Part 30: The Funny
I love reading funny books. And I love books that are autobiographical in nature because these seem to be the best forum for people to display their funny. I don't read a lot of fantasy or science fiction because these seem to be the worst forum for authors to be funny. Actually, it's more that they are a different kind of funny (aka, weird).
Every time I read a book that I feel is funny and clever at the same time, it makes me want to be a writer like that. It's got to be easy, right? My journal entries suddenly become more thought through. I do everything I can to emulate the writing of these books in my blog, scouts and primary lessons.
I think my latest find has inspired me the most of any funny book I've read:
So many other books are supposedly funny but once I actually read them, I'm not impressed. So here's my question: Why can't other "funny" writers actually be funny like Tina Fey? Right before I read this, I read David Sedaris' Christmas book. Sometimes I do find him mildly funny, but I couldn't even make it through this latest one I read. I found it too bitter and sarcastic. Where's the funny, David?
It's true that Tina Fey's book isn't perfection - It has waay too much swearing for my taste but the humor in it is a clean humor that made me cry on several occasions.
I dream of her writing a second, but what are the chances of that? I guess I'll have to go back to the authors that are almost as inspiring like:
- Haven Kimmel
- Terry Tempest Williams
- Dave Barry
But I've already read most of their books! So they better get cracking.
Here are some other modes of Funny that I like and you should try too, if you get the chance:
- Colbert Report
- Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me (NPR radio news quiz on every saturday and available for podcast)
- Wait, Wait Don't blog me - Sandwich Monday posts. (I look forward to reading these posts every Monday. Here is one of my favorites)
So now I need your help. I really had lost to the joy of reading until I picked up Tina Fey's book. So now what do I do? I need to fill that large hole she left in the funny ventricle of my heart. What are your favorite funny things/authors? I need to get filling that void fast!
