Melville House and the new direction of literary humour

I like talking about books. Nothing makes me happier than having a customer walk into the store and ask me for a recommendation. I also love it when customers recommend books to me. Please come into BookPeople and interact with us. It’s a long day, and we get lonely.

That being said, we get some tough questions. “I’m traveling to Indonesia, do you know any uplifting Indonesian fiction?” or “I’m looking for a mixture of Robert Jordan and Flannery O’Connor, what do you suggest?” Usually these questions lead to great conversations, and usually I end up leaving with a new book, and, hopefully, the customer leaves with, at least, a smile. Some questions are harder than others, but one question has tormented me for a long time, and only recently (about an hour ago) have I come to what I consider a quality answer: “I want something really smart, highly challenging, fresh, and funny. It has to be funny. Got anything like that?” Yes, I do.

Thanks to Melville House Publishing, we now have a place to go for Literature that makes you laugh, Literature that doesn’t make you want to put your head in the oven. I should say that Melville House puts out a variety of titles, so they don’t simply put out humor, but in 2010 with releases like T Cooper’s art project/Hollywood fable The Beaufort Diaries and Tao Lin’s enigmatic novel Richard Yates, this Brooklyn based company has found the mysterious funny bone of American writing.

If a story about polar bears with abandonment issues, who befriend Leonardo Di Caprio, date super models, and try to skirt the cliché of typecasting in Hollywood isn’t your thing, then The Beaufort Diaries is not for you. For most people, I assume, this is exactly what we’ve been looking for. T Cooper’s writing is straightforward and matter of fact, which is perfect. You never forget that Beaufort is a polar bear, but you stop thinking about this story as a farce, and begin to think of it as not only plausible, but probable. Excuse me while I go out and buy everything T Cooper’s ever done.

Tao Lin is this year’s literary hot spot. Everybody has been writing about this odd guy, who writes strange stories, and then does weird things to promote them. Google Lin and you’ll find reviews of him, biographical sketches, rumor, innuendo, and John Henry type folk stories. What you won’t find are definitive reviews of his newest novel Richard Yates. Everybody has something to say about the book, but nobody can quite figure out if they liked it or not. I liked it. I found it hilarious. That’s all I’ll say, except that you should come into the store, read the first five pages, and if you’re not offended by the prose or bored with the plot, then this book is probably for you. It’s a book that’s not for everyone, but who cares? You only need one person to like it.

Come on in, read through these two funny books, you’ll laugh. Then please tell me what books make you laugh, I can’t wait.

–Brian Contine