Slightly-Brit had an awesome idea: put up Book Lists once a week during the holiday season. Got to hand it to Slightly-Brit, she has great ideas. Thanks, dear daughter!!
My first thought for these sometimes-stressful days is: Humor - humor always gives perspective! So this week's list - the first book list for the holidaze - is funny stuff.
I first read "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" in a little booklet given away with (if I remember correctly) card shop products. That was many moons ago - and I still grab the booklet every year. And, if they don't run fast enough, I grab one of my kids as well - and force them to listen to me read aloud.
The story is hilarious - it's H.G. Wells at his finest. So I'm not really being cruel to the dear "kids" (who are legally adults anyway) - except - well, I guess the spontaneous guffawing and hooting -- keeping me from getting ON with the story, might be a little hard to take.
The part that always makes me laugh so hard that I can't breath is when Mr. Fotheringay (the protagonist, who is at this point experimenting with his new-found miracle working powers) tells his walking stick to:
" 'Go back.' What he meant was 'Change back'; but of course he was confused. The stick receded at a considerable velocity, and incontinently came a cry of anger and a bad word from the approaching person."
Ha! I'm laughing even while I'm typing.
"A Christmas Story" and "Skipping Christmas" you probably already know from TV or the theater. But the books are - well, you know - book are different from the film versions - they are somehow MORE.
"Holidays on Ice", by David Sedaris is, like everything he writes - just SOOOOOO funny! The story "The SantaLand Diaries" is my favorite - another one I grab the kids for - I love an audience!!
"The Twelve Terrors of Christmas" by John Updike and illustrated by Edward Gorey is darkly funny (well, duh! what would you expect from Updike and Gorey together, right?). The sprigs of holly at the top of each of the twelve sections have an odd look. When I began to pay them some attention I saw that each sprig was actually a BAT!
The second terror - "SANTA: THE CONCEPT" starts by asking: "Why would anybody halfway normal want to live at the North Pole on a bunch of shifting ice floes?" and gets better from there!
I re-read "Christmas and How to Survive It" last night. My sides still hurt. The author is British (got to love Brit-wit!!) and his word use, plus the goofball illustrations throughout the book - add up to big laughs. I'm pretty sure there's not one part of the holidays that he doesn't cover - from cards to office parties, being around ex's to carollers and everything else. The best thing is - mixed in with the humor is this advice (repeated in different ways, but always giving you a good, contented - "that's right!" sigh...):
"...relax..Ah, you protest. Easy for you to say. but listen: relax, because in your heart of hearts you just know it will all work out in the end, don't you? Because
(a) You're put so much damn work into it.
(b) It always does. Somehow or other."
Then there's the "Christmas Carol Mad Libs" - for those of us who have a part of our personality's that's a very silly 7th grader - you can't beat Mad Libs! Just add naughty words like: fart or poopy or snot (must I go on? because truly, I can - and do...so pathetic!) and you are guaranteed some laughs (if, of course, you have that kind of humor).
Hope you enjoy the list! Please comment with any holiday humor we might have missed!!
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If you're feeling holi-dazed please come on over to these stories - where 10 great bloggers (and me) share heart-opening & soul-warming personal stories. {Editor's note: we've added more uplifting stories this year - 2011!}
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This post is part of a holiday book-loving trilogy, the two others are:
Favorite Holiday Books for Kids (books for kids - or the kid in YOU) and
Oh Hell, it's the Holy Holly Holiday Reading List.
