Humor & Comedy - Exodus Books

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You know a book's funny if you're reading it alone and laughing hysterically. Of course, the really great comic masterpieces are also deep reflections on humanity and life and death (like Huckleberry Finn or All Creatures Great and Small or Calvin & Hobbes). Frequently, though, you just need to guffaw, and the literary quality of the piece isn't quite as important as the laugh-factor.

Not that you want to read swill. Cheap laughs might be funny on the surface, but the jokes that actually say something are generally funnier than the ones that simply point and snicker. It's easy to think we're superior because we get the joke, but in reality a lot of modern comedy is no more than the absence of reverence. Real comedy is simply an incongruous presentation of a familiar idea that amuses with its absurdity while offering a new view.

Before you dismiss the need for humor on religious grounds (suggesting that Jesus is the Man of Sorrows, and so must we be in order to be like Him), remember that the "laughter is good medicine" image comes from the Bible (Proverbs 17:22), and that as the Creator of everything God invented laughter. He invented jokes. As the perfect man, Jesus probably told the best jokes ever.

We have a few of them—a rich person will enter heaven as easily as a camel getting through the eye of a needle, or the one about the Pharisee and the plebe who go into the temple at the same time to pray. Jesus clearly saw the absurdity of life (in both of the cases mentioned, the absurdity of human pride), and used it to direct people to the Author of Meaning.

Basically, laughter is really good and you should try it sometime. If you're a little rusty and need a boost, read a funny book: maybe the heartwarming but hysterical adventures of the Gilbreth clan in Cheaper by the Dozen, or the pure zaniness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or the heartwarming zaniness of Jeeves and Wooster. Whatever you do, smile more, frown less, and for goodness' sake take laughter seriously.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

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	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Puffin Classics by Mark Twain from Puffin Books for 6th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Puffin Classics by Mark Twain from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Puffin Classics by Mark Twain from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass Penguin Classics by Lewis Carroll from Penguin Classics Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $11.00
	Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson from HarperCollins Humor for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Centerburg Tales More Adventures of Homer Price by Robert McCloskey from Puffin Books Humor for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.99
	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl from Puffin Books Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.99
	Doctor Dolittle's Post Office by Hugh Lofting from Mayflower Books for 3rd-7th grade 1923 Newbery Medal winner in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Doctor Dolittle's Zoo Doctor Dolittle #6 by Hugh Lofting 1967^th edition from Mayflower Books for 3rd-7th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99
	Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume from Scholastic Press for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Gift of the Magi & Other Short Stories Dover Thrift Editions by O. Henry from Dover Publications for 4th-10th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $5.00 $2.00 (7 in stock)
	Great Brain Great Brain #1 by John D. Fitzgerald from Puffin Books Humorous Fiction for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Great Brain - boxed set Great Brain #1-5 by John D. Fitzgerald, illustrated by Mercer Mayer from Dell Yearling Humorous Fiction for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $48.00 (1 in stock)
	Great Brain at the Academy Great Brain #4 by John D. Fitzgerald from Dell Publishing for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh from Yearling Humorous Stories for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Henry and the Clubhouse Henry Huggins Book 5 by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $9.99
	Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary from HarperTrophy in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $9.99
	Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary from HarperTrophy for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $9.99
	Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson from Puffin Books Humor for 4th-7th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Holes Holes Series #1 by Louis Sachar from Laurel-Leaf Books for 4th-8th grade 1999 Newbery Medal winner in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
	Homer Price by Robert McCloskey from Puffin Books Humor for 3rd-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99
	Homer Price Puffin Modern Classics by Robert McCloskey from Puffin Books Humor for 3rd-6th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Little Men Puffin Classics by Louisa May Alcott from Puffin Books for 4th-8th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Long Way from Chicago Puffin Modern Classics by Richard Peck from Puffin Books Humorous Family Stories for 5th-9th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Me and My Little Brain Great Brain #3 by John D. Fitzgerald Reissue from Puffin Books Humorous Fiction for 4th-6th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99
	More Adventures of the Great Brain Great Brain #2 by John D. Fitzgerald from Puffin Books Humorous Stories for in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater, illustrated by Jim Madsen from Little, Brown & Company Humorous Fiction for 3rd-6th grade 1939 Newbery Honor Book in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.99
	Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater, illustrated by Robert Lawson from Little, Brown & Company Humorous Fiction for 3rd-6th grade 1939 Newbery Honor Book in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye from Puffin Books Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 2nd-6th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $7.99
	Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster from Yearling Satirical Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.99
	Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Reissue from Yearling Satirical Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $19.99
	Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer, appreciation by Maurice Sendak from Random House Satirical Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Pippi Goes on Board Pippi Longstocking #2 by Astrid Lindgren from Puffin Books Humor for 2nd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.99
	Pippi in the South Seas Pippi Longstocking #3 by Astrid Lindgren from Puffin Books Humor for 2nd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.99
	Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking #1 by Astrid Lindgren from Puffin Books Humor for 2nd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.99
	Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking #1 by Astrid Lindgren from Scholastic Inc. Humor for 2nd-6th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $2.00 (11 in stock)
	Pushcart War by Jean Merrill 50th Anniversary Edition from New York Review of Books Satire for 6th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Socks by Beverly Cleary from HarperCollins for 4th-7th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99
	Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting from Yearling Animal Fantasy for 3rd-7th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $7.99
	Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting from Dover Publications Animal Fantasy for 3rd-7th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $3.99
	Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting from Mayflower Books for 3rd-7th grade 1923 Newbery Medal winner in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman from HarperCollins Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade 1987 Newbery Medal winner in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $6.99 $3.00 (3 in stock)
	Wind in the Willows Puffin Classics by Kenneth Grahame from Puffin Books Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame from Wordsworth Editions Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)

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