MobileRead April 2010 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Go for Lamb. Religious humor can be really funny. Remember Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Last night I downloaded a very funny sample from Amazon. Interesting that we have not one but two Christopher Moore books in the running this month.

So now I'm torn between The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and the two Christopher Moore books, Fool and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

Among the ones I've read, Topper by Thorne Smith blows me away, My man Jeeves by P G Wodehouse is always enjoyable, Candide by Voltaire is thought-provoking (I've read it three times, I believe), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain is not as enjoyable as I expected.

I'm now leaning toward Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

....

I'm now leaning toward Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

Well Biff is not nearly as funny a name as Fforde! So there!

[Zipr]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'm now leaning toward Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

Then do it! Do it!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well Biff is not nearly as funny a name as Fforde! So there!

You know you want to read a story told by Biff. Jasper is a boring name.

[cearbhallain]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You know you want to read a story told by Biff. Jasper is a boring name.

Jasper is just agate you can't see through. Hardly remarkable at all.

[pilotbob]

I'm not sure which to vote for. At first, I thought Topper would be tops... but alas if I'm being Candide I was Fooled by My Man Jeeves into believing all you voters were a Confederacy of Dunces and would be led like Lambs to the slaughter.

So, as not to be led by the nose in this Eyre Affair my chicken, Egg and I must consider further. For I don't want to be like a Carp out of water, like a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court.

Perhaps there is an Omnibus of all the selections that I could vote for. Oh the pressure.

BOb

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I'm not sure which to vote for. At first, I thought Topper would be tops... but alas if I'm being Candide I was Fooled by My Man Jeeves into believing all you voters were a Confederacy of Dunces and would be led like Lambs to the slaughter.

So, as not to be led by the nose in this Eyre Affair my chicken, Egg and I must consider further. For I don't want to be like a Carp out of water, like a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court.

Perhaps there is an Omnibus of all the selections that I could vote for. Oh the pressure.

BOb

That deserves Karma if anything does!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well Biff is not nearly as funny a name as Fforde! So there!

Ford Prefect is funnier, but no one thirded And Another Thing.

And what's the idea of giving PilotBOb Karma after the way he PUNished us in Post #66?

[dreams]

Originally Posted by d2photo

The Egg and I, I have an original in this and LOVE it - been trying to find another as mine is in poor shape. Betty MacDonald also wrote some others (besides the children's books) that are also a worthy read.

This is one book that I would love to have on my shelf. It is very true to the era and situations (according to my parents). We also had chickens, rabbits, etc when I was young, and I can relate to some of the endless everyday chores.

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Your welcome dreams.
Project Gutenberg also have a couple of versions:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3829
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20532 (illustrated)

It turns out the text of the two PG versions are very different - I might have to read both when I find time.

Ohhh, I'll have to check out the illustrated version of P. G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens! I hope it's as good as The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald. Thanks!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by dreams

This is one book that I would love to have on my shelf. It is very true to the era and situations (according to my parents). We also had chickens, rabbits, etc when I was young, and I can relate to some of the endless everyday chores.



Ohhh, I'll have to check out the illustrated version of P. G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens! I hope it's as good as The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald. Thanks!

I just downloaded it. Here's the (promising) start:

Mr. Jeremy Garnet stood with his back to the empty grate—for the time was summer—watching with a jaundiced eye the removal of his breakfast things.

"Mrs. Medley," he said.

"Sir?"

"Would it bore you if I became auto-biographical?"

"Sir?"

"Never mind. I merely wish to sketch for your benefit a portion of my life's history. At eleven o'clock last night I went to bed, and at once sank into a dreamless sleep. About four hours later there was a clattering on the stairs which shook the house like a jelly. It was the gentleman in the top room—I forget his name—returning to roost. He was humming a patriotic song. A little while later there were a couple of loud crashes. He had removed his boots. All this while snatches of the patriotic song came to me through the ceiling of my bedroom. At about four-thirty there was a lull, and I managed to get to sleep again. I wish when you see that gentleman, Mrs. Medley, you would give him my compliments, and ask him if he could shorten his program another night. He might cut out the song, for a start."

"He's a very young gentleman, sir," said Mrs. Medley, in vague defense of her top room.

"And it's highly improbable," said Garnet, "that he will ever grow old, if he repeats his last night's performance. I have no wish to shed blood wantonly, but there are moments when one must lay aside one's personal prejudices, and act for the good of the race. A man who hums patriotic songs at four o'clock in the morning doesn't seem to me to fit into the scheme of universal happiness. So you will mention it to him, won't you?"

"Very well, sir," said Mrs. Medley, placidly.

....

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

"He's a very young gentleman, sir," said Mrs. Medley, in vague defense of her top room.

"And it's highly improbable," said Garnet, "that he will ever grow old, if he repeats his last night's performance. I have no wish to shed blood wantonly, but there are moments when one must lay aside one's personal prejudices, and act for the good of the race. A man who hums patriotic songs at four o'clock in the morning doesn't seem to me to fit into the scheme of universal happiness. So you will mention it to him, won't you?"

"Very well, sir," said Mrs. Medley, placidly.

....

Lines like that are classic Wodehouse! Love Among the Chickens sounds like a riot! I'll have to put it on my to be read list!

[Madam Broshkina]

I think that more people should vote for A Confederacy of Dunces. Here are a few lines from the book.



"I am at this moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip."


"… My respiratory system, unfortunately, is below par. I suspect that I am the result of particularly weak conception on the part of my father. His sperm was probably emitted in a rather offhand manner."

"Mother, I must attend to my bowels. They are revolting against the trauma of the last twenty-four hours."


“It smells terrible in here.”

“Well, what do you expect? The human body when confined, produces certain odors which we tend to forget in this age of deodorants and other perversions. Actually, I find the atmosphere of this room rather comforting. Schiller needed the scent of apples rotting in his desk in order to write. I ,too, have my needs. You may remember that Mark Twain preferred to lie supinely in bed while composing those rather dated and boring efforts which contemporary scholars try to prove meaningful. Veneration of Mark Twain is one of the roots of our current intellectual stalemate.”

[lene1949]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I'm not sure which to vote for. At first, I thought Topper would be tops... but alas if I'm being Candide I was Fooled by My Man Jeeves into believing all you voters were a Confederacy of Dunces and would be led like Lambs to the slaughter.

So, as not to be led by the nose in this Eyre Affair my chicken, Egg and I must consider further. For I don't want to be like a Carp out of water, like a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court.

Perhaps there is an Omnibus of all the selections that I could vote for. Oh the pressure.

BOb

Very clever!

[lene1949]

I voted for the Egg and I... It sounds hilarious, and it's free...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by lene1949

I voted for the Egg and I... It sounds hilarious, and it's free...

Downloaded already and thanked Patricia!