This book is written by witty women but most of the stories are not what I would consider to be witty. A dog accompanying its mistress on a date, a birthday party where the end seems to be a dream but isn’t and so on. I was really disappointed.

This book contains short stories from various women writers. I love that the stories don't really have a common line except that they are all indeed pretty witty. Definitely love this book. It also makes me curious about each writer.

With varied themes and interesting characters, The Book of Witty Women features an interesting mix of fifteen short stories written by women writers.

Given the title and description of this anthology, I was hoping for a light-hearted read, but unfortunately, “laugh-out-loud” funny or “witty” it was not. I won’t be sharing individual ratings for the fifteen stories in this anthology like I usually do in my other reviews, simply because I have mixed feelings about most of them (arising from my pre conceived notions for which I blame the title and the description, once again) and had I not been expecting a stronger element of wit or humor, this anthology would have garnered a higher rating.

As with most anthologies, I did like some more than others. Double Date by Lucy Vine, Care Home Capers by Wendy Hood and Go Your Own Way by Kimberley Adams were entertaining reads and I was mildly amused by a few others (Jenny Bean, Calamity Queen by Julia Wood, Glue by Clare Shaw and Hapless by R. Malik). Shopping For England by Kim Clayden, The Art of Genital Persuasion by Kathy Lette and Sorry, Delivery by Paula Lennon featured interesting premises but needed to be explored further.

Two of these stories surprised me in that they just broke my heart, which I’m quite sure wasn’t the intent of this book. I’m sorry, but I can't be that person who finds any kind of humor/amusement in certain themes. - a story that features a woman being fat-shamed and blamed for her childlessness by her mother-in-law ( Ways With Mince by Kathryn Simmonds) or one about a woman on a cathartic and emotionally draining journey as she coming to terms with her role in the dissolution of her friendship with her childhood best friend (Nothing Compared To You by Annemarie Cancienne). Unbound by Jean Ende was a moving read, but You Can't Get There From Here by J.Y. Saville, Fake It Till You Hate It by Sadia Azmat and Poets Rise Again by Josie Long failed to make an impact.

Though I did like several of the stories in this anthology, I can't help feeling a tad disappointed. I respect the fact that the same book/story might evoke different reactions from its readers, and while I wouldn't discourage anyone from exploring this anthology, in my humble opinion it would be wise to approach it keeping in mind that it might not be as entertaining as the description suggests.

Many thanks to Farrago for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book was a treat to myself. I always keep a book of short stories to fill in the between series times and to have something to read while I'm waiting. But this book is not just a time filler. It's wildly entertaining and has given me some new authors to research. As always, some of the stories are better than others, but all of them....I repeat all of them were great. 5 easy stars.

Witty is as witty does…

The wittiness described in this group of female writers holds up to its title, with some of the short stories more amusing and lighthearted than others. There were undertones of sadness in a few that the reader should be able to catch on to.
I appreciate the collection of authors that is showcased.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy read, this is the book for you.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Farrago for the early ARC copy.

3.5 stars
This is a collection of fifteen short stories and is a great book to pick up as and when you want a quick read.
Some stories are better than others, and my two favourites were Lucy Vine's Double Date and Wendy Hood's Care Home Capers.
An interesting collection of short stories.
Thanks to Farrago and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Book of Witty Women is a fun short story collection with a variety of stories. These fifteen humorous stories showcase a variety of genres in an exciting way.

I found I did like some stories more than others; my favorites matched the genres I tend to read more often. My favorites were “Glue”, “Care Home Capers”, “Unbound”, “Sorry, Delivery”, and “The Art of Genital Persuasion”.

Overall, I felt all of the stories were unique and fun and would definitely recommend to those who enjoy reading short stories. Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for access to an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this collection of short stories, but unfortunately these really fell flat for me. I was expecting to be belly laughing from start to finish with the promise of fifteen laugh out loud short stories, but I found them rather boring. There were definitely some I enjoyed more than others, but none I would rate over 2.5 stars on their own.
———————
Thank you NetGalley and Farrago for the opportunity to review this book.

Book Review:
The Book of Witty Women
Farrago, 25th April 2024

With a tagline of '15 new laugh-out-loud stories by women writers', an introduction by Helen Lederer and short stories from well-known names including Kathy Lette and Josie Long, I was very excited to feast my eyes on an early copy of this book.

Short stories can be wondrous works of magic that hook you in instantly. Of the fifteen on offer here, two did just that and made me chuckle, so kudos to Lucy Vine's Double Date and Wendy Hood's Care Home Capers. The remainder, unfortunately, failed to raise anything beyond a smile, much less the promised laugh-out-loud; on the whole, they fell rather flat and left me wanting.

Although I was disappointed that this book over-promised and under-delivered overall, the gems that shone compensated somewhat, and there were parts of some of the other stories I enjoyed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Farrago for the ARC provided via NetGalley; this is my unbiased review.

#TheBookOfWittyWomen #Farrago #NetGalley #BookReview #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammers

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 “𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡-𝐨𝐮𝐭-𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝” 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 (𝟏𝟓 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬), 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐲. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮!

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓈, 𝐹𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑜 𝒫𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

A collection of short stories. Some were quite entertaining such as Julia Woods' Jenny Bean Calamity Queen and Kathryn Simmonds' Ways With Mince. I really could have read much more about these characters' lives. Double Date was a delight and quite poignant. Other stories were quite odd - Hapless & Shopping For England - I'm looking at you.

Despite there not being as much wit as I had hoped for, overall this anthology is quite an enjoyable read.

This made for a very interesting collection of short stories. I went into it expecting them all to be funny, and whilst there were funny bits in most of them, some of them were surprisingly moving.

I particularly enjoyed the twist in Lucy Vine's Double Date - hard to picture a cuter duo than Ava and Eliza.

Overall, this was a fun read, and the stories were all a nice contrast. Most of them felt like real people with genuine emotions and confusion and challenges, which I did enjoy. My least favourite of the bunch had to be Shopping for England, which felt like a vacuous way to end the book, particularly following on from the beautiful writing of Nothing Compared To You.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

This book just wasn’t it; these weren’t good or funny stories and none of them made me want to check out the authors.

Did not read for not downloading the ARC before the archive timeline. Which breaks my heart because I was incredibly excited to read this book. Nevertheless, here's a 5 star rating for compensation. I apologise for the inconvenience and best of luck.

Thank you, Farrago, for the ARC, and thank you to NetGalley for having a 'read aloud' feature. Without it, I would have had to DNF.

The book cover, the title, and a skim of the description made me think this was a series of non-fiction micro memoirs. I was so excited to read some funny real life experiences from women and maybe relate to some of them. I played the judge-a-book-by-its-cover game and lost.

The stories themselves are not necessarily bad, but the marketing and packaging around them is not accurate. Even if I had delved deeper into what I should expect before reading, this book is branded as 'laugh out loud funny' and hilarious and pure comedy etc etc, and it was anything but. The stories had some humour, but they're not comedies. I would say if you're under the age of 45, you're not going to find this book as funny as it is claiming to be. And that's fine! I'm the wrong demographic for this humour.

I do want to note that in one of the stories, a teenage girl is assaulted and it isn't addressed as the horrific thing it is. There are a few wince-worthy moments throughout the book, but this one crossed a line for me.

This book missed the mark for me. I will still be judging books by their cover, though.

1.5/5

Recommended for: Lovers of British humour

Summary: From murder mysteries to funny double dates, from dark British homour to fun British satire.

Review: I was disappointed in this book. I had a few guffaws but wanted more LOLs! Some stories were more sad than satire. Also, with the majority of the stories the reader had to understand and/or know British history and slang.

Best story: Ways With Mince
By Kathryn Simmonds
—> About an argument with a woman and her mother-in-law

If your looking for a nice light read for a relaxing weekend this is the book for you. Whilst I would not consider it 'laugh at loud funny' I did enjoy it and definitely had a few giggles. Some great stories from writers I am now interested to read more from.

This book was fine. All of the stories were witty and the quick to read. None of them were “laugh out loud”. My favorite was Double Date by Lucy Vine- very clever and cute. I also enjoyed Glue by Clare Shaw and found that one to be very funny. Overall this was an entertaining and perfectly fine collection of short stories. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book. Out April 25, 2024

I was really looking forward to reading The Book of Witty Women. Names like Kathy Lette and Helen Lederer drew me in. Now, I know that witty is not the same as funny, but the cover states that the book contains “laugh-out-loud stories by women writers”. I suppose that I should have realised that anyone using “women” as an adjective is likely to have a similarly post-grammatical approach to “witty” and “laugh-out-loud”. How can I describe my disappointment? Imagine you’re five years old again and you’re promised an ice-cream in the most exciting flavour ever, but, when it arrives, it’s melted in the dish.

Paula Lennon’s Sorry, Delivery has some witty one-liners and is perhaps the high point of the book, although Wendy Hood’s Care Home Capers is a contender too. I felt that “poignant“, rather than “witty”, is perhaps the more accurate description of several stories such as Kathryn Simmonds’ Ways With Mince. I enjoyed reading some of them, although Josie Long’s Poets Rise Again left an unpleasant taste – it’s neither witty nor funny.

I’d emphasise that these stories are mostly OK. They’re not going to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and many of them will be forgotten within a week; but they’re OK. However, do not buy this book based upon the assertion that you will laugh out loud.

In a Nutshell: Supposed to be a collection that makes us ‘laugh out loud’, but practically, I *smiled* during only two of the fifteen tales. Very disappointing!

The intent behind this fifteen-story collection is excellent. Rarely do we get to see the comedic voice of women. Whether in stand-up comedy or politics, comedians are mostly male. (That’s my little contribution to prove myself a witty woman! 😛) So to see an anthology penned by diverse women writers under the theme of wit gave me high hopes.

The maximum damage to this book is done by the tagline. ”Witty” doesn’t necessarily mean “funny”. It could also indicate “lively”, “amusing”, “inventive” or “quick-witted”. But as the tagline promises “laugh-out-loud stories”, I expected every story to contain varied doses of humour. This doesn’t happen at all.

The mood in the stories spans all the above meanings of wit, and goes even beyond that. But not all of them are funny. As is common in a multi-author anthology, some of the stories just don’t hit the bull’s eye, whether in terms of character detailing or plot development or satisfying endings.

I must admit, the content had plenty of comic potential. From competitive shopping as a sport to “penis puppeteering” (I don’t wanna explain that!) to a woman celebrating her 52nd birthday as her 50th one because the covid years don’t count, the themes touched upon the wacky and the weird. But somehow, the potential didn’t translate to an impactful execution.

One thing I have realised with respect to humour is that it can never be forced. It either leads naturally from the situation or it fails to induce a smile. In most of these stories, the jokes appear very forced, and that kills the vibe.

Of course, humour is a subjective emotion. What is funny to me might be eyeroll-inducing to someone else. In this entire collection, only two stories managed to make me grin. In fact, one of them is probably going to be among the top short stories I read this year; it hit the right notes on every level! Unfortunately, a single story cannot salvage the book from its fate.

Unlike the usual norm, the contributing author's bio is right at the start of each story, just below the title. I appreciate much more than having the bios pooled together in one lump at the end.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Except for the above two stories, the rest were all at 3.5 stars and below, with a couple of the tales even getting just a single star, not something that often happens for me during anthologies.

These were the two stunners of the book:
🤡 Double Date - Lucy Vine: This started off as a typical story, going well but nothing out of the ordinary. And then came the reveal that transformed the whole tale into a chuckle-worthy ride. Loved it! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
🤡 Care Home Capers - Wendy Hood: If you thought that senior citizens in a care home enjoy all visits, this story will get you thinking! The best story in the book both in terms of premise and execution. Hilarious and heartwarming. Easily among my top favourite stories, ever! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All in all, I am disappointed. I feel like I am betraying my own tribe by rating a collection of witty tales written by witty women so poorly. I can only hope that there is some reader out there who finds this collection hilarious and enticing.

2.7 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.

My thanks to Farrago and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Book of Witty Women”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.