Sunday, April 15, 2012

Book Review: The 50 Funniest American Writers according to Andy Borowitz

Editor's Note: This was saved as a draft a few months ago instead of getting posted. Sorry!
Hardcover: 461 pages
Publisher: Library of America (October 13, 2011)

I'm not going to lie. When I first heard about this book, I thought that Andy Borowitz would not only rank his favorite comedic writers in order but that he would have some sort of introduction to any pieces that there might be. Nope. Far from it. The complete opposite, in fact.

Borowitz pens an introduction to the book but does not pen intros to the pieces in the book so as to "let the writing speak for itself."

All of that said, it's a fairly good selection of American comedy writers. Having said that, Borowitz ignores stand-up albums and comedic sketches that have aired on television. Those stand-up comedians, like George Carlin, are included because of books that they wrote.

All of these writers are notable in their own ways. However, if you are like me, it is hard to read some of these writings because of the old English used. Maybe that's why it took me so long to get this one published here on the blog. I started writing and then stopped all of a sudden as if I wanted to give the book a fair shot. In fact, my original grade was a C. Then I reflected on it and decided to give it another chance.

Grade: A-

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