The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes (Vintage)
by McSweeney's, John Hodgman
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Read in April, 2008
The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes by McSweeney's: When Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists hit book shelves with the cover of a triumphant, ethereal, blue, rearing unicorn, readers curiously started reading and then found themselves bursting with laughter, buying the book, and entertaining friends with it. The editors of McSweeney's return with The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes; and if the title doesn't capture your interest, maybe the cover of a plucked headless ...more
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Read in November, 2007
Another volume of humor from the fabulous McSweeney's folks, this one filled with essays, lists, epistolary stories, and the like relating to books and authors. Like a lot of the McSweeney's humor stuff, the pieces in here tend to be hit or miss; either you're laughing uproariously in inappropriate locations like the subway, or sort of arching one eyebrow going, "Hm." But when a piece in here hits, boy does it ever hit.
Among the hits: Re: Hardy Boys Manuscript Submission, b...more
Among the hits: Re: Hardy Boys Manuscript Submission, b...more
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Read in May, 2008
As John Hodgman writes in the book's introduction, "(T)hese are all original pieces of humorous writing that are joined together merely by their appreciation of the intrinsic and unique hilariousness of books...We all know that books are funny. First, they are made of paste and cloth, which is funny, as is the fact that people still read and buy them. Also, books connote a sort of intellectual stuffiness, which is always easy and appealing to make fun of. It's humanizing."
He's bein...more
He's bein...more
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Read in June, 2008
I had high hopes for this book because a co-worker had recommended it to me and had me read one little section from it which was quite funny. However, the rest of the book was largely a disappointment. So much so that I must confess I quit reading it about two-thirds of the way through. I usually felt like I really should have paid more attention in my high-falutin' literature classes in college because I was definitely missing something. Ironically, one of the spoofs on why Shakespeare want...more
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Read in May, 2008
A fun collection of writings especially appealing to the book lover (obviously) and the book snob most of all. There is some variety in the quality of the pieces, and some are much more obvious than others. (Having Klingon fairy tale titles like "Old Mother Hubbard, Lacking the Means to Support Herself with Honor, Sets Her Disruptor on Self-Destruct and Waits for the Inevitable" or " The Hare Foolishly Lowers His Guard and Is Devastated by the Tortoise, Whose Prowess in Battle Att...more
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I always thought a joke book was full of one-liners or a-guy-walked-into-a-bar things. Not here. These are more like James Thurber - Bob Newhart pieces. Droll rather than roll on the floor funny.
"The McSweeney's Web site functions like a Chicken Soup for the Liberal-Arts Soul. Where else can you find a few lunch-hour Kafka jokes and Faulkner parodies? Fittingly, the McSweeney's Joke Book assembles the best bookish humor the site has produced so far. It's humor born out of writ...more
"The McSweeney's Web site functions like a Chicken Soup for the Liberal-Arts Soul. Where else can you find a few lunch-hour Kafka jokes and Faulkner parodies? Fittingly, the McSweeney's Joke Book assembles the best bookish humor the site has produced so far. It's humor born out of writ...more
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A joke book of book jokes, taken from McSweeney's Internet Tendency. This book practically screamed THIS IS RELEVANT TO YOUR INTERESTS. And an introduction by John Hodgman, no less! My favorite jokes include "The Recruitment of Harry Potter", in which a Quidditch coach sends out a memo to the entire team to bribe Harry into playing for their team, "Jane Eyre Runs For President", which is rather self-explanatory, and "Lady Macbeth On Ambien" (also self-explanatory).
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I gotta bump this back up to a 4. Rereading "RE: Hardy Boys Manuscript Submission," by by Jay Dyckman out of the book this morning. And giggled profusely and with complete immaturity at:
"Page 50: Colorful banter between the brothers is, of course, is expected. Please reconsider, however, whether Joe would tell Frank to 'grow a pair.' Further, Joe would not dismiss Frank's suggestion to call for help with, 'Step off, bitch. I know what I'm doing.'"
"Page 50: Colorful banter between the brothers is, of course, is expected. Please reconsider, however, whether Joe would tell Frank to 'grow a pair.' Further, Joe would not dismiss Frank's suggestion to call for help with, 'Step off, bitch. I know what I'm doing.'"
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Read in August, 2008
Inconsistent, but great at points. I recommend "Re: Hardy Boys Manuscript Submission" and "Thirteen Writing Prompts."
"A wasp called the tarantula hawk reproduces by paralyzing tarantulas and laying its eggs into their bodies. When the larvae hatch, they devour the still-living spider from the inside out. Isn't that fucked up? Write a short story about how fucked up that is."
"A wasp called the tarantula hawk reproduces by paralyzing tarantulas and laying its eggs into their bodies. When the larvae hatch, they devour the still-living spider from the inside out. Isn't that fucked up? Write a short story about how fucked up that is."
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Read in April, 2008
Sort of gently amusing, as opposed to the laugh-out-loud funny I'd been hoping for. A lot of the pieces were rather of one-note, and thus seemed to go on too long. One would probably be better off just poking around on the site for a while rather than dishing out $13 for this. (And what a sad commentary on the internet vs. books this review has become! Alas.)
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Read in April, 2008
I lost this book at some point, but I had read enough of it to review it. I found several of the passages hysterical, but unfortunately I am not literate enough to understand much of the humor in the rest. If you are an English Major, you will undoubtedly find this an inspired, breezy read for when you fruitlessly go about searching for a job.
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Read in July, 2008
A series of literary vignettes. Some hysterical like Goofus and Gallant's ignoble ending, submission guidelines for our refrigerator door that I think I will start enforcing, and some I didn't get because I'm not as well-read as I needed to be. Very funny and fun to read in snippets to make it last longer.
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I picked this up at Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis last week, and spent the afternoon laughing out loud at an outdoor coffee shop. These are book jokes, so some are pretty dry and spartan, but the ones that work will make you howl. I recommend "Other Books by Jenna Bush" and "Winnie the Pooh, My Co-Worker"
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Read in April, 2008
A little uneven at times, but overall pretty funny. Some of them were lost on me because I hadn't read the books or couldn't even tell what book it was from at all (knowing now that Humbert Humbert is from Lolita, his bit meeting Chris Hansen is pretty funny, if a little easy for a joke).
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Read in April, 2008
Made me chuckle mighty hard. I'm glad I'm a book geek because if I wasn't, half the entries wouldn't even make a lick of sense. Don't miss the entries involving Dick and Jane, Winnie The Pooh, Fairy Tales with Family Members, and Stan's postcards to Joyce.
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recommends it for:
Lit majors, anyone who reads a lot of "classics."
Haven't actually read it cover to cover, but I've been in the habit of picking it up, flipping to a page, and reading whatever is there. Quite funny. I don't get all of the jokes, but enough that I've been caught chuckling to myself. Good times.
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Read in April, 2008
Mcsweeneys.net that you can read in the tub.
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Read in March, 2008
"Social Security Denies Gregor Samsa's Security Claim" made me laugh out loud, as did "Perhaps I Should Stop Naming the Protagonists in My Semi-Autobiographical Fiction After Myself." But I must admit, I didn't get the Moby Dick jokes.
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Read in July, 2008
Ugh, this was really kind of painful, except the "Gregor Samsa applies for disability" bit, and the one about future titles for the Sue Grafton series (", is Almost for Coma", heh.)
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Read in May, 2008
fantastic for anybody who loves literature and is/was/will be an english major. and the best part is you don't need to have read all the works the book refers to to get the jokes.
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