Remember Steve Martin’s characters, the wild and crazy guys? There are a few I have read and liked very much.
Peter De Vries was from the Dutch area of Michigan. He wrote
- Comfort Me with Apples
- The Tents of Wickedness
- The Blood of the Lamb and many other novels.
His work had a strong tinge of reference to Christianity. He can be funny enough to leave a person gasping for breath.
Tom Robbins is another wild and crazy guys. I am not that wild and crazy and I have to be in the mood to read one. But when I am in the mood, it is freeing and uplifting, especially from the comfort of a good chair, to assume the spirit of a wild man. I have enjoyed
- Jitterbug Perfume
- Fierce Invalids Home from Warm Climes
Christopher Moore is a third writer with a delightfully twisted sense of humor. Again, if you are not in the mood, he can be a little silly but in the mood, he is uplifting and refreshing.
- Fluke or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
- The Island of Sequined Love Nun
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
I have been looking for books that meant a lot to me as a child and borrowing them for my great grandson to hear. His mom read Robert Lawson’s “The Fabulous Flight” and “Smeller Martin” to him. Both of those books are over 50 years old and can be difficult to locate, although citizens like me and professional librarians too have more and better tools at hand to do so than ever before. Peter De Vries is deceased and Tom Robbins isn’t writing all that much these days. Christopher Moore just came out with “Fool”, his version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. I don’t have as good a grasp of Shakespeare as I would like but I do believe that his place at the top of English writing is deserved. Returning the recently borrowed book, I looked through the new books shelf and there was “Fool”, which I had been considering buying. How could I not take it and read it?
At the beginning, King Lear is old and tired and decides to split up his kingdom between his three daughters. The first two fall all over themselves publicly stating that they love Daddy beyond measure, beyond life, etc. The 3rd, the King’s favorite until now, refuses to engage in such crap and says she love her father appropriately. Daddy blows up. The fool’s job is to keep smiles on everyone’s face and to crack jokes, He does so but it ain’t easy going.
