Review of "Three Men in a Boat (Not To Mention The Dog)" by Jerome K. Jerome
Three young Englishmen in the late 1800s decide to spend a fortnight boating on the Thames for their health.
A classic of English humor; I'm quite dismayed that I hadn't discovered it before now! It's one of the funniest books I've read in a long time (and I've read _many_ funny books). I found myself laughing out loud quite often, and couldn't resist reading sections of it to my son. It's astonishing that a book written 136 years ago should feel so *modern*. I hadn't realized that such dark humor had been _invented_ back in 1889!
The occasional turns into more somber and lyrical prose are a bit jarring at first (they're quite reminiscent of "The Wind In the Willows" [https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/kenneth-grahame/the-wind-in-the-willows] (1908) by Kenneth Grahame, which was published 19 years later), but you soon get used to them. And the serious passages are quite brief, just sufficient to cleanse the palate (so to speak) before the next comic gem.
The illustrated ebook editions at Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks are excellent and, of course, free. The illustrations are well-formatted, clear, and enhance the text. If you appreciate humor, you have NO excuse for missing this book!
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/jerome-k-jerome/three-men-in-a-boat
Incidentally, I discovered "Three Men In a Boat" via Robert A. Heinlein's "Have Space Suit - Will Travel". The protagonist's father is a fan. I'd read the book (Heinlein's, that is) at least a dozen times before - but I always assumed that "Three Men in a Boat" was fictional. For some reason while reading "Have Space Suit - Will Travel" to my son, I found myself wondering if "Three Men in a Boat" was real; and Wikipedia soon set me right. I'm glad it did.
Oh, I almost neglected to mention: there's an audio book of "Three Men in a Boat" read by Hugh Laurie. A perfect choice, of course. It can be found in sections on YouTube, or, I presume, it can be purchased. But I must say that I laughed more when **reading** the book then while *listening* to it. I'm not quite sure why!
Five out of five, of course.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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