Free summaries
Humour — page 10
558 public-domain humour books, summarised. Page 10 of 12.
Rubáiyát of a Motor Car
Carolyn Wells
A lighthearted, satirical take on the early days of motoring, this work captures the maddening, expensive, and absurd reality of early twentieth-century car ownership through the lens of a classic poetic form. It serves as a humorous diary of a frustrated enthusiast who trades his sanity and savings for the thrill…
Two Slatterns and a King: A Moral Interlude
Edna St. Vincent Millay
The King’s quest for a perfect wife becomes a lesson in the caprice of fate, demonstrating that even a sovereign’s most careful judgments can be overturned by a mere shift in fortune.
Deborah Dent and Her Donkey and Madam Fig's Gala: Two Humorous Tales
Unknown
A whimsical pair of nineteenth-century cautionary tales, this collection uses rhythmic verse to explore the perils of social ambition and the absurdity of forcing one’s dreams upon unwilling companions.
Make me an offer
Con Blomberg
A bureaucrat’s attempt to pave over nature triggers a silent, coordinated insurrection by the women of New York. The city’s automated economy is brought to its knees by the simple power of a shared household chore.
Stairway to the Stars
Larry T. Shaw
HOOK A mild-mannered editor and a self-proclaimed genius find their mundane lives upended when an encounter at sea reveals a hidden gateway to the galaxy.
The Used People Lot
Irving E. Fang
In a future where personal worth is measured by long-term automobile contracts, a man scrambles to trade his wrecked car for a new one to save a failing romance.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, August 8, 1891
Various
A sharp, affectionate mirror held up to Victorian society, this single issue captures late-nineteenth-century London in all its noisy, opinionated, and absurd glory.
A Planet Named Joe
Evan Hunter
Sent on a seemingly trivial mission to find a native named Joe on Venus, a military officer steps into a web of personal vengeance and colonial hubris.
Culture's garland
Eugene Field
A satirical pulse beats through this sharp portrait of Gilded Age ambition, where Midwestern pork barons and local intellectuals clash over the true meaning of refinement.
Monument
R. W. Major
Dr. Charles King seeks to finally shed his humiliating nickname by unveiling a perpetual motion machine, only to accidentally turn the entire solar system into a swinging pendulum.
The Further Adventures of O'Neill in Holland
J. Irwin (John Irwin) Brown
The linguistic blunders of an Irishman abroad serve as the catalyst for an unlikely romance, proving that even the most disastrous grasp of a foreign tongue can lead to unexpected, life-altering connections.
Points of Humour, Part 1 (of 2)
Unknown
A collection of witty anecdotes and verse, this volume showcases the brilliant interplay between comic storytelling and the graphic illustrations of George Cruikshank.
Seven-Day Terror
R. A. Lafferty
An ordinary neighborhood descends into chaos when a child invents a device capable of erasing reality. It is a sharp, witty examination of how easily order dissolves when the rules of existence are held by the irresponsible.
The Ghost in the Red Shirt
B. M. Bower
An unexpected supernatural encounter in a remote cabin forces a young woman to confront her own skepticism and a fractured romance. This brief, atmospheric tale navigates the thin line between haunting reality and the vivid projections of a troubled heart.
Gentlemen of the Jury: A Farce
George M. (George Melville) Baker
Twelve men lock themselves in a room to decide a man’s fate, only to find their own prejudices and appetites are the real trial. In this chaotic farce, the courtroom becomes a theater of the absurd.
Trouble on Tycho
Nelson S. Bond
This science-fiction tale explores the unlikely intersection of deep-space isolation and musical persistence. When a lonely technician’s bagpipes become a nuisance to his fellow lunar pioneers, he discovers that his most hated habit is the only thing capable of saving them from a lethal alien threat.
Me, Myself and I
William Tenn
This playful science fiction story follows a stubborn, tobacco-chewing drifter who finds himself caught in a recursive nightmare of his own making after agreeing to test a brilliant physicist’s faulty time machine.
Punch, or the London Charivari, November 4th 1893
Various
This issue of a Victorian humor magazine offers a window into the anxieties, petty grievances, and satirical spirit of 1893 London. It blends whimsical self-deprecation with biting commentary on society, politics, and the era’s literary trends.
The Autobiography of a Monkey
Albert Bigelow Paine
Born in the deep shadows of an African forest, a bright young monkey is tricked into leaving his native tree-tops, embarking on an extraordinary journey through human society before ultimately returning home as a fully civilized leader.
The Yillian Way
Keith Laumer
When the rigid rules of galactic diplomacy turn into a game of survival, one junior officer finds that the best way to maintain order is to break every rule in the book.
A Tender Attachment: A Farce
George M. (George Melville) Baker
A young artist, desperate to prove his talent to a skeptical father, resorts to an elaborate ruse involving a motley crew of hired models. The result is a frantic comedy of errors where mistaken identity and slapstick chaos collide under the roof of a "Bachelors' Paradise.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, Vol. II. No. 19, April, 1921: America's Magazine of Wit, Humor and Filosophy
Various
A snapshot of post-World War I American life, this magazine captures the restless, irreverent, and often bawdy humor of 1921. It remains a fascinating historical artifact for its unfiltered look at the preoccupations of the era.
Gay gods and merry mortals: some excursions in verse
Robert J. (Robert James) Shores
This collection of light, irreverent verse reimagines classical mythology as a series of social comedies, stripping away the solemnity of the ancients to reveal the petty, human-like follies of gods and mortals alike.
Jabberwock, Beware!
Richard A. Sternbach
When the moon is disintegrated by invaders from Jupiter, the fate of Earth rests on a high-stakes intellectual duel. Humanity’s chosen champion, however, is significantly more interested in finding his next drink.
Short and Sweet: A Comic Drama, in One Act
Adolphus Charles Troughton
A lighthearted comedy of errors, this one-act play explores the comedic friction between two married couples who find their domestic peace disrupted by jealousy, misunderstandings, and the complications of living in close quarters. It serves as a brisk, witty observation on the absurdity of marital power dynamics…
Superjoemulloy
Scott F. Grenville
This is a sharp, biting piece of satirical science fiction that explores the hollow nature of ego and the inevitable obsolescence of the creator. It remains a quick, cynical look at what happens when vanity is given the power of godhood.
A Mysterious Disappearance: A Farce
George M. (George Melville) Baker
A secret correspondence, a faked death, and a bumbling city-dweller in the country collide in this fast-paced Victorian farce. A web of misunderstandings threatens to destroy a marriage and a romance, all fueled by mistaken identities and slapstick chaos.
Flamedown
H. B. (Horace Bowne) Fyfe
An Earthman wakes from a traumatic crash into the strange, desert-baked reality of Mars, only to find himself hunted by a fanatical mob. Reality, however, is far more precarious than it appears to his fevered mind.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 18, July 30, 1870
Various
A satirical weekly from post-Civil War New York, this periodical captures the raucous, biting wit of a city in the midst of rapid social and political transition. It serves as a vivid time capsule of late 19th-century American humor.
The Devil and Parson Church
Anonymous
This satirical pamphlet dismantles the public reputation of a notorious nineteenth-century preacher, documenting his descent from a popular pulpit to a criminal conviction for sodomy. It serves as a stark historical record of scandal and hypocrisy.
The Nature Faker
Richard Harding Davis
A wealthy idealist buys three vaudeville bears to liberate them on his estate, only to discover that wild nature cannot easily undo a lifetime of show business.
Monster
Joseph Samachson
This story of domestic survival on a hostile frontier explores the absurd collision between the terrifying realities of space colonization and the crushing, indifferent weight of bureaucratic mismanagement.
Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 36, December 3, 1870
Various
Packed with Gilded Age satire, broad caricatures, and theatrical skits, this period humor magazine captures the irreverent spirit, political anxieties, and popular culture of late nineteenth-century urban America.
The Queen of Space
Joseph Slotkin
When a galactic burlesque queen hips herself straight out of a Venusian barroom and into ancient history, a mild-mannered psychiatrist and a desperate mobster are left to chase the ultimate fourth-dimensional dance.
Poppa Needs Shorts
Walt Richmond
Oley, a curious four-year-old, treats the world as a giant laboratory for his developing mind. By misinterpreting adult conversations about electrical "shorts," he accidentally stumbles into a series of dangerous domestic experiments that ultimately save his father's life.
The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment
George Meredith
An ambitious barber enters a hair-obsessed city to confront a mighty clothier, entangling his fate with ancient curses, serpents, and tragic royalty.
Briefless Ballads and Legal Lyrics: Second Series
James Williams
A lighthearted yet learned collection of verse, this book finds the intersection between the rigid, often absurd world of the law and the fluid, emotive realm of poetry.
Cakewalk to Gloryanna
Stecher, L. J., Jr.
The journey to a distant world seems simple until the cargo decides to rewrite the rules of survival. What begins as a profitable space-faring venture quickly spirals into a frantic, itchy, and humbling battle for control.
South African anecdotes
Unknown
This collection captures the rough-hewn, irreverent spirit of a young, expanding colony, blending practical survival with a dry, often biting wit. It offers a candid look at the friction between settlers, authorities, and shifting frontiers.
Blessed Event
Henry Farrell
A celestial clerical error grants a newborn infant the sum of all human knowledge, turning a standard household into a battleground of precocious tyranny and parental desperation.
It pays to advertise
Roi Cooper Megrue
Advertising is a powerful, if sometimes absurd, force that shapes the modern world and, occasionally, the fortunes of those clever enough to harness it.
Man-Trap
Hal Annas
This story follows a self-proclaimed woman-hater who finds his defenses dismantled by a neighbor wielding a mysterious, scientific form of attraction. It serves as a lighthearted, mid-century commentary on the inevitable collision between rigid cynicism and human chemistry.
Olympian Nights
John Kendrick Bangs
A weary traveler in Greece stumbles upon the secret threshold of the gods, only to find the high-minded deities of legend are preoccupied with the mundane inconveniences of modern life.
Scrambled eggs
Lawton Mackall
A dedicated drake strives to bring chivalry and moral reform to a bustling, indifferent barnyard, only to find that his quest for purity leads to unexpected personal heartache and ultimate sacrifice.
The Gently Orbiting Blonde
John Victor Peterson
A distracted scientist’s wedding night is interrupted when his experimental anti-gravity device turns his living room into a zero-gravity chamber, trapping him, his new bride, and a surprise visitor in a chaotic, floating farce.
The Problem Makers
Robert Hoskins
The galaxy is a place of infinite complexity, and those who govern it have decided that the best way to maintain control is to ensure that trouble—and progress—never stops. This is a story about the architects of that chaos.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, April 4, 1891
Various
A biting Victorian satire targeting the fleeting crazes, institutional hypocrisies, and social anxieties of late nineteenth-century London.
Return Engagement
Margaret St. Clair
An arrogant culinary author faces a bizarre, humiliating penance after accidentally desecrating the sacred relics of an alien species. This clever tale turns the tropes of space adventure into a comedy of manners and retribution.