There are very few authors who can
make you do that – so cherish the ones who do succeed
Sitting at my table for one as I waited
for my lunch to be served, I slipped in my earphones and resumed listening to
Meryl Streep reading that Nora Ephron classic, Heartburn. (Yes, I am happy to
report that I have finally got the hang of audio books – but that’s a story for
another day.) Before I knew it, my surroundings had slipped away and I was in
Nora-world where her husband had fallen in love with an impossibly-tall person
while she (Nora, not the girlfriend) was seven months pregnant. But while this
may sound like tragedy to most of us (and it most assuredly was) Ephron managed
to spin comedy gold out of the disaster that was the collapse of her marriage.
Which is how I found myself laughing out
aloud at one of the (many) funny bits. And such was my absorption in the tale
being told into my ears that it took me a while to realize that the people in
the restaurant were looking at me funny as well. What on earth was a grown
woman doing laughing uproariously into her Malaysian prawn curry? Aware that I
probably looked certifiable I tried to compose myself. It lasted for about a
couple of minutes. And then Meryl hissed into my ear about how her husband
would even have sex with a Venetian blind, and I was in giggles yet again.
Finally I decided to just give in to the
comic bits that would set me off regularly and laugh along with the narrative.
After all, the other people in the restaurant had already written me off as a
mad old bat, so what did I have to lose?
Besides how often do you get the
privilege of reading (or listening to) a book that is genuinely laugh-out-loud
funny? Not very often at all, I am afraid. So, when you finally hit upon one –
or in my case, re-read it in a different format – then it makes sense to
clamber on for a fun-filled ride, punctuated with giggles and chuckles, never
mind if you are in public as you chortle away. You folks can keep your
judgement. I am happy in my enjoyment.
As I drove back home, I began thinking of
the other authors who have the knack of making us laugh out loud like Nora
Ephron had managed to do with me that afternoon. The first name that popped
into my head was that old childhood favourite, P.G. Wodehouse. My mind flashed
back to all the many summer holidays spent devouring the entire Castle of
Blandings oeuvre, giggling over the antics of the Earl of Emsworth and his
prize-winning pig called, appropriately enough, the Empress of Blandings, and
the ever-efficient Baxter, his private secretary, and the whole host of
supporting characters who populate his whimsical plots. Once I had swallowed
this whole series whole, I had moved on to the Jeeves and Wooster omnibus,
which kept me whooping with laughter yet again as I navigated the world of the
doltish Bertie Wooster and his ever-resourceful and masterful manservant
Jeeves.
My teenage years were also when I
discovered another of my favourite comic writers. I know that most people think
of Georgette Heyer as a romantic novelist because she is best known for her
‘Regency Romances’. But what most people who haven’t read her don’t realize is
that she is also a dab hand at comedy. Her convoluted plots provide enough
space to slot in comic bits and Heyer does a great job at working them in
seamlessly. If you want to see Heyer at her comic best, read The Grand Sophy,
The Talisman Ring, Cotillion. Or actually, read any of her ‘romances’. Laughing
out loud comes with the territory.
Gerald Durrell was another author who
kept me in whoops in my growing-up years. There was a time in my life when I
used to re-read My Family And Other Animals once every year just so that I
could laugh at the antics of the Durrell household as they navigated life on
the island of Corfu. Last year, I went back and revisited the Durrells,
wondering if they would amuse the adult me just as much. And the short answer
is: yes, they could – and they did.
More recently, it is the books of some
female comics which have got me cackling loudly as I read them. Mindy Kaling’s
self-deprecatory humour in Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me had me chuckling
along half in recognition and half in appreciation. Tina Fey’s Bossypants did
the same trick as did Miranda Hart’s Is It Just Me? And Caitlin Moran’s How To
Be A Woman should come with a warning that you might embarrass yourself reading
it in public – as I did. (Yes, yes, I know, there are plenty of male comics out
there who are just as funny. But what can I tell you? The funny bone wants what
it wants. And in my case, it wants the female voice.)
I am sure that there are plenty of other hilariously-funny
authors out there that I am missing out on. If there are any that make you
embarrass yourself in public as you laugh out loud while reading, please share
their names with me. And I promise, in short order, to share your
embarrassment.
