Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hugh Laurie (1)

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

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“Imagine you have to break someone’s arm.” Is this a satire? I don’t know! Part of the issue of this book is that people keep claiming it’s a satire. I am not so sure. Years ago I read Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Parody, which gets into the question of parody, satire, and spoof, in art and writing, and thinking about the venn diagram that defines all these terms. The basic idea is that parody is imitation, and sometimes comment (usually comment), but that that […]

But what of Barry the swim instructor? Does he get a happy ending?

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A few years ago (I don’t know…maybe 2007?), back when I was addicted to watching Craig Ferguson’s Late Night show, he had an interesting episode in which he sat and talked to his friend Stephen Fry. No monologue, no questions on cards, no skits, no dancing horse. Just a conversation between old friends. It was fascinating. They talked about all sorts of stuff, but what I remember most was their discussion about writing fiction. Fry had several books, their good friend Hugh Laurie had just […]

Funny exciting spoof of today’s terror/anti-terror geopolitics

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If you love spy stories and spoofs of spy stories, you’ll love this debut novel by that sharp-tongued dry-humored wit named Hugh Laurie, best known to Americans for his brilliant but irritating Dr. House television character. Laurie’s hero in The Gun Seller is Thomas Lang, a former Scots Guard turned man-for-hire whose first line in the book is “Imagine that you have to break someone’s arm.” He goes through all the ways such thuggery can be accomplished, and it is not until several paragraphs in […]

ElCicco #CBR6 Review #1: Jeeves and the Wedding Bells: an Homage to P.G. Wodehouse by Sebastian Faulks

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PG Wodehouse fans should be delighted by this novel. Faulks revives our favorite duo, Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, for a fun summertime romp at Lord Henry’s country estate. At stake is the happiness of Bertie Wooster’s friend Woody. His engagement to Lord Henry’s daughter Amelia is in jeopardy due to a combination of misunderstanding and financial crisis. Complicating the situation are Amelia’s beautiful and lively cousin Georgiana and a hilarious plot contrivance that requires Bertie to play the valet Wilberforce to Jeeves’ Lord Etringham. If […]



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