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Selected Stories
This collection brings together twenty-one of Lardner’s best pieces, including the six Jack Keefe stories that comprise You Know Me, Al, as well as such familiar favorites as “Alibi Ike,” “Some Like Them Cold,” and “Guillible’s Travels.”
410 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1997
About the author
Ring Lardner
186 books94 followersRinggold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.
Father of author Ring Lardner Jr.
Father of author Ring Lardner Jr.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 24, 2018
A lot of people probably first encounter Lardner when they're assigned to read "Haircut" or "Golden Honeymoon" in high school or a little earlier. Nothing wrong with that, of course, since he's entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. But what you don't really grasp in high school is how subtle Lardner is -- if there was ever a writer who wrote more brilliant unreliable narrator stories, I've yet to find him. (And yeah, I'm counting Nabokov.) I'm damned if I know how Lardner does it -- I couldn't explain well it if you paid me -- but his characters totally lack self-awareness while at the same time revealing themselves completely. (Check out "Old Folks Honeymoon" and "Liberty Hall" for the best examples.) And boy, does Lardner ever have an crackerjack ear for dialog.
August 26, 2013
I would give this FIVE if I was judging it solely on it the narrative style, but I found a few of the stories a little dry and therefore settling for THREE. His characterisation is fantastic, but it's more the characters that are memorable - not their stories. I loved Jack Keefe, and especially loved "Some Like Them Cold."
November 18, 2020
Not as engaging as I remembered from reading some of his stories way back. He's got the idiom of a century ago down pat, but the tone comes from an acerbic and bitter sensibility that wears thin. Reminds me of Sinclair Lewis, who could go on and on at novel length, even if Lardner's aiming at briefer ends. However, for a picture of life in America post-WWI or so, it's probably the best extant.
November 24, 2017
He writes vernacular incredibly well, is great at gradually undermining his narrators & can be very ascerbically funny. His stories get repetitive though and gradually I got bored as I read through this volume. Maybe I don’t like sport enough. Maybe the writer is a one trick pony.
February 9, 2021
Longer than I had expected. “Gullible’s Travels” and “The Big Town” were the funniest, in my opinion.
I had originally picked up this book specifically to read the origin of the quote “shut up he explained.” It turned out that story, “The Young Immigrunts,” was one of the less funny ones (but that quote was still a highlight of the book).
I had originally picked up this book specifically to read the origin of the quote “shut up he explained.” It turned out that story, “The Young Immigrunts,” was one of the less funny ones (but that quote was still a highlight of the book).
June 19, 2017
A good example of using bad spelling and grammar purposely to create a good effect and humour. Very similar to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in that way and written in the same era.
January 7, 2016
Disclaimer: I am a huge Ring Lardner fanboy. My father recommended his works to me when I was a young lad playing baseball myself, and did I listen? No I did not, you know me Al.
As an adult, I had the good fortune to stumble across a copy of this book in a used book shop, and had to go back and thank my father for recommending them to me. This has become one of my favorite books. The stories are all slice-of-life dramas featuring the people of Midwest America in the days surrounding World War I - they were written as contemporary stories - complete with all of the unspoken cultural attitudes of the day. Although they are all humorous stories, they are not knee slappers filled with pratfalls. Instead, they are filled with a deadpan dry humor that sometimes causes you to go back and re-read the last sentence, because Ring Lardner doesn't hold your hand and shine a spotlight on the humor. Instead, he has ways of unlocking the absurdity of a situation in ways that are not apparent to the characters in the story, and in ways that force the reader to pay much closer attention than in most other stories.
Ring Lardner is a better writer than O. Henry, but his name is not so well remembered. This is likely due to the sophistication of his humor, and the subtle and sly ways he plies it. If you are at all well read, and don't need every joke punctuated by literal or metaphorical rimshot, you'll love this book.
As an adult, I had the good fortune to stumble across a copy of this book in a used book shop, and had to go back and thank my father for recommending them to me. This has become one of my favorite books. The stories are all slice-of-life dramas featuring the people of Midwest America in the days surrounding World War I - they were written as contemporary stories - complete with all of the unspoken cultural attitudes of the day. Although they are all humorous stories, they are not knee slappers filled with pratfalls. Instead, they are filled with a deadpan dry humor that sometimes causes you to go back and re-read the last sentence, because Ring Lardner doesn't hold your hand and shine a spotlight on the humor. Instead, he has ways of unlocking the absurdity of a situation in ways that are not apparent to the characters in the story, and in ways that force the reader to pay much closer attention than in most other stories.
Ring Lardner is a better writer than O. Henry, but his name is not so well remembered. This is likely due to the sophistication of his humor, and the subtle and sly ways he plies it. If you are at all well read, and don't need every joke punctuated by literal or metaphorical rimshot, you'll love this book.
September 14, 2008
This collection of short stories made for excellent reading for my summer back in the States. Lardner has quite an ear for spoken language, and even if some of the humor gets a bit hammy, there are hilarious and saucy moments in these stories. The first time I tried to get through it, I got held up by the stories about golf and baseball -- this time, I really enjoyed them.
June 26, 2007
Ring Lardner writes not only funny, but also human, moving and with a perfect ear. For anyone to think of him as just a writer of humorous sports stories is to do both Mr. Lardner and themselves a diservice.
November 8, 2012
I don't remember the details and it's on a bookshelf at my parents', but I recall that when I read it (1997 I think, and for a Writing Comedy class during undergrad) I thought, "Snap. People were darkly funny back in the olden days, too."
October 29, 2007
Ring Lardner is the master of short stories. Of course they are humorous as well which makes it that much better.
I just chose to highlight one of his books, but they are all good.
I just chose to highlight one of his books, but they are all good.
March 21, 2009
the Vernacular
(You know me Al)
(You know me Al)
June 26, 2009
One of America's funniest writers. Still feels fresh after ninety years.
October 4, 2010
This is great stuff. Lardner's wit will keep you laughing as you make your way through his stories, told with direct and simple prose. This book is a really good time.
January 18, 2012
The best writer most people have never heard of. This guy is for real. Virginia Woolf and J.D. Salinger both admired his writing immensely. So you probably will too.
April 19, 2015
RL is to baseball what Hemingway was to bullfighting. "You Know Me Al" knocked me over.
Shelved as 'tbr-recommended'
May 23, 2015Ring Lardner = contemporary of Scott Fitgerald, referenced repeatedly in So We Read On.
July 23, 2018
Good dialogue. 1920s New Yorker.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews