A Fictional Companion?

Since I believe that napping should be taken as seriously as an Olympic sport, when I saw The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer on display at Magers & Quinn I immediately picked it up. I mean, Ten Years! Yikes. That would take commitment.

The book isn't about napping (which, arguably, would not make compelling fiction), but I think it might be a fictional companion to The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennets (which I wrote about here and here). Maybe not in terms of a straight line connection, but a circular dotted one (I have not read it yet, so I might be reading too much in to the book jacket).

I ended up buying Wolitzer's book, because it is described as a comedy with excellent timing. Though, I do have a disproportionate affinity for low brow humor (Ant Farm by Simon Rich, for example, that I wrote about here) so I am not sure this is going to work.

Anyway, funny is good. I hope this book is too.

Of Course The Main Character Is 29

I have always thought that being 29 made people a little crazy and, even, a little bit distasteful. The nicest 28 year old and the coolest 30 year old was probably a pain in the butt at 29.

Anyway, I heard about The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert on NPR this morning. I am interested because it is supposed to be funny (not as funny as Ant Farm by Simon Rich that I wrote about here), but I am not really buying what the write up is selling.

I would normally avoid any and all entertainment that involves someone suffering from cancer, but could be persuaded if it was done in such a way that was funny (which is, apparently, what this book does).

But, I just don't believe it can be truly funny and not annoying (mostly because the main character is 29).

Ant Farm Claims Revisited

As it turns out (that phrase intended to reference part of The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams), some people (i.e. Carter) have told me that the quote I selected here (to demonstrate my thoughts on Ant Farm by Simon Rich) is not that funny.

As a second try, I am including a link to Simon Rich’s mySpace page where he has published two outtakes from Ant Farm. I think that “I still remember the day I got my first calculator” is hysterical.

Since I was curious about what others thought and wanting to try the new Facebook poll, I posted a question yesterday. Seems only 3% agree that Ant Farm is the funniest book ever, but 20% responded that it is “quite possibly” the funniest book ever.

It is still a minority so I continue my search.

The Funniest Book Ever

A collection of vignettes called Ant Farm by Simon Rich is the funniest book ever. I know that is a big statement, but it is true.

You must arrange to come in to possession of this book, but you can’t read it yourself. You have to find someone to read it to you (and then switch off in all fairness), because it is not readable through the tears of hilarity.

I simply could not read this book to myself. It is that funny.

I chose this quote because it not only illustrates my point, but uses similar imagery.

Where are all the time travelers? They’re on Wall Street, smoking Cuban cigars and laughing so hard that tears are streaming down their fat faces. Meanwhile, we’re sitting around like morons, betting our money on random dogs and horses and talking about how smart Stephan Hawking is. (117)

Of course, if my endorsement is not enough, Jon Stewart is quoted as calling it (among other things) "hilarious".