Why is it that books that are meant to be put down are almost impossible to put down? One of the reasons we love anthologies of short stories is that we can read one or two at our leisure, go about our business, then read one or two more.
Short stories don’t have cliffhangers leading you to the next story. Few anthologies feature stories that have characters in common. For the very busy, or those suffering from ADD, collections of short — better yet, extremely short — stories are ideal. Return of the Dittos by Dale Andrew White is an example of short, short stories. Most of White’s stories don’t fill three pages and they’re all very entertaining. It’s a funny collection of stories (by one author) for those with limited reading time or attention spans.
Humor Me, subtitled An Anthology of Funny Contemporary Writing Plus Some Great Old Stuff Too, presents the reader with a collection of stories so satisfyingly amusing that after reading one, there’s a strong desire to read another. And another. And another. You know what I mean.
Editor Ian Frazier has united the works of a brilliant assemblage of humorists including Steve Martin, Ray Blount, Jr., David Mamet (!), Andy Borowitz, Polly Frost, Garrison Keillor, and Bruce Jay Friedman, in a volume that reminds us what humor is supposed to be. There are stories from 45 contemporary writers in Part I; Part II, “Some Great Old Stuff,” delivers Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and Michael O'Donoghue among its nine writers, although some of us don’t feel that 1970s literature is all that old (especially if we read it when it was first published).
Late one evening, I picked up Humor Me with the intention of reading a story before going to sleep. I committed the error of choosing “What I’d Say to the Martians” by Jack Handey. Big mistake. There was no way I was going to just fall asleep after reading something that hilarious. So I went on to “Hitler’s Secret Dairy” by Bruce McCall.
“Hitler’s Secret Dairy” is funny on several levels. One is that many readers will misread the title as “Hitler’s Secret Diary,” as I did. Since the piece is made up of diary entries, that misapprehension is supported by the text. However, it’s the contents of the diary that reveal our misunderstanding. Again, too funny, I had to read more.
Article comments
1 - Lynn Voedisch
Anything with Roy Blount Jr. in has to be good. Add in Hitler's diary, which, of course, cannot be real. And even if it were, would still be the stuff of high camp. All of this adds up to something pretty strange, sick and wonderful. Andy Borowitz is a wonderful talent himself, although he usually sticks to political humor--a Democrat who makes fun of the Democrats. Who said there was no such thing? Sounds like a winner.