humor

Wordsy Friday humor in honor of National Poetry Month. (Well, I laughed out loud.)

I’m hard pressed to find the perfect adjective for some of these real-life, back-of-the-book questions designed for book club discussion, but the flippant versions penned by Joe Queenan, covering some favorite classic tales, had me chuckling out loud.

Too much Sylvia Plath in your literary diet? “Following the craze that is currently sweeping an ever more dietary conscious populous in the USA, we introduce today the creation of the Sylvia Plath 100 calorie pack.”

A tongue-in-cheek lament over this literary Casanova’s growing inability to finish any book he starts leads to a serious enough point---youth literacy.

“The punishment for being such a bibliophile satyr has been an embarrassing form of literary dysfunction that no small, blue pill can correct. I am, sadly, almost unable to read more than a few pages from any one book.”

It’s up to those of us who don’t know the terrible torment of constant agony to take up the slack and offer up the sunnier view. To that end I have composed my own list of the “The 9 Least Annoying People I Occasionally See at the Bookstore.” FRUIT-SCENTED-SHAMPOO CHECKOUT GIRL: You smell like strawberries! I could buy books from you all day!

Writer Nigel Tomm releases the tenth volume of his novel "The Blah Story" which encloses the longest word in the English language (or even in the world). The word 'babyoubiqui...oiletub' contains 2,087,214 letters (728 pages) and means something like 'a girl' or 'a bi*ch'.

“I have lost a friend and know not where to turn. Months have been lost in vain search, each new search as fruitless as those that preceded it…I'm not sure when the severance occurred, but it has slowly dawned on me that I have not seen my beloved in quite some time.”

Surely the author is not alone in her pain, for who among us has not mourned a bookmark? :)

Blog of UK based novelist, John Baker. With links to extracts from his work; reviews of books, film, music and theatre. Quotations on lies, serial killers, writing, art, humour, revolution, time and dance. Writing tips and political and cultural comment. A bookshop, interviews, links to all the best litblogs and a host of other goodies. Go see.

A little bookish humor—odd things said by bookstore customers. Are you on this list?

How do you respond when your work is rejected? How would you like to respond? Enjoy a few moments of vicarious vengeance through this writer’s riposte. Very funny.