April Laughs by Muriel Richards, Great Kills LibraryApril 3, 2012

Humorous scenes from everyday life, Digital ID 1645100, New York Public LibraryHumorous scenes from everyday life, Digital ID 1645100, New York Public LibrarySpring is my favorite season, as we (in this hemisphere, anyway) emerge from the winter doldrums (albeit this winter really presented us with little to complain about). April, however, has been labeled "the cruelest month" because of the looming possibility of a (short-lived) regression into colder temperatures. I enjoy April because of it's status as "National Humor Month."

Yes, I am well cognizant of the fact that April is also "National Poetry Month" (as much as I adore Shakespeare, especially his 116th sonnet, his lines therein "...love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come..." have yet to prevent former old boyfriends from exclaiming, "Gee, Muriel looks old!" Hint: dark circles under the eyes and a less than firm jaw line do not necessarily correlate to diminished hearing). My beloved niece, Amanda, will celebrate her fifteenth birthday during this month (when people comment that Amanda is redolent of me while she is within hearing distance, her gorgeous countenance assumes this look of sheer horror, until I clarify that she resembles me when I was young, not the middle-aged woman she sees before her. I once had to hastily prevent my niece from submerging her face in a vat of anti-aging cream following someone's well-intentioned comparison to me).

Funny folks / by F.M. Howarth (Front cover), Digital ID 1802106, New York Public LibraryFunny folks / by F.M. Howarth (Front cover), Digital ID 1802106, New York Public LibraryAnd, on a more somber note, the one hundredth anniversary of the RMS Titanic sinking to her watery grave will occur on April 15th of this year. But, as expressed above, much of April's charm for me is centered on concentrating on the works of writers of humor (an endeavor which I share). The NYPL's collection is replete with many works that will exert the effect of causing the reader of convulse with laughter. These books encompass modern writers, such as Dave Barry, as well as classic humorist of yesteryear, including my role model, Erma Bombeck. I can vividly recall being eleven years old, laying on the floor, reading Bombeck's column in the newspaper, and remarking to my brother, "This is it. This is what I want to do with my life." My esteem for Mrs. Bombeck increased exponentially when I read, after her tragic passing in 1996 due to complications following a kidney transplant, that her agent Aaron Priest described Bombeck as, "...the only person I ever met who literally you couldn't buy." True integrity, like true talent, is rare. When combined in the same entity, it is indeed cause for high praise.

I hope patrons derive as much jocularity and inspiration from the writings of Mrs. Bombeck (as well as of other authors' respective works contained in the NYPL's collection) as I have. The list enumerated below is not exhaustive, but rather a compilation of a sampling of some of the humor-laden materials available for check-out to NYPL patrons.

Books

DVDs

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