Friends of the Aiken Public Library
Friends of the Aiken Public Library
See also: Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor
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The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose BierceA cynically humorous collection of definitions that appeared over the course of twenty years in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Bierce was a journalist who produced humorous pieces for various magazines. The Devil's Dictionary includes hundreds of definitions that lampoon pomposity and political rhetoric. |
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Catch-22 by Joseph HellerThe novel, set during the latter stages of the Second World War from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the Twentieth Century. It is the story of Captain Yossarian, a B-25 bombardier. It satirizes bureaucratic thinking, the absurdity of war, and the long stretches of boredom with occasional grisly interruptions that typify modern warfare. |
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Three Men in a Boat(To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. JeromeThe story of a boating holiday on the Thames. The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over. The jokes seem fresh and witty even today, over a century after it was written. |
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The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N by Leo RostenMr Kaplan is an immigrant and a pupil at a New York night class in English language. Mr Kaplan is extroverted and highly assertive, particularly when his moral sense has been outraged by some perceived injustice in class or in American history, and he frequently gets into noisy disagreements with other members of the class. Mr Kaplan usually signs his name in colored crayon with stars between the letters. |
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The Jeeves series by P. G. WodehouseA hilarious series of stories in which Bertie Wooster, a clueless and indolent upper class British twit bumbles into a series of avoidable mishaps. His manservant, the cooly competent Jeeves, repeatedly salvages the situation without even breaking a sweat. |
