h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm almost on my way back to my parent's house to (re)dig out this good old stuff - I know they're there somewhere...!

I devoured quite a few of them sometime back in my youth - I absolutely loved TSs humour - though it did make for bellyaches now and again...

"The Nightlife of the Gods" must be my favourite -- although "The Stray Lamb" comes close. The latter is a guess as this is one of the few I read in a Danish translations (yep - quite a few of them made it into Danish). If the heroine's called Sandra and has a very lovely ear, that's the one...

That's the one. Ears occasionally catch Smith's attention, though I think legs are his most frequently mentioned body part. Rain in the Doorway is my favorite.
Peace,
Stephen

Hi - glad to see there are other Thorne Smith fans out there! Check out: [Broken link removed by Moderator] A great Thorne Smith site!

Oops - your link has died and now only you can see it. Must be the Kirby's website.
Try again?

Stephen

Cosmo Topper - wow

I actually had a quite little heap of the books delivered to my doorstep a few days ago - my Mom is clering "old stuff" out from the house and she herself has never been much of a book devourer like my Dad and I...

off to read

Have fun!

Stephen

I'm wondering how many posters to this Thorne Smith thread are posting from the states.
I'm in Tennessee and have enjoyed TS since I was a pre-teen. (I'm 50± now.)
I'm happy to see his works back in print and only wish more people would read his stuff. (Heck, I wish more people would read, period!

Doc

Well, as said, I'm actually a Dane... I wholeheartedly agree with your view on reading - easy said as I've always been a bookworm, Mrs SG V is and the offspring reads and reads

I have some books of Thorne Smith around. Three as far as I remember. Enjoyed them very much when I was young. Lots of laughs. I think my parents introduced them to me. I only read them in Danish. (Hi Santra - I found this conversation on your PS).

*Goes to dig out Thorne Smith's books.*

I have been reading and collecting Thorne Smith novels since the early 70's. I was fascinated by the comic style of writing that is somewhat unique, since then I have read almost all of his books. As to a favourite, it is difficult but Topper himself must be the the funniest.

Just come upon this site, and have just had my Thorne Smith collection returned to me, so have been re-reading them.
I first discovered Smith at the tender age of 22, when the books were published by Mayfair (might have been Mayflower), and on buying the first one (the Jovial Ghosts) sat up all night and read it completely through, laughing more than any author before or since has made me laugh.
I agree that in someways it is all a bit dated, being written during the Great American Experiment, but it is not the humour which is dated, it is only the background, - the situations can be as fresh today as they were some seventy years ago. There is a similarlity in the writing to the "Whitehall Farce": men lose their pants and women lose everything - except, perhaps, for a clingy, transparent and oh-so-sexy revealing scrap of underwear. Butlers discreetly butle, maids are indiscreetly made, and everybody who is interesting seems to spend most of their time horizontally opposed - either lost in lust or lost as a lush. Seventy years later, when one does not need to be on the best of terms with a local bootlegger, the concentration on alcohol seems a little bizarre, but what the Heck, I'll drink his health in bathtub gin any day.

Good to have this thread pushed to my front page.

I must read the Thorne Smith in English, especially after ouldbob's posting. So where can I purchase (or loan) copies. (, Santra - if you are a book lender that is. If not, I quite understand. )

I don't have the books on my own shelves - with luck, my Mum has kept them. I'll have a wee look next time I'm there - given that I remember, of course...