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Violanthe
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ecgordon
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:48 pm |
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One of my favorite books is also one of the funniest, Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody.
Of course, it helps if you have a twisted sense of humor. |
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Violanthe
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ecgordon
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:27 pm |
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Yes, it is a satire of historical figures, from Cheops and Hatshepsut, to Alexander the Great and Hannibal, Attila the Hun and Charlemagne, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, up to Columbus, John Smith and Miles Standish, among many others. There was going to be a lot more to the book but he died before its completion. It was originally published in 1950, a year after his passing.
Each essay has many footnotes and they can be the funniest part of the piece. Here's just one example, from the chapter on Attila the Hun:
"Attila the Hun was an awful pest, but there are plenty of others. You musn't blame him for all your troubles, because most of them are your own fault, and the sooner you realize it the better.�
�Attila's name does not rhyme with vanilla, as it used to in my day. It is now believed that, if children can be taught to accent Attila on the first syllable, things may take a turn for the better. |
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Violanthe
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ecgordon
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:28 pm |
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| Violanthe wrote: | | Did he write other satire in his lifetime? |
Decline and Fall is the only one of his books that I have read, but he did write others, and most were assemblages of shorter vignettes originally published in magazines.
Some of the other titles I know of are How To Be A Hermit, How To Become Extinct and How To Tell Your Friends From The Apes. |
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Mervi
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:31 am |
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Pratchett at his best but usually books that aren't written to be humorous but just have a little humorous bits in them. Some Bujold books and Elizabeth Peters's books.
But it's very hard to make me laugh out loud. I usually just smile or chuckle a little. |
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Violanthe
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Mervi
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:00 am |
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| Interesting. I've read the first Sookie book which didn't strike me as funny. I suspect that it's a cultural difference thing, though, because many other USAians have also said that the Sookie books are funny to them |
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Violanthe
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