The Back of the Book

'A small masterpiece of comedy ... with abundant close observation, the familiar is made fresh ... A continual hoot' The Times

For eighteen long years Lynne Truss has tried to make her cat laugh. It has been an uphill task, and this book is recognition of outstanding courage in the face of futility. The cat remains unimpressed.

Never have so many jokes about Kitbits been found in such concentration as in making the Cat Laugh. However, under headings such as 'The Single Woman Cosniders Going Out but Doesn't Fancy the Hassle' and 'The Single Woman Stays at Home and Goes Quietly Mad', we discover a writer not only obsessed with her cats, but prone to over-reacting generally to news stories ('Dead Man "Eaten" in Gruesome Cat Horror'), shopping, passive smoking, Christmas, coupledom, boyfriends, snails, sheds, Andre Agassi, cooking instrutions, requests of 'How's the novel going?' and personal remarks of any kind.

The alternative Bridge Jones, Lynne Truss records the metropolitan life of a refugee from coupledom.

'Trenchant writing, invigorating valour, and a shrewdly observant wit ... [Making the Cat Laugh] reveals Lynne Truss to be a social humorist of sharp insight and startling candour' Scotland on Sunday

'I love the way this woman writes. She skips along the sure-footed hopscotch jumper, always landing on the right square' Djinn Gallagher, Sunday Tribune

Offered as BookRing.

BookRing:

WelshHelen - UK - Intl
mysteryfan03 - USA - Intl
sdkelley - USA - Intl
sundaisy920 - USA - Intl
dittybopper - USA - Intl
hunnyb - Australia - Intl
Viola7 - Australia - Intl
Rillaith - UK - Intl if nec
laura0141 - UK - ENDS

On way to WelshHelen

Arrived safely. Thanks, Laura. It's down the list of rings at the moment but I should get to it fairly soon.

I was a little disapppointed with this book. It's one which should be dipped in to every now and again, rather than read at one or two sittings. A lot of her stories are also going to be meaningless to people other than Brits, particularly when she talks of The Archers and various TV programmes. Oh! And she didn't mention her cats often enough :-)

Posted to mysteryfan03 today

Got this in the mail today! Thanks!

Received today!

This wasn't nearly as entertaining as I hoped. I ended up giving up after getting through approximately 1/3 of the book. Like WelshHelen, I didn't see nearly enough cat mentions in it! I will be passing on to sundaisy920 once I get her address!

-- sundaisy920 passed, waiting to hear from dittybopper

-- dittybopper never responded, waiting to hear from hunnyb

Received today :) Thanks!!

I think some of the jokes went over my head (not being British) but it was still pretty funny. Some of my favourite bits:

"The alternatives strategies to an outright No Thanks [to a social invitation] - though possibly better etiquette in the strict sense - are too wearisome to contemplate. For example, you can accept the invitation, and then half an hour before arrival phone up with a fabricated story about a last-minute mercy-dash ('I'm so sorry, but if I don't delvier this jar of rollmop herrings to the Foreign Office in the next hour, we could find ourselves at war with Finland!')."

"... twenty-nine people were injured last year by dressing gowns, while six named place-mats as their personal Waterloo... But how was it that 101 people fell victim to their own trousers? How was it that a lone person was afflicted by a tea-cosy?"

And the description of Supermarket Sweep! I remember there being a show like that on Australian TV ages back, and it was hilarious :)

Thanks for sharing this laura0141 - I've PMd Viola7 for an address.

I received this a while ago, but I was away. It looks good.

I didn't finish this. Although I enjoyed it and thought it was very amusing, it got repetitive after a while.

This was very amusing, but the articles became a bit repetitive so I didn't read it all.

Received with thanks.

For release.