I’ve been diving into George Saunders’ short story collections, as part of my 1000 nights of reading a poem, a short story, and an essay every night. (As I write this, I am 900+ nights into this quest.)
Most recently, I listened to CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (read brilliantly by the author) and then went back and read them on the page. Oh my goodness, they’re wild, funny, sad and brilliant. I cried after listening to Offloading for Mrs Schwartz, and immediately made my husband listen so he could be wrecked too! 😊
I’ve also just found and love this quote from George Saunders:
‘Humour isn’t about telling jokes. It’s about noticing what’s strange and ridiculous about life and treating it with total seriousness.’
This maps totally to how I feel about things. I’ve referred to myself as ‘seriously ridiculous’ for years now, and it’s the name I’d already picked for my monthly e-mail. My first will be going out next month, to my fellow story fiends, word nerds, and people who are comedy curious. So soon you’ll be able to subscribe if you fancy, for more doses of comedy craft and inspiration.
And if Offloading for Mrs Schwartz makes you laugh and cry too, you’re welcome!
