Following my post on Black Books, I’ve had a look through my book shelf and managed to come up with a few authors who are in my good books.
David Sedaris: Everything He’s Ever Written, Including Tax Returns and Shopping Lists. I love David Sedaris. He writes about his life in a brutally honest, painful and hilariously funny fashion. From his attempts to learn French in his newly adopted country:
I knew my fear was getting the best of me when I started wondering why they don’t sell cuts of meat in vending machines. [Been there!]
to his visit to a naturist camp:
It is ironic that nudists are just about the last people you’d ever want to see naked. [Tru dat.]
Bill Bryson: Mostly Everything He’s Written With the Possible Exception of A Short History of Nearly Everything. Bill Bryson is one of the few authors who actually live up to the claim to make you laugh out loud:
Nothing gives the English more pleasure, in a quiet but determined sort of way, than to do things oddly.
England was full of words I’d never heard before – streaky bacon, short back and sides, Belisha beacon, serviettes, high tea, ice-cream cornet.
There are three things you can’t do in life. You can’t beat the phone company, you can’t make a waiter see you until he is ready to see you, and you can’t go home again.
Jonathan Ames: Wake Up, Sir! The beautifully written, funny story of Alan, a failing writer who is always getting into trouble. Fortunately, he has a personal valet named Jeeves, who may or may not be real but does his best to fix Alan’s problems anyway. If Woody Allen directed Jeeves and Wooster in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, this would be the result.
Unfortunately, I’m one of those idiots who knows everything about health and is in a constant state of alarm, and yet I continue to do everything I shouldn’t do.
It was another sunny day, good for skin cancer and playing tennis.
Kate Atkinson: All her books, except Human Croquet for some reason. I particularly love her series of Case Histories crime novels featuring semi-retired private dick Jackson Brodie, and his ‘will they-won’t they’ relationship with police officer Tracy Waterhouse. The plots are gripping enough to satisfy the most die-hard crime fans but the writing is extraordinary: witty, thought provoking, descriptive and poetic.
“All roads lead home,” says Julia.
“All roads lead away from home,” Jackson replies.
Looking at this list, it’s clear that comic writing is really my favourite. So I now need to add to my stash of funny, well-written, clever books to read. Any suggestions?
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Sadly – I hadn’t heard of any of these so I suspect we don’t read the same kinds of books, so I think suggestions wouldn’t really work from me! However, I appreciated learning about some new authors – thanks!
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It’s always good to hear about different authors! I recommend Bill Bryson first 🙂
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Great list, thank you. I also don’t think I can add anything, but your post will help me explore a new genre.
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Glad to have helped 🙂
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Bill Bryson is good. My list of books I love is HUGE. I have no idea where I would begin. 🙂 Maybe that is part of the reason I started writing?
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I love books but am often disappointed by endings. So many of my books end up thrown across the room! Feel free to recommend your favourites 🙂
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LOL as long as you don’t dent the walls.
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Ah yes! I share your love for David Sedaris, and I’ve definitely felt the pain of trying to learn French (his solution to the problem of gendered nouns was particularly ingenious!), so that is at least part of it. I would love to learn how to write so breezily about such serious topics, one day.
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At last, someone else who loves David Sedaris! No-one else seems to have heard of him. I would also love to talk pretty one day, like him 😉
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You had me at Bill Bryson. I think I’ve read just about everything of his, but A Walk In The Woods will always be my favourite.
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I love Notes from a Small Island, just because he’s so darn funny about us Brits!
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David Sedaris is hilarious, and Bill Bryson can always make me chuckle.
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Me too!!
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I love Bill Bryson too – he makes me laugh out loud. I also like Kate Atkinson, but haven’t read the Croquet one. I haven’t heard of the other authors, so I’ll look out for them. One author in my good books is Alexander McCall Smith, particularly his Scotland Street series. His stories are easy to read and usually have little nuggets of factual information that make me feel as though I am improving myself (not that I often remember any of it!). Others are Jasper Fforde (very clever stories), Jojo Moyes (light reading, but ‘proper’ stories with decent endings) and Erin Morganstern (who to my knowledge has only written one book, The Night Circus, but I loved it).
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I adore the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. AMS books always make me feel that the world is a good place. And I’d love to be as prolific as him! I read The Night Circus years ago so can’t remember if I enjoyed it or not! Thanks for the other tips 😊
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I haven’t read all of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books yet – I got myself distracted from them by the Scotland Street books. I must get back to them – when I have finished the pile of books I have waiting for me!
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