Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
The Vale of Laughter - A Novel - cover

The Vale of Laughter - A Novel

Peter De Vries

Publisher: Open Road Media

  • 1
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

A brilliant, fiercely funny novel that ponders the eternal question: is it better to laugh or cry?  Joe Sandwich is a clown. Not literally, but what else do you call an eleven-year-old who goes to church to confess his good deeds: “I did my homework without being told”? A stockbroker who gets seasick watching the market tape and claims the gross national product is “deodorants”? A father who mows curse words into his lawn and names his son Hamilton because, well, who can resist a Ham Sandwich? Prankster, punster, cut-up, card—Joe needs to crack wise about everything. Has he figured out the secret to embracing the inherent absurdity of life, or is there some terrible anxiety at the root of his compulsion? Lots of people want to know, including his wife, Naughty, who is anything but; his mistress, Gloria Bunshaft; and her husband, Wally Hines, a humorless professor who specializes is the philosophy of humor. “If you look back,” says Joe, “you turn into a pillar of salt. If you look ahead, you turn into a pillar of society.” He prefers to live in the moment, from one gag to the next, but the joke he doesn’t see coming may get the biggest laugh of all. 
Available since: 10/21/2014.
Print length: 348 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole - cover

    The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole

    Sue Townsend

    • 0
    • 4
    • 0 
    The troubled teenager continues to struggle valiantly against the slings and arrows of growing up and his own family's attempts to scar him for life. In between the ups and downs of his relationship with the divine Pandora and worrying that his genius is going unrecognized, Adrian Mole chronicles the pains and pleasures of a misspent adolescence.A W. F. Howes audio production.
    Show book
  • Running From A Rock Star - Brides on the Run Book 1 - cover

    Running From A Rock Star -...

    Jami Albright

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    She’s a good-girl control freak. He’s a bad boy in need of a clean image. Will these opposites attract or self-destruct? 
Scarlett Kelly is the poster child for responsible living. Growing up as the daughter of the town floozy, she’s made it her mission to be the exact opposite of her mother. So when she wakes up naked and hung over in bed with a bad-boy rock star, she bolts immediately. There’s just one problem: Scarlett’s bedmate is her new husband.  
Gavin needs to repair his image or his music career will go down the tubes. He’s also just learned he has a son he never knew existed. He needs to settle down, and bribing his new wife to stay married may just fit everything into place.  
Scarlett agrees to the ruse to help her family’s financial troubles even though she can hardly control herself around the rock star. As they search for Gavin’s son, will their unlikely matrimony give them exactly what they’ve been missing or send them packing? 
Running From a Rock Star is the first book in a series of comedic contemporary romance novels. If you like zany characters, razor-sharp wit, and unlikely love stories, then you’ll love the first book in Jami Albright’s Brides On the Run series.
    Show book
  • Odd Herbert - cover

    Odd Herbert

    Eddie Brett

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Who is this ‘Odd Herbert’? Well, that’s hard to say really because he is yet to be a fully formed thing… And so, this is the tale of his journey towards self-discovery during his adolescent years… Born under unique circumstance, dare I say ‘Odd’ nothing about Herbert is dull, straight-forward or conventional. Instead, everything is a folly of interest, curiosity and unknown. To pick up this book is to step in to the tumultuous, hilarious and potentially heart-breaking adventure of thought that hides behind purple lenses.
    Show book
  • Abbott and Costello: Featuring Benny Rubin - Old Time Radio Shows - cover

    Abbott and Costello: Featuring...

    Bud Abbott, Lou Costello

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Lou got a black eye from a date. Lou's running for dog catcher. Lou is becoming an artist. Susan is mad at Lou since he went out with another girl. Bud wants some new ideas for the show. Benny Rubin has an idea to let the audience participate.
    Show book
  • Pizza Mind - cover

    Pizza Mind

    Sasheer Zamata

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    UCBs Sasheer Zamata’s Pizza Mind will give viewers food for thought. In this all-new stand-up special, Sasheer covers a spectrum of topics, from drugs to relationships, Disney racism to politics — nothing is off limits. This multi-talented comedian incorporates different performance elements to express her opinions and dive into her personal life, truly giving you a piece of her mind.
    Show book
  • Doctors Killed George Washington - Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Medicine - cover

    Doctors Killed George Washington...

    Erin Barrett, Jack Mingo

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    A trivia collection that puts medical history under the microscope—with more than 500 little-known facts about doctors, diseases, and more. 
 
Did you know . . . 
 
Before the advent of surgery, ancient Egyptian doctors put their patients under by hitting them on the head with a mallet. 
 
Working with pigs can raise your risk of appendicitis. 
 
The Catholic Church has patron saints for many conditions, including hernias and syphilis. 
 
In 18th-century New York, eight people were killed and many more wounded during three days of anti-doctor riots. 
 
Doctors Killed George Washington reveals these and other stories of accidental medical discoveries, medical follies, bizarre cures, and more. With surgical wit, it examines centuries of medical practice, from herbalism and shamanism to the cutting-edge technology of today, providing hundreds of fascinating facts and outrageous oddities from the history of health care.
    Show book