Serious Reading

I recently embarrassed myself hugely while reading Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 account of a trip up the Thames, on that other river of humanity, the Tube. I had the singular misfortune to stumble upon Herr Slossen Boschen's "comic song" during the morning commute, obliging me to hide my face in my hands until each laughing fit passed. A dozen times I tried to get it together, but a single glance at the stony faced commuters opposite was all it took to render me helpless. One should exercise caution while reading this novel at lectures, conferences, in court rooms and in the Houses of Parliament.

I've since ordered Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, which I shall mostly be reading at home.