Fiction / Humor

Anchor Books, 1995. Soft Cover. Fine. A funny but researched book on why husbands act the way they do; why they hate Sunday, why men think women control the dating and marriage thing etc. 272 pages, including notes. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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New York: Hill and Wang, 1965. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Fair. Coker, Paul. A new collection of jokes, yarns, tall tales and humorous lore from the golf links, country clubs, and locker rooms of the world of golf. Drawings throughout the book. Jacket cover has a humorous drawing on the front, with a photograph on the back. Several small tears at the top and wrinkles of the jacket overall (folded improperly). Kroch's & Brentano's price sticker is still on the back. Binding is cloth. 181 Pages. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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St. Martin's Press, 1994. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Fine. Jacket has a few scuffs on the edges. The third book about Brulagh, and the various scams and tricks that take place. 220 pages, 5.5" x 8.25" high. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Garden City Publishing, 1947. Hard Cover. Fair/No Jacket. Cerf, Bennett. Some wear at all edges and tears on the top and bottom spine. Inside front cover has the name of the prior owner written in. 378 pages, including a table of contents and index. Pages are yellowed and jokes on the first few pages are underlined. Some pages have small tears at the top. Includes many humorous illustrations. 5.25" x 8" high. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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San Antonio, TX: The Naylor Company, 1968. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Good. What would you do if the andirons suddenly bounded out from under the burning logs in your fireplace, stopped on the hearth, shook the sparks from their backs and began trotting around the room? In this collection of tales, you will learn not only how to cope with runaway andirons but other such extraordinary information as how to grow a whiskey patch, how to nail with a fish, and how giant, restless, underground turtles provide Texas with its vast supply of oil. The author has refined the art of tall storytelling and, with the true storyteller's ability to make the impossible seem not only possible, but logical and even commonplace, he takes the read on an hilarious journey through his beloved Trinity River Bottomlands in East Texas. 158 pages. The jacket, in a protective cover, is price-clipped with a 1" tear at the spine head and a tiny tear at the spine tail. The corners are worn, one with a 1/4" tear. There is a 1/2" tear at the back bottom, and both the edge sand spine appear sunned. There is some paper missing on the spine at the word 'bottom'. Above the author's inscription is a gift inscription for a prior owner. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Avon Books, 1989. Soft Cover. Near Fine/No Jacket. First Avon dition; book has never been read. The cover is near fine. There is a scuff mark on the front. In this book, two elderly ladies, one blind, drive across America to Los Angeles. One drives and one directs. . . . 386 pages, 5 x 7.75. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001. First American Edition. Hard Bound, Cloth. New/New. This novel is a grand and comic story of midlife crises and dubious spiritual quests. World-weary Frank Kaufmann is in the midst of a classic midlife crisis. Long abandoning his dreams, he settled for marriage to a tidy-minded, thoroughly competent Claudia. She finds solace in her guru while their sullen teenager, Franka, falls for a lama and plans to move to India. Hoping to dissuade her, Frank takes her to a meditation center in the south of France, hoping that closer acquaintance with the Buddhist way of life will bring her to her senses. Fred is in for all sorts of surprises as one twist after another brings him face to face with himself. 242 pages, no marks or tears. Includes an attached woven bookmark. Price is not clipped. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001. First American Edition. Hard Bound, Cloth. New/New. This novel is a grand and comic story of midlife crises and dubious spiritual quests. World-weary Frank Kaufmann is in the midst of a classic midlife crisis. Long abandoning his dreams, he settled for marriage to a tidy-minded, thoroughly competent Claudia. She finds solace in her guru while their sullen teenager, Franka, falls for a lama and plans to move to India. Hoping to dissuade her, Frank takes her to a meditation center in the south of France, hoping that closer acquaintance with the Buddhist way of life will bring her to her senses. Fred is in for all sorts of surprises as one twist after another brings him face to face with himself. 242 pages, no marks or tears. Includes an attached woven bookmark. Price is not clipped. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001. First American Edition. Hard Bound, Cloth. New/New. This novel is a grand and comic story of midlife crises and dubious spiritual quests. World-weary Frank Kaufmann is in the midst of a classic midlife crisis. Long abandoning his dreams, he settled for marriage to a tidy-minded, thoroughly competent Claudia. She finds solace in her guru while their sullen teenager, Franka, falls for a lama and plans to move to India. Hoping to dissuade her, Frank takes her to a meditation center in the south of France, hoping that closer acquaintance with the Buddhist way of life will bring her to her senses. Fred is in for all sorts of surprises as one twist after another brings him face to face with himself. 242 pages, no marks or tears. Includes an attached woven bookmark. Price is not clipped. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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HarperCollinsPublishers, 1991. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 1991; HB with DJ. DJ is fine, no tears, only the slightest wear at the top and bottom of spine. The cover is also fine, no marks. The price has not been clipped. The book is about a pair of mismatched lovers researching the truth about Christopher Columbus. One is an anthropologist and finds an important artifact that puts their lives in danger. 382 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2001. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine. Heartbreaking and wickedly funny, Rides of the Midway whirls through the manic Mississippi nights of haunted teenager Noel Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon is many things: An unwitting clairvoyant, an extreme asthma sufferer, a ghost-seeing insomniac, an endearing dopehead, a wanna-be erotic photographer, a would-be baseball star, a lamentable virgin, and a suspected, somnambulent mercy-killer. Spinning in ten directions at once by his passions and missteps, he finds himself haunted by ghosts both real and imagined: By the specter of the boy he knocked into oblivion while sliding home in a Little League game, and by the spirit of his father, a POW who disappeared in Vietnam. The binding is deep green and black in a moire pattern. The jacket has a scuff mark on the back. 316 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1999. First Edition. Hard Bound, Cloth. New/New. This wonderful book is the author's first novel. Hanako Shimodo feels that Luciano Pavarotti is a god. To her daughter, Emily, this fixation is a harmless fantasy, the by-product of her mother's loneliness. Emily tells this story about what happens when her mother acts on her fantasy and invites the opera star to a post-performance supper at their Westchester County home. Emily is home after college working her summer job, which she dislikes almost as much as living back at home. At first Hanako seems pretty much her old self, still reliving her Japanese childhood, still adoring Pavarotti. But when it becomes clear that she is renovating the house in preparation for the visit from Pavarotti, Emily is suddenly confronted with a familiar quandry: How to deal with a parent who might be losing it! The binding is an attractive light green speckled paper. 243 pages, no marks or tears. Price not clipped. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/No Jacket. A compilation of stories previously published in the magazine Harpers. Includes short stories by such authors as Mark Twain, E. B. White, Jean Kerr, James Thurber, A.B. Guthrie, Jr., Shirley Jackson, John Updike and many others. 304 pages including index; no marks or tears noted. The medium green cloth binding has a spot on the front that is much lighter than the rest. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, New York, U.S.A.: E P Dutton, 2002. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Al Franken, or Dr. Al Franken as he prefers to be called, has written the first truly indispensible book of the new millennium. It's filled with wisdom, observations, and practical tips you can put to work right away, Oh, the Things I Know! is a cradle-to-grave guide to living, an easy-to-follow users manual for human existence. What does a megasuccess like Al Franken have to say to ordinary people? Well, As Dr. Al himself says "There's no point in getting advice from hopeless failures." So go ahead, get yourself a laugh! Or two! 157 pages. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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Viking Press, 1993. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine. HB with DJ. DJ fine, minor scuffs, binding fine. 282 pages, fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Random House Adult Trade Publishing Group, 1989. 2nd Printing. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Fine. From burning beds to drivers ed., from a disastrous wedding to the joy of tree climbing, from the rewards of grandparenthood to simple but surprising wisdom from the head of a Zen Buddhist monastery, Fulghum's gift for finding the meaning in life rather than the meaning of life permeates every page of this humorous and compassionate book. The binding front has a two tiny spots on it. 218 pages, no marks or tears. Prior owner's sig. inside front board. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1989. Soft Cover. Near Fine/No Jacket. Grass shows himself at the peak of his linguistic inventiveness, with ingenious construction and imaginative richness and scope, buoyed throughout by irreverent, frequently outrageous humor. This story begins in the Stone Age, when a talking fish is caught by a fisherman, at the very spot where millennia later Grass's home town, Danzig, will arise. Like the fish, the fisherman is immortal. Down the ages they move together, from matriarchy to patriarchy, the latter brought about by the Flounder's insidious counseling to the males held under female subjection. The relationship of the sexes in the periods when men made history and women's contribution went largely unacknowledged, and the history and importance of nutrition throughout the ages, form the two great themes of the novel. The cover has a vertical cut near the right bottom; it does not go through the cover. 547 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1995. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine. Few people know the absurdities of American politics better than Jeff Greenfield, ABC News' award-winning political and media analyst, and he's poured them all into one of the funniest, scariest, most plausible what-if novels ever written. When the President-elect dies just two days after his close victory, the universal assumption is that his running mate moves up. After all, isn't that the way the Constitution works? Well, actually - no. Until the electoral college meets in December, nobody has been elected, and with the candidate dead, the electors can indeed vote for the vice-presidential candidate - or they can vote for the other guy, their mothers-in-law, or (cringe) Geraldo Rivera, for that matter. The dj has minor wear at the top edge. 309 pages, no marks or tears. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Villard Books, 1988. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. As Grizzard, the author, sees it, sex is involved in just about everything, from selling cars and clothes to selling grain elevators(?)! Our newest sexpert has determined that sex was involved in the Louisiana Purchase. He has promised that he didn't use any really dirty word, nothing his mother would be ashamed of. 245 pages, no marks or tears. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Diamond Books, 1994. No Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Jacket is near fine with a few chips; Binding is near fine, glossy and is the same as the jacket. The front bottom spine has a small dig in it, as though dropped. These two novels equal 800 pages, no marks or tears. 5.25" x 8.75 " high. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Charleston, SC, U.S.A.: Wyrick & Company, 1988. 12th Printing. Trade Paperback. Fine/No Jacket. Thompson, Bill. In the arrangement of the 25 games in this book there is method to the madness, as well as madness in the method. After the first chapter on the pervasive punnery in our lives come several games involving punnish signs and license plates that are all around us. Next appears A Primer of Puns, followed by several games in different categories. Thankfully, the answers appear at the end. Author signature on the title page. 149 pages, no marks or tears. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1962. Hard Bound. Fine/Very Good. The dust jacket has a small amount of wear at edges. 159 pages, slight yellowing at page edges. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. A humorous, insightful novel about friends and families. Two guys are roommates; Marcus, a very straight man who's had a bottomless pit of relationships, attempting to finish his dissertation (in his tenth year). The other, Clyde, is a teacher at a posh adult education center. He spends too much time obsessing over his former lover, Gordon, and eating up biographies; he's satisfied that the most eventful and interesting lives end in tragedy. His roommate's life turns upside down when a friend of Clyde's, and onetime lover of Marcus, shows up with a child and a neurotic stray dog in tow. Oh Marcus, are YOU his daddy?? A fun look at the anxious, affectionate, humorous ties that bind family and friends, and sometimes strangles! 287 pages, price not clipped. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, New York, U.S.A.: New York Review of Books, 2002. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. From the slavic spelling of the title (pronounced Mardu Gorgeous) to the Maria Callas-like opera diva, she bursts like the most brilliant of comets onto the international opera scene, only to confront the deadly malice and black magic of her rivals. McCourt's first book, Mawrdew Czgowchwz actually acts as emcee of the text. Outrageous and uproarious, flamboyant and serious as only the most perfect frivolity can be, James McCourt's entrancing send-up of the world of opera has been a cult classic for more than a quarter-century. This comic tribute to the love of art is a triumph of art and love by a contemporary American master. 205 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1943. Hard Cover. Fine/No Jacket. Cover is near fine,the spine is slightly less bright than the rich red of the cover. No wear on corners or spine. This book is full of humorous pieces. 283 pages, no tears or marks noted. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Random House, 1974. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Very Good. Dustjacket has minor wear at some corners, small tears at the top & bottom of spine area and small folds on the bottom back. Cover has metallic stars on the front. 209 pages, heavy paper, no tears. Spine is tight. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Bantam Books, 1993. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Sort of a stand-up comedy bit, but on paper. Includes subjects such as Freeway of Love, Personal Maintenance, Paldom, Shut Up and Drive, Job Security, The Thing is the Thing, Out and Back, and The Ride of your Life. Neither the black binding or jacket have any shelfwear. 180 pages, clean with no marks or tears, but the last page has a light strip of ink vertically from the top as though a roller had ink on it. Very light, doesn't affect reading. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Doubleday & Company, 1955. Book Club (BCE/BOMC). Hard Bound. Very Good/Fair. Dust jacket has wear on all edges and tears at the spine edges. Binding is very good; one spot on the back which looks like an error by the publisher. 188 pages, fine. Spine is tight. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Villard Books, 1997. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/Very Good. It was 1957, I was twelve years old, me and my mother June were gassing up the Buick at the filling station in Welch, West Virginia, on our way to the rest of our lives." So begins this novel, a funny and tender road story of a mother and daughter's search for the turn on the map that will bring them the good life. June uproots her daughter Lily from her West Virginia home, only to fall prey to a world as dangerous and absurd as the one they left behind. Through Lily's poignant, precocious, and often comic observations, we begin to unravel the delicate tangling of mother-daughter emotions, of two hearts in unison headed ultimately for separate destinations. 211 pages. The binding has a bit of wear at the top corners. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1941. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. Deconn. This book contains the salty letters of a sailor to his girl friend. It includes illustrations, and a dictionary of Navy slang. Unpaginated, approximately 90 pages. The pages are quite yellowed. The cloth cover has light wear at the corners and spine bottom; at the top there is more wear. The blue cloth front and back has several light stains. The front free end paper has a gift greeting, and at the bootom is a stamp from that era that states "Our men want Books - Send all you can spare" with an eagle carrying a load of books. The binding is tight. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, New York, U.S.A.: Perennial, 2002. First Softcover Edition. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. NEW - In the tradition of classic screwball comedies and with a flair for modern-day irony, As Long As She Needs Me is a masterful satire of the publishing industry, a romp through the wedding industry, and a sparkling fable of love and luck in Manhattan. Juggling monster agents and mega-authors, passed hors-d'oeuvre options and centerpiece styles, Oscar labors to pull together his boss's wedding without falling apart in the process. Help arrives in the form of a popular wedding columnist, with whom Oscar strikes a bargain: His editorial expertise for her nuptial advice. As the two work together to manufacture the romances of others, they stumble into one themselves - a development that soon has Oscar secretly planning an event of his own. Hilarious and wise, literate and charming. 245 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, New York, U.S.A.: Cliff Street Books, 2001. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. In the tradition of classic screwball comedies and with a flair for modern-day irony, As Long As She Needs Me is a masterful satire of the publishing industry, a romp through the wedding industry, and a sparkling fable of love and luck in Manhattan. Juggling monster agents and mega-authors, passed hors-d'oeuvre options and centerpiece styles, Oscar labors to pull together his boss's wedding without falling apart in the process. Help arrives in the form of a popular wedding columnist, with whom Oscar strikes a bargain: His editorial expertise for her nuptial advice. As the two work together to manufacture the romances of others, they stumble into one themselves - a development that soon has Oscar secretly planning an event of his own. Hilarious and wise, literate and charming. 245 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, NY, U.S.A.: Simon & Schuster, 1998. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Debut novelist William Weld, himself the former governor of Massachusetts and a former federal prosecuter, has written a funny and suspenseful satire of American politics . . . . The story has wit, energy and fine detail."/Publishers Weekly. Orphaned as a young boy and haunted by fragmentary memories of his father Terry Mullally, the hero of Mackeral by Moonlight, nonethless has schooled himself to success. He makes a splash as an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn but leaves under a cloud of suspicion after some dicey operations in which laws are broken and money changes hands. Mullally's past, in the person of a Brooklyn cop, catches up with him at an inconvenient time - when he seems to have a United States Senate seat in his grasp. His career, his love interest, and his life are all in danger, so with no hesitation he does what any buesinessman would do, just to preserve his options, his flexibility -- you understand. A hilarious view of inside politics. 238 pages, no marks or tears. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1940. First American Edition. Hard Bound. Near Fine/No Jacket. This volume doesn't feature any of Wodehouse's regular characters or settings, it is a typically Wodehousian comedy, featuring impoverished but romantic youths, wealthy but grouchy relatives, charming and resourceful friends, chirpy criminals, country houses, imposters, servants, and so forth. There is a them of ham that runs through the book, as well as a bit of romance, and a plot to steal a painting. 310 pages. Binding is bright orange with the author's initials in deep green on the front. The spine is in gold and deep green over orange. There is a small bump at the top front, and the bottom corners are lightly bumped. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Biffen's Millions is just as glorious as the sixty-seven Wodehouse books that preceded it, and it will appeal to readers of all ages who do not feel committed to readig exclusively about the Grim Realities of Life. The plot concerns an amiable young man named Biffen, a beautiful young lady named Gwendoline, an eccentric godfather who man or man not have been "bonkers" when he left his fortune to Biffen under Certain Stipulated Conditions. . . . The cloth binding is fine; the DJ is in a Brodart cover and is fine. This book was rescued from a hospital library that was closing. It has a stamp at the bottom edge of the papers, a pocket and a stamp inside front and on the last page. There is a notice glued in to remember to return the book, kind of cute. 222 pages, no other marks or tears. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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