Humour Books > D Humour Books

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: The Santaland Diaires, gives 'freaks' a voice
Disadvantages: Some stories are too dark and disturbing to be funny

Barrel Fever is a collection of short stories that have come from the twisted mind of David Sedaris and some essays that have come from the equally twisted life of David Sedaris. His humour is bleak, dark, disturbing and also laugh-out-loud funny. In his stories Sedaris writes as a horny teenager, a waster, an unloved suicidal woman, a father who's doesn't bother with hospitals because he believes he can treat everything himself - each one an American ...
...the wonderful Santaland Diaries, detailing Sedaris' time working in Macy's as an elf - you'll never think of the department store Santa in the same way again! His humour is very near the bone and sometimes Sedaris goes too far and repulses his readers. But in the end the writer's unusual way of looking at things and clever obsevations save the day making this a must-read book. ... Read review

Advantages: Funny breadth of characters
Disadvantages: Lack of depth

...which focuses on corruption and big business. There are other similarities in their style however a comparison is not the purpose of this review and indeed the book Big Trouble deserves to be reviewed on its own merits. Based in Miami the story unfolds through the eyes of a number of disparate characters with no one main hero or villain instead what you have are a mixed bunch of individuals whose lives become entwined through the corruption and ...
...who is dealing with the Big Fat Stupid Client before the story moves on once again to the maid avoiding her drunken amorous boss and that is all in the first 30 pages. However this in part is also a weakness as the reader never really develops any great feelings of empathy with them and a number of story lines remain under developed, in fact this is not surprising given that the book only runs to 314 pages and took me less than a couple of days to ... Read review

Advantages: See text
Disadvantages: See text

...incident behind me after reading Changing Places, one of Lodge’s earlier works, which for what it is worth won the Hawthornden Prize and the Yorkshire Post fiction prize. Written in 1975, this book tells the story of two lecturers in English Literature, one English and one American, who take part in a teacher exchange scheme. Philip Swallow, journeys to the fictional location of Euphoria on the west coast of America, whilst Morris Zapp makes ...
...of character, with both men, changing in character through the experience, whilst keeping their defining characteristics; and both men discover a taste for each other’s wives. Neatly bolted onto this basic story are plot lines about student unrest and the challenge by minorities of all sorts to the establishment, which took place in the 1960s. Both campuses are beseeched by disgruntled students, wanting more power over the running of universities ... Read review

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