countless mantras or religious dogma, all you need to ...
...Jonesy the first one to join the cult did but this is purely optional and was in fact something unique to Jonesy. Mind you in those days you were not joining a cult rather it was a collective. For those who have never heard of Danny Wallace let me explain and for those who are thinking that the name is vaguely familiar this may be because he is the former flatmate of the comic Dave Gorman who wrote a book about his own search around the world for ... Read review