Three Men in a Boat

What was meant to be a straightforward travel guide to the Thames became, in Jerome K. Jerome’s hands, one of the funniest books in English. Three hypochondriac friends, convinced that overwork is ruining their health, decide a fortnight rowing from Kingston to Oxford is just the tonic, and they set off with the fox terrier Montmorency and a great deal of misplaced confidence. Tin openers defeat them, the weather betrays them, and packing collapses into farce, while Jerome keeps breaking off for absurd anecdotes and mock-solemn musings on the river’s history. Written in 1889, it has never gone out of print, and its comic timing still feels startlingly modern. A free PDF and EPUB edition is available here.