The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and illustrated by Weedon Grossmith

I mentioned in a previous Book Log that these authors were listed by Nick Hornby alongside P.G. Wodehouse as comic greats. The only book I found that they collaborated on was Diary of a Nobody, though George wrote others. I downloaded this book onto my Palm via Project Gutenberg¹.

First published as a magazine series in 1888, I have to quote Homer Simpson to describe it: “It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened.”

In essence, I don’t get it. There’s a website of commentary and critique, in some places calling it a work of genius. All I see is a not particularly witty account of a life of no consequence. Admittedly, one could not claim false advertising considering the title. But from a narrative point of view, there doesn’t seem to be a point.

Perhaps that’s the joke.

Though it is reportedly the only work by the authors that live on with any popularity, the brothers never commented on it publicly. Early reviews are pretty much in line with my opinion (not very funny, not very interesting) and that may explain why they didn’t talk much about it.

Of note, though, is that Diary is thought to have coined several terms in popular usage and adjusted the meaning of the word “posh” (after the character Murray Posh, a rich and successful person) to its present day definition. ‘blithering idiot,’ ‘bread-pills,’ ‘bussing,’ ‘cert’ and ‘chuck’ have references to Diary in the OED. “Pooter” and “Pooterish”, meaning taking oneself excessively seriously, comes from the main character (the nobody), Charles Pooter. I’ve never heard the term, but I guess it’s all the rage at the OED.

I am sometimes disturbed when I don’t appreciate a “classic”, believing for a moment that I must be missing something. And then I remember Lord of the Rings and realize that no, everyone else can get it wrong.

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¹ I have just noticed that there is a fair number of P.G. Wodehouse stories on that site. a-HA!

The Dark Design by Philip Jose Farmer (third book in the Riverworld Series)

I’ve already documented the possible familial ties I have to Mr. Farmer.

In the Riverworld, a planet of one long river valley with sides so high they cannot be climbed, everyone who ever lived is reincarnated at age 25 with no disease or aging, and all needs taken care of. The throughline story is: why? and, how? And, by whom?

In the second book, Samuel Clemens built a Fabulous Riverboat to get to the head of the River, had it stolen by King John, then built another one. Then everyone said, hey, wait a minute… how about a blimp?

In this book, they built a blimp or two. And drove it to the mysterious tower at the pole of the world. And we’re still not completely sure what’s going on. We have rumors.

Book 4, on it’s way via PaperBackSwap.com, promises to provide all the answers.

We shall see.

The Adrian Mole Diaries by Sue Townsend
(Compilation of the first two Adrian Mole novels, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.)

I have no idea why I ended up reading this book.

Well, some. But I can’t reconstruct the process completely.

It started with this line from Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby:

I haven’t read James Wood’s collection of essays The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel, but I’m counting on Woody to provide a useful counterbalance to that sort of high moral seriousness. So I’m presuming that all of the comic greats– P.G. Wodehouse, the Molesworth books, George and Weedon Grossmith, and so on– are present and correct between its covers.

So, here Nick Hornby, who holds Wodehouse in as high esteem as I do (if not more), has listed some other authors in the same list of comic greats. So, I investigated.

Researching today, the Molesworth books appear to be a series of classic illustrated children’s books. J.K. Rowling got the name of “Hogwarts” from these books.

The Grossmiths worked together on a novel in the late 1800s called The Diary of a Nobody. The main character is Charles Pooter, his son’s name is Lupin. Another J.K. Rowling reference?

Somehow, though, in my original research, I ended up requesting a copy of The Adrian Mole Diaries from PaperBackSwap.com. I’m not sure how that happened, but regardless, it was a good read, though intended for young adults. Another J.K. Rowling thing.

Written in diary format, (a popular British style, to be sure) it tells the story of a young obsessive-compulsive would-be-intellectual boy’s experiences in a dysfunctional family. My favorite excerpt:

SUNDAY MAY 9TH
FOURTH AFTER EASTER, MOTHER’S DAY (USA AND CANADA)
I have just realized that I have never seen a dead body or a real female nipple. This is what comes of living in a culs-de-sac.

Very witty, and true. I grew up in a culs-de-sac, and had seen neither of those things by age 13 3/4 either.

There are later books documenting Adrian’s life at various stages:

# The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole (more teenage years)
# Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians (more teenage years)
# Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (aged 23 3/4 years)
# Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (aged 30 years)
# Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (aged 33 3/4 years)

The last book is set in 2002, so Adrian is roughly my age. Though, in British years, he may be older. I’m not sure of the conversion rate.

The Education of Gregory McDonald – Writings about America 1966-1973 by Gregory McDonald

Originally, it was my desire to read everything Gregory McDonald has written. He was written a lot of fun books, such as the Fletch series, the Flynn series and his attempt at being Charles Dickens, Safekeeping¹. But I’ve been burned a few times by his stuff. The Skylar and Son of Fletch books are sort of bland. I couldn’t even tell you why. I picked up the completely unreadable Merely Players, which as far as I can tell was intended to be “literature”, but read more like a soap opera that takes itself seriously.

I’m not particularly interested in the era that McDonald writes in this book. Apparently, he was a reporter covering this and that during the time… interviewing Warhol, Baez, Kerouac and other famous people, along with the less famous.

While it was somewhat interesting, he often went into Opaque Mode, where I simply didn’t understand what the heck he was saying. I made a mental note of one particular paragraph to include here, but like most mental notes I make, I lost it somewhere between my mother’s birthday and instructions to take out the garbage.

Flynn’s World has been out for four years. I should get a copy.

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¹ While he failed to be Dickens, he wrote a fine book nonetheless.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

No Comment.

I ain’t no spoiler-monkey.

Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren’t as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures from the Sky, Parents Who Disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Couldn’t Quite Finish, So Maybe You Could Help Us Out. Stories by Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, Jon Scieszka, Jonathan Safran Foer, and more.

I didn’t realize this was a children’s book when I ordered it from McSweeney’s, but that’s quite all right. I’m glad to have read it. It may or may not be a children’s book, but I think it should be.

There was a more simply titled book that my grandmother gave me when I was growing up, Wonders: Writings & Drawings for the Child in Us All that was a larger collection, though with similarly eccentric storytelling by an impressive roster of writers. Noisy Outlaws appears to be a shorter, smaller, modern version of Wonders.

I love the now out-of-print Wonders to this day. I still have my copy, sitting waiting on my son’s bookcase, on a shelf somewhat higher than he can reach yet. In the days before Amazon’s used book service, I searched far and wide and with much effort and some expense procured a copy for my niece and nephew, who may or may not have lost it, since I’ve never seen it on their bookshelves since. After the advent of half.com, I bought a copy for $0.50 plus shipping for my wife’s best friend’s kids, who reportedly loved it.

So, I guess I know who’s getting a copy of Noisy Outlaws at next available opportunity.

The Best American Essays 1996

I read this while in the emergency room between midnight and 6:30am. I wasn’t drawn in by any of the essays… I can’t remember a single one. It may have been the conditions in which I was reading, or it may have just been an off year.

So, eh.

Finding Serenity: Anti-heroes, Lost Shepherds, and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon’s Firefly Edited by Jane Espenson

The second fan book I read in a row. A series of essays by random people (including one by the Kaylee actress), written before the movie came out.

There was a funny parody of how Fox decided to cancel the series, told through a fictional series of memos sent to Joss.

There was a somewhat interesting history of westerns and sci-fi, and how Gene Roddenberry, while doing great things, also ruined it for everyone else.

Jewel Staite just wrote a piece about her favorite bits from the episodes. Bleh.

A little bit about the story behind Firefly creation and production.

All in all, I’m just going to stop reading books about TV series. I’m not a hardcore fanboy at heart.