Adam Ehrlich Sachs, who studied atmospheric science at Harvard, is the author of
Inherited Disorders. One of
ten funny books he tagged at
Publishers Weekly:
Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert
In Flaubert’s great buddy comedy—an encyclopedic parody of the encyclopedic spirit—two idiots inherit a huge fortune and squander it on a series of disastrous investigations into every branch of knowledge. Like most of my favorite books, it becomes tedious at some point (the repetitions required for comedy seem to conflict with the demands of plot) but until that point it is genuinely funny, especially in Mark Polizzotti’s excellent translation.
Read about
another book on the list.
Bouvard and Pécuchet also appears on
Michael Foley's top ten list of absurd classics,
John Mullan's list of ten of the best unfinished literary works, and
John Sutherland's list of the best books about listing.
--Marshal Zeringue
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