Marriott Library Unrequired Reading

Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_humor.html

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Humorous Novels (and one essay collection) Many of my favorite novels are the ones that have made me laugh. Some of the books on this list may have real literary merit; others are just funny. I intentionally avoided the classics (Candide, Catch-22, et al.) to focus on contemporary works and lesser-known titles that I feel deserve a wider readership.

Daddy's Boy: The Shocking Account of Life with a Famous Father / Chris Elliott; with Rebuttals by Bob Elliott / PN6162 .E47 1989 / Stacks, Level Two. This mock autobiography borrows liberally from Mommie Dearest, The Poseidon Adventure, and a host of celebrity tell-all cliches. Great photos too! Blue Heaven / Joe Keenan / PS3561.E365 B56 1988 / Stacks, Level Two. A phony marriage (just for the presents) and the mob get tangled up in this novel by the Executive Producer of the television show Frasier. Thank You For Smoking / Christopher Buckley / PS3552.U339 T48 1994 / Stacks, Level Two. The adventures of a desperate tobacco lobbyist: conspiracies, Hollywood producers, and Beltway politics. Little Green Men / PS3552.U339 L58 1999 / Stacks, Level Two. What if alien abductions were the work of a top secret government agency? And what if a disgruntled operative got drunk and decided to make a respected television pundit his next target? And what if that pundit went public with his story? The Winshaw Legacy or What a Carve Up! / Jonathan Coe / PR6053 .O26 1995 / Stacks, Level Two. Family skeletons, an old British B movie, and an obsession with Yuri Gagarin converge in this complicated and original novel. What the Dogs Have Taught Me and Other Amazing Things I've Learned / Merrill Markoe / PN6231.D68 M35 1992 / Stacks, Level Two. What you will learn from reading this essay collection by the original head writer for Late Night with David Letterman: how to tell if you're turning into Zsa Zsa Gabor; things you can get away with when you live alone; and the dangers of canned hams. Lloyd: What Happened / Stanley Bing / PS3552.I48 L57 1998 / Stacks, Level Two. Lloyd is given the thankless task of spearheading his company's downsizing/ reengineering. A hilarious satire of the contemporary corporate world, illustrated with absurd business clip art, bar graphs, and pie charts. (Bing is a pseudonym for Gil Schwartz, a vice-president for CBS.) Tooth Imprints on a Corndog / Mark Leyner / PS3562.E99 T66 1995 / Stacks, Level Two. Ever wonder what the Marx Brothers would be like on an LSD-fuelled trip through Disneyland with Hunter S Thompson? Mark Leyner's writing is as close as you'll get to finding out. Fabulous Nobodies: A Novel About a Girl Who's in Love with Her Clothes / Lee Tulloch/ PR9619.3 .T795 F34 1989b / Stacks, Level Two. Enter the fashion world and New York club scene (if you can get past the doorman) with Reality Nirvana Tuttle as your guide. Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog! / Jerome K. Jerome / PR4825.J3 A7753 1998

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/ Stacks, Level Two. Mirthful adventures related by one of the funniest British writers of the 20th Century. Christmas Pudding / Nancy Mitford / PR6025.I88 C57 / Stacks, Level Two. A young writer learns that literary critics have mistaken his very serious first novel for a parody. Meanwhile, the fashionable set arrives from London for a madcap Yuletide holiday in a classic English country house.

Melanie Hawks, Marriott Library

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