Tall Tales and Wee Stories
Read Tall Tales and Wee Stories, a collection of Billy Connolly's stand-up material. I chose it to distract myself from other matters going on, and it mostly did the trick. I didn't know many of Connolly's routines, though remember his voice and manner from TV and from some VHS tapes my parents had in the 90s.
The routines are often funny, though occasionally misogynistic to a modern reader. Obviously something is lost on the page, especially the chaos, spontaneity, and physicality of his live performance, such as the one about getting drunk from the feet upwards. I was surprised by the lack of reflection, nostalgia, politics or social commentary in his material: I presumed he'd draw on his years as a welder or his working-class upbringing, but the routines are somewhat apolitical.
I'm part way through another AI/tech/society book, and then I plan to tackle a classic: Dickens or Hardy, something like that. Connolly's book was amusing, but didn't feel altogether rewarding.