Internetarchivebookdrive External-identifier Even if just a little.Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 17:36:01 Boxid IA103609 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donor And those people seem to have a knack at tickling everyone's funny bone. Thurber is more of a subtle humorist than Erma Bombeck, kinda in step with Patrick McManus, in the same time period as Wodehouse and is sure to guarantee at least ONE laugh as he is as all the rest: a humorist. Aren't we thankful that happened? I think this book is a powerful testimony to someone taking what could have been viewed as a very bad situation and turning it into a positive - in this case, humor.Ī reviewers all seem to give a thumbs up to My Life and Hard Times('buy this book and treasure it') and I'll add my thumbs to the crowd. As a result of his eye injury, he was unable to play sports with most children and developed his imagination instead- eventually releasing his creativity on paper.

I find it fascinating that he gives no hint of this occurrence in this book. Thus, he had poor eyesight and the injury caused almost total blindness when he was older. When he and his brother, William, were playing a game of William Tell, his brother shot him in the eye with an arrow causing him to lose an eye. Interestingly enough, in doing a little research on Thurber, it would seem his bad eyesight came about under rather unusual circumstances. He finally started posing as a doctor and was doing examinations himself unnoticed and undetected.

Week after week he was called in for examinations and, of course, he went. However, apparently his paperwork was never processed correctly and he was called back, time and again, to the draft board for examinations - eye exam always occurring at the END of the examination. My favorite story in this particular set was 'Draft Board Nights' in which Thurber relates how he was never drafted as a soldier due to his bad eyesight. (I do think Wodehouse does a better job of painting a picture without using actual words than Thurber does though.) Think American-ized Wodehouse and you're getting awfully close.

I always knew I'd like Thurber because I grew up thinking Danny Kaye's performance in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a riot! (My family, btw, did not agree and never understood my fascination.) I wasn't disappointed in my expectations. This week I wanted to read something lighthearted so I read My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber. Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge (74).

Thurber my life and hard times