Thurber Prize Committee Agrees--"Wrack and Ruin" is the Funniest Novel of Last Year

Now how can I make this pronouncement?

Look at the other nominees?

Lamentations of the Father, by Ian Frazier. Essays. Didn't read it, but read two of his other books and have a subscription to the New Yorker. I "pay" to read it on "paper." Does that count?

I was Told There'd be Cake, by Sloane Crosley. Essays. Hilarious Essays, but essays none the same. Just sold this to my ex-coworker Carrie, visiting from Portland. Sent an email to me saying, "You've still got it. Book is just what I was looking for." Totally paraphrased. But Carrie, you understand that this sort of feedback is a bookseller's coke fix. Unless the bookseller is addicted to cocaine. Then coke is sort of his or her coke fix. Thanks, Carrie.

The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death, by Laurie Notaro. Essays. Sadly, I've never read a Notaro. They're so easy to sell because I've worked with so many other booksellers who loved her that I can always quote one of them. It's no excuse. I'm sad.

Look! Just one novelist! That makes Don Lee's Wrack and Ruin the funniest novel. Hurray. Vindication. Go buy the book. From me. I'd like to sell more.

Winner announced October 1st. Or so Associated Press says. Totally paraphrased.