Book Review: McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes
Kristin Tillotson - Knight Ridder/Tribune
Apr 01, 2008
"The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes" (Vintage Books, $12.95) is an April Fool's Day treat for literature lovers. A compilation of spoofs, sketches, lists and the like from the McSweeney's archives, it tweaks everyone from classic fiction titans to Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal.
For those with ADD, a skim of the titles alone provides enough of a laugh: Jean-Paul Sartre, 911 Operator. Jane Eyre Runs for President. Lady MacBeth on Ambien. Submission Guidelines for Our Refrigerator Door. Why I Won't Sell your Memoir to Hollywood for Millions, Grandma. But to give you the full picture, we present one entry, by John Kennan, in its entirety.
Cormac McCarthy writes to the editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican
Dear Editor,
I enjoyed reading the article on Tuesday about putting a traffic light by the interchange of Castillo and Grand streets. I aint know nothing about politics, but I seen too many cars hit too many light poles over the years. A man gets weary of it.
Just yesterday, my wife said be careful at that stop sign.
Why? I asked.
Well just a week ago the Johnsons got sideswiped by that guy who sells those turquoise stickpins in his shop on Esmeralda.
I forgot about that, I responded. And sure enough, I was careful at that stop sign. But the driver in back of me wasnt.
A truck carrying a load of lumber down from the old ancient pine forests or the newfound wrath of a somnolent god or just the terror of fading memories hit the driver square on the left side of his Volvo.
Oh s, the driver said, just before his life escaped into an incarnadine tributary on his steering wheel.
I dont want to see that again. A traffic light is needed, and that soon. Or we will continue to inhibit our temporary souls which wait like cowed children at stop signs, as it always was before those signs crept like stalks from the Earth.
Regards,
C. McCarthy, Santa Fe
©2008 McSweeney's Publishing LLC. Reprinted with permission by Vintage Books, a division of Random House Inc.
----
Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion
Copyright 2008 by Knight Ridder/Tribune
