baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
do you lot actually laugh when you read these books? out loud? cos ive read a lot of these books and maybe a thin smile played across my lips a couple of times but nothing i'd actually describe as laughter..... moby dick? gulliver? dickens? i hope youre not the sort of people that laugh ostentaiously during peformances of shakespeare
Generally I'd agree with this. I think, as I remember, I posed the question first time around because so few books do make me laugh, rather than just acknowledge some witticism with a wry smile. I think I find comedy dates very quickly. For example, I read Waugh and Stella Gibbons etc, and...I can see how they would've been funny, definitely, but no longer. Comedy that stands up after 70/80 years is incredibly rare, in my opinion. Which is why, say, Groucho Marx is quite remarkable.