The Lynne Truss Treasury: Columns and Three Comic Novels

by Lynne Truss

Lynne Truss debuted in America as a guffaw-inducing grammarian, but her Britishaudience has known her for years as a critically acclaimed novelist and columnist. Her previous works are now available stateside in one volume, complete with a new preface.

With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed, a raucous comedy of errors, follows the exploits of Osborne Lonsdale, who writes a weekly column called "Me and My Shed" for a floundering gardening magazine. When the publication is taken over by a gung-ho management team, Lonsdale must learn to cope with his new coworkers.

In Tennyson's Gift and Going Loco, Truss turns a fiendishly clever eye to the literary world. Tennyson's Gift is an imaginative cocktail of Victorian seriousness and farce that re-imagines the world of the nineteenth-century English poet laureate, placing him in the midst of eccentric company that includes dodgy Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll). Going Loco features a critic trying to write a definitive account of the doppelg�nger in gothic fiction, amidst the chaos of her domestic life, including paranoia that her cleaning lady is taking over her life.

Making the Cat Laugh is a riotous collection of columns about single life. Truss comments on dating, secondhand smoking, shopping, holidays, and people who ask, "How's the novel going?" All the while, she continues an eighteen-year quest to make her cat laugh. Reportedly, the feline remains unimpressed.

A feast of wit, The Lynne Truss Treasury will delight fans of Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Praise for Lynne Truss and her work:

With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed
Lynne Truss has written a perfect comic novel at the first attempt a witty, ingenious romp.
Daily Telegraph

This book will become a perennial comic delight this Truss must never be stopped.
Sue Limb

Sex, violence, murder and psychoanalysis lurk in the garden shed - a breezy, rude, pleasurable alternative to cutting the grass.
Obeserver

Making the Cat Laugh
A small masterpiece of comedy...with abundant close observation, the familiar is made fresh...A continual hoot.
The Times

A truly inventive comic writer ... You should not attempt to read Making the Cat Laugh while travelling on public transport
The Irish Times

[Lynne Truss is] a social humorist of sharp insight and startling candour.
Scotland on Sunday

Tennyson s Gift
A comic novel of subtle distinction ... richly entertaining and at times very moving.
The Times

The perfect summer book. No deck-chair will be complete without it.
The Independent

Terrific...Tennyson's Gift is witty, surprising, oddly compassionate and hugely assured.
The Sunday Times

Going Loco
Truss lets her imagination explode in what can only be described as a riddle devised while coming down of hallucinogens.
Time Out

A classic comic novel, unashamed, exuberant, fiendishly clever, and a joy to read.
The Daily Telegraph

Going Loco is wonderfully underplayed, unpredictable and unexpectedly sinister.
Sunday Express

Author Bio: Lynne Truss is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, which has sold nearly one million copies and won Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. A novelist and journalist, she is also the author of numerous radio comedy dramas and for many years served as a television critic and sports columnist for The Times (London).

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Essays, Reference, Language, Comedy, Anthologies

656 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Lynne Truss is a writer and journalist who started out as a literary editor with a blue pencil and then got sidetracked. The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. She won Columnist of the Year for her work for Women's Journal. Lynne Truss also hosted Cutting a Dash, a popular BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London and is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton, England.

Reviews

[Chip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I skipped to the last quarter of the book and read the columns/essays first. I intended to read just one, but loved it so much I read the entire lot. Then my only choice was to chuck the book (it's "dense and weighty!" to quote the author) or launch into the novels encompassing the first part. Never one to take the easy path, I launched. I'm only on page 45 and have already had more laugh-out-loud moments than I can count. I've missed wonderful witty writing on this scale since Doug Adams passed away, and I daresay she's surpassed him (sorry, Doug, but I know you'd be laughing too). I *so* want to develop this ("One Lousy Packet of Seed") as a movie script...

"Tennyson's Gift" is an amazing romp, part Twelfth Night, part Fawlty Towers, all parts educational. I had no idea these Victorians were so intertwined. The subtle humor is amazing. Lynne Truss is a master. Even moreso than "One Lousy Packet of Seed" this novel(lette?) needs to be put on the screen. Where are the Hollywood agents? They've missed the boat with this writer. Forget Hollywood. Only the BBC could do this right.

"Going Loco" is another mistaken identity farce, a modernization of Shakespearean comedies with many laugh-out-loud moments. There is more tenderness than satire, a field trip to Scandinavia, a murder mystery... it covers a lot of ground.

Excellent reading. My usual metric for greatness is the impression a particular character leaves on me... that I will remember them for years to come. Truss creates a world that I will remember anytime I see a garden shed, superficial cat or hear someone say "Hej!"

As compared to other books described as "funny" and "entertaining," this book delivers. I only wish I could get BBC4...

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have only read two of the novels, but am completely hooked. The first one "Seed Packets" was hilarious. I stayed up until 4am to get to the end. The action's pace was ridiculously crazy, and the situations near impossible; yet, seemingly realistic given the characters.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love East, Shoots & Leaves. So I was really excited to find this Lynne Truss Treasury. But unfortunately, I don't think Truss's fiction is as compelling as her grammar manifesto. All three of her novels were too bizarre for me, and they weren't redeemed by very likable characters. Her columns were a bit better, and I related to her cat-lady stories, but since I didn't follow her as a columnist, the collection seemed out of context and disjointed to me.

[Lana. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average of 3.5 / I suspect those who enjoyed _Eats, Shoots & Leaves_ will like the _Making the Cat Laugh_ collection of columns. The same language and sense of wit and fun are also in the comic novels, but at times too ridiculous.

Enjoyed most: _Tennyson's Gift_, and several of columns of in _Making the Cat Laugh_

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this is four books in one I've had Ms. Truss's voice in my head for over a month, and I'm afraid I might just miss it. Her voice is smart, humorous, and well crafted; I want to reread Eats, Shoots & Leaves now.

[Liz Scheier · Rating 4 out of 5]

WITH ONE LOUSY PACKET OF SEED and GOING LOCO are hilarious and perfectly crafted; TENNYSON'S GIFT and the columns a bit less to my taste. So good.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to rate the novels and the columns separately. I would give the columns four stars and the novels two...one and a half if I could.

I read the Garden Shed novel and found it fairly amusing, but rather tedious and occasionally vulgar, with over-the-top quirky characters (something I love to see in a few characters, or in limit doses, but not full-time in every cast member). It was one of those stories where I just forced myself to continue. So when I started the Tennyson themed second novel and found it to be equally tedious, I started skimming, and then gave up on it. I didn't even bother reading past the first pages of the third novel. I could see it wouldn't be to my taste.

But the author's over-the-top approach to her quirky characters that made the novels seem tedious to me is probably the same talent that made the dryly witty columns fun to read. If you enjoyed Eats, Shoots & Leaves, you will probably really enjoy these, even though the subject matter is completely different. I didn't care for their pseudo-topical groupings (chronological or maybe random would have been more enjoyable), but time after time, I appreciated Truss's dry wit, even when many of the British references went completely over my head.

[melydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed: Despite the laboriously long title, this is actually quite a tight story. A tiny but long-lived gardening magazine is finally being closed for good, and its last few employees are coping in their own unique ways. It's one of those screwball comedies, where all the characters and plots all wind up in one place by the end, tied up through myriad coincidences. A fun book.

Tennyson's Gift: I got through 50 pages of this one before giving up. I could tell it was trying to be funny but either it wasn't or I just didn't get the joke.

Going Loco: A comic study of identity theft, sort of. But not in the modern sense: in the way of a person doing things for you until slowly they become you. It usually shows up in horror, so as a comedy it's very strange and a little dark. I'm not sure how I felt about it. I mean, it had its moments, but in general it just felt a little...off. But then, it could be that I'm just too American to appreciate it.

Making the Cat Laugh: A selection of humorous, largely autobiographical essays. The best part of the book by far.

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK I may say I "read" this book, but honestly, I couldn't finish it. I could barely get through the first comic novel and I didn't have the stamina to finish. Maybe it was just the topic of the novel (a man who works part-time at a magazine about sheds and the "hilarity" which ensues after a mixup of shed interviews) or the disjointed character development, but I found myself shaking my head and wondering what happened to the Lynne Truss I knew and loved? Sadly, I think her writing is only witty and funny when she is commenting on life experiences instead of attempting to create humor where there is none. Truss should stick to non-fiction, or at least stop touting her fiction as "comic".

[Rebes · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are three novels in this book, and a collection of articles. The first novel had me snorting laughing, snickering, and just enjoying it. I tried starting the second, and it followed almost exactly the same format (to me, anyway) as the second novel. So I skipped ahead to the articles and once again found myself laughing hard. My favorite part of one of her columns was when she describes sitting with a boyfriend and suddenly looking at him and saying, "Why aren't you a pony?" That's just about the awesomest thing I've ever read. I've finished the columns, and I *might* give the third novel a shot. And maybe not.

[RedPuccoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lynne Truss' humor is intelligent, witty, and clever. The short stories are well-written in this collection, but I really enjoyed the column portion of the book myself, probably because I can relate to a lot of the situations she finds herself in being a single professional who lives alone. I don't have cats myself (and in fact, have a strong distaste toward them), but I found the columns dealing with her and her cats particularly hilarious.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the first comic novel in this collection, titled With One Lousy Free Packet of Seed. I liked it quite a bit--she's sort of a latter-day Wodehouse. Had to move on because my next book came in at the library, but I'd love to read more of her stuff some day soon. Looks as if her columns are quite funny.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable collection of 3 short novels and a collection of articles she wrote about the
Single life. Classic British farces. I really had some great laughs. Frustrations of blocked authors. Interactions between Lewis Carroll and Alfred Tennyson, a woman whose life is completely taken over by her cleaning lady.

[Alison Kagen]

She's laugh-out-loud funny, that's for sure. First read her "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" - serious but a good turn of phrase. These books, & then the columns, are lighter, but entertaining. Makes you want to be a single woman living in London ...

[Tracey]

Pass along from Mom Mar 2008

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light read, British Humor, enjoyed.

[Alison Prior]

It's been on the shelf for years...and I've even opened it...and yet it has not yet been read.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first novel in this collection is fun! I'm not very far along, but enjoying it!

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute collection of novels. Truss' humor is adorably British.

[Christopher Hurtado]

The Lynne Truss Treasury: Columns and Three Comic Novels by Lynne Truss (2005)

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent, well-written humor.

[Mark Woodland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of fun and a very entertaining book. I've also recently discovered some recordings of her radio shows, which are very enjoyable as well.

[Emma]

Perfection.

[Jessica-sim · Rating 3 out of 5]

mwah

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always funny