Realising it is due to go back to the library in a couple of days, tonight I started The Mystery Man by Bateman (who seems to have lost his first name in the past couple of years).
And now I have a problem.
If I am to finish the book in time to return it by the due date I’ll have to read it while out of the house (on the bus, having my morning coffee, on my lunch break etc). But if I read it while I’m out of the house I might be in trouble.
The book is funny. Not “I’ve smiled a couple of times and chuckled once” funny or “my, isn’t that a wry observation I see before me” funny but “I’m only on page 27 and am already giggling like a granny who’s been at the liquor cabinet all day” funny.
It’s permissible to laugh like a drunken granny in the privacy of one’s own home but on the bus or at the coffee shop it’s a different story. People purse their lips, roll their eyes and practice their disapproving looks. Which I won’t mind because I’ll be laughing at the funny book.
But when I’ve finished the book and revert back to non-giggling commuting and coffee drinking regular passengers and fellow latte addicts will remember that I was the giggling crazy person. And they’ll still purse their lips, roll their eyes and practice their disapproving looks (which I assume they’ll get better and better at). And I’ll probably mind it a lot more when I’m not laughing at the funny book.
Who knew reading could be such a dangerous hobby?
Reactions to Reading 
I am buying this is as soon as I get paid. I need some giggling in my life.
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Well don’t come crying to me if your fellow bus/train passengers start looking at you strangely Jade – you’ve been warned 😉
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Bernadette – So glad you’re enjoying this one :). That’s what I love about being an author and educator; we professors are supposed to be a little “touched” so when I react that way to something I read, no-one even notices at work. In public, well, I don’t much care, either. I must get this book.
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I finished Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen a few days ago, and I am still smiling at the goings on in the novel. We need lots of laughter in our lives and Mystery Man will be on my TBR list.
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Bernadette, if you become recognized as the “mad giggler” people might give you wide berth on public transportation resulting in more comfortable travel and not having to share a table at lunch. If you follow up Mystery Man with Day of the Jack Russell you can cement your public reputation.
I loved both books and it is clear that Bateman loves the genre. I need to go back to my copies because I forgot to note several authors Bateman referenced that look interesting.
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Oh, perhaps I should try him next? I am reading Giarratano, and though she writes fantastically, the environment is horribly realistic.
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I love books like that…I will find it and read it soon…so giggle away…people love a good giggler!!!
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Mack I like the way you think – it had not occurred to me that there is such an upside of becoming the crazy giggling lady.
I will certainly be reading the next book but I’ll save it up for another time when I am in urgent need of merriment.
I do worry about recommending humour – it is such a subjective thing. I have been known to be the only person in a crowded movie theatre stifling a yawn while everyone else chuckles away and have also been the only person laughing while others are doing the yawning.
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I tend to be the one all the crazy, stinky, homeless people like to sit next to and breathe on when traveling on a bus. I was reading one of George Carlin’s books one morning on the ride to work, and my giggling and outright laughter kept them at bay. It does work!
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Take it on the bus! It will make a nice change from the misery guts who usually sit around on public transport!
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I hope I can find a Bateman at my library – I could do with a laugh!
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Don’t care what anybody thinks. Laugh anywhere. Recommend the book to anyone scowling. They need more humor. Will look for the book in the library.
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With all the positive reviews, including lately of this book, the William Deverell, the Leah Giarratano books (on my Book Depository list), my overall TBR list is growing. I have lists in two rooms and one in my daily planner. These lists multiply like rabbits!
This is the problem with so many good books.
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