David Getz
Appearances
Radio Atlantic
The Books We Read in High School (Part 2)
The book that changed my life in high school was Chips Off the Old Benchley by Robert Benchley. What the book did is it introduced me to literary humor, something that was not at all made available to us in high school. Everything that we read was dour and serious and had a reputation of being something we had to know as opposed to something that we would actually enjoy.
Radio Atlantic
The Books We Read in High School (Part 2)
The book led me to reading other literary humorists, Woody Allen especially, but Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut. It led me to writing my own humor column in high school and then again in college. and eventually to become a writer for children as an adult. What Benchley did is he introduced to me the opportunity to create my own identity as a funny person in words. And I maintain that to this day.