The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes
by McSweeney’s Editors; Introduction by John Hodgman
Published by Knopf Publishing Group
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Reviewed by Nicole M. Boals
I truly love to laugh. In fact I relish in it. I also love to read. So when something I happen to be reading makes me literally laugh out loud, I am nearing Nirvana. The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes helped me approach that state from page one. It is a collection of shorts, ranging from letters to stories, from authors who take some of our most famous books and literary situations and twist them into things that are nothing short of hilarious.
This particular joke book is unlike any other I have ever perused. It pokes fun at the very thing it is: a piece of writing. Starting right out of the gate with a snippet entitled “The Recruitment of Harry Potter” and staying strong with tales of Humbert Humbert’s appearance on “To Catch a Predator,” to official guidelines for a writer submitting works for a refrigerator door, this collection will have you chuckling to yourself in some places and flat out guffawing in others.
You do need to be on top of your literary toes for some of the jokes. No genre is safe from teasing and unless you have read everything from Harry Potter to the Iliad, you may not get some of the humor. On the flip side, not getting a joke in the book is great motivation to research the background of the joke and find another book you can fall in love with.
This book is flat out funny and well worth the read. Pick up a copy of McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes and put down whatever you are drinking…you don’t want to snort it out of your nose when you laugh!
Armchair Interviews agrees.