Book excerpt: Jerome K Jerome is best known for his hilarious book "Three Men in a Boat" charting the misadventures of the author and his friends on a boating trip up the Thames. The book started off as a serious Travel Book, but morphed into a very funny book and a social commentary. The success of this book caused the author to write a sequel "Three Men on the Bummel," the same character choose this time to take a cycling trip in Germany. "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow" is another humorous book, but this time peppered with philosophical truths. As is its sequel "Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow." "Told after Supper" is a series of humorous Ghost Stories. "Diary of a Pilgrimage" is another funny travel book - a journey to see the famous Passion Play at Oberammergau, again very witty and deserves to be read along with Jerome's more famous book. The "Philosopher's Joke" is a short story involving six friends who meet an old philosopher. For a joke, or perhaps a dream, they start a strange journey into their past. Will they take hold of this opportunity and reap the benefits? "All Roads lead to Calvary" is a very different book. Set at the beginning of World War I it charts the progress of a number of professional women who make their way through life without the support of men. Jerome reveals his theology in this book, a theology of the cross: as God in Christ suffered, so all self-giving leads to God. In addition, God is not to be thought of as a great king but as a fellow-worker and his purposes are worked out in the everyday struggles of life. "Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green" is an excellent and sometimes amusing short story collection. It includes "Reginald Blake, Financier and Cad," "An item of Fashionable Intelligence," "Blas Billy," "The Choice of Cyril Harjohn," "The Materialisation of Charles and Mivanway," "Portrait of a Lady," "The Man Who Would Manage," "The Man Who Lived For Others," "A Man of Habit," "The Absent-minded Man," "A Charming Woman," "Whibley's Spirit," "The Man Who Went Wrong," "The Hobby Rider," "The Man Who Did Not Believe In Luck," "Dick Dunkerman's Cat," "The Minor Poet's Story," "The Degeneration of Thomas Henry," "The City of The Sea," and "Driftwood."