Humor Recommended Books and Bestsellers

1Chapters from my Autobiography

By Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) began writing his autobiography long before the 1906 publications of these Chapters from my Autobiography. He originally planned to have his memoirs published only after his death but realized, once he’d passed his 70th year, that a lot of the material might be OK to publish before his departure. These chapters were published in serial form in the North American Review during 1906-1907. While much of the material consists of stories about the people, places and incidents of his long life, there are also several sections from his daughter, which he calls “Susy’s biography of me”. (Summary by John Greenman)

2Awful German Language

By Mark Twain

If you’ve ever studied German (and maybe even if you haven’t), you’re likely to find this short essay to be hilarious. Published as Appendix D from Twain’s 1880 book <i>A Tramp Abroad</i>, this comedic gem outlines the pitfalls one will encounter when trying to wrap one’s mind around the torturous German cases, adjective endings, noun genders, and verb placement.<br /> (Summary by Kara)

3Idle Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow

By Jerome K. Jerome

<i>Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow</i>, published in 1886, is a collection of humorous essays by Jerome K. Jerome. It was the author’s second published book and helped establish him as a leading English humorist. The book consists of 14 independent articles arranged by themes. (Summary from Wikipedia)

4Who Was Who: 5000 BC - 1914 Biographical Dictionary of the Famous and Those Who Wanted to Be

By Irwin Leslie Gordon

A short, humorous biography of famous people from 5000 BC to 1914. -- S. McGaughey <br></br>From the Introduction, "The editor begs leave to inform the public that only persons who can produce proper evidence of their demise will be admitted to Who Was Who. Press Agent notices or complimentary comments are absolutely excluded, and those offering to pay for the insertion of names will be prosecuted. As persons become eligible they will be included without solicitation, while the pages will be expurgated of others should good luck warrant."<br /><br />Each section is shared by three readers: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/231">Sean McGaughey</a> (Sections 1-12), <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/75">Jim Mowatt</a> (Sections 1-4), <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/254">Alan Davis Drake</a> (Sections 1-2), <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1066">Laurie Anne Walden</a> (Sections 3-12), and <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1401">Sibella Denton</a> (Sections 5-12).

5Comic History of England

By Bill Nye

Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye (1850 – 1896) was a distinguished American journalist, who later became widely known as a humorist. Jim “jimmowatt” Mowatt is a distinguished LibriVox volunteer, widely known for his continued devotion both to regularly producing the LibriVox Community Podcast and to regularly creating more and more history audiobooks for the public domain, renowned for his humor and his historically kind demeanor, lately recognized as holding a diploma as well as a mic. In light of that new holding, in celebration of graduation, this bit of history has been recorded with Jim in mind, owing to all that we owe him, glowing with glee that we know him, it’s what we’ve done just to show him that he’s a jolly good fellow. (Summary by Anita and Alan)

6One Third Off

By Irvin S. Cobb

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (June 23, 1876–March 11, 1944) was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and wrote over 60 books and 300 short stories. Cobb has been described as "having a round shape, bushy eyebrows, full lips, and a triple chin. He always had a cigar in his mouth." This book is a hilarious account of Cobb's attempts at weight-loss. (Summary from wikipedia)

7Europe Revised

By Irvin S. Cobb

Irwin Cobb's humorous Europe Revised is a travelogue and comedy almost in the style of Mark Twain. The dedication says it best, "To My Small Daughter<br /> Who bade me shed a tear at the tomb of Napoleon, which I was very glad to do, because when I got there my feet certainly were hurting me."

8What's Wrong With the World

By G. K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) has been called the “prince of paradox.” Time magazine observed of his writing style: “Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out.” His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction.<br /><br />The title of Chesteron’s 1910 collection of essays was inspired by a title given to him two years earlier by The Times newspaper, which had asked a number of authors to write on the topic: “What’s wrong with the world?”. Chesterton’s answer at that time was the shortest of those submitted - he simply wrote: “Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton”. In this collection he gives a fuller treatment of the question, with his characteristic conservative wit. (Summary by Wikipedia and Carl Manchester)

9Stage Land

By Jerome K. Jerome

A comic look at the curious habits and customs of the inhabitants of 'Stage Land'. Dedicated to 'that highly respectable but unnecessarily retiring individual, of whom we hear so much but see so little, "the earnest student of drama".'

These eleven files are miscellaneous short essays or stories from G.K. Chesterton. They were chosen for not only their brevity but also for being shining exemplars of Chesterton's wit and whimsy. A fun but powerful introduction into the mind of the man that is G.K. Chesterton. (Summary by GK Cleveland)