Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mere Anarchy by Woody Allen

This book is a collection of humorous essays. It is hilarious. I love how seamlessly Allen is able to weave together high culture and the profound with the absur: Faulkner and Dostoyevsky and Flanders Mealworm, a fledgling writer selling his soul to Hollywood; the private dick who helps a rich socialite track down a priceless truffle; the scriptwriter who takes a job for an online company that sells prayers. (A prayer for a man wanting his wife to bear him a son: "May the broad lie down in green pastures and drop foals abundantly.")

The ideas for many of these essays came from actual events and items. One of my favorite essays begins with an excerpt from the New York Times Magazine about technologically enabled clothing (shirts that can charge cell phones, pants that can trap offensive scents and release appealing smells, etc.). As someone who is allergic to most of the stuff they treat dress shirts with to make them idiot proof, I found this essay especially funny.

Mere Anarchy was pure entertaining absurdity.

3 comments:

Brent Waggoner said...

I looked at your book list yesterday and was really excited to see your review of it.

If you don't already have it, Borders has the newest interview collection with Woody Allen for like 5 bucks.

Carlton Farmer said...

Sweet! I have been wanting to pick that up.

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