Books in the news; James Thurber and Bennett Cerf

Alex bought all the books in the news. A quick look at a newly published material and books of current interest. Your host is Alex Boyd in the serials department at the University of Illinois Library to American humor a standout in the 20th century might devote their efforts to capturing the humor inherent in Americana. The phrase James Thurber is best when handling the anecdote or tales remembered from his childhood. For the most part his forte is their original tongue in cheek type tale. The catch is the read off of God with his improbable characters and their improbable situations. The other great American humorist I believe is Bennett Cerf not necessarily as original as Thurber. He has been godless produced a long list of books which range the gambit of American humor and the treasury of atrocious puns published by Harper and Row. He has proved himself to be the champion of the most gut rending of all types of jokes the pun in this volume has brought together all of the puns he has collected over the years many of which appeared before in his other collections. The

peculiar attribute of the pun seems to be that it must be awful to be good with this is a measure there are some very very good puns in this book. Anyone who can read through the entire collection without a groan surely deserves some sort of an award. In fact the forward issues a warning to the reader to not try and read too many of the puns at one sitting and I fully agree. The author begins with a short history upon man ship which of course begins with the part about Adam and Eve. This particular pun serves to set the flavor of the collection. Eve asked Adam what's wrong with eating this little apple. Adam replies I'll bite. Since puns are not supposed to get better it's all downhill from this point. The book is divided into different sections with puns about animals showbusiness sex the law sports business and other areas receiving their due. In addition the author includes many of the variations of the plan puns on proverbs song titles riddles limericks and the quick one liners. Of late the pundits

seem to have lost quite a bit of its following. The present generation leans more towards graffiti which of course has been forced to by protest groups and college students. It has caught on to the extent that one large college offers a course in it. Students taking the course spend quite a bit of time in a sort of published public washrooms collecting specimens since the best graffiti is apparently ensconced on toilet walls. The plan real probability never gain this distinction for what is the true joke of them which are popping up in almost any situation. When it does it usually draws immediate attention and alerts is very clever. Immediate Abreu abuse some of the plans you will find in this manual doubtingly have heard or read before in any collection of human there always seems to be one joke that you are certain your grandfather had when he was a boy. Regardless it's hard to imagine not finding at least one that you would want to quote at the office or at a party. Remember however

that since it's nearly forbidden to laugh at a plan try to pick one that is particularly bad and you will surely be rewarded with howls of displeasure. And when reading the treasury of atrocious puns do it in private. That way no one will wonder about the intermittent groans and chuckles. This is altogether quite an enjoyable little collection. And if it reaches the audience it deserves it may signal a revival of the plan. I want to max just but to return to favor. There have been books in the new was prepared and presented by Alex boy and sponsored by the Illinois State Library. This program was distributed by the national educational radio network.