Humor Classics

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome tells the story of three friends and their dog after they decide to take a boating trip along the Thames River. Taking a boat along the river was a popular way to spend a few days at the time, but most people who indulged in the activity probably didn't have as adventurous a time as J, George, Harris, and Montmorency the fox terrier when they came upon the perfect way (at least, it seems like this at the time) to spend their summer holidays.

Lenny Hodge and his supernatural team are once again called on by Terrifitemps (the temporary employment agency that secretly controls the world) to save the Earth from a dire fate! The sinister Grubnoids have appeared from deep beneath the surface of our world, ready to fulfill their destiny! The Grubnoids plan to recreate every television show ever broadcast, and they will use the entire population of Earth as their unwilling puppets! Will Lenny and his talented team save the day? Or will the entire population of our planet become part of a game show that never ends?

Alice is hiding an unusual power, a power that she has to keep secret. In movies, this would make Alice a superhero, a principal character with a sparky trick up her sleeve. However, in the reality of office life, this power is proving to be a pain in the rear end. Alice gives out massive static shocks. Alright, this might not be the most spectacular gift, but it can fuse electrical circuits, cripple low-life creeps on the underground, and foil bank robberies.

When Connecticut mechanic and foreman Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious, he wakes not to the familiar scenes of 19th century America, but to the bewildering sights and sounds of 6th century Camelot. Although confused at first and quickly imprisoned, he soon realizes that his knowledge of the future can transform his fate. Correctly predicting a solar eclipse from inside his prison cell, Morgan terrifies the people of England into releasing him and swiftly establishes himself as the most powerful magician in the land, stronger than Merlin and greatly admired by Arthur himself.

As the demons gather to debate John’s disappearance the scattered parts of his soul plan revenge on those responsible. All that stands between him and success is his newly acquired Tourette’s Syndrome and an increasing list of pursuers. Demons, Satan, shadow souls and a gang of deceased murderous dictators all want a piece of him. Fortunately there’s plenty to go around. Meanwhile the pigeon, Sandy Logan, contemplates his unfulfilled ambitions. What if he ruled Hell? All he needs is an army and a plan to spark revolution.

My Hellicorn keeps pestering me to take a trip to the beach with him, my pet demons want a family fun day out, and my demon partner wants to start a war with the local Yakuza clan.... And that’s just before breakfast. As the FPD’s only occult investigator, I deal with a lot more than your average cop, and often that means babysitting a bunch of volatile demons...when I’m not working cases that is. Speaking of which, a pregnant girl has walked into the precinct claiming she has a monster in her belly, put there by a demon-worshiping cult.

Being murdered. Not so great. Waking up in your least-favorite game afterwards...While trying to figure what the whole “sword” thing is all about and which end of it he’s supposed to point at the cuddly, woodland creatures who keep giving him owies, Lucas stumbles across a player who looks rather familiar. Is he the man who murdered him? If he is, why is he in the game, and how can Lucas make him pay for what he did? Worse yet, Lucas’s pretty sure he left the stove and the air on before the whole getting murdered thing. Worst day ever.

I thought I was a goner after my old frenemy Odin dropped a Ragnarok-sized truth bomb on me at an Asgard Awakening (terrible show - don't watch it) fan convention, but the situation is contained for now, and I'm heading west to search for the runes that make me immortal. Dying is counterproductive, and I, the great god Loki, enjoy living in the twenty-first century, even if I have to do it in a body that prefers men over women. What can I say? Gunnar Magnusson is, as the cool Midgardian kids say, hot AF. We all make sacrifices.

Catherine Sloper, the heroine of this tragicomic tale set in mid-19th century New York, is absolutely ordinary in every way except for her exceptional capacities in love and loyalty. These latter qualities are of no interest to her father, the successful society Doctor who is constantly disappointed by his daughter's failure to be brilliant, either physically or intellectually. For this reason, he is highly suspicious when Morris Townsend begins to woo her and is convinced the handsome young man's interest is only in the fortune Catherine will eventually inherit.

Where There’s a Will is Mary Roberts Rinehart’s hilarious comedy involving a health spa, an heir, a would-be princess, and an impostor. The story is told by Minnie, who has essentially run the spa for years and inherited the care of its famous spring from her father. When the old doctor dies and leaves the Hope Springs Spa to his near-do-well grandson with the stipulation that he live on premises for two months in order to inherit, the grandson is nowhere to be found. So Minnie tries to save the spa by enlisting the help of family and friends to trick the lawyer....

Having escaped being burnt at the stake, the reluctant sorcerer Fursey is back in this sequel, trying to make a quiet life for himself as a grocer in the realm of King Ethelwulf. But when his old enemies seize his wife, Fursey resolves to embrace evil and return to Ireland to reclaim her. Along the way, he'll have to contend with bloodthirsty Vikings, a melancholy vampire, an alcoholic wizard, a lovesick cow, and Satan himself, who is more determined than ever to get his hands on Fursey's soul.

"Il fu Mattia Pascal", il romanzo più famoso e amato di Pirandello, scritto nel 1903, ruota attorno al tema dell'individualità e dell'introspezione. Il bibliotecario Mattia Pascal fugge da un matrimonio infelice a Montecarlo, dove riesce a vincere una discreta somma. Tornando a casa scopre dal giornale di essere morto. Subito si inventa un'altra identità, convinto di poter cambiare vita, ma inesorabilmente si ritroverà prigioniero delle convenzioni e delle regole cui ha tentato di sottrarsi.

Thomas wanted a simple, stable existence, but saddled with unemployment, an absentee girlfriend, and the impending unpaid rent, change is hurtling down on him whether he likes it or not. Following the sudden murder of his strange elderly neighbor, he awakens on the wrong side of the Veil transformed into a mountain lion, and thrust into a dangerous world of magic.

Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's first published book. This comedy of manners is set in England, London, and Kent during the 1790s. Tackling love and heartbreak, the story follows the lives of the Dashwood sisters as they settle in their new home.

Becky Sharp has big dreams and no connections. Determined to swap the gutters of Soho for the glamorous, exclusive world behind the velvet rope, Becky will do anything to achieve fame, riches and status. Whether it’s seducing society’s most eligible bachelors, or befriending silly debutantes and rich old ladies, Becky Sharp is destined for great things. Because it might be tough at the top but it’s worse at the bottom.

After Hank Morgan of Hartford, Connecticut, takes a blow to the head, he inexplicably awakens in sixth-century Camelot. At first lost and confused, the time traveler soon realizes that he can use modern knowledge and his ability to foretell the future to his advantage. Consequently, he is granted a place in the king’s court as Arthur’s right-hand man. When the Catholic Church grows fearful of his power, the Connecticut Yankee aims higher and concocts a grandiose plan to bring American ideals to sixth-century England to change the future.

The Getting of Wisdom, a wicked and satirical novel on the pain and confusion of growing up, first appeared in 1910. A century later, it has lost none of its bite. One of the most memorable characters in Australian fiction, Laura Rambotham, aged 12, enters the portals of an exclusive girls' school eager to be accepted. But this precocious country girl is snubbed and ridiculed by her fellow students, who are richer, more attractive, and more adept at dealing with life's hypocrisies.

Set in a small Cotswold town, Inspector Hobbes and the Blood is a fast-paced comedy cozy mystery fantasy about the adventures of Andy, an incompetent reporter, when he is reluctantly working with Inspector Hobbes, a police detective with a reputation. Andy soon finds himself immersed in a world where not everyone is human, and a late-night visit to a churchyard nearly results in grave consequences, and a ghoulish outcome. An accidental fire leads to Andy having to doss in Hobbes's spare room.

In his first published work in prose, James Joyce paints vivid portraits of the people of Dublin, his city of birth, in a collection of stories whose larger purpose, he said, was to depict a "moral history of Ireland". From the first story, in which a young boy encounters death, to the haunting final story involving the middle-aged Gabriel, the book gives an unflinching and realistic portrayal of "dear, dirty Dublin" in the early 20th-century.

Taniya Sexton is an ordinary downtrodden girl with authority issues. Having the working day from hades, she is sucked from our reality and into the fifth dimension when summoned to wage a war. Instantly she's elevated to god status and is worshipped as the almighty god Amrak.