Archive for the ‘Humorous’ Category

THE TERRIBLE PRIVACY OF MAXWELL SIM by Jonathan Coe

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the film “The Social Network.” I expect most of us know what the film is about, but for those who don’t, it’s the fictionalized account of the creation of the social networking internet site: Facebook. I liked the film a lot, and one of the things that remained with me after the credits rolled is the changing idea of friendship. In the age of the internet, what does friendship mean? It used to be that we made friends in school, at work or at university, but now many of us have friendships with people online that we’ve never actually met in person. Are these relationships real? Are they substitutes, or are they a facsimile of the “real” thing.

The authenticity of relationships is just one of the many things that trouble the protagonist of Jonathan Coe’s latest novel, THE TERRIBLE PRIVACY OF MAXWELL SIM.

March 11, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Contemporary, Drift-of-Life, Humorous, Reading Guide, United Kingdom

ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING by Jasper Fforde

In Jasper Fforde’s ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING, the fictional Thursday Next takes center stage. Although she and the real Thursday look alike, they differ in a number of ways. The real Thursday Next is a veteran agent of Jurisfiction, fiction’s “policing elite.” She’s tough and ruthless towards her enemies, and will do anything to protect the integrity of the BookWorld. Her fictional counterpart, on the other hand, is gentle and dignified. She would rather hug than fight.

March 8, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Humorous, Literary, Sleuths Series, Speculative (Beyond Reality), Unique Narrative

THE OLD ROMANTIC by Louise Dean

If, as Tolstoy posits, all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way, then the Goodyews would certainly rank highly in the toxic department. When British author Louise Dean’s fourth novel, THE OLD ROMANTICbegins, it’s almost too easy to sympathize with Nick, a bachelor barrister who’s persuaded to visit his nasty old dad after years of estrangement. As Dean’s comic novel of manner unfolds, however, the web of familial relationships become increasingly more complicated, and ultimately Dean appears to take a tolerant approach to family foibles.

March 5, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Family Matters, Humorous, United Kingdom, World Lit, y Award Winning Author

ENOUGH ABOUT LOVE by Herve Le Tellier

Thomas loves Louise, a lawyer. Louise is married to Romain, a scientist. Louise loves Thomas. Yves, a writer, loves Anna. Anna, a psychiatrist, loves Yves, a man she finds “unsettling.” Anna is married to Stan, an ophthalmologist. Thomas is Anna’s psychoanalyst. No, this isn’t an LSAT logic problem or a torrid soap opera. These are the characters that comprise Le Tellier’s urbane, au courant Paris comedy, ENOUGH ABOUT LOVE, a droll romp that is nevertheless intimate and complex within the playful pages.

March 4, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Contemporary, France, Humorous, Translated, World Lit

SWAMPLANDIA! by Karen Russell

In her hotly-anticipated debut novel, SWAMPLANDIA!, Karen Russell returns to the mosquito-droves and muggy-haze of the Florida Everglades and the gator-themed amusement park featured in her short story, “Ava Wrestles the Alligator,” that opened her widely-praised 2006 collection, ST. LUCY’S HOME FOR GIRLS RAISED BY WOLVES. It was that collection, with its exuberant mix of satire and fabulism, that secured Russell’s reputation as one of the most exciting up-and-comers around and earned her a coveted spot on The New Yorker’s much buzzed about “20 under 40” list last fall. With her energetic prose, quirky settings, and fantastical plots, Russell is a writer’s whose style forces you to sit up and take notice, sometimes at the cost of emotional involvement with her work. However, Swamplandia!, with all its flashing-neon prose is an insightful (and surprisingly funny) exploration of the loss of innocence that inevitably follows the death of a parent.

February 2, 2011 · Judi Clark · 3 Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Coming-of-Age, Contemporary, Family Matters, Florida, Humorous, Unique Narrative

O: A PRESIDENTIAL NOVEL by Anonymous

It was during the 2008 presidential race that author Christopher Buckley’s delightful novel, Supreme Courtship, was released. Presciently, in the book, he had pitted two characters against each other: a senator who had run for president, served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, and who “just couldn’t shut up,” against a “glasses-wearing, gun-toting television hottie.” Months after the novel was conceived, Governor Sarah Palin turned out to be a nominee for Vice President running against then Senator Joe Biden. It truly was a case of life imitating fiction, Buckely later recalled in an interview. “I am announcing my retirement from satire,” he joked.

January 25, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Humorous