Pleasures, guilty or otherwise

    In response to my post from last week, Lynne called me out on my use of the phrase "guilty pleasure" in reference  to certain categories of books that people enjoy.   And she was right - no one should ever feel the need to apologize to anyone with regard to what they choose to read.   The tendency to do so is probably a side effect of having had teachers who believed that the sole purpose of reading was to better oneself; one was required to read not only to become better at reading, but also to learn important life lessons.   Even as a kid (and being a somewhat precocious reader), I subscribed to this notion wholeheartedly and read all those "important" books that whoever was my  teacher of the moment placed in my hands.   Did I love these books?  Probably not, because with the exception of Charlotte's Web, I remember remarkably few of them.   What I do remember is that, for pure pleasure, I turned to the world of Archie and Veronica.  And yes,  even as a kid, I remember feeling slightly guilty about it, but not nearly guilty enough to stop spending most of  my allowance money on them.   Reading comic books  undoubtedly helped develop my reading skills, but the lessons I learned about life at Riverdale High and with regard to  male - female relationships were definitely ones I could have done without.  Was I harmed by any of this?  Perhaps in subtle ways I was, so when I think about the messages being picked up by today's  kids who play violent video games, I cannot so easily shrug off my concerns.   Can we dismiss violent video games as being just another guilty pleasure?  If you are an otherwise peaceable adult, you can do whatever you want.   If you are an impressionable kid, I'm worried about the messages you are  probably absorbing.  (Sorry for straying a little off topic here, but it's been that kind of week.)

   Sadly but not surprisingly,  the most significant difference for me between my school days and the present is one of time.   As I hang on to the far side of middle age, I am more aware than ever that there are so many books and so little time and I look to books more now than ever to try to help me make at least some sense out of the human predicament.   That is why I continue to gravitate to the dark side, reading authors who are brilliant in their ability to make the reader confront life at its most difficult.  Maybe in that way I am not so different from who I was as a kid - I am still looking for books to somehow, in some way, make me smarter.

    Having just read what I've written, I agree with you that maybe I need to lighten up, at least a little.  So help me out here and give me your recommendations for books, including mysteries,  that might make me laugh.  ( I've already read Jeff Cohen so I know how funny he is and I got tired of Janet Evanovich after about #11, so please keep that in mind.)   I'll start the ball rolling with a few recommendations of books that have made me laugh out loud:

Tepper Isn't Going Out, by Calvin Trillin; Spending, by Mary Gordon; Madder Music, by Peter DeVries

Special mention: The Clothes They Stood Up In, by Alan Bennett is that rare category of book that is funny, sad and deep, all at the same time.

 

 

Comments

[Christina Auret]

This being a mystery blog, I'll try to stick to funny books in that general area.

Lindsey Davis' Falco novels are quite funny. They are mysteries set in ancient Rome. The first book in the series is called The Silver Pigs.

Terry Pratchett is hysterically funny. His books that feature the city watch always have a mystery. You don't really have to read the Discworld books in any kind of order so Men at Arms is as good a starting point as any.

Finally Georgette Heyer, she of regency romance fame, also wrote some mysteries. I think her romances were funnier (The last 10 pages of Frederica had me crying with laughter), but Death in the stocks had both a solid mystery and some funny moments.

The list is quite British. I can't really think of all that many funny American mysteries, but I'm sure someone else will help you there.

[Barbara]

Sorry Dale, can't help you here. As you well know, my take on life is decidedly downbeat and I gravitate towards books that validate that. However, I just might give "The Clothes They Stood Up In" a glance. I know the sad and deep parts will gratify me. I'll see about the funny ones...

[Anotherliz]

Hi,
I'm (very) fond of funny, so here are some suggestions:

Alan Bennett's Uncommon Reader, wherein the Queen borrows a library book with serious consequences. I haven't read The Clothes They Stood Up In, so thank you, I will look for that one.

H.E. Bates, The Darling Buds of May and the rest of that series. I also like the TV series based on the books, which stars David Jason and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

D.B. Borton's Cat Caliban series and (written as Della Borton) Movie Lover's Mystery series.

Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun series has enough humour to keep me reading through some pretty grim situations.

Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series. For me, these are best read in order, starting with Cocaine Blues, aka Death By Misadventure.

Any of Charlotte MacLeod's series: the Professor Peter Shandy and Sarah Kelling/ Max Bittersohn books were written as Charlotte MacLeod, the Madoc/Rys and Grub and Stakers series were written as Alisa Craig. All out of print now, and again I think they are best read in order.

That's all I can think of right now; hope something here works for you. Humour is very subjective; I read one Evanovich and stopped because I didn't find them funny.
Liz

[Alison Janssen]

Dale, try Sophie Littlefield's BAD DAY series, if you're okay with a little bit of a hard edge in your mysteries.

Her main character, Stella, is hilarious and awesome and tough and pretty much amazing.

Also, if I might recommend a Tyrus author, Hal Ackerman's Stein, Stoned is very funny, and the followup, Stein, Stung, is even better.