Wednesday 16 January 2013

MonkeyFarts

I have a cold. I've had it for a while now and it's boring. I want it to go away. I shall probably take a Georgette Heyer to the bath soon and that will improve things. Georgette Heyer is an author I find unfailingly restorative. Restorative is itself a very Georgette Heyer word in fact.

Bill was off school with his own germs recently. It happened to coincide with the delivery to our house of a small volume called 'Monkeyfarts'; a joke book put together by David Borgenicht. It's fair to say that he found it quite as healing as any Regency Romance. He lay wrapped in a duvet on the sofa and proceeded to read me the entire book from cover to cover.: "Hur hur! Listen to this one Mum! And listen to this one! And this one! And this one!"

Now I can't say that hearing an entire joke book in one go is my idea of funny but I am not an 8 year old boy. Joke books are second only to Freaky Fact books in constituting Bill's Ideal Dinner Table Entertainment and he loves to share in a slightly life sapping completist fashion: They are more or less irresistible to him. I would suggest that they should also be the first call for anyone trying to sneak some reading into an unsuspecting refusenik; although be prepared to have to listen for a Long Stretch.

Having said that, 'Monkeyfarts' is a pretty comprehensive and stylishly put together example of the genre; with a good mix of some old classics and some newbies. Bill particularly appreciated the Star Wars section, the Harry Potter section and, of course, the poo section.

I liked this one:
'What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
Do you smell carrots?'

So there y'go. 'Monkeyfarts': the poorly 8 year old's Georgette Heyer.

as for the Freaky Facts. Did you know that duelling is legal in Paraguay provided you are a registered blood donor? Neither did I until Bill told me so over his porridge bowl this morning. Useful stuff.
Monkeyfarts compiled by David Borgenicht, published Quirk books isbn 978-1-59474-605-5

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy by kindness of the publisher. Our opinions are our own.

3 comments:

  1. We loved this but (ashamed) we had to hide it in the end because C was driving us absolutely NUTS retelling the jokes in this, but it's fab - reminds me of the 'Crack a Joke Book' which was a childhood favourite and I think my copy got passed around at school until it (literally) disintegrated under a hundred or so grubby schoolkid hands.

    Fab stuff!

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    1. ah I think I had the 'Crack a Joke' book too! The 'Ha ha bonk' book also slightly too popular in this house.

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  2. Hope you feel better soon Polly! My favourite joke Book growing up was the Ha Ha Bonk Joke Book mentioned above. I must say, Star Wars, Harry Potter and poo are pretty much Top Three Things in our house so that looks like a winner!

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