My favorite books are about real life—so that includes a lot of stories about death, divorce, illnesses, dying dogs, catastrophes and other melancholic topics. If you have similar tastes, you may need a laugh, so here are a few funny book blogs that will make up for all of the usual misery you like to read:
I am pleased to find some authors are giving books better, more descriptive titles (see “Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons which is in fact about angry housewives who eat bon-bons and “Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children” which is actually about a school for peculiar children run by a woman named Miss Peregrine). However, most books do not have titles that describe what the book is about. That is why every book club discussion guide ever written includes the question: “Why did the author give the book this title and what does it mean?”
Better Book Titles is a blog that allows submitters to retitle books to better describe what the reader can expect. Just think how much easier it would have been to have had these titles in choosing whether to read the following famous books:
· “A Clockwork Orange” Anthony Burgess. Retitled: “Way Easier to Watch than Read.”
· “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson. Retitled: “This is the First Book I’ve Read in Six Years.”
· “War And Peace” by Leo Tolstoy. Retitled: “War and Peace and Russians and Hard Names to Remember and Even Harder to Pronounce and Lots of Talk, Talk, Talk. And Snow.”
· “Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer. Retitled: “1001 Reasons it *Stinks* to be Vegan.”
Beware—some of the retitles are a bit risqué.
Most libraries have “deselection” policies. We use these guidelines as a way to remove outdated material and to keep information up to date and reliable. Awful Library Books is a site that contains actual, current library books that should have resulted in a librarian getting her license revoked!
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| From 1978's "The Complete Guide to Disco Dancing" by Karen Lustgarten 535 libraries own this title (including one here in Stillwater). |
· 1978’s “Child Safety is No Accident: A Parents’ Handbook of Emergencies.” A major concern of this book includes not letting children play in or around mine shafts.
· 1963’s “Let’s Visit Australia.” In discussing Australia’s troubling low population, the author explains that “there is a fear that if Asians are admitted, soon there would be so many people of the yellow races that the white Australian way of life would be in danger.”
· 1988’s “The Re-Mating Game: Dating and Relating in Middle Life.” Top tip? Why not try a Love Boat style cruise?
Bless their hearts—sci fi readers like my dear hub feel like they must eternally justify their reading habits. In reality, it is just those awful covers that give many sci-fi books a bad rap. Good Show Sir contains the best of the worst of these covers.
If you’ve come across an awesomely funny book blog, send it in. We all need a good laugh!
Stillwater, OK
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