"The Rejection Collection"

If you want something hilarious to read, I recommend "The Best of the Rejection Collection: 293 Cartoons That Were Too Dumb, Too Dark, or Too Naughty for The New Yorker" (Workman, 2011), "rescued by" Matthew Diffee. The title says it all... Like many of you, I always enjoy the cartoons in The New Yorker. Those in this collection have the added appeal of the offbeat, the surprising, and the sometimes just slightly risque. The rejected cartoons are organized by cartoonist, and at the beginning of each section is an also very funny and unconventional interview with that artist. When I was shopping for Christmas gifts in one of my favorite bookstores, this book caught my eye and I had to buy it for myself; sure enough, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and now it sits on our coffee table, and I still occasionally leaf through it for a laugh. (P.S. I thought about trying to explain a couple of my favorite cartoons from this collection, but the impossibility of capturing a drawing in words defeated me. You just have to see them for yourself!)